Les Jardins de l’écumène, seed artisan

The birth of the Jardins de l'écoumène in 2001 fulfilled the dream of its owners to offer the inhabitants of the Earth quality organic vegetable seeds, while ensuring the survival of certain heritage lines important for the maintenance of biodiversity.

The gardens took root on 100 acres of the mountainous lands of Saint-Damien in Lanaudière. The precepts of permaculture guided all stages of the development of the site, both for the design and construction of the buildings, and for the installation of a solar energy production system ensuring the electricity supply.

From the first year, the seeds produced received organic certification and have always retained it. Since then, year after year, the Jardins de l'écoumène have offered an ever-increasing number of seeds of vegetable varieties, aromatic herbs and edible flowers produced with the greatest respect for the environment.

Seed packets are sold through the website and sent by mail or on newsstands during the various Seed Festivals held throughout Quebec from the end of January to the beginning of April. Seed packets from Jardins de l'écoumène can also be found in many natural food stores, garden centers, eco-responsible boutiques, and even in hardware stores and food supermarkets across the province.

To obtain horticultural products, we go to Saint-Damien. We take the opportunity to soak up the grandeur of the site, then glean some advice at the same time. The Écumène boutique also offers a very nice variety of soil amendments and fertilizers of all kinds, all certified organic! Added to this is a range of excellent quality gardening products.

Well anchored in the Quebec region, the company has at heart the interests of gardeners in the province who wish to live better and eat better. Also, the Jardins de l'écumène only produce the best that nature has to offer!

 

Guylaine and Jean François

Guylaine St-Vincent graduated from the Louis Riel School of Horticulture at the Montreal Botanical Garden where she obtained a DEP in Horticulture in 1990. Always eager for knowledge, she also successfully completed the herbalism training offered until early 2000s by the renowned herbalist Marie Provost of La clef des champs.

A gardener for the City of Montreal for 21 years, she has accumulated valuable experience and acquired new knowledge, notably during the 10 years spent at the production nursery in Terrebonne and then that of Assomption.

With the emerging Jardins de l'écoumène project, she enriched her skills base by adding management and administration courses allowing her today to successfully manage and supply new products in the business.

Between her managerial and administrative activities, she maintains direct contact with the land, its products and customers by taking care of the company's customer service. She loves experimenting with the vegetables and aromatic herbs that their large vegetable garden produces and offers original recipes to anyone who will listen that will make your mouth water!

Jean-François Lévêque is a modern-day, sedentary wilderness runner! After following professional training leading to the DEP in Forest Ranger at the La Tuque Professional Training Center, he continued with a second training in Wildlife Conservation in Mont-Laurier, then with a third, in Landscaping Creation at the Saint-Jovite Vocational Training Center, and a fourth, in ecological market gardening at the Mirabel Agricultural Training Center.

A gardener for the City of Montreal, his path crossed that of Guylaine and never deviated from it! Over the years, his readings, his research and his experiments have made him an essential resource person regarding organic farming, permaculture, non-timber forest products (NTFP) and energy self-sufficiency!

At Jardins de l'écoumène, Jean-François is responsible for the production and development of infrastructure, gardens as well as the marketing of products via television appearances or short videos on social media, this which occupies many of his winter days… and his summer evenings!

An excellent communicator, he shares his vast knowledge with amateurs by giving training and conferences. He is also keenly interested in solar energy and is experimenting with various avenues to harness its full potential.

The food forest set up on the site of the Jardins de l'écoumène is his creation and he constantly shares with visitors the importance of such a development.