POWERED BY BICYCLES
Biocyclette delivers gardening baskets
It’s a novel green concept. Starting small, powered by bicycle. A gardening service that gets around on two wheels.
That was the idea behind Biocyclette, a company started by Annie McLaughlin, 23, and Konstantinos (a.k.a. Dean) Hirtle-Kattou, 24, in 2014. With a trailer loaded with gardening equipment hooked up to an electric bike, Biocyclette caters to a clientele in Montreal West – a close-knit community where McLaughlin and HirtleKattou first got their start, helping their neighbours tend to their yards and gardens.
Trading in gasoline and pesticides for electric power and clean practices, Biocyclette took shape with an environmental focus that the duo strongly believed in.
“We started off in high school shovelling snow before school to make money,” McLaughlin explains. “Both of us dreamed of living off the land, growing our own food,” and Biocyclette became the driving force for that dream. The couple took inspiration from Italian immigrants they saw planting their vegetables in the “corridors” of unused land around the Hydro- Québec transmission towers in the city’s west end. They were like urban farmers, growing fresh food to feed their families. “The land beneath those Hydro corridors is a kind of grey zone. We started growing our first gardens there,” McLaughlin said. “Maybe because we were so young, people started to take notice.”
McLaughlin believes that once most people start growing their own food, they just can’t stop. “You just start to get addicted to it,” she says.
She herself is so into it, she can’t resist offering counsel even to those who don’t have a plot of land to devote to vegetables. “Don’t let that stop you,” McLaughlin urges. “If you have a balcony, even a small one, you still have options to grow vegetables.”
For apartment dwellers, McLaughlin recommends tomatoes – she grows heirlooms, an ancient variety that are a bit more sensitive to the environment but are meaty and delicious. For beginner gardeners, cherry tomatoes work just as well, she says. They are low-maintenance and yield a lot of fruit: just make sure to choose a spacious pot as they need room to spread their roots, she explains.
Another tip: Leafy greens like swiss chard and kale are also a good bet, as they produce high volumes in contained spaces.
McLaughlin and Hirtle-Kattou have been so busy planting the seeds of their gardening business that they have handed over the management of Biocyclette to Alex Pattem as they shift their attention to Ferme de l’Île, their farm in Senneville. Located at the western edge of Montreal Island, past the millionaires’ row on Senneville Rd., Ferme de l’Île has been in operation since 2016, producing a wide range of fruits and vegetables that include heirloom tomatoes, rhubarb, chard and cucumbers. They sell their stock to restaurants like Joe Beef and Lucille’s, but also provide fresh food to the N.D.G. Food Depot. McLaughlin and Hirtle-Kattou also work in collaboration with the Coop Maison Vert in N.D.G. They recently dropped off seedlings of a variety of herbs and vegetables available to the co-op’s membership.
It’s a given, McLaughlin explains, that the farm is run along the same green practices as Biocyclette: organic and sustainable, communal in practice and spirit.
“We started Ferme de l’Île last year and we are hoping to triple production in 2017,” McLaughlin says.
Hirtle-Kattou’s background studying farm management and technology at McGill University is a big part of the equation, she says. He “teaches everyone” about farming techniques. " It’s his expertise that is at the heart of what we’re doing.” She focuses more on managing the business end and being the spokesperson.
“Just 50 years ago many people were eating and growing their own food. This is us trying to bring that back,” she says. “Eating local makes environmental sense but it also makes sense economically."
Even though it’s only his first season as Biocyclette’s manager, Pettem shares his bosses’ passion for gardening and the power of growing your own food.
“We are the local green-gardeners,” Pettem says. “We don’t just keep your garden but we help it grow. We make it something to be proud of.”
Just 50 years ago many people were eating and growing their own food. This is us trying to bring that back.
At this time of year, Pettem and employee Moe Rabkin are busy cleaning up perennial beds and laying the foundation for a healthy garden for the season.
“Right now we are cleaning up twigs, weeding and laying down mulch. I unplug the bike in the morning and head out for the day,” Pettem said.
As of June 13, Biocyclette will also begin delivering weekly and bi-weekly baskets of vegetables grown at Ferme de l’Île – by bike, to the door of their clients in Montreal West. “Our business is mostly word of mouth. All our clients from last year came back and we have a lot of new people too,” Pettem said.
Pettem is aiming to widen the basket clientele to nearby communities like Côte St-Luc and western N.D.G. “I signed a two-year contract to manage Biocyclette. If at the end of two years, we have expanded to serve other neighbourhoods, I will feel like it was a success.”
Meantime, residents of Montreal West looking for serious guidance about what to do with the jungle in their yard can seek out immediate assistance. Rabkin studied gardening at Montreal’s Botanical Garden and is available at an hourly fee for consultations on garden design, plant choices and other green-thumb tips.
“Moe is often pointing out plants and flowers to clients that they had no idea were growing in their back yard. Even I find myself learning more all the time,” Pettem said.
As for McLaughlin, she has her eyes set on even wider growth. She’s dreaming about setting up a farm in Nepal, for instance. But the focus remains clear: “We want to bring food to the people.”
FROM FOOD BASKETS TO LAWN CARE
Biocyclette’s vegetable baskets are offered to residents of Montreal West for 18 weeks of the year, from June 13 to Oct. 18. The summer basket often includes heirloom tomatoes, eggplants, beans, Lebanese cucumbers, multi-coloured carrots and beets. For fall, subscribers can expect squash, fingerling potatoes and garlic. Weekly delivery: $545; bi-weekly: $275. All baskets are delivered by bike.
Residents of Montreal West can also sign up for garden consultations at an hourly rate of $20. That fee includes design tips, flower delivery, planting and trimming and shaping of hedges.
The most deluxe package, which ranges in price depending on the size of the yard, includes leaf raking in late spring/fall, weekly mowing, weed-wacking, large debris removal and sweeping. For details, call (514) 869-7015, visit biocyclette.com or email contact@biocyclette.com.