A decade after the historic Woodward family farm in Brentwood Bay was put up for sale, a year-round farmers market with produce raised by once-homeless people officially opened on the site on Saturday.
It has been a decade of great change for Woodwynn Farms, once the bailiwick of the millionaires behind the now-defunct Woodward department stores. And the change is far from over, as the society that operates the property is once again applying to boost the number of residents living, working and healing on the 78-hectare spread in Central Saanich. This time, the increase sought from the Agricultural Land Commission is housing to accommodate 40 formerly homeless people, up from the current seven residents.
If the application is successful, 33 more residents would arrive over the next three years, said Richard Leblanc, founder and executive director of the Creating Homefulness Society that operates Woodwynn. People once in dire circumstances have renovated the main floor of the enormous barn, built in the 1940s, into what he describes as “possibly Vancouver Island’s most beautiful farmers market.”
Katherine Dedyna Times Colonist – December 11, 2016.
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