Zhoda Farms offers ethical, organic items

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This article was published 28/07/2017 (3322 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lee Fehr has been working for her uncle Dean and aunt Sara Wall, owners of Zhoda Farms, for the past three years.

An hour-and-a-half south of Winnipeg, Zhoda is free from the noise and far from the congestion of the conurbation.

“It’s nice to get out there,” Fehr said. “We have 120 acres of organic land that is nice connecting with, and being out in. I live in a city so I just think it smells good and the work is good, it’s a lot of fun being out in the woods in the middle of nowhere.”

Zhoda Farm grows most conventional vegetables, such as potatoes, corn and beets, but they also grow and harvest some unique species of leafy vegetables, berries and plants.

“Our arugula and kale are grown from heritage seed so they are non-GMO, making them a lot lighter and sweeter then the store-bought, because they are not bred to be shipped over long distances. Our kale is more like a salad or sandwich green as opposed to having to be sautéed.”

“We also have an acre of haskaps,” Fehr added. “Haskaps are a berry from the northern boreal forest popularized recently by Bob Bors from the University of Saskatchewan.”

“They are really resilient to frost and they don’t need a lot of soil nutrients or maintenance so they produce quite well and they are super hardy so that makes them ideal for Manitoba’s winters. They would be an ideal pie berry because they are very tart and a lot of people are into their complex flavor.”

Zhoda Farm’s jams and jellies are becoming quite famous for their many delightful fresh flavors.  
“Wild mulberries, strawberries, blueberries, saskatoons, raspberries, basically whatever we can find, we will jam or jelly,” Fehr said.

“We even have medicinal jellies, like a natural cough suppressant jelly.”

Zhoda sells another unique medicine, a tea made from stinging nettle.

“A lot of people have heard of the nettle plant but they don’t know what it can do,” Fehr said. “Nettle is quite an effective anti-arthritic, antihistamine and is non-drowsy.”

A more familiar food item is  Zhoda’s healthy quinoa bars.

“They are my uncle Dean’s own recipe” Fehr said. “Dean’s QuinBar is made from only seven, mostly local and organic, ingredients. The bars are high in protein and the quinoa is local, ethical and contains only naked oats, so they are gluten-free and good for people with food sensitivities.”

You can visit Zhoda Farms at the West Broadway Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays between 3  and 6 p.m. (in the hockey rink behind the Broadway Community Centre), and at our own Bronx Park Farmers’ Market on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Evan Comstock is a community correspondent for East Kildonan.