About Us
Our Vision
WHO WE ARE:
Karen and Gilles Arsenault have built a not for profit consulting business to educate and encourage sustainable food and healthy living practices.
They currently support Sustainable Living Practices in Ontario and Prince Edward Island Canada, and host consulting virtually from anywhere.
“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.”
– Hippocrates, 400 BC
“The health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible.” –Sir Albert Howard, 1947
“People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are treated by the health industry, which pays no attention to food.” –Wendell Berry
Arsenault Sustainable Living is a not-for-profit organization that supports individuals and local communities by educating and consulting in best practices and solutions for regenerative, sustainable, and organic food sources.
OUR SOLUTION SPACE:
Holistic Nutritionist Support
Herbalism and Holistic Pet Care and Therapy
Medical Mushrooms
Chinese Dietary Therapy
Gardening for Medicinal Therapy
Forest Therapy
Indigenous Stories and Methods Revitalization
Urban Agriculture for Small Spaces
Organic Gardening
Food Sovereignty
Community Gardens
Permaculture Design Consulting
Regenerative Agriculture Consulting
Sustainable Futures
Healthy Food Options for All
OUR GOALS:
- Emphasize education and collaboration to identify opportunities for individuals and communities to have access to whole foods, and an pesticide free, organic diet.
- Find Opportunities to support the integration of nutritional education into school curriculums.
- Understand the lack of current chronic issue medical support in Canada, and support the implementation of localized, integrated health initiatives that combine holistic medical treatments with access to organic fruits and vegetables
- Support the initiation of research for regenerative organic farming to improve technology & lower costs for farmers
- Provide support for farmers transitioning to regenerative organic practices.
- Encourage food companies to support regenerative organic farmers.
We will live better lives through healthy food options. Reach out to us to find out more about how you and your communities can live better lives.
Nutritionist support
- ASL provides access to Nutritionist support through the Balanced Approach, for those in need.
Proper nutrition is essential to healthy living and overall well-being. A nutritionist plays an important role in your health by evaluating your lifestyle, your needs and your current food choices, and is able to offer personalized advice based on your health goals or medical needs
- A nutritionist can make recommendations and put together meal plans.
- The Balanced Approach is a safe and supportive space where people come to improve their overall wellbeing through a balanced lifestyle with healthy habits around fitness, nutrition and wellness.
Herbalism, Chinese Dietary Therapy, and Holistic Pet Care and Therapy
- ASL provides access to Herbalist advice and guidance for adults, children and your animal friends.
- ASL is educated in the practice of the medicinal and therapeutic use of plants, especially as a form of alternative medicine.
-ASL is educated in Traditional Chinese Medicine foundations, benefits, energetics of food, TCM Patterns and Diet Therapy, and practical usage for common conditions.
- ASL is pursuing further education in Mycology and supports those experts who understand the benefits of fungi for the environment and our health. Mushrooms are known to be a a rich, low calorie source of fiber, protein, and antioxidants. They may also mitigate the risk of developing serious health conditions, such as Alzheimer's, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
- ASL is certified in Holistic Pet Care including preventative natural supplements, skin conditions, digestive disorders, immune system dysregulation guidelines, dental care, conventional and holistic first aid.
Indigenous stories revitalization
- Be Inspired and share the knowledge of stories and practices of Indigenous lessons.
- Braiding sweetgrass is a key example – “Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.”
- Our work must include these lessons learned if we are to achieve a more sustainable healthy life, in that “the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings, will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.”
Supporting Food sovereignty
Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods. More importantly, it is the right to define and control our own food and agriculture systems, including markets, production modes, food cultures, and environments
Food Sovereignty In Canada | Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
FSC-resetting2012-8half11-lowres-EN.pdf (foodsecurecanada.org)
Supporting Community gardens
Community gardens:
•Increase access to fresh foods •Improve food security •Increase physical activity through maintenance activities •Improve dietary habits through education •Increase fruit and vegetable intake •Reduce risk of obesity and obesity-related diseases •Improve mental health and promote relaxation •
•The Many Benefits of Community Gardens – Greenleaf Communities
Supporting Community education programs
Arsenault Sustainable Living supports community projects to educate all ages in sustainable living programs.
Forest Therapy
ASL helps individuals understand the health benefits of our Trees and Forests.
Come and take a walk through our Forest gardens, or sign up to a forest therapy session.
Urban agriculture for small spaces
ASL provides advice and guidance for small spaces environments:
- Porch, Patio, Balcony, Windowsill
- Backyards, City Centers, City planning
ASL works with community support networks to provide advice and guidance around small space and urban organic gardens
Organic gardening consultations
Arsenault Group Consulting understands the Canadian regulations around Organic Produce
- AGC works individuals and organizations to spread the knowledge, guidance and educational supports to implementing organic gardening into our current food systems
Consultations in permaculture planning
Arsenault Sustainable Living understands and has studied the principals and ethics of earth care, people care and fair share as per David Holmgren, which form the foundation for permaculture design.
We are pleased to support you in our journey to understand and include permaculture design principals into your food sources.
Consultations in Regenerative Agriculture
ASL helps you understand the core principals of Regenerative Agriculture:
1. Understand your environment and the context of your operation
2. Minimize Soil Disruption
3. Maximize crop diversity
4. Keep the Soil Covered
5. Maintain living Root year Round
6. Integrate Livestock
ASL Supports the integration and education of the following next steps:
1.Eliminate the use of toxic, synthetic inputs like fertilizers and herbicides, thus eliminating the potential harm caused through exposure via diet, air, water, and occupational exposure.
2.Diversify crop rotations, promote on-farm biological diversity, and institute strategies to manage insect, disease, and weed pressures that reduce or eliminate the need for chemical inputs.
3.Maximize soil coverage and biodiversity through cover cropping, permanent perennial agriculture and integrated livestock systems to maintain and improve soil health, thereby ensuring our ability to feed a growing population long into the future.
4.Increase soil organic carbon levels, resulting in greater soil structure and water-holding capacity to maintain crop production during periods of climate uncertainty. Measurements of crop yields and soil/water relationships over more than ten years at the Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial report between 35% to 96% higher corn and soybean yields in the organic systems than the conventional comparison during periods of drought.99 This was attributed to greater water capture during rainfall events (less runoff and erosion) and increased soil water holding capacity.
5. Support the growth of diverse microbial populations in the soil through natural soil fertility measures such as compost and green manures, reducing pest pressure and boosting plant bioactive compounds known to provide substantial health benefits and help combat chronic disease. Diversify crop rotations, promote on-farm biological diversity, and institute strategies to manage insect, disease, and weed pressures that reduce or eliminate the need for chemical inputs.
6. Adopt pasture-based farming systems to improve nutrient cycling and allow innate animal behavior and grazing on living grass and forage, leading to less animal stress and more nutritious animal products.
7. Use productive farmland to grow food and fiber for people and not for inefficient bio-fuel production, which diverts nutrients into combustible engines and ultimately greenhouse gases.
8. Promote and establish conservation practices to protect vulnerable waterways and the aquatic and terrestrial life that depend on those bodies of water. Regenerative organic agriculture places inherent value on wildlife and habitat management as measures to mitigate pest outbreaks, provide ecosystem services such as carbon storage and air pollution mitigation, and support sources of highly nutritious food.
9. Provide a meaningful source of income for farmers and support rural and urban communities.