I met Joey and Liza, with newborn Enzo, in a café on Notre-Dame, in Montreal’s Sud-Ouest borough. Proud residents of this neighbourhood, they believe in the importance of changing things for the better on a local scale.
What’s their project all about?
Jardins sans frontières (“Gardens Without Borders”) offers workshops, seminars and hands-on gardening projects based on permaculture, a type of small-scale agriculture that focuses on balance (between plants, animals and insects) and sustainability. It also offers a 3-week “caravan” in Ecuador every winter, where participants live and breathe permaculture.
Where did the inspiration come from?
“Well, we’re both from Lebanon, and arrived in Montreal to study after having worked in Dubai in marketing. We’d been reared in a culture of financial insecurity, where everyone around us would say ‘get a job that pays the bills’, and where a long-term, stable, low-profile government job was looked upon as something grand. So we came to Montreal to do an MBA.
[Joey:] During the MBA, we were exposed to alternative points of view, most notably in a class about Corporate Social Responsibility. I decided to continue studying in this field, and that led me to rural Mali, where a school project enabled us to help build a communal garden. I was blown away just holding a seed in my hand, planting it and seeing it sprout a few weeks later.
[Liza:] We had just gotten married at that time, and I googled “honeymoon on a farm”, landing on the page for a permaculture farm. The man said we couldn’t just come and hang out, but that he was holding a two-week course on permaculture. I ended up taking the course and teaching it to Joey every evening when I got home!
After that, it was a matter of combining the two ideas. We pitched a project at a case competition at John Molson School of business, where we’d help build a permaculture garden for a village in Senegal. We won the case competition and were on our way!”
What’s been difficult?
“Don’t get into this field if you want to get rich! [laughs] Liza works with the borough to bring farmers’ markets with quality fruits and veggies to citizens in need, while Joey is working on his PhD at HEC, and giving classes. The money that comes back from the project is sporadic, depending on the timing of events and trips.”
What are some lessons you’ve learned?
“Don’t compare yourself to anyone else; it’s really of no use. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, and try to improve every day.
You don’t *need* to scale at all costs. When we were starting Jardins sans frontières, we had so many people come up to us and talk about the difficulties we’d get in scaling it. Well, so what? What’s wrong with having something that has a strong impact, but in a local way? We’re trying to make our neighbourhood and our city a better place to live – the process is the goal! ‘Scale, scale, scale!’… Do something on a manageable scale, then see if it’s necessary to expand.
Also, it’s important to set expectations with participants. We failed to do this a few times, be-it with the trips or with the workshops, and it created a situation where people didn’t get the most out of the experience. By setting expectations from the start, it’s better for everyone involved, because you know what you’ll be getting.
And finally, I’d be remiss to not include a quote I love from Richard Branson, and that really helped get us off the ground: ‘If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!’. Without this attitude, we wouldn’t have Jardins sans frontières!”
Thanks for the inspiration, and good luck with the baby and the project!
“You’re very welcome, speak to you soon!”
To learn more about Jardins sans frontières, visit their website and Facebook page.