Nestled in the picturesque Gippsland township of Mirboo North, we offer a unique culinary experience, Walk Amongst the Weeds.
Embark on a delightful journey through our kitchen garden with our interactive five-course pick-and-cook lunch, during which you harvest the ingredients for your meal.
The next Walk Amongst the Weeds coincides with the festive spirit of Christmas in July.
This allows me to create a warm and joyful winter wonderland menu.
Lunch starts with a pick-and-cook tour of our vegetable garden, where you harvest the ingredients for your five-course meal, which I cook.
Guests will be guided through the kitchen garden as I explain what grows over winter, what garden preparation for spring is underway and what fruit and vegetables grow best in Gippsland.
Once I’ve shown everyone around the garden, we will gather around the fire pit for the first course of the five-course lunch.
We will start with mulled wine and spiced hot chocolate while toasting homemade marshmallows over the open fire pit.
Depending on the weather, the second course will either be served around the fire pit in the kitchen garden or moved to inside the Jacican studio.
At this point, I think the second course will be something like foraged chestnut soup with Mirboo North sourdough and Gippsland cheese, maybe flame-grilled on the smoker.
The main course will be ribeye roast beef with all the sides, including purple potato dumplings, Yorkshire pudding and cauliflower cheese.
Everything served as a side dish with your main course is grown seasonally in the kitchen garden.
We adapt our sides to what the garden offers guests on the day, ensuring a unique and flexible dining experience.
That is the benefit of growing and cooking seasonal produce, as many items on the menu change between lunches.
Over the summer, summer peaches and berries were preserved so guests can enjoy them now, along with native Blood limes and lemon myrtle from the kitchen garden, making up the fourth course.
Always looking for ways to preserve produce, the plum pudding has already been made using the Fowlers Vacola preserving method, served with whipped brandy butter and fresh creme anglaise.
Walk Amongst the Weeds - Christmas in July can accommodate various dietary requirements.
Please let me know your specific needs when booking, and I will ensure your meal is tailored to your preferences.
Take advantage of this unique culinary experience on July 20 and 21, 2024.
I look forward to sharing Walk Amongst the Weeds - Christmas in July with you all.
Each preserve I make at Jacican is 12 months in the making – planning each year’s harvest, nurturing the kitchen garden to prove its bounty, picking the fruit and vegetables the moment they are at their best, and taking that moment to create my unique range of preserves. Preserving is seasonal, which is why I make jam when I can.
This first fruit of the year in my kitchen garden is the berries, peaches, and plums, meaning jam, breaking out the Vacola and lots and lots of my hot plum sauce.
Each year, I grow from seeds, upwards of 100 tomato plants, all the different shapes, sizes, and colours, along with zucchinis and cucumbers. With the fresh young greens, fruit relishes are made, followed closely by the long cook chutneys and sauces. Most years, it is unlikely you will find a ‘normal’ red tomato in my garden, leading me to develop sweet black tomato chutney and black tomato sauce.
As I come to the end of autumn, quinces appear from the neighbours. Many, many quinces. Jelly and paste are made to serve with cheese or pickled to go with roast dinner.
The cooler months produce citrus – lemons, orange, limes, and cumquats. Marmalades and butter curds emerge from the kitchen, along with brandy-soaked fruit for a little tipple later. If I’ve had my planting right this is closely followed by the brassicas, meaning buckets of sauerkrant and kimchi can be found fermenting on the kitchen bench.
The start of spring identifies the start of the kitchen garden lifecycle, with the elderflower the first tree to bloom. I will pick a bucket of blooms, soak in juice for a few days and then I have elderflower cordial. By now in the year, I am looking forward to planting next year’s seeds, watching and waiting for the kitchen garden life-cycle to being again for another year.
If you would like to learn about my kitchen garden life-cycle and make your own preserves, join me for these very seasonal preserves making cooking classes.
See you all in the kitchen!
Acknowledgment of country
Hello, I’m Jaci Hicken, from the lands of the Brataualung clan, which is where I’ve spent most of my life.
I would like to acknowledge all of us here today to cook together and share a meal.
I love sharing my dream of growing the food this country has to offer and share it with you.
The traditional place that we come together today is on the lands Gunaikurnai people
And I’d like to pay my respects to our elders past, present, emerging leaders, along with all the young people in our community.