There was an interesting fellow that sold beside us as well, Walter Harvey. He had peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, and all the fruit you could imagine. Walter was a character all right and was always passing me fruit and bragging about how good it was. And I agreed, having tree ripened fruit sure made a difference. I asked myself, "why can't we get this kind of produce at the grocery store?"
Annamarie and I would talk a lot on our drive back and forth to the markets, discussing our dreams and aspirations. During those conversations we thought it would be great to leave the Fraser Valley and move to the sunny Okanagan. Annamarie also had a restaurant background like myself, managing restaurants and bars in Vancouver and Abbotsford, and as we discussed our plans for the future and what it could look like. Annamarie was one of 12 children of Hans and Mary Forstbauer and the opportunity for us to work on their farm was just not viable for us. We had looked online at property in the South Okanagan and buying a farm was not really likely either so with our backgrounds in hospitality we decided to move forward with buying a restaurant or bar.
Going down the road of purchasing a restaurant or bar proved to be very interesting. The first one we looked at was actually in Chilliwack, and when we went in to meet the owner to discuss options we were confronted by a rude man with a half shirt on and his gut hanging out. We asked for the owner and he pointed to a man in the back corner. As we were having our conversation with him he indicated that sales were really going down and he just wanted out; his only ultimatum was that we keep his manager on for at least one year as he didn't want to leave him high and dry. His manager- the rude one that met us at the door. We left that place pretty quickly.
So, we took a trip to the Okanagan where there were two places that we heard of for sale. One was in Penticton and had a beer and wine store attached, suites above, and a full liquor license. We thought this could be it! We showed up to the place and saw there were no windows and a name called Slack Alices. We thought hmmm, this is it? We walked inside, and realized it was a strip club and the rooms above were rented out by the hour. We left there pretty quick.
The next stop was Osoyoos; this one looked promising as well. A restaurant on the lake, beer and wine store attached, 100 seats, great. Well, we soon found out the owner wanted to keep the beer and wine store for himself for three years and wanted to be a part of the restaurant business too. We left there feeling a bit defeated as nothing was working out for us and we went back home.
So, here we were, Summer was almost over and we couldn't find anything that would work for us. The White Rock Farmers market was continuing on till October 31st and we kept brainstorming on those weekly trips.
It was now October, and Thanksgiving weekend. We were doing a steak and egg special at the hotel that Saturday morning when I went and spoke to a couple having brunch to see how their meal was. They replied that everything was great but they thought they recognized me from somewhere. I asked them if they had been in before because I am basically here 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. They said no they hadn't been here but they thought they recognized me from White Rock. They continued on to tell me that they sold their parents fruit for them at the market in White Rock, and then mentioned that her mom was hoping to sell. I quickly asked what was on the property? They said "oh there's a couple of greenhouses, a head house for germinating plants, about an acre for grounds crops, and then the rest of the 5 acres was an orchard- peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines, table grapes, and lots of varieties of apples included." The farm was located in Cawston, BC; the Organic Capital of Canada. I told them I would love to get her mothers number!
Two days later on Thanksgiving Monday, Annamarie and I headed to Cawston. When we arrived and met Shirley we couldn't believe our eyes. The property was picture perfect! Shirley was this amazingly nice person who immediately invited us into her home- a 1974 mobile home named the Vistavilla. She showed us around the home and and then took us outside for a tour. We ended up spending 8 hours with her and she showed us how to run the irrigation; all the sales records for her flowers and produce; and basically told us the history of the land since it was certified organic.
The property was listed with a realtor so we quickly made an appointment with her, made an offer, and headed back home. The next morning a phone call came in to the hotel for me, it was the realtor letting me know that our offer was accepted and that we would take possession in 30 days. It wasn't quite as easy as that, there were many hoops to jump through, but that is a tale for another time.
November 15, 2001 we moved to Cawston, BC and started farming. I was 26 years old and all my friends thought I was crazy, but I was starting a new dream with an amazing partner and we had all of our dreams ahead of us.
