Our Living, Breathing Classroom
Our 1.7-acre property in Aylmer North is our home, and a nursery, and a seed orchard, but it is also our living classroom; a stage where we watch nature return, with our intent and support, as a result of our actions and urban ecological experiments; in exchange, it allows us to glimpse, observe and decipher its interactions.
We call it our Learning Lab, because a walk in any direction leads to a series of experiments in urban restoration, and we are just starting this transformation.
Throughout the growing season, the lab hosts wildlife appreciation days for Pollinate Aylmer members, as well as experiential workshops, through Canopée Localeaf. We host potting parties where community members come together to pot up seedlings for community gardens, and participants bring home anything they helped plant. We welcome self-guided visits during our nursery opening hours.
Below you can glean some of the habitats we created last year, and our ambitious plans for this year. My blog posts tend to outline our approach to each of these experiments in greater detail, where I have had time to reflect.
Our Learning Lab Experiments
The Miyawaki “Tiny” Forest This was our first attempt at dense urban reforestation on the lab grounds, following the Miyawaki method, adapted for our local landscape. (Read how we built it.) With over 80 species of trees, shrubs, and understory plants packed into a dense space, it is a masterclass in competition and species cooperation. I return many mornings to walk through the tiny forest with my coffee, and watch in real-time as the trees race each other for the sun, providing a long-term window into how a forest builds itself from the ground up.
The Native Food Forest While we lean into permaculture principles, and we inherited several fruit trees, our focus on creating a food forest around these existing fruit trees is one with mainly native plants. We are building a forest that feeds—not just us, but the wildlife that shares this land. We use native edible shrubs and trees to fill traditional “guild” roles, observing how a native-first approach to food production creates a more resilient, self-sustaining ecosystem.
The Rain Garden Our rain garden is a functional landscape designed to capture runoff and let it sink slowly back into the earth. (Read the build story.) By using deep-rooted native and grasses tolerant of being submerged in water, we created a fast-acting natural filtration system in deep clay soil, able to absorb and direct water flow throughout most of the backside of our property. In its first season we observed multiple species of frogs move in, which delighted the kids. The rain garden was put to a significant test this winter when the underground pipe of our sump pump collapsed during a thaw. We redirected the flow of the water toward the raingarden, and it’s holding up far better than expected less than 1 year in.
The Front Lawn Conversion: From Ditch Lilies to Living Hedge The right side of the front of our property was an entangled mess of invasive ditch lilies. (See the transformation.) We needed a friend with an excavator to remove them at the depth they had reached, and then we covered the area in cardboard and mulch. Just before the first snowfall, and a bit later in the season than I had hoped, it was finally ready to plant, though the plugs went directly into a thick woodchip layer. This area saw dense planting principles applied, in the hope that by using a significant number of plugs, they will adapt and quickly grow to create a living carpet of mulch, while the few trees I planted establish deeper roots and begin to provide canopy. Some of the trees planted here are the siblings of trees planted in the tiny forest, and I am excited to watch them grow in varied conditions. The hope is for this front slice of converted land to become a garden of intrigue for neighbours and passers by, enough for them to stop, read some of the signage, and consider stopping to learn more about our rewilding project.
The Mini Meadows Scattered throughout parts of our yard like islands of biodiversity, our mini meadows are spaces where the grass has been retired, and compatible plants have been planted as young seedlings next to each other, and allowed to wander, or roam, expand to fill spaces, live long lives or die back after a few seasons, and allow us to observe the meadow become one. These are high-traffic zones for pollinators, where we let the wildflowers lead the way and observe which species the bees and butterflies choose first.
On the Horizon: 2026 Projects
This growing season I have dreamed up a few more “crazy ideas” for the family to help me realize. This year, our focus will be on whimsy, water, and wildlife:
The Secret Garden
A collaboration with Remi, using a mix of my ideas, and hers. We are creating an enclosed, whimsical space in the heart of our yard, under the shade of a sort of nut tree we can’t quite identify, and surrounded by the moat that we created last year as part of our runoff water management strategy. We will be using native vines and shade plants to build a living, breathing canopy for quiet reflection and “nature art”, hidden from view, with arches and possibly painted remi-size gates being the entry point.
The Wildlife Fence
This is a project that’s been circling my brain for months. Using a mix of recycled materials, cut branches, logs, and twigs, I intend to create a functional boundary around the secret garden that doubles as a luxury hotel for pollinators and small wildlife.
The Frog Bog
Located near our rain garden, this new ecosystem will be designed particularly for our resident frogs. We are especially focused on supporting the endangered Western Chorus Frog, which migrates from the forest stream behind our home into our yard. We want to ensure they have a safe, wet haven that helps encourage and support their nesting habits and reproduction.
The Living Willow Structure
I am interested in experimenting with living architecture, especially after having been exposed to two local environments growing and harvesting basketry willow cuttings from their living willow fences. I want to try creating such a structure this year using native willow species. I have found two which I believe will be well suited to our conditions, and though I expect it will take longer for them to grow into their shape than the non-native varieties typically used for this purpose, I am prepared to exercise patience and attempt a living structure in this way.
Come have a look-see
Our garden is never “finished.” It is a conversation between us and the land, and we invite you to come and listen in, especially if you are looking for inspiration or help choosing plants. Sometimes, the best way to understand a plant is to see it in its element—observe how it moves in the wind, which pollinators it calls to, how nicely it plays with others (sociability) and how it settles into the soil.
We welcome you to walk through our Learning Lab during our opening hours. Explore our outdoor classroom where you can see our plants interact with each other at different times throughout seasons, as well as the pollinators they attract, and picture how they might behave in your own garden.