MSEG’s 2011 Final Report
Submitted to the
McGill Sustainability Projects’ Fund
Table of Contents
1 Summary
1.1
2
1.2.1
Successes
1.2.2
Challenges
1.2
Discussion of Activities
2.1
Market Revenue
2.2
Division of Labour
Budget
2.3
3
Activities
Upcoming
Funding
2.4
Pests & Diseases
2.5
Market Management
2.6
Communications
1.
Summary
1.
Overview
The Final Report summarizes the completed and ongoing activities of the 2011 season, and
outlines those that are upcoming.
Overall, MSEG 2011 successfully cultivated 1 acre in Senneville, and a ¼ acre in the Macdonald
Horticultural Centre. This involved growing over 40 different types of crops, including culinary herbs
and flowers. Employees devoted 45+ hours during the summer months, and an average of 12 hours in the
fall, per week. Tasks included caring for the fields, preparing baskets, updating the website and other
educational materials, organizing workshops, communications, and selling at markets.
We also continued to maintain the meditation garden on the campus grounds, and worked in
collaboration with a student-run initiative to incorporate a butterfly garden.
This coming season, MSEG is looking forward to increase efficiency by using knowledge gained
from the previous year, increasing its productivity and basket sales, and further increasing its educational
component. In particular, MSEG is looking to develop an educational school to farm program for school
children that will be implemented this year.
1.1
Summary of Activities
Task
Date
(start,end)
July-Oct.
Details
June-Nov.
MSEG sale, Thursdays 11am- Complete
2pm in the Macdonald-Stewart
building of Mac campus
McGill Farmer's Sept.-Nov.
Market
Farmer’s market serving
Complete
McGill downtown, Thursdays
12:00-4:30
McGill Farmer's July-Oct.
Market CSA
Contributing in part to baskets Complete
for 14 (summer) and 20 (fall)
members
Markets/selling Ste.Anne's
produce
Farmer's Market
MacdonaldStewart Foyer
Farm Stand
Status
Farmer’s Market serving the Complete
town of Sainte Anne-deBellevue, Saturdays 9am-2pm
Field
Operations
Education
Vegetable basket Sept.-Nov.
service,
Macdonald
campus
A weekly fall vegetable basket Complete
service serving 30 students
and staff at Mac campus
Initial
April-June
Field measurements,soil
analysis and field
testing,preparation for
planting,bed preparation
Maintenance
May-Nov.
Routine
Complete
weeding,irrigating,cultivating,
trellising,mulching,pruning,ins
ect pest control/monitoring
Harvest and
Planting
May-Nov.
Successional seeding,
Complete
transplanting,
seeding of green manures and
cover crops,regular harvesting
and storage of crops
Field take-down December
and winter prep
Cover cropping, mulching,
Complete
planting of garlic and general
clean up
Workshops
-Hanging tomatoes and patio Complete
potatoes (July)
-Seed saving with Daniel
Brisebois from Ferme TourneSol (Sept.)
-Indoor gardening and
seasonal eating at the MOC
house (Sept.)
-Canning workshop series held
in conjunction with Dietetics
stagiaires (Sept.)
Complete
Community
Field trips
-Trip to Les Jardins de la
Ongoing
Grelinette
-Attended NOFA Annual
Winter Conference in
Vermont in collaboration with
the Mac Agro-Ecology group
Film
screenings/Guest
speakers
-Screening of “The
Ongoing
Greenhorns” at the Co-op du
Grand Orme, and at
Macdonald Campus
-Book reading by Robin
Tunicliffe from Saanich
Organics
Potlucks
-Mid-summer arugula pesto Complete
potluck and workshop event
-Spring equinox potluck and
contra dance(April);
Harvest potluck and contra
dance (September)
-Community dinners with Les
Jardins Carya
Volunteer events
-Hosted Bike to Farm
Ongoing
volunteers for a weekend,
coordinated potato harvest
with crew of volunteers from
the MOC,semi-regular
volunteer days during the
fall,irregular volunteer days
throughout summer. Participated in irregular
workshares with Les Jardins
Carya and Ferme du Zephyr.
Contra dances
April, Sept. -Community contra dances at Complete
Macdonald campus held in
collaboration with members of
the McGill Feeding McGill
project
Funding
Applications
Deliverables
-Submitted applications to the
Sustainability Projects
Fund,the Macdonald Campus
Student Society (MCSS), the
Post-Graduate Students
Society (PGSS),the Mary
H.Brown fund
Fund proposal to January
the Dean of the
Faculty of
Agricultural and
Environmental
Sciences
Request to the faculty to fund Complete
MSEG as a “living laboratory”
Academic
linkages
Integration of
faculty members
into governance
structure
Further integration with
Ongoing
academic activities
Amending constitution to
Ongoing
include guidelines for MSEGs
mode of governance, and Presentation to the FAES to
open dialogue about how the
faculty may be involved.
Publicity
-Further developed an
Ongoing
educational website and blog
-Increased visibility at markets
-Featured in Fall 2012 editions
of The McGill Reporter and
The Principal's Report
Academic
linkages
-A summary of MSEG's
Ongoing
academic linkages may be
found in the attached Annexe
A
1.2
Discussion of Activities
This past season required a lot of time spent in the fields because of the substantial increase in the
amount of land under cultivation. Once the season was underway markets were probably the most timeconsuming component to the project. By September we were selling at three markets, providing 20 part-
shares to the McGill Farmer’s Market CSA, and running a 30 member vegetable basket program at
Macdonald campus.
During the late summer and early fall semester McGill students came out to the fields on a semiregular basis to harvest and prepare vegetables for markets. We collaborated with Les Jardins Carya to
host a crew of cyclist volunteers for a weekend, as a part of Concordia’s “Bike to Farm” initiative. We
collaborated with the McGill Outdoors Club on two separate occasions, hosting a workshop on indoor
growing and local seasonal eating at the MOC house in August, and harvesting potatoes with a crew of
MOC volunteers in one of our fields. In September we hosted “Harvest Week” at Macdonald Campus to
celebrate the year’s work and to gain exposure to incoming students. The week concluded with a
community potluck and contra dance held in collaboration with members from the McGill Feeding
McGill project.
Our activities have continued into the winter and include a book reading by Robin Tunicliffe,
author of “All the Dirt” and co-founder of Saanich Organics. Presently students in the course PLNT 451
Crop Planning and Production are selecting crops, filling out seed orders, and designing a rotation plan
for MSEG’s upcoming season under the supervision of Professor Caroline Begg.
Details: Division of Labour
2
At the start of the season there was some issue with the lack of structure for the work
environment.
The group adopted a rotating leadership style. Two employees would take on being in charge of
delegating and following up on the weekly tasks, and the leaders would switch the next week. This kept
the onus for the project from resting on only one person’s shoulders, and gave everyone the experience of
being responsible for operations.
2.Details:
Pests & Diseases
Prevention of pests and diseases had been carefully planned for this season. We employed a few
different organic methods of distracting insects. Sulfur powder was used on cabbages for cabbage worms,
and garlic spray was employed on many crops as a general pest prevention technique. We also manually
removed several different insect pests, including potato beetles, cucumber beetles, onion maggots, and
cabbage worms.
Botrytis became a problem for the tomato plants by late august. They were still producing fruit
but were quite feeble in their stalks. We learned from farmers at La Grelinette that this is to be expected
in our climate, and that by the end of the season all field tomatoes tend to develop this disease. Crop
rotation and the removal of plant residues from the tomato block should ensure that this does not affect
plants earlier than is to be expected next year.
Powdery mildew developed on our summer squash, also in late August. This disease is
transferred via water, and the only way we were able to prevent it from spreading was to avoid harvesting
immediately after a rainfall, and not to touch the affected plants before the healthy ones. Again,
production was not compromised as the squash were ending their peak by that point.
●
●
●
1. Successes
Marketing vegetables
○ New down town market
○ Weekly baskets
Heightening visibility
○ Website creation
○ Blog
○ Posters with standard style
○ Presence down town campus
On-campus networking
○
●
Links with Out-of the Garden Project, Happy Belly, Bike 2 Farm, McGill Student Parent
Cooking Collective, Post Graduate Student Society (PGSS), Macdonald Campus Student
Society (MCSS).
Academic integration
○
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Generated a good harvest
○ Field operations took most of the working time for the coordinators
○ A good season resulted in high yields for most crops
Structure for Continuation
○ Holding meetings specifically aimed at creating documents for the following year
Networking
○ Connection with food bank from On Rock Ministries
○ Presence at Herbs Cafe in Ste Anne, use of vegetables in meals served
Relationships with organic farmers in the community
○ Mentorship with Ferme Carya
○ Knowledge exchanges with Ferme La Grelinette and Ferme Tournesol
Recording
○ Structured harvest and market revenue records being kept up-to-date
2. Challenges
Planting schedule
○ Weeds
○ Need for better successional planting, i.e. so there are fewer waves of crops
Online outreach
○ Intended bi-weekly blog posts have been more sporadic
○ Facebook and email not effective for event planning
○ Perhaps classroom outreach is more effective
Deliverables
○ Meeting deadlines was challenging because of Throughout the course of the season
immediate production
Need for generalized standards for
○ Labelling
○ Pricing (campus vs. non-campus)
○ Cleaning of produce
○ Hours tracking: how much volunteer time vs paid time
○ Inventory
Production
○ Too many turnips, hot peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, tomatillos
○ Not enough radishes, parsely, Chioggia beets, kale varieties
○ Need for brussel sprouts, rutabaga, parsnips, bell peppers
On-campus outreach
○ Stronger presence at on-campus events
○ Making links with other groups: e.g. EcoEd
Defining a more concrete role for Ferme Carya: mentorship, work exchange?
Selection of employees
○ Past 2 years most of members have been friends, need for more universal involvement
from student population
○ Standardizing recruitment process
Crop loss
○ Some signs of a wilting disease in the cucurbits in the Horticultural Centre field, which
affected the cucurbit crops there last year as well
2.
Budget
Table 2.1 MSEG 2011 External Funding Summarized
Source of External Funding Amount
Confirmed
Requested
Received
Sustainability Projects Fund $41,904.00
Yes
$ 41,904.00
(SPF)
Macdonald Campus
$3,650.00
Yes
$
3,650.00
Students’ Society (MCSS)
Post-Graduate Students’
Society
Mary H Brown Fund
$ 800.00
Yes ($600)
$
600.00
$400
Yes
$
400
Total Funding Received
1.
$46,554.00
Market Revenue
We started selling at Ste. Anne’s Farmer’s Market in July, and the same week started selling in
the Macdonald-Stewart foyer on the Macdonald campus. We provided 14 part shares for the McGill
Farmer’s Market’s CSA basket program in the summer, and 20 part shares during the fall. Selling at both
markets continued into the fall. In September we started providing vegetable baskets to 30 members of
the Macdonald campus community. From September through November we also sold produce at the
McGill Farmer’s Market.
The total revenue from the market sales was $14,105.00. In general sales were highest at the
Ste.Anne’s farmer’s market, but the greatest source of revenue was generated from the baskets. The
basket program is a model that we are expanding on the coming year.
2.
Market Management
We sold to 4 customer groups:
- Ste. Anne’s Farmer’s Market
- Market table in the Macdonald-Stewart foyer
-Macdonald campus fall vegetable baskets
- McGill Farmer’s Market/MFM CSA baskets
We also provided wholesale items to McGill Food and Dining Services, Herb’s Cafe and the
dietetics faculty
We managed the harvesting, processing, selling, and clean up as a group. Generally markets were
challenging to coordinate, and probably demanded the most attention out of all of our other tasks once
classes started.
3.
Communications
We improved on our internal communication by keeping a field binder where all operations were
recorded, as well as an updated calendar and a whiteboard in the field. The team regularly met and
recorded minutes of these meetings.
We would occasionally meet with our fellow farmers, Les Jardins Carya and Ferme du Zephyr to
coordinate use of machinery and water and to ask advice. However, considering their busy schedule this
relationship was not developed to its full potential. Les Jardins Carya acknowledged this so together we
are building a more structured exchange of time, knowledge and services that will benefit both parties.
Our outreach increased as our presence and profile heightened. MSEG was featured in QPIRG’s
agenda. The development of our website (www.mseg.weebly.com) was a success but we are looking into
integrating our website into a McGill domain as part of our effort to mainstream MSEG in the McGill
culture. Common methods of outreach such as posters, emails and Facebook events were pursued.
Alternative methods of outreach can be further explored , such as presence in McGill’s media venues
(newspapers and websites), attendance of related events (Founder’s day, Global Food Security
Conference) and increased collaboration with campus clubs (MOC, MacEco Ed). We have just been
invited to be on the Seeds of Change website.
4.
Upcoming
This coming season, MSEG is looking forward to increasing its efficiency by:
●incorporating the crop plan and field operation plan prepared by 9 students in the Special topics
class (PLNT 451) led by Dr. Caroline Begg
●make use of the acquired knowledge on the soil’s physical characteristics, on weeds and water
filtration of the newly acquired Senneville acre
●fully utillize the resoruce that are made available to us by our partners: Ferme du Zephyr, Les
Jardins Carya, the Macdonald Horticulture Center and the facilities department.
●Continue to build a relationship with Les Jardins Carya based on experiential learning
●Develop a governance structure that will ensure continuity, by securing support of partners,
especially faculty, and by making student turn-over smooth thanks to established guidelines and a
strong constitution.
●Providing local sustainably grown food to a larger population by increasing the number of weekly
baskets provided on campus and by adjusting the vegetable produced with the demand
Also MSEG will increase its educational impact by:
●pursuing present relationships with faculty and developing new ones in order to further
institutionalize MSEG within class work and research.
●due to the increase of efficiency in production, more time will be allocated to the educational
components delivered to the community, including an increase in workshops, invited guest
speakers and public visibility.
●Developing a school to farm program
MSEG strives towards economic sustainability in the coming years. In order to do so
●we are keeping track of sales and production methods
●The special topics course on crop production and planning evaluates economic feasibilty.
MSEG hopes to provide for a potential student-run cafeteria at the Macdonald Campus and is
keeping close contact with the Out-of-the-Garden Project, to achieve this goal.
MSEG will has been and will be responsive to the community’s request through Open forums
once a semester and satisfaction surveys for baskets and workshops.
Annexe A: Current and Future Faculty Links
Current Faculty Links
AGRICULTURE& PLANT SCIENCE
PLNT 451 Special Topics 3 - Dr. Caroline Begg (3 credits, Fall or Winter)
AGRI 310 Internship in Agriculture/Environment - Dr. Caroline Begg (3 credits, Fall or Summer)
Description: Internship on working farms or in other appropriate businesses of the agrifood/environment industries.
_________________________________________________________________________
NUTRITION & DIETETICS
Stages established through Mary Hendrickson:
NUTR 510 Professional Practice Stage 4 - Sandy Phillips, Heidi Ritter (14 credits, Fall)
Description: Four interrelated modules of directed experience in clinical nutrition, foodservice
management, normal nutrition education and community nutrition, in health care settings and
the private sector.
NUTR 614 Graduate Professional Practice 4, Community Nutrition - Maureen Rose, Sandy
Phillips (8 credits, Fall or Winter)
Description: Nutrition and Dietetics : Assessment, planning, implementation, communication,
and evaluation of public health and community nutrition programs for a variety of individuals and
population groups. Focus is on intervention strategies and their evaluation.
__________________________________________________________________________
SOIL SCIENCE
SOIL 315 Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Use - Joann Whalen (3 credits, Fall)
Description: Plant nutrients in the soil, influence of soil properties on nutrient absorption and
plant growth, use of organic and inorganic fertilizers.
SOIL 445 Agro Environmental Fertlizer Use - Joann Whalen (3 credits, Winter, alternate years)
Description: A sustainable, agroenvironmental approach to nutrient management planning at the
farm scale, consistent with guidelines and laws governing fertilizer use in Quebec and other
jurisdictions.
________________________________________________________________________
BIORESOURCE ENGINEERING
BREE 497 - Bioresource Engineering Project - Shiv Prasher (3 credits, Fall, Winter or Summer)
Description: Independent study for design and experimental work on a bioresource engineering
topic chosen in consultation between the student and departmental staff.
_______________________________________________________________________
Future potential courses that could apply their learning in the Student-run Gardens:
NUTR 209 Professional Practice Stage 1 - Joane Routhier, Hugues Plourde (2 credits,
Summer)
Description: Nutrition and Dietetics : Directed, supervised experiences in nutrition services and
food service operations management; integration into the professional team.
NUTR 409 Professional Practice Stage 3 - Joane Routhier, Hugues Plourde (8 credits, Winter)
Description: Four interrelated modules of directed experience in clinical nutrition, foodservice
management, normal nutrition education and community nutrition, in health care settings and
the private sector.
There is discussion with faculty lecturers in Plant Science and Nutrition and Dietetics.