Stepping into his workshop, two things will greet you at this time of year. First, will be the noise of the evaporator, humming loudly as it pushes steam up, simultaneously warming the room to a comfortable level.
The second will be a shot of maple syrup – golden brown and runny to the perfect consistency – poured from a long-finished 26er, now repurposed to hold the far-more-valuable liquid.
Of course, this warm welcome will be followed with a quick question, to the point, wondering what is thought of the syrup. Art Fleming will wait for an answer, through he already knows it, and like most everything in his life, he’s proud to share that he made it himself.
Looking around the property, it’s easy to see why Fleming was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the latest Pontiac Chamber of Commerce Gala. However, the real story won’t become clear until after speaking with him, as he’s quick to know his place in this family business.
“If I had to have that 30 years ago when I was in business, I mean, this is a hobby to me here right now,” said Fleming, gesturing to the building and property around him. “I’m working for my wife right now, I’m not working for myself.”

The Auberge Northfork is a picturesque, rural getaway, nestled onto a rolling hill with rows of trees providing a serene backdrop. This is the current venture in Chichester where Fleming is just a part-time, do-it-all handyman for his wife’s dream.
The story of the award goes back much further in the man’s life, before he even had 20 years of life under his belt.
“My dad bought our first truck in 1948,” said Fleming. “My father cashed in an insurance policy and bought a truck for us at that time.”
Though this may not be his first job in life, it is a half-decent spot to start, because from here on out Fleming’s job title snowballs. From truck driver to farmer, landscaper, lumber worker, volunteer veterinarian, the list goes on until, eventually, it’s probably easier to refer to him as just the right man for the job.
“Ask me what I didn’t do and that’d be easier to answer,” said Fleming.
While the award may be grounded in what Fleming has created and sustained to pass along to his children, Fleming Art & Sons Enterprises Ltd., it’s not hard to see where the roots of the company lay in his various careers preceding that.
Even when it took more than one job in order to make end’s meet.
One of those early jobs was working with the lumber crews in various capacities – a great way to find out how hard somebody actually wants to work, early on in life.
“I had known young men at 16 who were on the cross-cut saw and they had to put 100 logs on the skids everyday,” said Fleming. “That’s gone.”
Working in the camps, he considered six hours of sleep as a luxury. On top of that, the pay wasn’t any more rewarding than the sleep, as he came out from three months in the bush one year only to be short three dollars of being able to pay his taxes in full.
As time passed, greater opportunities presented themselves beyond the camps. While he couldn’t accept every dream job that rolled his way, there were a few that simply landed in his lap or were thrust upon him.
Like the one he fondly remembers as starting in Eganville, for helping shape his experience and skills in ways unforeseeable. What had started as a simple job for his trucks soon expanded when he kept helping with everything else, from water systems through to electrical.
After about a month of this, his bosses pulled him aside and asked him to find a new driver for his truck, because they’d like him to continue on with what they were doing. It was here that Fleming had overseen the sewers, as well as hydrants and their main valves, where, as he puts it, he earned his degree in front of him.
“It was the pride that I took out of it, in a sense, because the company was starting new in soil and water at that time,” said Fleming. “When they wanted to buy equipment, what they did was they didn’t go to the super on that job, they asked me about it.”
Later, the experience would prove even more valuable as a learning opportunity, but all along, the thing that kept his work so reliable, was his absolute pride in it.
“So, I kind of felt proud of that end of the deal because it’s not everybody that gets to do that,” he continued. “Even till today, I can remember every aspect of it.”
It’s not just how he conducted his work that’s a sense of pride in his life, but how he managed his relations with friends and family, even at the darkest of times.
Losing his older brother in a car accident, there was the eventual legalities to settle in court, something that can bring the bitter out of the sweetest people. Still, Fleming said the case took all of 10 minutes, as he knew both his brother and the other driver were good friends all their lives, and there was no point in ruining that within the ugly side of court rulings.
“When I looked back over the years, I never believed in blood money,” said Fleming.
Events like that were what made him who he was and is today. While he always made sure to find plenty to be proud of in his work, it didn’t mean Fleming wasn’t forced into roles, especially taking on a patriarchal role as a young man.
He just made sure that whatever he was doing, he enjoyed and could say that he didn’t regret it.
“I took pride in what I did,” said Fleming. “And I don’t think what I did mattered much.”
That’s not to say there hasn’t been distractions or wishing he could do a bit more of certain things, like veterinarian work, for example.
“I should have been a veterinarian,” said Fleming. “I used to go and pick [the local vet] up and take him on sick calls.”
Through this, he learned lots of the work, and despite never having the official qualifications, was relied on for his services. Neighbours would often call on Fleming for help with sick cows, knowing he could be trusted to provide a helping hand.
“I guess I delivered thousands of calves in my younger days,” continued Fleming. “Not hundreds, but thousands … It’s something that I loved doing, but I never collected five cents.”
If it were his love of animals that had him helping farmers all around him, it was his empathy collecting the cheques for the services.
“To be very honest with you, everybody was as poor as I was,” said Fleming.
Nowadays when strangers come to him, he doesn’t have to worry so much about playing the role of vet. Usually he can answer their questions with a simple pointing of his finger.
“People come in here and they want to know who the boss is,” said Fleming. “The boss is in the house. I’m busy with something here, I don’t have time for a load of big conversation.”
Of course, he talks a big game, but Fleming has been known to be quite chatty inside the house with all the guests. As long as he isn’t preoccupied by a book, guests to Northfork get the added bonus of a hearty conversation in the evening.
That’s the bonus of working at something to be proud of, like Fleming has. Though, like he says, Northfork is all his wife’s business, his work in landscaping, water and nature in general have allowed for the two of them to maintain the business mostly by themselves year-upon-year.
Starting out, Fleming took his knowledge of water and landscaping in order to tile drain the property and build nine ponds for water conservation. With all the energy he had leftover years later, rock gardens grew, and 1,500 geraniums were planted annually.
“That’s what people come for and that’s what keeps me alive,” said Fleming.
Today, while he has become more reserved in some respects (such as planting a respectable 500 flowers instead of three times that), there is still much work to be done by his hand. Maintaining his trees, chopping over 40 cords of wood for the furnace, mowing the four acres of lawn every week, plus any number of odd jobs that pop up outdoors, it all falls under his to-do list.
“I’m more relaxed in the bush … or in the gardens,” said Fleming. “I can get out there at seven o’clock and it could soon be noon, I don’t even know what time it is.”
Which, like Fleming has said plenty before and will continue to hammer into anybody looking for career advice, that’s what finding your passion in life is all about.
“You’ve got to like what you’re doing,” said Fleming. “If you don’t, try something else. That’s the problem with most everything today, there’s not enough pride in what they do. I think in my career, one of the best things I ever can say is, I don’t think there’s anything that I did that I wasn’t proud of what I did, and looked back and said, ‘I was able to do it.’”