Fairburn
Farm
Culinary Retreat and Guesthouse
By Janelle
Hoddevik
Mara Jernigan is
a woman with a lot on her plate-but this European-trained chef, international
Slow Food representative and ardent local farming advocate will gladly share
it all with you. In fact, she'll help you select what ends up on that plate,
choosing from the amazing seasonal abundance at local farmer's markets; pairing
the food with exceptional local wines and distinctive artisanal breads and hand-made
cheeses. And then the magic and excitement truly begins: a shared, hands-on
cooking and culinary experience that nourishes the soul while preparing the
palate for the ultimate dining reward-a meal that is organic and inimitable-fresh
from the surrounding fields, forests and sea.
Mara is the resident chef and welcoming host of Fairburn Farm Culinary Retreat
and Guesthouse. Nestled in the comfortable embrace of the Cowichan Valley at
the heart of Vancouver Island, and just one hour away from both Victoria and
Nanaimo, Fairburn Farm is a sanctuary for a simpler, kinder lifestyle. It's
a lifestyle that Mara is ideally suited and prepared for; her occupancy of the
Farm seems almost pre-destined.
The hallmark and philosophy of the international Slow Foods movement is allowing
yourself leisurely time to cook, taste and savour the delights of real food.
Mara has long been a proponent of the value of foods and the land needed to
produce them to nourish our bodies and souls. She says she used to, "go
out and speak to 200 people at a Rotary Club and get really preachy and talk
about a lot of the political things… But here, at the Farm, I don't even
have to say anything. Just let people experience. You nourish them and cook
with them and extend hospitality and let them feel they're in the home of a
chef."
Originally an 80 acre portion of a 1200 acre homestead, Fairburn Farm was named
by its mistress, Mary Reid Jackson in the early 1900's. She and her husband
farmed until his death, leaving the young widow, a single mother, to carry on
with the hard work of raising and breeding Jersey cows. In 1911, Mary married
a millionaire Brewery owner who increased the size of the farm to 1200 acres
once more. They lived in grand style with all the accoutrements of the wealthy,
such as racehorses and chauffeur-driven cars. For a time, the Farm even became
a private Hunting Lodge, well-stocked with pheasant and Percheron horses. After
her second husband's death, Mary returned to her first love-farming! She died
in 1948, but is said to still visit her Manor House (when least expected), keeping
watch over the next generations of land stewards.
The land was subsequently sold, except for 130 acres surrounding the house and
farm buildings. In 1954, a young couple, Jack and Molly Archer, fell in love
with the Farm and began the work of renewing the land in a natural and sustainable
way. Beginning Canada's first organic co-operative right here on Vancouver Island,
they spent time and money fixing the rundown buildings. With a lot of hard work,
they were able to open the farm up as "Kelvin Creek Ranch" operating
a series of ventures, including a children's camp, a family farm-stay, and a
duderanch.
They passed their legacy (and all the chores) on to their son Darrel and his
wife, Anthea, who continued on with a Bed and Breakfast for over 20 years, but
returned the farm to its original name, Fairburn. True to their farming blood,
this second generation of Archers wanted to raise animals on their land. They
tried sheep and dairy cows, among other things, until finally discovering River
Water buffalo. But after clearing all inspections and regulations, and importing
a herd of 18 animals from Denmark in 2000, they ran headlong into the initial
wave of the "Mad Cow Disease" scare: a cow from Denmark had been reported
with BSE. The Archers were issued an order to kill their forage and grass-fed
buffalo herd.
With no reported cases of BSE appearing in buffalo anywhere in the world, a
court battle ensued. Despite enormous public and community support to save the
buffalo, the Archers lost their case. Their herd of ready-to-produce dairy animals
was destroyed, and they were left with just the young offspring born in Canada,
many of which were non-milk-producing males. (With Canada's borders now closed
to the buffalo, this is the only herd in Canada, and the only 100% pure River
Water buffalo in North America.)
After five years of struggling to maintain the farm and raise their buffalo
with an eye to dairy and cheese production, the Archers were ready to move out
of their B&B business. Enter Mara Jernigan.Mara had been living at Engeler Farm in Cobble Hill, where she had established
her cooking school.The Archers knew Mara, both from their Slow Foods involvement
together and from a "Feast of Fields" event she organized and held
at Fairburn Farm in 1999. (The Feast of Fields is a giant, culinary picnic and
roving feast, held at the same time but in a different location each year, with
top chefs from all over Vancouver Island, each using only fresh, local foods
for their presentations).
As often happens, the Fates stepped in and took over-Engeler Farm was sold,
and Mara needed a place to live; the Archers wanted to devote themselves to
quiet farming and they were ready to vacate the large Manor House. It made complete
sense to all involved for Mara to take over the daily business operation of
the house, and in 2005, 'Fairburn Farm Culinary Retreat and Guesthouse' was
born. As an Agri-Tourism venture to help sustain the land organically and promote
food and farming awareness, it couldn't be more perfect.
The Manor House, built in 1896, awaits its visitors at the end of a long and
winding gravel roadway that gives up tantalizing glimpses of its peaceful setting.
Remodelled and updated by Mara, (as has the separate Guesthouse) but retaining
all of its original warmth and character as the centrepiece of the Farm, the
Manor House offers four comfortable guestrooms upstairs. Each bedroom welcomes
with its own blend of original heritage and modern pamperings. There are even
jetted bathtubs in two of the rooms. Windows feature watery glazing and wide
wooden moldings that have never been painted, while the doorways offer a glimpse
into a long-ago era: solid wood doors boasting original Victorian hardware,
artistically detailed in Scotland.
Downstairs, on the main floor of the house, the rooms ramble through inviting
parlours with expansive views. Originally heavily Victorian in its décor,
ornate wallpaper still adorns some of the sitting rooms in an impressive display
of opulence. Warm, rich colour leads you on a tour across the newly-refinished
old-growth flooring, inviting you to stop and stay awhile by the radiance of
the central fireplace. From the hearth, the scents and sounds of a living kitchen
waft their way around you. Gently, inexorably, the tendrils draw you in, pulling
you through the dining room; leading you with justified anticipation.
In the kitchen, Mara brings her culinary passions to life with her guests. Since
taking possession of the house, she has revamped and modernized the facilities.
The room has been designed as her teaching kitchen, with space enough for eight
people, where Mara hosts a series of well-attended cooking classes year round,
including both basic and advanced techniques as well as classes exploring Italian
cuisine. Storage and pantry cupboards are at a minimum. The old, heavy cabinetry
has been replaced with an original mesh-fronted cupboard she found onsite, as
everything she creates has been just-picked, just-caught or just-made nearby.
The fully equipped space is now the perfect setting to cook the always fresh
and sumptuous meals for inhouse and overnight guests, as well as her famous
Six-Course Sunday lunch extravaganzas, and for numerous special events, both
large and small, planned throughout the year.
Fairburn is also a home-away-from-home, to foreign students from many countries
who come and volunteer on the farm. They're part of a recognized program called
'Willing Workers on Organic Farms'. "The place is really like a United
Nations of food," Mara explains, "there's always interesting people
here."
Outside the house, from its indulgently wide verandah, guests are treated to
the plump, juicy offerings of a mature and very reachable fig tree, while taking
in the incredibly peaceful scenery. There are slowly grazing animals, including
the ever-curious and glossy black buffalo, and sheep with tinkly bells around
their necks. A creek meanders its way alongside perfect walking paths, inviting
you into the orchard. And far off in the distance, the fields stand their ground
at the edge of a thickly forested ridge where wild things grow. 
Every Sunday beginning in May, a three-hour lunch is served outdoors on the
covered porch. A full six courses of inspired and original food is offered,
including one course of tender hand-made pasta, and all created from the Farm's
own lush and lovingly tended vegetable gardens, with eggs from the fat brown
chickens freely roaming about their yard, and fruits hand-picked from the heritage
apple and pear orchard, as well as the best the local community has to offer.
And there is plenty to choose from: the Cowichan Valley is reknowned for its
rich bounty, including award-winning wines and ciders, microbreweries and artisanal
bakeries, breads and cheeses, as well as seafood and wild foods such as forest-floor
mushrooms and distinctive honeys.
Mara's menus always offer an abundance of exquisite tastes, textures and temptations.
You may be treated to meats from her rare-breed animals, (she currently has
sheep and goats) raised right there on the grasses of the fields, or freshly
baked bread from the wood-burning oven at the side of the house. Or perhaps
it's fresh cheeses-the Farm's first buffalo mozzarella, with a taste, Mara promises,
that has no comparison, will soon be made by Hilary Abbott of Hilary's Cheese
Company. And guests can thank the buffalo personally.
"It's like being at Grandma's house," Mara says, "except the
food might be better-and there's all the right wines. People walk away, and
they've ingested the message. You don't have to say a whole lot, you just have
to let the place and the experience speak for itself. More and more, as I get
older that's what I've realized".
Sometimes the greatest discoveries are quite simply beneath our own noses-like
finding Fairburn Farm. And other joys, like discovering that the simplest of
ingredients can combine to fill our plates with a veritable feast-it's one for
the senses. At Fairburn Farm, it's alright to ask Mara for an extra plate.
www.fairburnfarm.bc.ca
