Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Farm Stays
117
Fairburn Farm Culinary Retreat &
Guesthouse
Slow Fooding the Valley
Duncan, British Columbia
If Slow Foodists ran the world, every resort
would be like Fairburn Farm—a rambling
farmhouse B&B set on a bountiful 53-hect-
are (130-acre) farm. Instead of golf, tennis,
and a spa, Fairburn offers its guests cook-
ing classes, mushroom-foraging expedi-
tions, bread-making seminars, and tours
of the cheese-making facility, where arti-
sans create fresh mozzarella using milk
from the farm's Italian water buffaloes.
You'll participate in tastings at local vine-
yards or cideries, visit the Duncan farmers'
market to buy ingredients for tonight's
dinner. You'll roam around the garden,
gathering herbs and vegetables, or wander
through the old apple orchard where San
Clemente goats and Navajo Churro sheep
graze. By the time you leave, you'll have
explored the Cowichan Valley
terroir
in
every dimension.
The center of energy around here is the
superbly outfitted kitchen, the domain of
cooking teacher Mara Jernigan, who's also
one of British Columbia's leading culinary
activists. Here she conducts weekly cooking
classes and invites guest chefs in to do dem-
onstrations; in the summer especially there's
a full program of food-related events, timed
to the cycles of the season and harvest. (Call
Fairburn Farm Culinary Retreat & Guesthouse in British Columbia.
