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The story of Fairburn Farm begins in 1884 when two homesteaders bought 1200 acres of forest land and began the painstaking work of clearing it. The earliest of the original buildings on the farm date back to 1886 when John Marriner and Philip Carvell built the first cabin.
The next phase in the life of Fairburn begins with Mary Jackson. Born Mary Reid, she had been raised in England, India and Oregon and settled in Victoria with her father, John Reid, in the 1880s. Mary married a man named John Jackson and they bought 80 acres from Carvell in the early days of the 1900s. She named her farm Fairburn which means Beautiful Stream in her father’s native Gaelic language.
John died soon afterwards and Mary carried on alone, establishing herself as a respectable farmer and breeder of Jersey cows.
Things really changed when Mary married millionaire Charles Doering in 1911. Charles bought out the neighbours and increased Mary’s 80 acres to 1200 acres. Charles was a successful Brewery owner who owned several homes and a fleet of chauffeur-driven cars. Doering transformed Fairburn into a private Hunting Lodge. He stocked it with pheasants, and had teams of Percheron horses and stables of race horses. Charles and Mary entertained in high style, but Mary always remained a farmer at heart. One of the tales told is that in the middle of a dinner party, one of the young farm hands rushed to the Manor House in a panic to ask Mary’s advice on a cow who was experiencing a difficult delivery. Apparantly Mary excused herself from the dinner table, peeled off her evening gloves and helped to successfully deliver the calf, before returning in time for dessert.
After Charles died, Mary carried on the farm with a succession of managers and farm hands until her death in 1948. The 1200 acre property was listed for sale at $12,000 but there were no takers. Eventually MacMillan Bloedel purchased the property, parcelling off the 130 acres surrounding the Manor House. Most of the old farm equipment and contents of the house were taken away as junk to make the house more attractive to prospective buyers.
In 1954 Molly and Jack Archer came across the property on a summer vacation and fell in love with it. The Archers were pioneers of conservation, and they recycled and renewed the land naturally, instilling a sense of true land stewardship in their children. They created the Vancouver Island Organic Cooperative, the first in Canada. They started a Bed & Breakfast and FarmStay programs to open the farm up to the public.
In the next generation, the Archer’s son Darrel and his wife Anthea have carried on the philosophy and the hard work. The Archers imported Canada’s first herd of Water Buffalo in 2000. After some devastating losses due to government policy, they now have a thriving herd of 40 healthy magnificent animals. The Archers are now ready to devote their energies to the operation of Canada’s only Water Buffalo Dairy which will carry a full range of products including milk, yoghurt and a variety of cheeses.
As the Archers turn their focus to the Dairy, the timing is perfect for a new chapter in the history of Fairburn Farm. Mara Jernigan, chef and Slow Food representative, is bringing her passion and expertise to create a Culinary Retreat and Guesthouse at Fairburn, enabling guests to experience the very best of the food and wine of the Cowichan Valley