The reason for my trip to Canada in March / April 2017 was because I was invited by Jean-Martin Fortier​ to visit and give a talk and discuss perennial vegetables at La Ferme des Quatre Temps, an amazing farm near Hemmingford, Quebec (south of Montreal and near the US border). Jean-Martin is well-known for his book “The Market Gardener” which has sold more than 80,000 copies! This album of pictures gives my impression of my short visit on the farm in very early spring, where a whole area is devoted to trialling permaveggies for the market, the best commercial operation I’ve seen! Thanks for the invite Jean-Martin!
This is the Wikipedia entry on the farm: “In the fall of 2015, Fortier was recruited by André Desmarais, Deputy Chairman, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Power Corporation and son of Paul Desmarais Sr, to design and operate a model farm, La Ferme des Quatre-Temps, on a 167 acres property in Hemmingford, Quebec. The mission of the farm is to demonstrate how diversified small-scale farms, using regenerative and economically efficient agricultural practices, can produce a higher nutritional quality of food and more profitable farms. The farm consists of four acres of vegetable production; sixty acres of animal grazing rotation including beef, pigs and chickens, ten acres of fruit orchards, a culinary laboratory for processing and creating original products and a huge greenhouse to produce vegetables throughout the year. The principles of permaculture were applied to ensure ecosystem balance: flowers were planted, ponds were dug to accommodate frogs and birdhouses were built to naturally control the proliferation of pests. Ten bee hives have also been installed on the property to promote pollination and mobile chicken coops allow hens to roam from one pasture to another to feed the worms in manure from cows.”