Mark Cullen
A war hero’s Vimy Ridge oaks and his garden plot vision,
We are in the midst of Veterans Week here in Canada as we approach Remembrance Day. It’s a great time to hear good stories that illuminate the meaning of this special time of year. I have one such story — a gardening story and a war story. But it is mostly a character story. Pioneer in Agincourt: Monty McDonald is a Torontonian who grew up in what is now Agincourt. In the early 1950s, his father was a high school shop teacher at Agincourt C.I. “We were out for a family drive and my dad noticed the ‘Vimy Oaks Fruit and Vegetables’ sign on Kennedy Rd., just north of Finch,” McDonald says. “We wheeled in and the owner, Leslie Miller, was on hand, a farmer in his 60s with a lot of common interests with my father.”
Miller had served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the battle of Vimy Ridge, in France, on April 9, 1917, during the First World War. The Ridge was captured by Canadian forces from the Germans that day and, with the victory that claimed nearly 11,000 Canadian casualties, Canada became a nation. The French had tried on previous occasions to take Vimy but failed, with the inconceivable loss of more than 100,000 men.
“Many soldiers realized that they had been part of something truly great,” McDonald says of Miller’s experience. “Leslie looked around for a souvenir on the Ridge, which was completely devoid of structures or vegetation due to shell fire but he did find a half buried oak tree. He gathered up a handful of acorns nearby to bring home.” Education cut short: When Miller came home, he enrolled at the University of Toronto with a major in modern languages — he spoke fluent Spanish, German and French. But his formal education was cut short when he contracted scarlet fever. The cure at that time was plenty of bed rest and fresh air for five years. His father gave him a 20-acre section of the family farm on Kennedy Rd. With the help of his dad and brother, Leslie built his own house and barn. He sectioned off parts of his property into an orchard, beehives, market gardens, and hay and alfalfa fields. The lot included a section of mature hardwood bush and it was here that he planted his Vimy oaks. Vimy oaks alive today: By some miracle the oaks are still standing, although surrounded by urban development. They are so big that I can barely touch my fingers when I wrap my arms around them at chest height. They have nearly a twometre girth. It is remarkable that these oaks still stand as a reminder of the Vimy experience for Canadians almost 100 years ago. As McDonald told me this story, it dawned on me that Miller was in- deed a renaissance man. When I looked at a hand-rendered sketch of the farm and garden, I noted that an area had been cordoned off as a “garden plot for new Canadians.” I asked: “What’s this all about?” Toronto’s first: “During the early ’50s, many immigrants from Europe were moving into new subdivisions in the Agincourt area,” says McDonald, who spent seven years during his teens doing farm work for Miller. “Leslie had a long-term ambition to reach out to people from other nations. He would spot them while delivering vegetables in his neighbourhood and invite them to come to his farm.”
Miller offered the opportunity to grow food on his farm, on a designated plot, in return for help with his fruit and vegetable crops.
His was probably the first community garden in Toronto.
I contacted my friend Nick Saul, president of Canadian Food Centres Canada, to see if he could help confirm that Miller was the city’s first community gardener. He did an informal survey of his network and concluded that, indeed, the Vimy oaks garden is likely the oldest in the 416 area. Leslie’s legacy: “Remarkable” is one word to describe Miller. We have all heard the stories about the First World War and German soldiers singing Christmas songs from their trenches, which were returned in kind by the Allies from their opposing trenches. Evidently, Sgt. Miller interpreted the lyrics of the German songs for his Englishspeaking comrades.
He was a remarkable man, having given 31⁄ years of his life to fight for
2 his country, then return home to build one of the earliest forms of intensive farming, share his knowledge with kids from the neighbourhood, become a passionate birder, amateur arborist, bee keeper, orchardist, maple sugar maker, food retailer and classical music aficionado.
“Generous” is another word I use to describe Miller. He was a natural teacher who took time from his intensely busy life to explain how things worked to many young people. He had no children of his own and was much like a father to McDonald after he lost his own dad when he was 16. You could say that the rest is history.
But not so fast. If McDonald has his way, history will still be in the making come April 9, 2017, when the anniversary of the Vimy battle occurs on the Ridge itself. He plans to be there on that day, with 100 young English oak trees in hand, to plant them where Canadian soldiers trod exactly 100 years before to the very day.
In the meantime, he’s trying to protect the existing Vimy oaks in Agincourt by obtaining for them an official heritage designation. Who would argue that is a bad idea? A wealthy man: We seldom take the time to contemplate the real meaning of the word “wealthy.” Miller, having died penniless at the age of 90, was a wealthy man nonetheless. He had the good fortune to have escaped serious harm while at war in Europe. Plus, he had friends, good health, a farm and the power to influence a generation of kids who did not have to go to war in order to preserve peace or their freedom. Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster and garden editor of Reno and Decor magazine. Get his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com, and watch him on CTV Canada AM every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook.