- Jardin botanique
Nine sheep have a new temporary home at the Jardin botanique. Visitors can watch the five ewes and their lambs at work between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., until July 3, near the Leslie Hancock Garden.
Day to day
Every morning, a shepherd will take the sheep to their “pasture” for the day, marked off with a flexible, mobile fence. In the evening, they’ll be led back to their temporary, mobile sheep pen.
Sunday talks
Visitors are invited to “Matinées bergères,” a series of fun, informative talks (in French) about sheep, eco-grazing and invasive plants. (Cancelled in case of rain)
A joint project that fits with our mission
The Jardin botanique is collaborating with an NPO called the Laboratoire d’agriculture urbaine (AU/LAB) on the “Biquette à Montréal” project. The mobile sheep flock, tended by a shepherdess and volunteer citizen-shepherds, is an eco-grazing experiment with a flock of sheep. The initiative will be combined with research on controlling invasive plants at the Jardin botanique. It’s innovative, in keeping with best practices for maintaining urban green spaces, and contributes to biodiversity.
The sheep have already been “mowing” a number of parks in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough. In fact they will be moving to Pélican park on July 3.
