A Yellow Point farming family is rebuilding after their prized historical barn was reduced to ashes, along with part of their livelihood.
Justin and Rebecca Dault moved onto the property in 2018, coming from Langley with hopes of escaping the city scene and starting a new life in agriculture with their children.
Nestled in between Nanaimo and Ladysmith, Yellow Point Farms developed from a small blueberry farm to a popular agri-tourism hub which offers not just sustainably farmed produce and meat at their store, but also educational opportunities and tours for all ages.
The farm hasn’t been quite the same, though, since the evening of May 1 of this year, when the Daults looked out their window to see their 7,200-square-foot storage barn up in flames.
The two rushed to save what they could, including birds and tractors outside the barn, but they were unable to save anything inside as it was “already totally engulfed” in flames.
Although they were lucky to not lose any animals, the barn was their main storage for the farm and they lost freezers, feed, tools, their kids’ sports equipment, honey and jam jars along with a walk-in cooler and blueberry sorting room.
“It feels like [we lost] everything that we need to do farming, so our livelihood…” said Rebecca. “There were baby animal stalls and luckily, we had just had the babies birth in there then they go to a different paddock and we’d just moved them the week before, so no animals, but there was a feed and tack room, hay and feed and all the tools, it was everything needed, everything for every season.”
The morning after the fire, which was later found to have started from an old freezer, they felt lost, she said. In the back of their minds the thought of having to sell the farm worried them as blueberry season was approaching and they had lost all of their equipment, but at around 9 a.m., neighbours starting flooding onto the property.
“Our power was out because the fire burned the power surge, so they pulled up with generators, they pulled up with a truck full of hay, they pulled up to just talk and bring coffees,” Rebecca said. “The community [support] was amazing for us, we just couldn’t believe it and really affirmed that we should be here and keep going, trying our best.”
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The couple, along with friends and community volunteers, got to work. They built temporary structures to store hay and they used a donated shipping container to store tools and other equipment throughout the summer. Along with donated tools, hay and equipment from neighbours, a GoFundMe was set up by a friend to raise money for the farm and has since raised over $25,000 which has been a big help. “The biggest thing we lost this year was revenue,” Justin said, adding that the farm was unable to hold its usual spring and summer camps which he said are always a big hit and sell out right away. “It’s been a real struggle, we’re a growing farm and we count on those little things, but we’re lucky that it didn’t affect our store.”
Despite the problems they faced, blueberry season went without a hitch, even if “it looked a bit different this year,” he said.
Justin said he hopes to get started on rebuilding the barn now that summer is over, but there are still some unknowns. Although the 100-year-old barn structure would cost more than $1 million to rebuild, the Daults will only be able to get about $275,000 from their insurance. They’re also unable to get anything for the tools and equipment they lost as they need proof of the contents of the barn when it burned.
Although they may be unable to rebuild the barn exactly as it was, they will still need some sort of shelter for their animals and tools before the winter.
“I kind of laugh because it hasn’t really rained since [the fire], so we haven’t been as concerned about all our chickens and everything else that are just free ranging right now,” Rebecca said. “Now that blueberry season is closing, it’s time to get on figuring out the next step for the barn.”
With squash, pumpkin and garlic season arriving, the couple, along with their employees and volunteers, have another hard season on their hands, but they are optimistic about their future.
“This happening, you can either sell right now … because you burned your whole farm down, or you can just rebuild and reset,” said Rebecca. “And so it affirmed to us from everyone’s outpouring that we’re doing the right thing. We love the community. We love where we live. And we believe in what we’re doing. So it’s kind of made it even more important to keep doing it.”
