Maple Wood Farm
January 15, 2010

By April Johnston

 What do you get when you have a 5 acre parcel of beautiful property in the city, with old barns and a man with a driver personality and a yearning for things from his homeland?

   In 1974, the municipality of the District of North Vancouver was fortunate to have heading their Parks Department a very energetic and far-seeing Dutch immigrant named Dirk Oostindie.  Mr. Oostindie had his eye on a 2 hectare piece of land next to the Seymour River and he lobbied to make a long time dream of his come to fruition.  He wanted a visiting farm like the public ones in Holland; there they are called “city farms”.  He researched all over North America for similar facilities, how they operated, what components would be essential to include in what would become Maplewood Farm.  A March 26 issue of the Citizen newspaper quoted Mr. Oostindie as saying, “This farm should compensate for the loss of rural feeling and the increasing urbanization, by showing some old things and ways and expose children to basic things”.  It was his desire that the Farm offer a rudimentary education and experiences for children who would not normally have access to their agricultural roots.
  Maplewood’s history predates the seventies; the land has been agricultural since 1914 as indicated by early municipal land records.  In the early years it provided the sustenance for the settler, Akiyo Kogo.  From the early twenties until the mid-forties Mr. Joseph Ellis and 
   Mr. Walter Young established mixed farming including a cow dairy.  Most of the buildings and their locations were established during this time.  
  During the twenty years from 1944 to 1964, the Farm was owned by Jack and Helen Smyth.  Their daughter, Betty Brown, still lives in the neighbourhood.  The Smyths assumed the operation of the 25 head cattle dairy for approximately 1 ½ years.  The Smyth production of raw milk included the entire process of glass bottle washing, fresh milk cooling, bottle filling and capping, storage and delivery.  Their customer route was from the then small community of Deep Cove on the North Arm of Burrard Inlet to the communities of Seymour and Lynnmour, in the region north of the present day Iron Workers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge.  In 1946 the provincial laws prohibiting the sale of raw milk brought changes to the Smyth’s farm as it did for many farmers.  Those farmers either unwilling to sell pasteurized milk or unable financially to make the necessary upgrades to their operations were forced to sell their stock and look for other ways to make a living.  Jack Smyth always had a passion for dogs and his hobby became a natural business alternative.  He conducted training, boarding and breeding of Black Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Springer and Cocker Spaniels and also held hunting and bird dog field trials.  He named his new enterprise, “Country Club Kennels”.  
  The pond we now call the “Natural Pond” was really man made just after the major floods of 1948.  The Highways Department had an operations yard at the north east end of the Second Narrows Bridge under threat of flooding and needed high dry ground to store their equipment and Mr. Smyth accommodated them.  In appreciation of this, the workers dredged out the small creek running through the farm creating the pond we have today. 
  In 1964, the McClung family purchased the farm from the Smyths and for approximately 5 years operated a dog boarding facility as well as guard dog breeding and training centre.
  Robert and Rita McClung accepted the municipality’s offer of a land exchange and the farm property became District of North Vancouver (DNV) owned in 1970.  For approximately 5 years the farm was a rental property.
  The name for the proposed public visiting Farm was easy to decide, it was named after the surrounding community.  The name “Maplewood” was chosen by residents prior to 1944 to denote the area and it’s Post Office.  The mailing address at that time was Maplewood, BC, not North Vancouver.  
   In June of 1975 Maplewood Farm officially opened to the public under the management of Linda Mather.   After extensive changes were made to some of the previous dog kennel pens; development of paddocks; and the construction of stalls in the Livestock Barn for the new farm animal inhabitants, Dirk Oostindie’s dream came true!  Featured animals were a Jersey cow, a standard donkey, 5 dairy goats, a guanaco, 3 feeder pigs, a small flock of sheep, assorted breeds of rabbits, a pony, chickens, peafowl, geese and ducks, lots of ducks!  The wild Mallards decided Maplewood Farm was nirvana and loafed everywhere. 
  Ms. Mather managed a crew of 2 full time Farm Attendants, 1 part time and 2 auxiliary staff who did relief work as well as conducting guided tours for pre-booked school and kindergarten groups.  Total attendance for the first calendar year of operation in 1976 was 31,025 visitors.  Admission rates were .35 for a child and .50 for an Adult.  In addition to being the Manager of the Farm, this new position was called Caretaker and the old farm house at the front of the property went with the job!  Built by Ellis and Young in the twenties, the house experienced various improvements over the years and made a comfortable abode for Linda Mather, her husband and their growing young family.  There are 5 ornamental purple leafed Plum trees on the Farm planted centrally; they are old now but still serve as prominent shade providers.  The story behind them coming to be planted at the Farm provides a glimpse into the interest Linda Mather took in her new job.  She happened to be following a flatbed truck up Mountain Highway in Lynn Valley and observed a bare-root stock bundle of 5 little trees fall off the back.  Not one for waste, Linda scooped them up and brought them back for planting at the Farm!  Linda and her husband John acquired the building that is now the Pony Barn moved it onto the Farm and set it up on a foundation they constructed. The Mathers stayed at the Farm until November 1980, when they fulfilled their dream to relocate to their own farm on Denman Island.  
  I, April Johnston, took over the management of the Farm in December 1980.  I will never forget walking around the Farm with Linda before she left.  She gave me a list of required repairs and changes that could choke the average horse.  It was funny, when I first looked over the Farm, I did not see any of those deficiencies.  Must have been the gossamer over my eyes, I can tell you, I truly thought and still believe that someone “up there” really liked me, I couldn’t believe I had landed this job!  Over the years, we have chipped away at those old jobs and crossed them off the list and as you know, on farms everywhere, there are always repairs and changes that the farmer puts on the ever expanding “to do list”.  
  Along with a publicly funded visiting farm come the workforces who are public employees and for the most part, belong to a public workers labour union.  From time to time public unions go on strike.  It was just my flunky luck that the union local struck in January of 1981 when I was one month into the new job.  This is going to sound like a corny novel but it was a particularly cold and snowy winter (it was a dark and stormy night?) and I was challenged very quickly to pick up the reins and get on with the getting on of farm chores that had to be done.  For 5 months!  The strike ended in May 1981.  Fortunately I brought to the job 10 years experience of living on a mixed farm which included breeding and showing Toggenburg and LaMancha dairy goats under the herd name of Silmaril.  For those of you who don’t know, when a strike happens in the public sector, management types are pressed into service to do jobs sometimes quite foreign to them, this was the case at the Farm.  Along with young volunteers in the community, I got to work along side senior managers, one of whom is the present day DNV Chief Administrative Officer!  That’s right; he can shovel with the best of them!  The upside to the strike occurring was that I got to know the Farm’s animal residents and operations first hand and intimately.  It was a different Farm when the workers returned 5 months later and  I was able to put my personal stamp on its operation. 
  In those days we did not have a regular cashier, admissions were on an honour system, visitors reached into the old Ticket Booth, now the Pig and Donkey Barn, and dropped the appropriate amount of money into a little hole in the counter and the annual family membership count was 5 families strong, compared to 450 active memberships now.  Since 1975, 6,230 new family memberships have been issued.   As you can imagine the Farm appeals to a very specific demographic, not just animal lovers, but typically young families with children in the age range of a year to 11 years for girls and for boys, their interest tends to move on after about age 9.  Consequently there is a built in “turnover” for Maplewood’s clientele. In view of the need to increase public exposure and attendance, Special Events were started in December 1980, the first one being a Shar Pei dog display, presented by a friend of mine, Myrtle Thuler who was also a Nubian dairy goat breeder.  Heh, we were scratching to get something off the ground in short order!  In subsequent years, the Country Christmas event took place in December inside the Livestock Barn featuring singers, dancers and story telling all under the beautiful seasonal decorations put up by Farm Staff.  The last Country Christmas to take place was in 2006.  As most event planners will tell you, special events require a lot of money and if the event takes place in a primarily weather dependant facility, money can be lost so we unfortunately had to cancel the Country Christmas event.  We are looking at trying a different less expensive Christmas event for 2010:  Photos with Santa and a farm animal!
  Other Special Events held annually over the years were Farm Fair in September; 101 Pumpkin Event in October; Sheep Fair in May.  Of these Sheep Fair remains; the 30^th Annual will be held on Sunday, May 30, 2010, it is always held on the last Sunday each May.  A professional shearer shears the sheep and a team of Border Collie Dogs herd the Farm’s uncooperative sheep flock and some cooperative ducks!   Members of the Greater Vancouver and other Weavers and Spinners Guilds conduct displays with some hands on demonstrations of carding, spinning and weaving.  
  A basic but important addition to the Farm’s building inventory was the public washroom in June 1983.  The building was constructed at North Vancouver’s Sutherland High School with funding from the Lynn Valley Lions Club.  It was transported to the Farm site by the kind donation of Len’s Trucking flatbed service and placed on the prepared concrete slab.  Prior to this facility, visitors’ toilet accommodations were of the portable nature which did not work for folks in wheelchairs.  
  Another important addition to the Farm in 1983 was Derek Palmer, a young man from North Vancouver who had other aspirations but the Farm hooked him.  He definitely goes against the old adage, “how ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm....”, we still have him and we’re gonna keep him!
   Derek started as an auxiliary and is now our full time Senior Farm Attendant and acts as Farm Manager when I am away.  Rounding out the staffing complement in the full time section are Nadine Gibbon, Farm Attendant and Dave Wellman, Cashier; Pam Blewman is our regular part-time Farm Attendant; and we have 5 auxiliary staff who work either as Farm Attendants or Cashiers:  Courtenay Fraitzl, Jim Petersen, Maria Cheechoo, Ava Johnson and Asha Sehra.    
  In the summer of 2009 the Farm was successful in obtaining a Young Canada Works project grant which enabled us to offer guided farm tour services; special hands on demonstrations usually featuring a dairy goat or other animals and craft table work.   Sandrine Ribaille proved herself to be a very capable as our 2009 Farm Host.   We hope to once again be able to offer this position as well as a Volunteer Coordinator for the summer of 2010.  All of the Farm Staff are loyal folks and it is a hard place to break into the workforce, folks hardly ever leave!  One auxiliary had to wait 9 years before becoming a full time attendant and he ultimately stayed with us until retirement having worked at the Farm for 17 years total.  You can read about the farm hand bios on our fun website: www.maplewoodfarm.bc.ca

The Parks Dept. relocated a 21’ X 34’ greenhouse from another area to the Farm in 1984.  Glass and aluminum construction with a 21’ X 15’ concrete block workshop, this display house has offered up a tropical haven during inclement winter weather and was an important grow house when the Parks Dept forced bulbs for a gigantic display garden held indoors at the North Vancouver Curling Rink for Expo ‘86.  Today, we would like to move towards a connection between the animal farm components and food crop production especially with today’s emphasis on and interest in growing your own foods and the 100 mile diet idea.  We will be pursuing options of converting the present tropical plant display to one of hothouse food crops and possibly different plants through a garden club or other plant enthusiasts.  One of our regular adult volunteers, Norma Buchan and her sister, Coryn  have worked on a wonderful little display vegetable garden next to the greenhouse where they had 20 foot high sunflowers this past summer!  We plan to expand this outdoor area for display and possibly on an allotment garden basis.  
   The DNV Buildings inspector condemned the Livestock Barn in June 1992 because the timbers were undersized and on 24” centres and it had other structural concerns as evidenced by its sagging top line.  Being one of the original buildings constructed by Mr. Ellis and Mr. Young in the twenties, we accepted that it’s time had probably come.  It was devastating to the business and operation of the Farm because we used it extensively for displays, being the largest of the public access structures we had.  We were allowed to put the animals in it at night and have staff access only, no public access.  Since I live in the house on the property as did Linda Mather, every time I heard a big boom outside at night I would look out the window and pray it wasn’t the barn collapsing.  The barn stood until April of 1993 when it was bulldozed but not before we had a commitment to rebuild.  I couldn’t help but feel once again that somebody “up there” likes me when in February 1993, a man I had never met before approached me in the Storage Barn on site.  He introduced himself as Jeff Stringer and a member of the Sterling Community Service Foundation.  He outlined projects such as building playgrounds, painting schools, and other community improvements that the SCSF had done elsewhere all under the name of, wait for it, events they called BARN RAISING!  I said pardon?  He asked me if there was anything we needed here at Maplewood.  I very flippantly remarked, “ya, how about a new Livestock Barn, ours is condemned!”  Jeff was thrilled and I think he couldn’t believe his luck, he had found a place with some real needs and so the rebirth of Maplewood Farm was set in motion.  I believe that if it were not for this successful initiative, the Farm would have been closed since such an integral part of our infrastructure was no longer viable.  
   In the early stages countless Sterling Community Services volunteers worked behind the scenes with their network of contacts and with DNV staff organizing goods and services, the scope of the project from my perspective now 17 years later is mind boggling!   And the kicker was that they had already set a date for the big public Barn Raising event to take place: May 1 & 2, 1993 and my first contact with Jeff was as mentioned, February, 1993.  A fund raising initiative was commenced which ultimately gathered $82,000 for materials over those already donated goods and services acquired through their network.  From the architectural design of the new Livestock Barn, engineering services, heavy equipment, concrete foundations work down to the acquisition of landscape materials, all of these and more were donated; this project was of colossal proportions and went far beyond the replacing of one barn on the site.  At 52’ X 60’, the Livestock Barn was more than doubled it’s original footprint size and at 30’ tall was double the former height; a new 27’ X 14’ Rabbitat and Peacock Palace building was constructed; a new 1500 sq. ft Picnic Shelter designed and constructed  ( prior to this, visitors had to sit in the rain to eat lunch on inclement days);  the Aviary received colourful murals on the back walls; 30 picnic tables were built; Goathill was re-landscaped; hedging trees planted; buildings painted; fences mended  and many more smaller projects were accomplished with the work of 1500 volunteers who descended onto the Farm on that weekend in May finishing off projects that had been started in the weeks before then.  This huge public effort, we feel, secured the future of the Farm in the community for decades to come.
  It is fitting that Dirk Oostindie, Parks Superintendent for 32 years, had retired in April 1993 but came out of retirement to participate in that magical weekend in May 1993.
  Over the years the funding focus of the Farm has changed to the extent that it is now viewed as a business unit that should at least be paying for itself if not making money as well.  This is different than the original mandate of a completely publicly funded park-farm that was to operate like other public parks.  Capital funding from the District of North Van for a 650 sq. ft. Visitor Centre was viewed as a tool that would not only enhance the entrance of the Farm and services offered to visitors but also contain a retail component that would enable the Farm to offer items to increase the revenue flow.  Construction started in 1999 and the very first Maplewood Farm Visitor Centre opened in May 2000.  The barn-red building features an attractive gatehouse entrance arbour, snack and beverage machines and the gift shop specializes in only farm themed items.  
   Capital funding was also forthcoming in 2000 for the restoration of the Storage Barn, one of the original buildings on site.  The 60’ X 33’ ft. building was picked up and placed back down on new wall studs and concrete floor and footings which replaced the original wood floor and wood block foundations.  Overall the headroom of the barn was increased by 2 feet and the interior is much more suited to staff work routines and needs.  It includes a 15’ X 12’ feed room we like to call Fort Knox because it is completely sealed from vermin invasion.  A 11’ X 11’ isolation stall for large animals, a 12’ X 9’ staff room, a staff wash room, dairy sink work area and tool storage.  The back third of the building holds our local and alfalfa hay and straw and shaving storage.  
   After all these major barn improvements, it seemed like it was time to hold a good old fashioned Barn Painting Bee.  June 8 & 9 of 2002 saw 100 volunteers from the ranks of Farm Staff, Annual Farm Members and other interested folks join together to paint all the buildings on site!  The Farm acquired a cohesive red barn and cream trim colour scheme.  
  When the office staff, the Cashier and I, moved into the Visitor Centre it left the old Ticket Booth vacant, the Sicilian Miniature Donkey housing was attached to it.  Since our Pot-Bellied Pigs were housed in a temporary stall in the Livestock Barn, in 2003 we made modifications to the building and it is now called the Donkey and Pig Barn.Around this time we added an 8’ X 10’ barn style garden shed adjacent to the Goathill Paddock to house a new small group of Angora goats.  We had not kept Angoras for some time due to lack of proper housing for them.
  Our tom turkey and his hen were housed for many years in our Poultry Barn and on occasion we would have them out and about running around on the Farm during open hours.  As expected, the tom took to the silly behaviours most farmers have experienced with them, running at folks, beating up whatever he could get his wings on.  So back to the hen house they would have to go until Rob Griesdale, North Vancouver resident and husband of one or our then auxiliary Farm Attendants, Erika Nassichuk, offered to design and build a “Turkey Townhouse” if we supplied materials.  We located the new structure as an annex to the Aviary.
   Throughout 2008, the Farm Staff were lead through a process by other NV District Staff to develop a Business Plan for the financial management of the Farm, the first ever in the Farm’s 33 years of operation.  
  In the fall of 2009, Mr. And Mrs. Robert Newland of North Vancouver kindly donated a solidly built 10’ X 10’ garden shed, even paying for its removal from their property, transport to the Farm and reconstruction on the Farm’s site.  Farm Staff constructed a paddock around the building and we intend to use it to house buck goats.  Currently housing “Al Gora”, our Angora buck and two visiting Angora does from our doe group.  
  On the north end of the Storage Barn we have always had an outdoor hand washing facility.  Conveniently located next to the Goathill visiting paddock, we encourage people to wash hands frequently and we place a high priority on our visitors staying clean and healthy.   In July 2009 we took it to another level, installing  a custom made $10,000 stainless steel hand washing trough style sink with access heights to accommodate both adult and child size visitors, complete with 6  foot operated taps that dispense warm water only.  This new addition compliments the numerous Purell gel dispensers we have distributed throughout the Farm and the washroom building with its sink facilities.
  From 1975 through to the end of 2009 2,381,023  visits have been recorded for Maplewood Farm, an average of 70,030 per year.  Statistics for the first 10 years were relatively low, less that 50,000 per year which reduces the overall annual visitation statistic.  
   The Farm’s current animal inventory is a bit bigger than the early days, starting from the biggest they are:  2 Belgian Draft Horses; 2 Hereford Cows; 1 Jersey Cow; 3 Sicilian Miniature Donkeys; 3 Shetland ponies; 1 Miniature Horse; a flock of 12 assorted sheep; 11 dairy goats: 3 LaMancha, 3 Alpines, 1 Toggenburg, 2 Nubians and one Saanen; 22 African Pygmy or Nigerian Dwarf goats; 5 Angora goats; 2 German Shepherd Dogs (night shift, not on public display!);  2 Pot-Bellied Pigs; 12 New Zealand White Rabbits; 1 Guinea Pig; 4 Geese; 2 Turkeys; 35 assorted chickens; 10 Indian Runner Ducks; 100 Mallards; 40 Wood Ducks; and an Aviary housing donated feathered  residents from a Macaw down to finch and canaries.  
   I have felt it important throughout this article to fill in background and list historical information about the Farm and you may wonder what Maplewood Farm is and what is its significance to the whole scheme of things?   In addition to being a 5 acre visiting farm where folks can get up close and personal to a wide variety of farm animals and birds, Maplewood has a social context as well.  In it’s incarnation as a public visiting Farm I believe Maplewood to be an important thread in this community’s social fabric.  The Farm has been instrumental in providing a facility where young people who are in trouble with the law can come to perform court appointed “community hours”.  I have met many of those socially problematic children who have come back to visit the Farm with a spouse and child and felt is necessary to share their youthful misdeeds; how “working at the Farm” really and truly helped straighten them out!  Some of these young folks learned for the first time in their lives how to use a rake and a shovel.  
  For seven organizations that assist clients who may have developmental, psychiatric or reintegration problems, the Farm provides an ideal outreach sheltered workshop location. These volunteers bag birdseed we sell in the Visitor Centre; walk and groom ponies; clean and re-bed stalls and most importantly, gain a reason to get up in the morning and go to the Farm where they are always welcomed.  Some of the individual volunteers have been coming to the Farm for almost 20 years!  The therapeutic benefit of animal and human connectivity is a topic well explored and I need not preach to the converted here.  I feel this represents the intrinsic value of Maplewood Farm.
 The mission statement we have set out for the Farm is:  Maplewood Farm strives to provide a unique experience, incorporating enjoyment, education and a recollection of the rural heritage of this pastoral 5 acre setting.   We hope the Farm will continue to fulfill this mandate for many years to come.