BIG NEWS! We did a thing & registered an official non-profit!

After 3 unsuccessful name submission attempts, we are sooo excited to announce that the third time was indeed ‘the charm’, and our name submission was officially accepted.

As such, in an official capacity,  Espace Canopée Localeaf is born (Localeaf Canopy Space in English).

Localeaf remains the blog platform and umbrella joining together the nursery (officially now ‘Jardins Localeaf Gardens’), Pollinate Aylmer, the #butterflyaylmer project and now Espace ‘Canopée Localeaf’.

We all exist together and separately; we overlap and we don’t; we feed energy into each other and rely on that communal energy store for support; we also continue to have in common a preference for traditional means of collaboration, community and communication, and will begin working on some alternative voices and perspectives. Cool new things are coming (in due time).

For now, if you need help keeping up, and until we make some more permanent (and truly bilingual – promise –  changes to our website) here is our cheat-list:

Pollinate Aylmer: the force? The wave? The people.

Our grassroots group of incredible volunteers working together to improve our immediate local community (formerly known as) Aylmer, Quebec through concrete, tangible, community driven actions aimed at improving biodiversity and supporting local pollinators.

We are currently +170 strong, and welcoming new members to any and all of our weekly events, though you’ll have to brave a closed FB group experience to join us (and reside in Aylmer).

#ButterflywayAylmer: the change? The transformation? The catalyst?

The ever growing corridor of little pollinator patches lighting up any and all parts and pockets of Aylmer with pollen, buzzing and a visible impact..

We worked hard to complete the first 12 in 2025, and we expect to struggle to keep up with demand in 2026, feeling grateful for the love and trust our community is instilling in us as we grow, and learn.

Jardins Localeaf Gardens…

The “almost Nursery”, almost ready to ditch the almost.

My personal project, my psychologist-mandated healing garden, and my family’s attempt at leaving a positive impact on the planet we are otherwise helping deteriorate. 

A work in progress, the Localeaf Garden is a nursery, a pollinator playground, a living native seed bank and seed orchard, a cultivated community, a calming presence bordered by forest and mountain on the outskirts of Aylmer, working toward continuous experiential learning and artistic expression grown from seed, by me and (sometimes) my family.

So what’s the Canopée for?

Well, like everything else I write since my brain was irreversibly altered , this is a bit of a long winded story. Grab a beer…

If you read my blog posts you’ve probably read about some of the incredible work our Pollinate Aylmer group has accomplished since our inception less than 9 months ago.

It turned out a few of us share a common and very complementary love of outdoor learning and experiential community learning spaces, approached from multiple angles that happened to come together, at the right time, through some deep discussions, and resulted in an idea that we passed around and helped shape, like a snowball, between us, until this third version (with an approved bilingual name representing our collective interests and passion) came into existence.

Our intent: Interactive, natural and sustainably built outdoor learning spaces in our community, incorporating tiny forests, community building and development, hands-on, experiential learning, creativity, purposeful interaction and appreciation for nature and biodiversity.

Our credentials

What do you to get when you cross a two landscape architects, an instructional designer, an elementary teacher, a biologist, nursery owner, two artists, a horticulturalist, an award winning tiny forest creator, a former landscaper, two project managers, 4 moms, a butterflyway Ranger, a Leed certified practitioner, a botanist, a pollinator steward and 4 incredibly brilliant women who just happen to really really enjoy each other’s company, learning from each other, teaching, and building a community together? A non-profit that none of us are sure how we started, a force to be weary of, and a promise of beautiful, useful outdoor spaces, mini forests and learning opportunities coming to our community, at a pace likely to surpass even our wildest dreams.

Kind of like our Seedy Saturday Aylmer event has.

Look for us. And if we resonate, and you don’t find us on social media, we are busy doing our thing, somewhere in a different realm, #irl. We are here, hands in dirt, brains crammed full with ideas, and sketches ranging from watercolour to stick figure styles, not too worried about our social media presence. If you want to know more and you’ve actually read this, you have probably found us. If you haven’t, message, reach out, or keep reading. One day, come say hi. We would love to meet you.

Espace Canopée Localeaf.

#butterflywayaylmer #pollinateaylmer #Localeaf #canopeelocaleaf #dontaskpermission
#bethechange