Fred and Monde and their 5 children recently relocated to Kelowna from the Fraser valley. They farmed and lived on Fred's 5 acres family farm. Fred lived on this farm since the age of 12. His parents Abraham Aldof and Elvira Janzen started the family farm in 1973 where they raised Fred and his two sisters. Fred's mother Elvira fondly known as Oma grew vegetables and loved canning. She grew a lot of cabbage which she used to make the family's favorite Borscht soup. She also donated farm fresh vegetables and Borscht soup to her local church family. She graciously passed the family recipes and the love of canning to Monde her daughter-in law.
Monde former first female whitewater raft guide on the Zambezi River below the Victoria Falls is now a wife, a mom and a farmer. Monde's grandfather Godfrey Manyama was a veterinarian and farmer who grew rice, millet and cashew nuts. He raised cows, goats and chickens in Western province of Zambia. Monde remembers going to milk cows early in the morning with her grandfather, she also remembers tagging along as her uncles took the cows grazing along the streams of the Barotse flood plains.
When their second child was 2yrs old , Monde went to The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) and studied Agriculture as well as Intergrated Pest Management at Agri-Food Canada.
The family grew their first crop of Red Russian garlic in 2014 by turning their 1/2 an acre backyard lawn into a garlic field, starting with 500 certified organic seed. As the garlic inventory increased in 2015 they planted more garlic in their front lawn. In fall of 2016 they took back 1/3 of the 3 acres of leased land from their rental raspberry farmer and planted more garlic. They also sold their first commercial crop in 2017 and supplied locally grown, farm fresh, pesticide free garlic to most retail stores in Abbotsford, Surrey and LangleyBC Canada.
In 2018 they expanded their production and bought twice the land in Kelowna, British Columbia. Currently they have approximately 55,000 bulbs and look forward to new opportunities in their new city.
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U-Pick Garlic Festival
July 15th 2023