In 2020, Christi Garneau and John Bisaillon purchased what is now known as the Creek View Acres Orchard and Nursery, with a vision of growing a variety of fruits, perennials, and trees and offering events to help bring to life the rich history of the farm.
Garneau explained their journey of looking for and eventually buying the property.
“In the early days of the pandemic…it was very much about finding the right place…we were fortunate that the seller, the steward before us here at the farm was looking for someone who would continue her vision for it to be a farm…we were looking for a place that had to be small [and] within our budget, and we wanted to grow trees…it had to be the right canvas,” said Garneau.
Nevertheless, both Garneau and Bisaillon had family connections to farming, which drew them to owning and developing a working farm.
“John comes from a big farm family…but sometimes there isn’t always room for everyone [to lead the family farm], so you have to find your own way. But for me, it was really reconnecting with my farming ancestors. My great-grandfather was a nurseryman and involved in the small fruit business east of Toronto in the early 1900s…so in many ways, it’s also in my blood and the work that we’re doing here at the farm is about reconnecting with my ancestors,” explained Garneau. “In that regard, we’ve been working hard to put the farm back into agricultural production…And in many ways that’s what has also inspired the farm history series as far as being part of the Doors Open program.”
However, Garneau has incorporated her training as a historian and genealogist to further explore the rich past of the farm.
“I am a rural historian by training, and I also have my master’s in the subject. I’m also an experienced genealogist, so when we first looked at the farm, [we knew that] there are two types of farms in rural Ontario. The ones that have been within the same family for many generations [which] we have a lot of those in the County of Brant. And there are those farms that change hands many times over their history [which] ours, was one of those. What I did was I took the 1875 Smith & Page Atlas of the county [which has] fairly extensive maps of Brantford and Brant County, and using the lot and concession number…I could see that this property was owned by the estate of Thomas Sargent,” Garneau said. “Now using my genealogy skills, I went to the historic census data to find out more about who he was…trying to find out who his family members were…and where they had come from and their identities. Then using the land registry records, which are indexed volumes of the legal transactions of the buying and selling and mortgaging [properties]…I then traced things forward [and] found the succession of families after the Sargent’s retired from farming in 1915. I also used the Brantford Expositor’s digitized archives [during our research] … [and] as you read [all of these documents] …you can actually feel the story come to life. And that’s when we first find out that Mr. Sargent had an unfortunate and tragic death, and seeing how that shaped the family going forward.”
With this knowledge, Garneau and Bisaillon looked to incorporate the property’s history in a recent community initiative called Doors Open Ontario’s ‘Along the Grand’.
“I have been to the Doors Open event about 20 years ago in Toronto…[but] this is a first for the County of Brant, City of Brantford and Six Nations. What I saw was an opportunity to contribute to a program in its infancy and help get it off the ground, but also for a chance to bring a different dimension, because many of the other historical sites are often exceptional [involving people] that have done something transformative, “Garneau explained. “There is the Bell Homestead…[where] Alexander Graham Bell [lived], the Chiefswood National Historic Site [the birthplace and childhood home] of Pauline Johnson, and the Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Homestead…[early home] to Adelaide Hunter Hoodless. But our reality is that most of us are everyday people, living everyday lives. And there’s a relatability to our farm’s history, because the Sargent family, who were our first settler farmers on this land, were just regular people going about their day to day lives.”
Nevertheless, the farm’s structures are important keys to revealing its history.
“If you drive around the countryside and see the old barn here, and if you’re not someone who grew up around them or in them, there’s a level of mystery and intrigue. So, we use the structures on the farm in order to tell the stories and bring things full circle,” noted Garneau. “Because what’s really neat about the old barn is that its foundation dates back to the 1880s which was when the Sargent family was here, everybody [after them] made their own improvements on it. And our most recent, prior owner, redid the horse stalls. It’s a nice kind of full circle, and you can see over time how the property has changed and how each family has left their impression on it.”
Along with a dedication to preserving the farm’s history and educating the public about it, Garneau and Bisaillon have also been focused on growing and providing an assortment of foods, plants and fruits, including apples.
“We are a nursery and an orchard…on the nursery side, we specialize in trees, shrubs, and perennials that are winter-hardy to Southwestern Ontario. We also have a robust fruit tree, berry bush, and vine sales program early in the season that complements the orchard. When we started planting our orchard…[we] had over stock…so we sold [some of the trees and scrubs] and that was part of how the nursery side got started…we have 20 different varieties of apples planted here at the farm as well as peaches, plums, cherries, nectarines and raspberries…we have a little bit of everything,” said Garneau.
As Garneau and Bisaillon edge closer to being owners of the Creek View Acres at the five-year mark, they look to continue building a unique experience within the County of Brant.
“We are also mindful that we are the stewards of the farm…and that we’re fortunate to be able to live here, but also open the property up for garden tours. We do family events where it’s important to us that family fun on a farm is affordable. We know a lot of people are feeling the pinch of broader economic circumstances, or if you have a big family, some of the other opportunities might be out of the budget, [so] we like to keep things within reach of most families,” she said. “There are six acres of professionally landscaped gardens which provide opportunities for photography…[and] there are a lot of different things on the go. And as is often the case with a farm this size…we have to have a very diversified business model, rather than the much larger farms in our community that tend to specialize in a handful of things.”
