If the way to a community”s heart is through its stomach, the heartiest organization on the Mendocino Coast must be Coast Economic Localization Link, known as CELL.
Community power through tasty local food was the idea behind CELL”s Local Abundance Festival Saturday.
“Local” is defined as food grown within 100 miles, which means the organic rice grown by the Lundberg family west of Chico qualified to be included in several recipes.
Top chefs at top local restaurants contributed to a 30-plus-dishes spread at the Caspar Community Center for 145 paying customers.
“It was amazing seeing the variety of food and how incredibly delicious everything was,” said Christiane Heckeroth, a co-founder of CELL.
“This year, we had numerous contributions from some of our best restaurants, all of which highlighted their talents by using 75 percent or more local ingredients,” said Heckeroth.
On that all-star list of contributors were Albion River Inn, MacCallum House, Brewery Gulch Inn, Caf? Beaujolais, Piaci”s, Moosse Caf?, Mendo Bistro, Corners of the Mouth, Harvest Market, North Coast Brewing Company, Frankie”s, Handley Cellars, Mendocino Bakery, Garden Bakery and Greenwood Gold.
There were unusual and tasty goat and cow cheese varieties from Elk Creamery and lots of lamb and pork recipes from meat raised at Old Mill Farm.
The point of the Local Abundance Festival is to show the community how much potential there is for the area to grow its own food again.
Yet the promise is a long way from reality at the average Mendocino Coast dinner table today.
“We grow only a tiny fraction of the produce we consume,” said Heckeroth Sunday.
“The current estimate is around 5 percent. The food last night represented the potential of our foodshed, but we need to grow a lot more farmers to supply our coast and the county with enough food in the future.”
Politicking of any kind is rare at CELL events and doesn”t come from the sponsors. Many CELL members are vegetarians, but no local foods are denied.
CELL”s focused message is to energize the community around local farmers and locally made and produced products. This is CELL”s positive way of dealing with issues like corporate conglomeration, global warming and the potential end of cheap oil in the world.
“I think having the community come together in celebration is something very necessary to our spirit at a time when listening to the news is often overwhelmingly depressing,” said Heckeroth.
Lenora Shepard of CELL believes that the end of cheap oil will mean rising costs to truck and ship foods and other products to the coast. Last week crude oil prices passed $90 a barrel, a lofty benchmark that the mainstream media ridiculed just a few years ago as the domain of conspiracy buffs only.
“As long as we are dependent on oil-based agriculture for food production and food transportation, we will continue to pay rising prices,” said Shepard. “When we make the shift to a local, sustainable agriculture, we will ensure our food security and take a giant step toward reversing global warming.”
Not grown locally yet in great quantity are grains and higher calorie crops, like wheat and beans, which make up the bulk of the diet of many people.
“We had quinoa on the table last night — which has a protein content of 16 to 20 percent — which although was not grown here, does grow here easily,” Heckeroth said. “My neighbor on Navarro Ridge grew quite a bit this year and passed some starts on to me as well. It was no trouble to grow. Quinoa has been grown in the Stanford Inn garden.”
Stanford Inn by the Sea and its extensive organic garden are located just south of Mendocino at the intersection of Highway 1 and Comptche-Ukiah Road.
While CELL”s philosophy is grounded in worries about the failings of the global economy, it also represents a simple plea for a return to the better old days, when people were much more self-sufficient and family life, not consumerism, drove the economy.
“Most of all, we need farming to become the honorable profession again that it used to be,” said Heckeroth. “Farmers need to be able to make a living from their hard work, which is not the case right now.
“Noyo Food Forest”s work with FBUSD is one fabulous example of paving the path for the future,” she added. “The NFF is getting young students excited about working with the earth. We need more of that!”
Also included in the Local Abundance Festival were workshops from 2 to 5 p.m. featuring solar cooking, cheese making, growing and using herbs, using acorns, saving seeds, and the art of fermentation. Ishti, of Albion, made cider with an old-fashioned mechanical press all day. Local beer and wine were served.
Camenae and Steven Bates provided musical entertainment.
“Many people left excited about expanding their skills and food self-reliance,” said Heckeroth. “We are so appreciative of all the presenters and participants who shared their knowledge of all things food.”
This was a “typical” Caspar festival, meaning old-fashioned in a different sense.
What tourists envision as the throwback utopia of Mendocino is close to reality at a Caspar festival. As usual, there were kids and a few adults running barefoot all day. The entire group held hands in a sacred circle before dinner and offered prayers in their own way, while about 35 children gathered in an inner circle.
The Local Abundance Festival is CELL”s big fund-raiser for the year. Tickets to the dinner sold for $12 each.
“We will continue to work on our goals to support efforts that will result in 30 percent of our food consumed being grown or processed in the county,” Heckeroth said. “And of course, we are always looking to work with other groups and individuals.”
