Paradise Found is a six and a half acre sanctuary on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada, stewarded by Penny and her husband of 20 years, John. After eight years of restoration, renovation and reclamation, the land fosters frog ponds, bat, butterfly and bird habitat, a small orchard of pear, apple and cherry trees, an edible garden of rotating bounty and two equine guardians, Dancer and Cocoa, who contribute to the cycle of life with compost and continuous aeration of soil and space as they freely roam the green pastures.

The principles of Permaculture are being implemented as the land calls to be included in the dialogue of sustainable living on this “blue planet called earth.” (see "Perma What?")

Paradise Found is a place of simple beauty, surrounded by cedars, alders, Douglas fir and holly. An all-season creek meanders (and sometimes roars) through the land as eagles and hawks soar overhead, and a pair of resident ravens cackle and call inspiration from the tree tops. Smudge, our resident feline, prowls the four corners scouting out wandering visitors who might lye in the nearest sun patch with him or wish to enter the inquiry of "the relaxation of effort."

A Dream Lodge in the center offers space to move, breathe, write, paint and dream new dreams of both personal and planetary healing and possibility.

Day and weekend retreats are offered throughout the year, as well as opportunities for self designed and directed retreat for those who feel called to land and tend time in Paradise to dream, rest and replenish the part of the World Soul you are carrying at this precious time on the planet.

Penny offers retreats as Rites of Passage for teens, Mother/Daughter transitions, Life passages, (significant birthdays and life transitions) as well as artist retreats for those wishing sanctuary to enter, tend or complete creative projects in writing, painting or other creations in the healing arts.

“Our separation from the sacred, the pain of our isolation, may this be the open door that leads us to the table of restoration. May we sit around the table, may we break bread around the table, may we stand on top of the table, may we turn the table over and dance, leap, leap for joy…. Conserving a spirit, our own spirits once lost, now found. Paradise found, right here on this beautiful blue planet called earth.” Terry Tempest Williams, Leap

Photograph by Catherine Martell