Foxglove Farm on Saltspring Island has been selected as one of the top cooking schools in the world by Travel and Leisure magazine in its April edition.
The 20-acre organic farm, one of the original homesteads on the island, hosts workshops that highlight the connections between farming, land stewardship, food, the arts and community well-being.
The magazine spotlighted the farm’s cooking and gardening classes — which includes mushroom-foraging and cheese-making — as an epicurean experience worthy of merit. The school shares honours with similar institutions in Bordeaux, France, Tuscany, Italy, New Orleans and others.
“I believe we were chosen because we do what we know best in an incredible setting,” said Michael Ableman, who owns the farm with his wife. “The cheese course is one of our most popular and very highly rated. The mushroom course is pretty amazing, with participants foraging mushrooms from hundreds of acres of forest.”
He said the farm is well connected with the land, with classic cottages available for retreats.
“It seems to touch a place in people. A place that they have been longing for.”
The farm’s Centre for Arts, Ecology and Agriculture hosts several workshops throughout the year. The magazine singled out the Farmstead Cheesemaking and Foraging for Fungi workshops in its article.
At a cost of $95 for either, the workshops compare favourably in cost to other courses on the list. For example, a one-week course in Bordeaux-style cooking in a 13th-century chateau in Bordeaux carries a price-tag of $4,300.
For more information, go to foxglovefarmbc.ca. For more the cooking schools list, go to travelandleisure.com.
