The land was bought from the Esquimalt & Nanaimo (E&N) Railway in about 1887, but our particular area wasn’t farmed until about 1908. The present farm house was built in 1923 on the foundation of the original house that had burnt down. In 1930 the house was bought by Captain Porter, who operated a vegetable seed company called Mala Seed Farms (abbreviation of Malahat). Porter planted McIntosh, Grimes Golden, and King apple trees (still producing), planted raspberries, and raised chickens and sheep.
My parents, David and Laura Williams, bought the farm for $14,000 in 1952. The house came with one black chicken but no other livestock. Mom and Dad decided to get some sheep to keep the fields grazed. They also had a heifer cow for several years. Bruce, my older brother, cried when the heifer was sold, and asked:
“What are they going to do with it?”
“They will eat it” Dad said.
“Are they going to eat the horns too??” Bruce asked.
Chicken and Guinea fowl have been raised, and horses named Frederick and Nicholas were kept for a long time. Heaps of raspberries were produced over the years. Many pecks of apples have been grown as well as plums. The big plum producers have been Japanese, yellow egg, green gage, and Italian prune plums. Dad regularly won prizes for his raspberry and plum jams at the annual Cowichan Exhibition / Fall Fair. Many pounds of delicious lamb have also been raised on the farm.
Our youth was spent running around in the nearby forests making forts and playing baseball with other neighborhood kids in the fields. I burned down an older barn when I was 5 years old – playing with matches in the hay loft with my best friend!
Old Road Farm 