Beloeil’s Collective Food Forest - Canada

This 700-square-meter food forest was designed and implemented after the city of Beloeil changed the street layout and created a large planting area. Wishing to offer the population more food autonomy, the city approached us to design the site. The design was carried out in the summer of 2021 and implemented in the fall with citizen participation over a period of 3 days.

The food forest will provide fruits, berries, perennial vegetables, edible flowers, medicinal plants and herbs to community members and visitors to the area. The site is connected to a small urban forest, adding to the diversity in the neighbourhood. One of the biggest challenges is drainage since the site is situated on previously compacted soil with lots of clay.

To make it a space where people can enjoy life, we added picnic tables, benches, and a pergola where grapes will grow. Near the pergola, there is a long tunnel where cold hardy kiwis will climb. There is also a composting site and a tool shed with all the equipment needed to manage the food forest.

The goals of the project are to increase citizens' food security and create an educational platform to teach an ecological approach to growing their own food. The food forest layout takes advantage of solar gain, and the main paths are wheelchair accessible.