westernmost

My mid summer trip to Point Arena - a week spent in the Northern reaches of Coastal California for what one could describe as a spiritual awakening, or re-awakening (if it really matters). The trip was spurred by a departure from nearly five years of employment which was promptly followed by a powerful birthday weekend/summer solstice party.

The areas in and around Point Arena carry an undeniable, hard to define energy. The westernmost point of the continental United States ended up being the perfect place to begin the process of unraveling and opening myself back up. I’m not really sure what exactly I aimed to accomplish, but there’s no doubt I accomplished it out there.

A kayak trip into the Redwoods presented a baptism in tranquility, space and understanding. With the guidance of a red tailed hawk, the sentinel of the forest, I made my way up the tree lined Navarro River. Biking and foraging along the coast birthed a new meaning of freedom. Throwing down the kickstand, hopping off, gathering, and diving further into the practice of presence before biking back to camp to create.

The abundance of the northern California coast line has continually been the driving force for most of my road trips up Highway One. I was able to forage on every excursion I went on, gathering a range of seaweeds, nettles, wild mints and other herbs, flowers still hanging on from a late coastal spring, and plenty of edible greens.

I was proud to stock my kitchen and prepare dinner for another chef and dear friend, Chris Barnum, who decided to pay an impromptu visit. I was able to supplement my wild foods larder with the offerings of a nearby farm stand and the generosity of my green thumb camp host who brought me a bag of the most beautiful swiss chard I have ever cooked. A natural salinity and oceanic crispness lived within the multicolored greens which made them tasty enough to eat unadulterated.

After being alone at camp for a week I looked forward to having guests for a night. The regular excitement for a dose of human interaction was replaced with the eagerness and fondness for hospitality. I was proud of my camp and my over the fire kitchen and couldn’t wait to do what I love most - entertain.

I started us off with a salad of sea palm, fire grilled baby eggplant, kelp noodle, jimmy nardello peppers nasturtium and wild radish. Following `that came a coastal colcannon; fresh dug potatoes cooked over the fire in kelp infused ocean water, softened with local grass fed butter, sautéed nettles and wild mint. The main event was a Dutch oven cooked whole chicken with black beans, tomatillos, and torpedo onion. Just to make sure we had enough to eat I threw together a classic summer salad of grilled corn, peppers and basil.

This kind of trips begs the question of true life purpose, of indoors vs. out, and of what food should really be about. I wonder, at the end of excursions like this, if I could last a whole summer tramping and cooking along the coast….if I could split my time between a bike and a kayak rather than an office and an airplane, a kitchen controlled by the elements around me instead of gas and electric. I hope to dive deeper each year.