As home sales break records, Fern Road Farm is holding out and staying on.
Its owners say some things are more valuable than money.
The farm is the last of its kind in the Nanaimo city limits and this year, it stands out in sharper contrast than ever to the construction moving in around it as house prices go through the roof. The farm’s owners are seniors now and they’re savouring the green-filled space more than ever.
“Oh it’s lovely,” said Deborah Wytinck, owner of the Fern Road farm. “Well you know you got spring don’t you.”
“Yeah this is a pretty special spot for sure,” said shearer Lorea Tomsin, of Country Wools.
Wytinck has gotten many offers to purchase the farm and the 72-year-old tells CHEK News that she’s been told her one-acre plot would be worth a small fortune.
Still over and over, she turns agents away.
“Oh they don’t like meeting me,” said Wytinck. “I become Brittania on the back doorstep. Unfortunately, once we’re gone, it will probably turn into a development.”
The one-acre working farm is a reminder of what Nanaimo was. If the Wytincks can, they plan to keep it going for years to come.
“It might be over my dead body. I’ve just taken a pill,” said Wytinck laughing.
A spirit that Tomsin can relate to. She has taken a young shearer, mom Alex Walters, under her wing trying to keep her passion going.
“And she’s sheared for five years. She has a baby, and she shears with a baby on her back lots of time right now,” said Tomsin.
Strong women, embracing a simpler living, but certainly not an easier one, as the pressures of modern-day life move in around them.
READ MORE: ‘Sad and happy’: Owners of longtime Nanaimo business decide to close its doors
Skye Ryan
