{"id":689668,"date":"2026-05-24T01:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T01:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/689668\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T01:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T01:23:15","slug":"dartmouth-community-garden-finds-its-roots-in-acadian-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/689668\/","title":{"rendered":"Dartmouth community garden finds its roots in Acadian history"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 2 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p>The Francophone Community Garden opened 10 years ago, and the local French-speaking community is celebrating its anniversary by preparing the ground for this year&#8217;s gardening season. <\/p>\n<p>People of all ages met at the Dartmouth Common to take part in celebrations, spending time outside tending to a plot that will include carrots, herbs and tomatoes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Marina Turbide, communication and marketing co-ordinator for the Conseil communautaire du Grand-Havre, said this garden is inspired by traditional Acadian gardens dating back to before 1775.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAcadians had a very precise way of gardening,\u201d Turbide told Radio-Canada. \u201cThe goal was to create a garden that could \u2026 sustain itself and have natural repellents for hungry bugs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said that a traditional Acadian garden would include up to 22 types of herbs to serve as natural insecticides.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This specific garden does not have as many herbs, she said, but it has a similar structure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A woman with flowers\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779585794_91_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333333333333333\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>Acadians traditionally kept root vegetables and herbs in a predetermined order. (Stephanie Blanchet)<\/p>\n<p>According to the Acadian Historical Society of West Pubnico, Acadian gardening centres on cultivating complementary shrubs and vegetables together. <\/p>\n<p>Turbide said the Dartmouth garden has four sections: root vegetables, stem vegetables, leaf vegetables and seed vegetables.  Herbs grow around the produce section to protect the vegetables from insects, she said.  <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A woman smiling\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779585794_745_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333333333333333\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>Marina Turbide works with the Conseil communautaire du Grand-Havre. (Stephanie Blanchet)<\/p>\n<p>The Conseil communautaire du Grand-Havre provides all the materials for the garden&#8217;s upkeep, and harvested vegetables are donated to the Dartmouth Community Fridge.\u00a0Volunteers meet Wednesday starting at 3 p.m. to tend the garden, water plants, and harvest produce at the end of the season. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A man with a hat\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779585795_172_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333333333333333\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>Bruno Coutty is an avid gardener. (Stephanie Blanchet)<\/p>\n<p>Bruno Coutty volunteers at the garden because of his own love for the activity, but he also enjoys the cultural side of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As a francophone, he appreciates the community built around the Acadian garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe vocabulary comes more naturally to me,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I know the species in French.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MORE TOP STORIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-689668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}