Education

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The Salt Spring Farmers' Heritage Foundation organizes school tours of the Bittancourt House Museum complex including the Antique equipment, restored Saw Mill, and Blacksmith shop. The Heritage Foundation also hosts annually, in July, Heritage Day, a community celebration of our island farming traditions.

The recently built Heritage Gallery (funded through a grant from the BC/Canada 150) provides a venue to educate the public and especially our youth. It is a research area that incorporates a screening room and study centre ideal for carrying out projects and research. Finally, the space becomes a community meeting place and offers another opportunity for youth to get access to past traditions and stories.

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We collaborate with island schools in an educational capacity both to offer tours to students, and to work together on group and school projects using the resources in our collection. If you are an educator, please get in touch! 

The Salt Spring Farmers' Heritage Foundation Museum Complex, which includes the Bittancourt House Museum, the Blacksmith Shop, the Antique Equipment Restoration Shop and the Restored Sawmill, is a unique and valued asset to our island community.

 

The Museum is open to the general public, school and off-island tours, local citizens and island tourists. Admission is free or on a donation basis.  In addition to the Museum building, the Heritage Foundation also operates a restoration workshop dedicated to rebuilding and restoring antique agricultural equipment.

 

Publications & Books

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A HISTORY OF AN ISLAND CALLED SALT SPRING, AGRICULTURE: Farms, Farmers and Farming, by Morton B. Stratton (August 1991).The Stratton manuscript is a comprehensive and detailed account of the history of agriculture and the people of Salt Spring Island from the Settlement and struggle for Survival 1859-1885 to the Post-War decline of farming as the mainstay of the island economy. The writer was a history professor at a Denison University in Ohio and moved to Salt Spring in retirement. Morton's family gave the Farmers' Heritage Foundation permission to publish the Manuscript which has among its many benefits a significant educational component for our schools.

Purchase this book at the Museum.

Since 1895, the Farmers’ Institute has been representing the interests of farmers and agriculture, hosting our seminal community event, the Salt Spring Island Fall Fair, and building this community.
The Farmers’ Institute is committed to the promotion of agriculture and the preservation of farmland on Salt Spring Island. As a major contributor to the Salt Spring Island Area Farm Plan, the Farmers’ Institute works actively with local governments on a range of agricultural issues.
To purchase this book, visit the museum where it's on display for sale.

BOOK A SCHOOL TRIP

To book a museum visit for your class or school, send us an email.

Thank you to the SSI Foundation for its support.