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Hatake is the Japanese word for 'farm,' the two calligraphic characters being the symbols for fire and field. In Japan it was common practice for fields and rice paddies to be burned after harvesting, clearing away the debris in preparation for future crops. We have chosen this name for our farm to honour its Japanese history. J. Ikeda, a Steveston fisherman, bought 166 acres from Archibald Inglis in 1911. Upon Ikeda's death the land was purchased in 1934 by James Keiji Sumi who built the house in 1936 and was a member of the Active Pass Growers' Association. There were at least five greenhouses on the property at the time that the Japanese were interned in 1942, but nothing remains of them except for the glass shards that will forever be a part of Hatake's soil.
Our organic gardens and orchard produce vegetables, fruit and flowers for our own consumption and pleasure as well as the Mayne Island Farmers Market. Browsing on the rest of the farm are angora goats, a miniature donkey, two horses, and a Cheviot sheep. From April through October we host WWOOFers (www.wwoof.ca) from around the world who not only help out with the farm chores but learn about natural dyeing, organic growing, animal husbandry, etc. Mayne Island (www.mayneisland.com) is one of the Southern Gulf Islands situated halfway between the cities of Vancouver on the mainland and Victoria on Vancouver Island. It has a year round population of 900 which swells to 2,000 or more during the summer months. The hub of the island is the village of Miners Bay, once a favourite lay-over for prospectors heading to the Cariboo goldfields in the 1850s.
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