V: How did you come to live on Quadra Island?

 

Carol (C): We first came to Quadra Island on a family vacation many years ago. We kept returning and staying longer, and by our third visit, I said to my husband, "I'm not leaving!" We used to spend time at Taku Resort and Marina, and that's where it hit me. There was this very special smell when the trees got very hot in the summer. They gave off an aroma in the air that took me straight back to my childhood on the Sunshine Coast. Everything here reminded me of a good childhood, and what attracted me most to Quadra was its quietness. I just felt like we should move here. My friends thought I was crazy for leaving Vancouver, but the truth is, I didn't fully use Vancouver. I lived in the city, but I never felt like I had a life there.

 

V: How did Island Bliss Farm take shape?

 

C: We finally moved to Quadra in 2005 and purchased a five-acre property. I had always wanted to run a farm stay and work from home, especially since our children were still young and in school. I studied tourism and even wrote a business plan for a fictitious Goat Mountain Lodge in Nelson. Before starting Island Bliss Farm, I spent ten years working in tourism in Vancouver. Still, everything was new to me, from running a farm stay to farming to island life, but it's been a true blessing. I get to meet people from all over the world.

 

V: What's special about Island Bliss Farm?

 

C: I grow a vegetable garden for my guests, so they can come in and pick whatever they like. In the summertime, people especially love to pick raspberries. Some of my guests enjoy being more hands-on; kids often want to walk through the forest with our goats, harvest vegetables, or dig potatoes right from the ground. I want them to see where food comes from, and I love those kinds of interactions. I also host European tour guests in May, June, and September. They have the option to join us for dinner, and I make everything from scratch. In 2023, we achieved Biosphere Certification. Our goal is to reduce our environmental impact and minimize the amount of waste our business produces. The experience is designed to help guests effortlessly lower their carbon footprint while staying with us.

 

V: Could you elaborate on Biosphere Certification?

 

C: It's an internationally recognized certification that helps demonstrate our commitment to sustainability, based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. To qualify, we document all our sustainable business practices on our property. Two of our most recent additions is an electric vehicle charging station and a native plant and pollinator garden. It is a step toward supporting greener travel!

 

V: How do you want your guests to experience their stay?

 

C: Peace, quiet, and calm. You know, when you are coming from the city, just being in a truly quiet place can feel like bliss. Especially, I want my guests to have a really good night's sleep. I try to curate an experience that stays with them - something meaningful that might even help moving foward. One thing I love showing our guests is our worm compost! Who knows, maybe it will inspire them to start worm composting at home. Living on Quadra, we want people to understand how much we respect the island and that we are committed to protecting it.

 

V: If guests have only one day on Quadra, how would you curate their day?

 

C: First and foremost, I would recommend visiting Rebecca Spit. It's featured on the cover of British Columbia Magazine for their Summer 2025 issue. I also love grabbing fish and chips from Coveside Seafood Eatery right at the dock. I would suggest doing takeout and heading to a beach to enjoy it with a view. If you are physically fit, you can bike around the island, up to Rebecca Spit and cycling down to SouthEnd Winery. On the way, you might stop by James Pottery; they have been part of the island community for over 40 years. I would include at least one local artist’s studio in the itinerary, as the island’s greatest asset is its people.

 

V: How do you spend your down-season?

 

C: Although we offer year-round accommodation at Island Bliss, we have our Little Bliss Barn, a multipurpose space, to host small, hands-on seasonal workshops. Our last workshop, in March, was led by Mary in The Fairyland from Port Moody, and we made fairy houses! This fall, we're planning a wool workshop where we will learn how to wash, spin, and weave wool into mats. In all our workshops, everything is made by hand. These gatherings are a great opportunity to meet locals I haven't met before and give people a chance to explore their creativity.

 

V: If you were to make one change to the island, what would it be?

 

C: I would love to see more public access to the beaches with clearly marked signs and proper walking trails - ideally, a network of interconnected trails for biking and walking all around the island. I would also love to see a free, electric shuttle bus that loops around Quadra. That way, people could visit Quadra for a day trip without needing to bring a car on the ferry and locals without access to a transportation mode would be less isolated. That is more than one change!

 

V: What's next for the island and your business?

 

C: As a community non profit, the Discovery Islands Chamber of Commerce is working towards developing a sustainable tourism plan in 2026. Now, the island is very busy during the peak summer season, and this plan will help define what responsible tourism could look like. It will also help us better understand the actual impact tourism has on our island. We are asking important questions: What kind of businesses should we attract? How do we want to define ourselves as an island? And how can we have more control over the amount of visitors. The reality is, we might not be able to handle more visitors during the summer, but we would welcome more in the fall and winter. Can tourism be spread out more evenly throughout the year? This also ties into the larger question of how we can create more year-round employment opportunities. That way, younger families can afford to live here, and we can make the community vibrant and diverse. That is a big part of what we are trying to explore.

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