Harrowsmith Fall 2019 | 69ROSE ROGAN
Ridge. Life transitions can be as
sharp as a left turn in a dune
buggy or as graceful as an eagle’s
glide as it circles the sun; in this
case, a series of fortunate events
allowed her to more or less
evenly exchange her small-hold
farm in a sea of suburban
development for a 4.6-acre
property not far from the
Cowichan River, with rows of
Christmas trees covering two
acres, and a second-growth cedar
forest and a peat-bottomed pondcovering the remainder. Typical
lowland forest land, it’s very
much part of the Cowichan River
Basin, with ponds and creeks
running to the river filtered
through ancient peat bogs under
mainly cedar and Douglas fir,
with salal, mahonia and
huckleberry making up much of
the understorey. Of course, that
means acidic soil.
I ask Rose if she has consciously
applied permaculture ideas in her
design. She shrugs and says: “No,