118SMALL PONDSListed by musician Randy
Bachman as one of Canada’s “best
slide guitarists,” Rachelle van
Zanten has spent most of her
life on the “International Rock
N Roll Highway,” paving the way
for the next generation of female
musicians. As an acclaimed
songwriter and recording/touring
artist, this Canadian roots
rocker has a knack for writing
timeless tunes that resonate with
the masses. She has released
a fresh pallet of six original
holiday classics destined for the
household Christmas playlist.
Van Zanten cut her professional
teeth as a member of the award-
winning 1990s Canadian female
rock band Painting Daisies, and
began making headlines as a solo
artist in 2005, recording four
albums in her first eight years:
Back to Francois (20 06), W here
Your Garden Grows (20 0 9), Oh
Mother (2013) and her debut
children’s album, Little Spruce
(2016). She is renowned for her
powerful live performances and
soulful Canadiana grooves that
capture the essence of her rural
northern B.C. origins.
What will you be up to in
2019–20? This year will be busy
with raising our two daughters
(ages four and seven); growing
our food; putting up the hay;
harvesting berries, fish, moose;
making and playing music;
and coaching for Spirit North
(spiritnorthxc.ca). We live in a
super-rich area and have so much
to be thankful for. Clean lakes
full of fish surround us. Forests
full of a variety of berries and
mushrooms provide for us.
A few years ago, we moved
back onto my husband’s family
farm west of Burns Lake, B.C.
His mother, Jean Paulson, was a
legendary gardener in these parts.
Every spring, the snow starts to
melt away and her legacy emerges
as bulbs pop and a stunning
perennial garden produces a new
flower every week. By late summer,
a mosaic of fragrant magic has
been created. Fruit trees, nettle
patches, fiddlehead stumps, herb
gardens and so much more adorn
the property here and there,
making each season’s harvest
diverse and exciting. I have always
loved gardening and permaculture
and couldn’t really do it while I was
on the musical road those 18 or so
years. Now I am living the dream
and I am so grateful to my mother-
in-law for that!
In between all of our home
projects, I am playing music
festivals around Western Canada.
After the big fall harvest and
month or so of canning and drying
and freezing, I’ll begin promoting
my Christmas album, It ’s
Christmas in These Parts – 1.Your name?
Rachelle van Zanten
Home (or adopted) town?
Burns Lake, B.C.
Population?
1,779