Four generations of Dewit farmers

Brian and Mandy Dewit grow about a million pounds of cranberries a year. That's their average from 35 acres of bogs in Glen Valley, according to a 2025 profile by the BC Agriculture Council.

Farming runs deep on Brian's side. His grandparents were dairy and poultry farmers, the farm's Our Story page says, and his parents, Jack and Joanne Dewit, carried on with dairy and hogs in the Fraser Valley. In 1999 the family tried something new. Cranberries.

Brian grew up on that farm. In 2010 he and Mandy planted 35 acres of their own, right across the road from the original family farm, and joined the Ocean Spray cooperative. They're raising their five kids there now, and the farm says the whole family pitches in at harvest.

Going independent in 2020

For about a decade their berries went to the co-op. Then in 2020 the Dewits decided to sell straight to BC shoppers as independent producers. That's when THE BOG brand was born, the farm says.

The product list has grown since. There's pure cold-pressed cranberry juice and a hot cranberry pepper jelly. You'll also find dark chocolate covered cranberries and a freeze-dried snack called Kenzie's Cranberry Crunch, named for their daughter Kenzie.

Local makers use the berries too. “All the alcohol vendors have used our cranberries in their products, which is a very important part of our business model,” Mandy told the Langley Advance Times in 2023, ahead of a harvest party that poured drinks from Roots & Wings Distillery and Locality Brewing.

Waders on, knees wet

Harvest is the main event. The fields are flooded, the berries are “beaten” from the vine, as the Dewits put it, and they float. Through the year the farm collects water in lagoons, then pumps it from one bog to the next at harvest and drains it back to use again, they told the BC Agriculture Council.

Each fall the farm opens for harvest tours and something it calls the Cranberry Plunge. You pull on chest waders and step into a circle of floating berries. Bring a spare pair of socks. The farm suggests it, and so do we.

The plunge is open to adults and kids over five, in groups of up to 10. Staff will take candid photos for you, and reviewers keep thanking them for it. “They were also amazing at taking the pictures,” one Google reviewer wrote.

'A whole year's worth of work'

Harvest lasts only a few weeks, and it carries the whole year. When the farm hosted its first harvest party in 2023, Mandy said it was partly a way “to take a moment and celebrate how harvest is really a culmination of a whole year's worth of work.” Brian's birthday falls during harvest too, so the party doubled as his.

Cranberries aren't a quick crop. Mandy told the paper some bogs had suffered die back after three dry summers. “Cranberries are a slow growing plant, so it takes a long time for damaged areas to be recovered,” she said.

So why do it? “We enjoy the farming lifestyle, wide open spaces for our large growing family, working the land, and being in tune with the seasons,” Mandy said.

Where to find the berries between harvests

The farm store opens in mid-September and runs Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, through harvest season. Tours cluster around the Thanksgiving weekend and the plunge runs for about two weeks, so book early. Tickets go on sale online before the season.

For the holidays, the farm store is open Fridays and Saturdays, 10 AM to 4 PM, until mid-December.

The rest of the year, look for THE BOG on local shelves. In Langley you'll find it at Lee's Market, Ralph's Farm Market, JD Turkey Farm, Fresh St Market and The Happy Kitchen in Fort Langley. It's also stocked at Safeway, Save-On-Foods and Provisions Market, or you can order from the online shop.

Planning a fall visit? Leave the dog at home. It's a Canada GAP certified food facility, so pets aren't allowed. Leave the drone too, because the farm sits in the Fort Langley airport flight path.

Photos: Riverside Cranberries.