Portrait Gourmand | Fresh fruits and vegetables from Laval thanks to the Marineau family

Isabelle Vallée
Blogger-curious and nosy

Professional and passionate about 2.0 marketing, Isabelle Vallée has long contributed to Montreal's cultural vitality by handling communications for the city's biggest fashion events. Now self-employed since 2011, she supports organizations in their online presence challenges by offering 360° Web strategy, community management and personalized content marketing services. In January 2015, Isabelle launched the cultural platform lesbonsplans.ca, for which she acts as editor-in-chief and photographer. Curious, foodie, culture lover, she shares on this blog what to see, what to do, what to discover on the North Shore, in Laval and in the Laurentians.

Did you know that Laval has long been the "breadbasket" of Montreal, and that despite our changing lifestyles, there are still some great market gardeners on the island? The Marineau family farm, located in the Sainte-Dorothée sector, is one such producer. For over 100 years (1921), the Marineau farm has grown a wide variety of vegetables, including tasty tomatoes and crisp cucumbers, in its fields of berries and corn, and now in its greenhouses. Meet Louis Marineau, passionate about agriculture and local flavors.

How did this farming adventure begin?

It all started with my great-grandmother, who was very forward-thinking and grew tobacco on rented land. Then she bought a small piece of land here in Sainte-Dorothée. Then my grandfather took over and that's when we started growing vegetables. He cultivated using the "layer" method (boards one foot high and 12 feet long by six feet wide, with four three-foot frames with glass panes). There were 1,500 layers. This technique enabled them to start sowing very early in the spring, arriving at Easter with "primeur" (first) radishes and lettuce to sell at the Marché Central in Montreal. After that, my father and his brothers took over, and then we children came along and decided to go into berry production more specifically. You could say that the whole Marineau family has worked hard to get to the farm we know today.

We're talking about a family business, so what's everyone's role within it?

Here, every member of the family is involved in operations and has a very important role within the company. My brother oversees production in our greenhouses, my wife Isabelle supervises the kitchens, my sister Isabelle works at one of our kiosks, and even my father and mother are as active as ever! Often, they're busy picking corn early in the morning, and my mother helps out in the kiosks. And we're slowly starting to train the next generation!

What products can we find at your kiosks, and where can we buy them?

Of course, you'll find all our fruits and vegetables here, including berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries), our famous corn (grown using traditional methods), our greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers, as well as our jams, preserves, fruit bread, potato fritters (baked in real syrup) and our famous pies! And all our blends are handmade from the fruits and vegetables we grow.

We also work closely with other local producers (from Laval and the Lower Laurentians) to complete our offer and provide our customers with fresh, local produce! It's also our way of encouraging local producers.

Ferme Marineau, your neighbourhood garden

The farm's slogan is "Your neighborhood garden". So people can come and pick their own produce here in season, and sometimes we even offer tractor rides to show our work, what we do and, above all, how fruit and vegetables grow! And people really appreciate it!

In fact, from mid-June to the end of October, you can stock up on local produce at one of the three Marineau farm stands in Laval. Fresh fruit and vegetables, picked when ripe... for lots of flavour! We invite you to visit them!

**Ferme Marineau is part of the Saveurs de Laval directory.