GRIST FOR THE MILL

GRIST FOR THE MILL edible

As we were going to press a gloomy orange glow had settled over the Monterey Bay, the result of wildfires raging up and down the West Coast. The dusky days were disorienting and frightening, but for most of us the darkest times had come a few weeks earlier when four devastating fires broke out all at the same time in the Santa Cruz Mountains, south Salinas, the Cachagua hills and Big Sur. The chaos of those out of control fires—the widespread evacuations, the smoke, the heat and the raining ash—along with the exhaustion of dealing with COVID-19 for the past six months and the rage of Black Lives Matter protests combined to make a hellish stew.

It was almost too much to handle, but people rushed to help, not only first responders but also chefs and farmers and loads of volunteers. All of you inspired us and that’s why we decided to call this edition our HOPE issue.

You can read about some of those local heroes in our fire story on page 38. The rest of our fall issue is filled with stories of hope. We intend it to be a kind of prayer or incantation, summoning up better days ahead and showing us—through the beautiful words and photos of our talented contributors—some of the ways we can get there together.

For example, we hope we can re-learn to live in a more harmonious way with the environment and with our changing climate in the same way members of the local Amah Mutsun tribe are rediscovering their heritage, through a program Laura Ness reports on in her story Native Traditions.

We hope we can better appreciate the abundance of our region, not just the plentiful farms of the Salinas Valley, but also the bounty all around us, that Kathryn McKenzie discovers in her story about modern day foragers.

We hope to see increasing biodiversity and less monoculture in the varieties of fruits and vegetables that are grown around here and described in the stories about Birdsong Orchards and John Cox’s ode to chile peppers.

We also hope to see increasing diversity in our local hospitality sector and are proud to spotlight the hard work of three young Latinx sommeliers in Raúl Nava’s story Decanting Latinidad.

We hope that new efforts to reduce food insecurity can result in a healthier community, as Mark C. Anderson examines in his story Doctor’s Orders.

We hope our lives can become simpler, cozier and more self-sufficient in ways new-mom Caroline Chambers and homesteader Jessica Tunis reveal in their delicious recipes for skillet pizza and homemade bacon!

We sincerely hope that all those whose lives, homes and businesses have been disrupted by fires or by the pandemic will be able to return, rebuild and recover quickly under sunnier skies.

And finally, as the autumn days shorten and we finish up the harvest season, we hope that our challenges will become easier to manage in the days ahead so that there will be plenty to be grateful for when it’s time to carve the turkey and wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!

Deborah Luhrman Publisher MONTEREY BAY

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Deborah Luhrman deborah@ediblemontereybay.com 831.600.8281

FOUNDERS Sarah Wood and Rob Fisher

COPY EDITOR Doresa Banning LAYOUT & DESIGN Matthew Freeman and Tina Bossy-Freeman

AD DESIGNERS Zephyr Pfotenhauer Savanna Leigh

CONTRIBUTORS Mark C. Anderson • Liz Birnbaum Crystal Birns • Jaime Boddorff • Magali Brecke Caroline Chambers • John Cox • Rob Cuthrell Dagmar Dolatschko • Michelle Estigoy Margaux Gibbons • Amanda Heyse Alex Luhrman • Michelle Magdalena Kathryn McKenzie • Raúl Nava • Laura Ness Ken Payton • Zephyr Pfotenhauer • David Royal The Jams Brand • Patrick Tregenza Jessica Tunis • West Cliff Creative

ADVERTISING SALES ads@ediblemontereybay.com • 831.600.8281 Shelby Lambert shelby@ediblemontereybay.com Kate Robbins kate@ediblemontereybay.com Aga Simpson aga@ediblemontereybay.com Penny Ellis penny@ediblemontereybay.com

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Mick Freeman • 831.419.2975

CONTACT US: Edible Monterey Bay P.O. Box 487 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 ediblemontereybay.com 831.600.8281 info@ediblemontereybay.com

Edible Monterey Bay is published quarterly. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without written permission of the publisher. Subscriptions are $28 per year at ediblemontereybay.com. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our apologies and notify us. We also welcome letters to the above address. Thank you.