Get Gardening – Organically

12 April 2023Jensa NG, Mack ‘23

Six buses, 500+ Brentwood students, Service Day, over 35 families served.

Brentwood Service Day.

The goal of Brentwood Service Day is to give back to the community of the Cowichan Valley by cleaning, gardening, painting and … well, serving our neighbours across the Valley.

A few of Brentwood’s finest, fondest environmentalists were led by BEAT sponsors Mr Ganley to partake and learn about organic farming in the Cowichan Valley.

Robin McDaniel and her husband Caleb have been a part of the organic farming community for the past decade. Starting on a small scale – as they noticed their land was rich with nutrients – the couple began with “a shared plot with friends & neighbours. I think the first year we grew some lettuces and tomatoes” and a few other low maintenance fruits and vegetables. After a successful harvest, they began to take their farming more seriously. Robin and Caleb now grow more than 20 herbs, leafy & roots vegetables, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, & apples, along with 11 happy, healthy, free range egg-laying hens.

Roboin, a Brentwood alumna who graduated from Gwynneth House in ‘03, is also a speech and language pathologist (SLP) where she works with First Nations communities all over Vancouver Island, and children with speech impediments and difficulties.

Caleb is a graduate of Francis Kelsey. “He was a pilot right out of high school (thanks to the Cadet program) and then he became a heavy duty mechanic at VIU and then he went back to aviation (he still flies two days per week for Harbour Air).” Caleb learned to be a carpenter from his father, and he was described by Robin as “a jack of all trades, a real Renaissance man.” Caleb is a pilot, a member of a tug-boat crew, a carpenter, a builder of tiny homes, a father of two hands-on farm helpers, a fantastic pizza chef, and an organic farmer. I would have to agree with Robin.

Just off Telegraph Road in Cobble Hill lies their peaceful oasis. Eight acres of farmland which they bought in 2012 is home to their 1400 square foot, eco-friendly home. The couple “lived in a trailer on the property and other arrangements for two years or so as we built the house and moved in July, 2014.”

They enlightened their Brentwood Service Day students on the design of their home which has floor-to-ceiling, south facing windows to optimize the hours of sunlight in the winter, and bamboo and deciduous trees which blossom as the days begin to get longer to provide shade for the house in the warmer days of the year. In the least obnoxious, calm way, they shared that through design features, and Caleb’s handy work, the two are able to minimize their electricity use to less than half the average of homes their size on Vancouver Island.

During our time at Robin & Caleb’s, learning was not all we did. As stated earlier, Service Day is an opportunity to give back to the community, and give back we did. Weeding, planting, and pruning highlighted the manual labor that it takes to successfully grow local, organic produce without herbicides or pesticides.

To end off our day of hard work, Robyn and Caleb gifted us with fresh, homemade pizza – thanks Chef Caleb – to refuel before we made our way back to the Brentwood bus. The positive effect this family is having on our community and our ecosystem is encouragement to us all to think about the myriad actions we can take to preserve and protect our planet.

This is just one story, from one group of six students on Service Day. Just imagine the other 35 tales.

Parents, ask your kids what they got up to. Incoming students, bring gumboots, because as Christine L, Mack ‘23 learned, white Reebok Club C 85 Vintage trainers do not make for ideal gardening shoes. And readers from outside the Brentwood community, thank you for welcoming us into your homes and onto your properties! We look forward to seeing you again next year! Robin and Caleb’s roadside farm stand features their fresh organic produce from June to October at the corner or Telegraph and Wilder Roads.

Jensa NG, Mack ‘23