Mara Jernigan

Fairburn Farm featured in
Gourmet magazine as one of the 45 most memorable cooking vacations in the world!

March 8, 2010,

For Immediate Release

Fifteen years after coming to the Cowichan Valley and ten years after opening Canada’s first Farm to Table cooking school, Mara Jernigan will be cooking and teaching for her last summer season at Fairburn Farm.

Jernigan, who’s early training in Europe left her inspired by the notion of agritourism, chose the Cowichan Valley to settle with her young family. They started a small vineyard, market garden and cooking school called Engeler Farm. A marriage break-up in 2005 saw Mara move her operation to one of the Cowichan Valley’s most historic agricultural properties and take over the guesthouse operation at Darrel and Anthea Archer’s Fairburn Farm.

Since moving to the Cowichan Valley Mara has raised livestock, participated in farmers markets, conducted farm tours in conjunction with a luxury resort, and held asparagus, stinging nettle, composting and even batwatching events. She has hosted school children, youth groups, activists, fellow chefs and culinary students, universities, organic leaders and over a hundred Wwoofers (Willing workers on organic farms) from around the world. Mara founded and organized Vancouver Island’s premiere food event, FarmFolk/CityFolk’s Feast of Fields for ten years, she co-founded the Vancouver Island and Gulf Island’s Slow Food convivium with Sooke Harbour House’s Sinclair Philip and is the current Canadian President of Slow Food. For the last ten years she has taught hundreds of people basic techniques and the value of cooking with local seasonal ingredients in her hands-on field to table cooking classes. This was recognized in the recent EAT magazine readers awards where she won Gold as Food Educator of the Year. Her concern for the preservation of agricultural land has extended into the community where she has been active with many boards and organizations as well as the recent Cittaslow designation to be awarded to Cowichan Bay, the first in North America.

“I always had the dream to run a small inn on a farm, to raise my son while working and cooking at home. I love the Cowichan Valley and I have done many of the things I wanted to do here. This year my son Julian turns 19 and will finish culinary school and I am ready for a change.” states Jernigan.

Mara plans to continue offering her annual culinary tours in Italy and is currently working out the details of a spectacular location to hold her acclaimed culinary bootcamps in 2011. She is also hoping to take a sabbatical year to live, travel and study languages in Europe. For her last year at Fairburn Farm, Mara has several special events planned, including a stinging nettle festival in conjunction with Slow Food on April 18th and a very special dinner with friend and mentor, chef Michael Stadlander in September.

“I have really loved living and cooking at Fairburn Farm and I feel very grateful towards the Archer family for letting me develop my culinary concept in such a special environment.” She states. “ I am going to make the most of my last year in this beautiful place. We have had so many wonderful guests for our Sunday lunches, our cooking classes, and in the guesthouse and I look forward to sharing my last summer with them.”

The Archer’s daughter Maryann, who returned in 2008 to work with the water buffalo, will be taking over the accommodations from Jernigan and will be reopening as a Bed & breakfast in 2011. As the third generation operator of the farmhouse, she looks forward to reconnecting with the community and inviting individuals, couples, and families to experience the natural beauty and peace that the farm offers.

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Featured in August 2009 isuue of Gourmet Magazine!

For media requests, please contact Mara at: mara@fairburnfarm.bc.ca

Embark on an Extreme Culinary Adventure This Fall with Mara Jernigan!

This fall, Chef Mara Jernigan of Fairburn Farm Culinary Retreat and Guesthouse is offering two culinary adventures, one at home and one abroad!

Annual Spring and Fall Culinary Boot Camp Join Mara at Fairburn Farm in the peak of harvest season for an unforgettable week of foraging,harvesting and cooking from field to table!
For the first time, in response to popular demand, Mara is offering a 5 day intensive program which goes above and beyond basic skills. Situated on a historic 130 acre farm in the heart of Canada’s fertile Cowichan Valley, this Culinary Boot Camp will include harvesting from the farm’s 2 acre kitchen garden and orchards, foraging for mushrooms with a local mycologist, baking from a wood burning brick oven, field trips to meet local producers, wine tastings, canning and preserving and a slew of recipes and techniques sure to elevate your cooking skills and hone your palate to a whole new level. Working in teams, the 5 day class will include no more than 10 students and is open to cooks of all levels. $1,950. includes tuition, accommodations, meals, field trips, and homemade preserves to take home.
SEE HIGHLIGHTS

Two Unforgettable Culinary Tours of Italy!

Once again chef and cooking teacher Mara Jernigan will lead guests on an exclusive culinary tour in Italy this fall. From rustic tables to 3 star Michelin!
This year, choose from two off the beaten track tours of Northern, or Southern Italy.

The North and Central Italy: Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, the Marche and Florence. Highlights include inner in a castle featuring white truffles and the noble wines of Barolo and Barbaresco, in depth visits to some of the best producers of balsamic vinegar, Parmigiano Reggiano and olive oil, Culatello, the king of proscuitto, the finest Adriatic seafood served in a modern seafood restaurant by one of Italy’s finest chefs, and a tour of the Florence market.

Southern Italy:Rendevous in Florence, Puglia, Campania and the Island of Ischia
From the Day of the Dead celebrations in the ancient town of Orsara di Puglia where you will meet the unforgettable chef Peppe Zullo and stay at his “Paradiso” to the steamy plains of Campania, where the worlds best buffalo mozzarella is produced. A lunch at “Don Alfonso”, the 3 star Michelin restaurant on the Amalfi coast and a trip to the volcanic Island of Ischia, home of the Slow Food underground rabbit Presidium and a wild edible landscape which you will discover with a local ethnobotanist.

Mara is a graduate of Slow Food’s Master of Italian Cooking Program in Jesi, Italy and speaks Italian. Since 2000, Mara has traveled to Italy each year, participating in Slow Food events and exploring culinary regions by visiting farms, working with chefs, artisan bread bakers and cheesemakers. A culinary tour of Italy with Mara is like a trip around the country to meet old friends! The 3,200 Euro, one week trip includes travel with a private driver throughout Italy, all food and accommodations.

Here’s what the press is saying about Fairburn Farm and Mara Jernigan:

"Mara Jernigan is generally recognized as the den mother of all things gastronomic on Vancouver Island."
Max Alexander, Saveur, August 2006.

"The only time I've had spreads like this set before me were in Italy and Southern France."
Margo Pheiff, the San Francisco Chronicle, May 2005.

"Jernigan is the Alice Waters of the Cowichan Valley. Her mantra, "you have to ingest the message", her arsenal as a farming activist is delicious food. She thrills palettes as shock treatment to recognize good food".
Mia Stainsby, Vancouver Sun 2005

"A dinner that went from farm to table in not much more time then it takes most of us city folk to go to the grocery store."
Carol Pucci, Seattle Times 2006.

“The woman who has likely done more for the “big picture” plan for Cowichan Valley’s food community than anyone else.”
Cinda Chavich, Globe and Mail. 2007.

“You simply have to visit Fairburn Farm!”
Tom Cruikshank, Harrowsmith Magazine 2007

“If you dream of an idealized back to the land farm vacation with a focus on exploring regional cuisine and wines, then this is your destination.” Frommers 2007

Rated One of Western Canada’s Top Ten Bed and Breakfasts-Frommers 2007.

Gourmet August 2009