Do you know what the gestation period of an elephant is? 18-22 months depending on the species. The reason I ask is a female elephant could have gotten pregnant and birthed a baby that would now be 18 months old in the time that I started this story and now, when it finally gets posted.
I have written 49 profiles in this series ‘Having Chickens Is A Great Way To Meet Your Neighbours’. My usual routine would be to do the interview, work on the article and hopefully have it online in a week or two. In some weird confluence of events it was months between my initial interview and deciding to post it. Just as I was about to hit the ‘publish’ button I heard the couple in question, Robyn and Dov, were moving. I put it on hold, hoping to get an update of their new place including their new chicken set up. It turned out they decided to do a massive renovation on their new acreage, which seemed to drag on and on. At some point, I’ve decided that better late than never I will publish it as is.
Robyn contacted me back in September (2020) when, as new arrivals, she and husband, Dov, were looking for chicks. I didn’t have any, but suggested she contact my friends Thomas and Elizabeth. I bumped into them a few weeks later with a toddler and newborn in tow, coming to check out their new birds the day before pick up.
A couple of months later I dropped in to meet them more formally, see their new place and scope out their birds and set up. We sat in their livingroom on a cold fall day, with me wearing a mask due to Covid protocols.
Have you ever met a couple that finishes each other sentences? They’ve a bit like that, but more so. They seem to be able to start and finish each other’s thoughts and at times have parallel conversations. It was a bit of a learning curve for me to absorb it all in stereo and to keep up with the fast pace of their storytelling of all their adventures.
They were both born on the west coast and met in university. Robyn was doing an undergrad degree in English, Dov in Psychology. Three months later they moved in together and then promptly headed off in different directions. Dov went to Spain for a language program and Robyn trekked off with her family to Russia and Mongolian on a Trans-Siberian Rail Tour adventure. Her family tradition is to take a major trip when each of the four kids graduated from high school. Other vacations included Thailand, Malaysia and Borneo; Peru and Brazil; and a jaunt through Europe.
When both of them returned back home from their respective trips what did they decide to do? More traveling, of course. They packed up and moved to Thailand for 18 months where he taught ESL and she worked in social media management.
On their return to Canada, Dov enrolled in a Masters degree in Education and Robyn, just a teeny bit jealous of his studies, decided to go for her own Masters in Library Science. He was pursuing his studies by distance, but hers required they move to Ontario for a year. The new grads moved back to the west coast, got married and bought a house in Victoria. Robyn got a job as a college librarian and Dov taught English at a private school and at the local university.
They were newlyweds when one of Dov’s students, a CEO at a décor factory offered him a job as their communications director in China. He flew off and Robyn carried on at home, joining him for a month while working online for our Citizenship and Immigration department. After a year of going back and forth between Asia and Canada, they settled back home and decided to up stakes and move yet again: this time to Vancouver. Robyn became a university librarian. Dov’s family owned a real estate investment company, which he joined as a real estate assistant doing their data analysis.
Dov was raised Jewish; Robyn converted to Judaism wanting to raise their kids in an ‘ancient culture steeped in beauty’. They attended marriage classes together for a year which was a way of learning about their history and culture.
In 2016, their son Boaz was born at home. Having a child made them start to re-evaluate their lives. The townhouse they were renting was beautiful, but the surrounding area was not. Covid seems to have been the catalyst for lots of folks re-examining their priorities and figuring out what they want to do with their lives. These two came to realize that they dealt with self-isolation well and took to being by themselves. Last spring, in the midst of the pandemic lockdown and expecting their second child, the couple concluded they wanted to live with space, fresh air and close to the ocean. Dov wanted to settle in a place that equalled the beauty of where he grew up in Victoria. The gulf islands had always been their go-to local vacation spot so they started their search, narrowing it down to Gabriola.
When Robyn was 30 weeks pregnant with their second child they bought a house here. They had made a walk-through video of their new place and watched it daily for the five weeks until they could take possession.
Having now lived here for three months they feel that they are thriving under unusual circumstances and were glad of the excuse to leave their city lives behind. They’ve listened to the episodes of the ‘Straight Out Of Gabriola’ podcast, joined several Facebook community groups and met other parents of young kids.
Like many newcomers, they both have skills sets that allow them to work at home. Robyn is currently taking care of toddler daughter Tova, but her future plans include writing and illustrating children’s books. Dov is working on a PhD in Education. His long-term goal is to teach online for a university and to redesign methods of distance education using the motivational powers usually associated with video games: progression, exploration, social collaboration and reward structures. He’s still working on the paper side of real estate transactions.
Dov and Robyn’s next project is to open the island’s first distillery, specializing in gin and whiskey made with locally sourced botanicals and kelps. They are currently at the recipe development stage and going through the application process to legally sell their products. I tried a sample of Apple Pie Bourbon, which contained sliced Ambrosia apples, corn whiskey, cinnamon, brown sugar, apple juice and cider, Nordic yeast and cloves and the kicker, 35% proof alcohol. I’m not much of a connoisseur – I didn’t even know that bourbon was a whiskey, but I would recommend it. It lived up to its name – if you closed your eyes you’d think there was a fresh apple pie baking nearby. Dov recommended drinking the liquid and then eating the apples with vanilla ice cream. I also tasted some Gin – I’m sure real drinkers would appreciate it more than my inexperienced palate.
While Dov is busy creating batches of brew, Robyn is doing research and will help market their finished products. Apparently her palate is more sophisticated than mine so she’ll be working on sampling and advising the tweaks to improve the recipes as they evolve.
They bought a pre-fab coop and made a large run in the corner of their ½ acre lot. As former city dwellers neither of them had chickens before. Thomas and Elizabeth gave them a few teenaged chicks with the understanding they could return any cockerels if they decided not to have a rooster. They are clearly at least a couple of boys in the bunch and they’ll be looking for new homes. The little flock has become part of the whole family: “Boaz loves the chickens and Tova loves their eggs. She yells until she gets her egg and toast in the morning.”
“We encourage, motivate and support each other and our crazy ideas. It hasn’t lead us astray yet.” Six months later, they bought a ocean-view acreage with tons of space for the kids, their growing projects and their flock.
Many thanks to Robyn & Dov for sharing their story and photos, used with permission.
Bitchin' Chickens 
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