Gartner Family Environmental History
January 25, 2025 By: Rosie Gartner
OLFM: Norman Fennema
HIST 3991: Environmental History
Rosie Gartner
January 25, 2025
My family’s environmental story intertwines German farming traditions with Canadian urban-to-rural transitions, reflecting a blend of historical necessity, cultural heritage, and personal choice. On my mother’s side, my grandparents were born in the 1920s in Germany, where their lives were deeply connected to the land through farming and traditional agricultural practices. In contrast, my paternal grandparents grew up in urban Ontario, experiencing an environment shaped by city life rather than agricultural demands. In this essay, I will primarily focus on my maternal ancestry, as I am culturally and personally most connected to this side of my family. I will explore how their relationship with the environment shaped how I was raised and influenced my family’s relationship with the land.
My maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, was born in 1922 in Rhön, Germany, into a family of ten children. Despite the industrial work of her parents—her father in mining and her mother in a cigar factory—the family relied heavily on their small subsistence farm. They cultivated a large vegetable garden and raised chickens, pigs, and goats, sustaining themselves and bartering for essentials like coffee. This mix of industrial and agrarian life demonstrated how necessity forged a close relationship with the land, even in challenging times. During World War II, Elizabeth served as a nurse, adding another dimension to her resilience.
My maternal grandfather, Anthony Gartner, was born in 1926 in Weigendorf and came from a family that had farmed the land for centuries. Their livelihood centred on sheep farming, wool production, and weaving textiles, alongside maintaining a large orchard, vegetable garden, and livestock. Their farming practices not only sustained their family but also represented centuries of environmental stewardship and adaptation to the region’s natural resources. While my grandfather rarely spoke of his time as a World War II pilot, his post-war life with Elizabeth reflected a commitment to traditional farming values. They met in 1949 and married shortly thereafter, building a life rooted in both love and the land.
After the war, my grandparents settled in Düsseldorf, Germany, where they adapted to a more urban lifestyle. Although they no longer raised livestock, they maintained a garden, continuing their connection to the environment. This transition marked a shift from reliance on the land for survival to a more intentional and recreational relationship with nature. It was on this property that my mother was born in 1954. She also had an older sister and a younger brother.
In 1965, my grandparents moved their family to Mexico City, where my grandfather accepted an engineering position. This marked a dramatic environmental transition, from Germany’s temperate climate to Mexico’s arid conditions. They adapted by gardening in this new environment, which required learning different techniques and working with unfamiliar natural resources. My mother, Sonja, grew up in this context of adaptability and resilience, learning skills such as butchering and sewing during her housekeeping training in Germany. These skills highlighted the enduring value of self-sufficiency in her family’s relationship with the environment.
On my father’s side, the story contrasts sharply. Born in 1956 in Burlington, Ontario, my father’s upbringing was urban and disconnected from agriculture. However, his later move to British Columbia and his decision to embrace rural life alongside my mother brought a transformative connection to the land into his adult life.
My own childhood reflects the blending of these diverse environmental heritages. Growing up, my family had very little money and relied heavily on the land we owned for sustenance. For the first seven years of my life, my family lived on a ten-acre off-grid property on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. Our property featured a large vegetable garden, a fruit orchard, a trout-stocked pond, and a turbine generator powered by a creek. This lifestyle mirrored my maternal grandparents’ sustainable farming practices, emphasizing self-reliance and a deep connection to nature.
When we moved to Grand Forks in the Kootenay Boundary region, we continued this tradition by raising cows and chickens and farming hay. My mother’s German traditions of land stewardship remained central to our lives, while my father embraced his new role as a farmer with enthusiasm and dedication. Together, they created a unique environmental legacy, blending cultural heritage with a conscious choice to prioritize sustainable living.
Each generation in my family has contributed to transforming their environment in meaningful ways. My maternal grandparents maintained traditional farming practices that sustained their community for centuries. My parents, in turn, brought these traditions to Canada and adapted them to the diverse landscapes of British Columbia. Whether farming hay or maintaining gardens, their efforts reflected a commitment to working with the land rather than against it.
My family’s environmental story is deeply shaped by our ethnic and cultural heritage. My maternal ancestors’ German farming traditions instilled in me a respect for sustainable practices and a deep appreciation for the land. At the same time, my father’s transition from urban life to rural farming demonstrates how environmental values can be a conscious choice rather than simply a product of upbringing.
Today, I continue this legacy by maintaining a vegetable garden and several fruit trees on my small property, doing my best to use the land to its full potential. In addition, I forage for local wild edibles, which deepens my connection to the natural environment and allows me to incorporate sustainable, local resources into my family’s diet. These practices not only honour my family’s traditions but also reflect my own commitment to environmental stewardship.
Looking to the future, I hope to continue this legacy of environmental care by teaching these values to my children. I aspire to blend my grandparents’ traditional farming knowledge with modern techniques that address today’s environmental challenges. By maintaining this connection to the land, I honour my family’s history while making choices that ensure a sustainable future.