The Essential Workshops
The branch dedicated to the development of practical skills
Our workshops are spaces for collective learning of essential skills.
The curriculum is currently being developed around 3 vital resources : food, water, and energy.
Other areas such as healthcare, craftsmanship (manufacturing-repair), and mobility will eventually be integrated.
Season 2026
Discover our upcoming workshops
Curriculum in development
Some themes in view for 2026: rainwater management, growing mushrooms, building a chicken coop, making biochar, growing and cooking perennial plants, food preservation techniques, building a community cellar, building a solar dehydrator, building a solar water heater, photovoltaics, and energy autonomy.
Water
Although this resource is relatively abundant in Quebec, we are not immune to water quality and quantity problems. Through our workshops, we invite you to understand the issues around water, to adapt your home to better manage its flow on your property, and above all, to develop the skills to capture, purify, and use it.
Plumbing
101
Ram
pumps
Rainwater harvesting
Rain
gardens
Plant
filtration
Charcoal filtration
Energy
Although Quebec benefits from relatively abundant and affordable hydroelectricity, electricity is only a modest part of our total energy needs, and our society remains largely dependent on fossil fuels. Through our workshops, we invite you to understand the issues linked to energy and to develop the skills to reduce consumption, increase autonomy, and implement robust adaptation measures suited to future realities.
Efficient wood stoves
Domestic biogas
Solar electricity
Solar
heating
Solar dehydrator
Electric mobility
Food
Although grocery stores give an impression of abundance, our food system largely relies on an agro-industrial model that destroys soils and on distribution chains heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Through our workshops, we invite you to understand current food issues and to develop the skills to produce, preserve, and cook food in a more local, fertile, and resilient way.
Greens production
Mushroom production
Chickens and coops
Collective cellars
Seed
banks
Lacto-fermentation
Make your pickles
Abbondanza Farm
September
With Gwynne and Jeremiah
Make your biochar
Potagers des nues mains
September
With Olivier and Cristina
Fermenting vegetables
Abbondanza Farm
October
With Gwynne and Jeremiah
Make your sausages
Abbondanza Farm
November
With Gwynne and Jeremiah
2025 Season
Waiting list
Are you interested in a specific theme?
Did you miss a workshop you would really like to participate in?
Leave us your information and we will notify you for the next edition!