Pick Strawberries with Your Dad this Father's Day

This morning, after a visit to the Brantford Farmer's Market, we went strawberry picking at Sunny Terrace Farms, along Salt Springs Church Road just outside of town. The road winds along the Grand River to an expansive strawberry patch, where we picked three flats (18 pints?) of strawberries for just $30.00, roughly half the price if you buy them already gathered. I usually have found some excuse for missing berry picking, yet have never felt guilty enjoying the fruits of my family's labour! It was a great way to spend an hour with my family, and I highly recommend strawberry picking as a Father's Day event!

Wellington County's First Electric Car

When I remember my dad this weekend, one of the memories that comes to mind is the electric car he built for me in the basement of our house in Clifford, Ontario. My dad, Wayne Demerling, was an automobile mechanic by trade, the old school kind that knew how to fix things. His skills were learned on the shop floor of Demerling's Garage, founded by his dad Eldon in 1939, and still in operation today by grandson Terry.

When I was no more than four or five (late 60's) my dad built an electric car, using a car battery and an electric motor. I remember it had a wooden body, painted green by me with some paint found in the house. It had a lever for forward and reverse, and I would careen around the jack-post in the open basement in Wellington County's first electric car.

I don't remember the car being around very long, but do recall it made its final trip to the old Clifford dump (where another Demerling innovation - a snow-machine built from an Isetta) ended up.

I wish I had a photo of that car, and more photos of my dad, as I remember him this Father's Day.