All about Kada's Garden(s) (and farms)

Tour 1 - Welcome to the Jungle

Introduction

Ever since I was young growing up on the west coast of Canada i have had a passion for nature. Always, anything nature, has caught my attention and to this day is what truly inspires me. In my early years all animals had my attention, especially reptiles & amphibians. As I grew up it never faded and when my father took me to a pet store and bought me my first pet tarantula the obsession really took hold. I spent most of my teen years skipping school and having fun. Instead of playing computer I was more interested in photographing frogs, spending all night out in freezing ponds finding frogs and breeding an assortment of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates in our house. I had pretty understanding parents to say the least.

At 19 years old I met what is now my wife while visiting my father one weekend. Shortly after I moved to Taiwan which meant me having to find new homes for all my animals. Once here, and free of all animal responsibilities (they REALLY tie you down!) my plant obsession really crept up on me. Although there are many fascinating animals here, which to this day I fully enjoy photographing and watching, I have grown to have some reservations about keeping animals captive. And so I have plants.

It is here in Taiwan that my passion for plants grew to a new level and I became border line obsessed, luckily finding a woman as crazy as my parents to allow such an intrusive hobby. About 1 year after I first arrived in Taiwan I started getting really fascinated in the local plant based foods, especially fruit, and also got into collecting cacti. Another year later I was full on into breeding and trading cacti. With the cactus bug stinging very hard, I began to think off a way to justify my expenditures and started to think about selling them. I started a simple free online shop and began selling a few things such as cactus and seeds from plants I grew in my garden. At this time Kada’s Garden was little more than 2 balconies crammed with pots on benches with cacti and a make shift rooftop garden I managed everything non-cacti.

In 2009 I took over my wife's parents land and started a real farm and built a greenhouse for cacti. It was at this time it became serious and more of a nursery proper. And now here we are today, still small but exporting worldwide. We do not hire anyone, except the odd family member when things get too busy, and we still stick to our roots. Me and my wife do all of our business from email/phone, to website design, to growing, shipping etc. We breed our own stock, and take good care of our land. We use strictly hand tools only, with an initial exception when we plowed the field. We do not spray anything, making everything super clean and fertilizers are only in the form of manure and compost. For more specific info on our farm see the contents above.

Last Updated: January 20, 2012