Helping you and your family grow more fresh food for a year-round bounty !
Year-round Harvests
Super accessible online tutorials, workshops and resources
Take your gardening to the next level. Work towards higher self-sufficiency by learning how to grow more food (even in the winter!) and the different strategies you can use to get there. Learn techniques to work less, harvest more, safeguard the soil and mitigate the effects of our ever changing climate on your garden.
About me & this website
My name is Laurent Dubois (call me Lawrence).
I've been growing my own food for 15 years, on 8 different properties and across 3 climate zones. I'm a licensed contractor (Quebec), a Master Garder in Training (U of Sask.), a certified rainwater technician and a dedicated gardening nerd (with the records to prove it!)
In 2009 I took on the job of co-operating a small market garden/farm in British Columbia. I quickly learned that the freedom and joy that gardening for yourself provides did not translate well when moving to larger scales and 'profit'-driven models.
Sadly, in this day and age being a farmer is an uphill battle with many challenges and little security. As a society, we have grown disconnected from our food supply. Most people have no tangible way of appreciating the difficulties that farmers face. A globalized food supply and the divide between growers and consumers makes it challenging for farmers to keep making a living (around the world), and climate change is rapidly making things a lot worse. Food prices are going up, but profits per acre are plummeting and many farmers are throwing in the towel.
Seeing this firsthand galvanized my resolve to do what I could to help reverse this trend by bringing gardens back to our collective yards and start building back the communal knowledge and social capital we once had. This website is the product of this desire, years in the making. We all need to reconnect, learn and adapt; and I want to help!
I'm a man of many interests, but food has always been a passion for me and I've been on the path to fruit/vegetable self-sufficiency for many years. Currently, my little family and I live on a 1.5 acre property in the Gatineau hills of Quebec, in climate zone 4. In our spare time, we manage to produce at least 90-95% of the vegetables we all eat in a year...inching ever closer to that elusive 100% (always a moving target, especially as our little family grows!).
My goal is to inspire others to grow more food for themselves by sharing my own successes, knowledge and experiences.
Hey!
It's never been more profitable to have your own food garden, big or small.
Check out this unique report on the value of backyard food production and find out how you can save the equivalent of 50$/hr or more with your garden!
