Jacican harvest lunch is a celebration of all that Gippsland and my kitchen garden has to offer.
For your harvest lunch, you will arrive at 11am. As you walk up the ramp into Jacican, I will greet you and offer a tea or coffee while we wait for all the guests to arrive.
Once everybody is assembled, I take you into the teaching kitchen. On the bench is an apron for your use, a take-home recipe booklet with today’s menu, and water and nibbles.
I hand out baskets, scissors, knives and gardening gloves, and together we head off to our three-quarter-acre kitchen garden to pick the garden herbs, along with the fruit and vegetables for today’s lunch.
Every day, I pick the produce that I need from the kitchen garden, watching the lifecycle of the garden. All my produce is grown using organic principles, without the use of herbicides and pesticides. This method of gardening means my produce is flavourful and just how nature intended it to be. It does, however, leave me open to the elements, meaning uniform shapes and sizes cannot always be achieved – an aspect of my garden story that I am proud of.
I grow many different wild greens in the kitchen garden, including kale, lettuces, native greens and edible weeds. At the end of the garden, I have built a native herb garden as a windbreak and as a place for the birds to live. There, you will find native herbs for your lunch. If you are lucky, you may spot a koala in the trees.
Gippsland farmers supply beef, lamb, pork, and poultry directly to my kitchen. Further produce – bread, fruits, wine, beer, and spirits are sourced directly from the people who make it to my kitchen door. I even forage in secret Gippsland locations as well!
Once we return to the kitchen, we all wash our hands and I pour everyone a glass of Gippsland wine. Following the recipes in the booklets, we make each dish, supervised and helped along by me.
Once the meal is prepared – meat slowly braising, pasta dough made, dessert in the oven, ice-cream in the churn – together we roll the pasta. It’s surprising how many guests comment that they ‘never knew fresh pasta was so easy’. Once the pasta is rolled, we clear and reset the bench for lunch. Another glass of Gippsland wine is poured and I serve up the lunch.
Lunch is completed with one of my home-made wine spritzers and a cup of coffee (if you can fit it in). Once you’ve finished lunch, you’re welcome to stay and chat – and help with the dishes!
See you all in the kitchen!
