“Travel is not reward for working, its education for living”
-Anthony Bourdain
I have been basking in gratitude for a recent mission to Mexico, and what it showed me about my life, the world, and what I want to orient towards moving forward.
I can’t put into words how refreshing it felt to be in a place where the culture prioritizes the enjoyment of life, and spending time with loved ones, over the accumulation of wealth and material objects.
I love the Sobremesa, the quality time spent after finishing a meal, where people don’t rush off to the next activity, they sit, have a drink, and shoot the shit, talk about life, and tell each other stories.
We got to explore the beauty of the state of Nayarit, its verdant jungles, beautiful beaches, and fertile ocean.
The ocean gods blessed us with an abundant catch of Arctic Bonito, the mighty micro tuna, Sierra Mackerel, and Horse Eye Jacks.
We pretty much ate fish the entire two weeks we were there. We made fish curry, fried fish, sashimi, salt cured fish, soy sauce cured fish roe, and fish tacos, but the most delicious was ceviche.
We discovered the total game changer of adding ginger, chamomile, and Mezcal to ceviche through Chef Eric Werner of Hartwood Tulum, and have never made it any other way since.
This little minute long montage is my attempt to share a tiny glimpse into the beauty and essence of this place.
The charming cobblestone streets of San Pancho, the pristine beaches of Lo de Marcos, and the vitality that is felt in the jackfruit trees pushing up through the pavement on the sidewalk.
Much gratitude to @luca.natural.medicine and @georgiesgardens for hosting us and showing us around this beautiful place.
We are brainstorming often about what it could look like to open a little rustic restaurant by the beach, and are truly excited about the dreams that this adventure seeded into our hearts.
🎼 “No hay nadie como tu” by Calle 13
#chef #foodphotography #Nayarit #comidamexicana #travelmexico
A glowing glimpse into one of the most surreal meals I’ve ever had a hand in helping bring to the table.
It was a pleasure to work with the incredible team of @out_inthefield and @jimdenevan you all were the most well organized, efficient, and hospitable front of house team we’ve ever collaborated on a dinner with
Big thanks to moon ranch and lonely bull cattle co
for hosting us on their gorgeous land.
Thanks to @obanwhisky for providing lovingly distilled spirits and educating guests on their origins
Big gratitude to our team @ninerwineestates , @ian_nelsonn , Tristan, Marsha, @jamesmiles2707 , and to chef @jacobjburrell for bringing this team together to and holding the vision to execute a truly excellent meal
Huge thank you to @yoli619 and Julie of @auberginecarmel for creating the most elegant and delicious deserts we’ve ever tasted.
Thanks to @georgiesgardens for support on the edit. #outstandinginthefield #finedining #bigsur #chef #farmtotable #regenerativegrazing #foodphotography #foodporn
Last month in Ojai, we hosted an Off Grid Camping Retreat with a crew of incredible humans—learning from the land, living simply, and connecting deeply. One of the most meaningful trips we’ve ever had the privilege of presenting. More from this journey soon.
@ojaipermaculture@sagestoneman@primary.steak.holder
video: @samhhunter
score: @fatherofode
If you could have someone lovingly teach you how to cook any dish what would it be?
I feel like a baby bowing at the altar of Birria, slowly learning more each time I prepare it.
It’s an incredible dish for people who have lots of random chunks of meat kicking around the freezer
This time around I made a bone broth base out of a whole sheep worth of bones to start the Birria, it was so rich in collagen that it was the texture of jello once it cooled.
This video is a practice run of cooking, filming, and editing so I can share my love of cooking with my community more broadly, through online and in person cooking classes.
If you are interested in one-on-one cooking classes, either in person or online, drop a comment on this post and I’ll dm you the info to sign up!
This Birria was made from our beautiful ram Vaquero that we recently harvested, it was both sad and relieving to harvest him.
These moving pictures represent the beauty that I find in the reciprocal relationship between sheep and humans, each one generously feeding the other.
The last scene of this video is our boy Vaquero vigorously munching calendula flowers, looking handsome as hell.
Thanks for all the support along the culinary path fam, I’m excited to continue sharing the joys of the journey with you all!
Greetings Friends!
As the lambs are being born, and the trees are sending out new growth, we are excited to announce a unique in person educational offering!
A multi day, hands on, animal processing class in collaboration with Manna Festival.
Shell and Devin will lead students through the process of lovingly harvesting, skinning, eviscerating, and preparing to cook three whole sheep. We will be collaborating with Carmen Sandoval-Aqimowon, Rivkah Khanin, Beasley Baird, and Jenya @cuyamalamb to have a wide variety of perspectives and skill-sets supporting this work.
In addition to the breakdown we will spend a whole day with the fire, where we share the art and practice of Argentine style Asado, slowly cooking the sheep over coals to be served to the whole festival for Friday night Shabbat Dinner.
This class is an educational add-on to Mana, and requires arriving on Wednesday evening, as well as an additional cost beyond the mana ticket.
If you’re feeling the call to get closer to where your food comes from, and excited to explore the journey of taking life to feed ourselves, feel free to reach out to Devin via email: [email protected] to receive more detailed info about the class.
We are opening twenty spots for this one, first come, first served.
We look forward to sharing these skills with our community, and appreciate all of your support!
Our books for this upcoming Spring, Summer, and Fall catering season are OPEN baby!
tell your friends, tell your mama, help us spread the gospel of good food, sourced with integrity, prepared with love, and presented in beauty
Share this post, tell your homies who are getting married to holler at us, and help us be benevolent brokers of putting resource into the hands of the farmers, and ranchers who do the hard work of growing our food!
I feel truly honored to do this work of feeding people.
I really love it.
I love getting to take the freshest gifts from the earth and turn them into delicious dishes.
I love the opportunity to work with friends who have honed their craft of nourishing people and making beautiful food.
I love hosting and feeding people for some of the most significant feasts of their lives.
As the weddings, gatherings, and jobs steadily trickle in for this upcoming Spring, Summer and Fall, we are opening our books.
We are available to do whole animal BBQ, in person animal processing workshops, parties, and of course weddings.
We are calling in a couple big weddings, multi-day 150-250 person bangers to knock out of the park, if you or someone you know is a wedding planner or is getting married in the next year, send them our way!
For bookings please follow the link in bio and send a message through our website.
We love you all so much, and can’t wait to build some beautiful kitchens in remote places, and cook up some magical meals, thank you all for the immense love and support along this journey!
I was born a stone’s throw from the sea and have been inspired by its beauty since I was a wee lad!
I really enjoyed making this little snapshot of a day spent near the sea, harvesting from its bounty, and turning the ocean’s gifts into a nourishing meal.
As the world continues to spin, and often spin out, I am here to continue to bring joy through sharing food and deepening connection to where it comes from.
I am excited to announce some new educational culinary offerings that I am launching in person on the central coast this spring and summer.
Drop a comment if you would be interested in staying in the loop for guided in person fishing and foraging experiences, wild food harvesting campouts, and group explorations of the vast, wondrous world where land and sea converge.
I am excited to share more about the fundamentals of fishing, collecting edible creatures from the intertidal zone, fish processing and butchery, and Japanese culinary preparations that coax complex flavors from the wide array of pelagic delights we have access to in our backyard.
Let’s get out there, catch some fish, learn a thing or two, and cook our loved ones some delicious meals, who’s in?
Much gratitude to @skylersun for capturing the beauty of this coastline and helping me tell my story 🙏
I recall a time not so long ago where we created art with zero thought of “how would this look on instagram?”
I recently got myself a new camera so I could direct my attention towards storytelling that is not tailored to the literal box and heinously addictive algorithm that this app has us all hooked on like crack.
I’m enjoying taking photos for the pure joy of documenting the beauty that surrounds me.
Here are a few recent photos of this last little chapter that’s been filled with the grief of having to abruptly leave a home that we really love, and the sweetness of knowing that there are fecund pastures waiting to receive us just beyond the next ridge.
Here’s to creating boundaries with this alluring little tar box that we hold in our hands
To claiming agency over our artistic process, as an act of radical resistance to the billionaire overlords who want to hijack our attention to sell us stupid shit we don’t need, till the body of this planet is sucked dry, while they dip to mars.
Fuck that, let’s put down the tar box and go outside
Happy holidays fam I love you all ❤️
Greetings sweet loved ones from far and wide!
It’s with a heavy heart in my chest and an excited gaze toward greener pastures, that I announce: Shell and I are closing our most recent beautiful chapter of life at the old honey holler.
We had thought we would live here for long, long time, turns out the gods and our landlords had other plans!
This was one of the most special homes we have ever had, and we have felt so blessed to live in a hand made home, a living art piece in itself, on such a beautiful piece of land, not far from the sea.
These oaks, madrones, and bays have held us well, and supported us to grow in so many ways. We have flourished from the grounding roots of this home in our artistic pursuits, relationship as partners, our careers, and most notably our culinary collaborations.
In the vein of continuing our growth supported by a super solid home we are calling upon our community from far and wide to help us find our next home!
What we are looking for: a beautiful HOME, ideally handmade from wood or earthen materials in a rural, rustic, and/or ranch-esque zone. LAND– ideally 10 acres or more, with open spaces, nature, or adjacent land nearby. We are seeking a home that has a large kitchen with many surfaces, a gas stove, a big oven, and outdoor cooking spaces for cooking with fire outside as well as an art studio for shells artistic creations!
We would ideally like to stay on or near the central coast, but we are opening the search from ventura county all the way up to the Oregon border, prioritizing the right home even more than the region it exists in.
Thank you to all the homies who have come to visit us, and enjoyed this place while we have had access to it, we look fondly back on many a good meal, a couple great assquakes, and lot of laughs. We love all of y’all so much and appreciate your love and support in the tender process of grieving the loss of a great home and the calling in and landing of the next one, which we are truly excited for!
If you know of an epic property, house, farm, piece of land or otherwise appropriate venue, slide into those dms and give us a holler! Literally… love yall thank you all so much!
This world just lost one of the greatest people of all time, I am sobbing a river of tears today mourning the exit of our dear Uncle Indian Bob, from this earthly plane and celebrating his transition to a more peaceful existence in the spirit world. May the sea of tears being cried for you right now Bobby carry you swiftly toward greener pastures
I’m burning the last bundle of sage you gave us the last time we saw you and thinking of all the people who are sitting around a fire telling stories of the wild life you lived.
Bob you were one of the most generous people I’ve ever met, and would literally give someone the shirt off of your back or the last nickel you had to your name, may we all carry with us some small fraction of you’re generosity to pay forward to the people
You truly showed up in service to others in every moment you could, always lending a good listening ear, a story, a joke or a beautiful gift. You dedicated your whole life to being of service to other people.
You sacrificed your own flesh and blood for the people through Sundancing year after year, praying for this living earth to keep turning, for the waters to fall from the sky, and for the people to have what they need to be nourished.
Thank you to all the people who have helped take care of Bob, given him a home to live in, a good conversation to sink into, a listening ear, a space for him to show up and share his gifts, thank you all so much for showing up for our uncle and elder and giving him purpose, and making the last years of his life truly magical ones to remember
You will live on in all your glory in our hearts Bob, will think of you every time we burn sage, give a gift, drink black coffee, or make a spirit plate, you are all around us now, watching over your hundreds of nieces and nephews across the globe, keeping them safe and reminding them hey, “if I don’t see you in the future, I’ll see you in the pasture” Rest in Peace Bob, we love you so much, you’re the best uncle any of us could have ever asked for.
Japan. wow, this culture is absolutely mind-blowingly unlike any other place I’ve ever been. It is so immaculate, so organized, and so clean:
Intentionality rules over this place like a benevolent spirit that is orchestrating every tiny little detail:
so that even the cute dimples in the face of the tiny ceramic cat statue are perfectly placed, carved, and painted beautifully, in case any of us forgot that beauty is really what makes this whole world go round.
#japantravel #japan #visitjapan #traveljapan #japanesefood #foodiejapan #japaneseculture #onsen #nozawaonsen #sushi #ryokan #temple #naritatemple #permaculture #regenerativeag
Musical credit: Song: Drumline by El Michels Affair
Thanks to @marinadeinthesarahnade for always sharing new music with me
