Conversations Worth Having 3: The Future of Fashion

Conversation Worth Having 3, The Future of Fashion, is almost upon us, and as it comes together we are realizing the significant and challenging ways it will be different from the first two community forums we’ve hosted here in Healdsburg.

Our first CWH – literally a deep dive into Compost, was icky but fascinating fun, as well as providing impetus to address Sonoma County’s urgent need for a compost facility (s). Our second was about trash in all its forms (oh so many forms) each seeming to necessitate a curated journey out of our lives if we didn’t want what we throw away to end up in the carbon nightmare of landfills. Incredibly, both conversations were upbeat, generating a “we are all in this together” energy that created quite a buzz in town, and so many smaller conversations and engagements. We believe the success of the series thus far has been finding we are not alone in wanting individual and community solutions to how we might continue to enjoy our creature comforts while living more lightly on the ground.

Both while conversations dealt with difficult issues, neither got personal. The Future of Fashion just might. Clothing is not just a necessity, but something which colors how we feel every day of our lives as we move through the world, and like it or not, how we are perceived –admired, desired, accepted or judged - over a lifetime. Our acquired tastes may change over time, and they are definitely driven by the bombardment of triggering fashion content coming at us non-stop.  But whereas we MUST dispose of food and material waste, there is something decidedly personal about how we choose, use and dispose of what we wear. Fashion is tied inextricably to our desire to inform how we want to be perceived as we go out into the world.

From the moment the first humans pulled the skin of an animal across their shoulders to stave off the cold, and for thousands of millenimum afterward, we looked to nature for the raw materials to protect us from the elements. The discovery of rudimentary tools to puncture skins and weave fastenings to keep what we wore in place, along with the discovery of fire, is most probably the main reason the early human race survived at all. But even from those humble beginnings clothing was also used to signify our standing- our importance, worth, usefulness -  in the tribe. Hunter, gather, fire starter…. the need to carry a story on our bodies that reflected status, fertility, power, has always been with us.

The notion of Fashion – clothing as more than utility - was thought to have been kick started during the reign of Louis XIV when the bored, impetuous King impelled his court to dress in finery as competitive one-upmanship. It eventually gave birth to the French textile industry that went on to ignite the concept of dressing to please across the European continent. Clothing as a social marker for the wealthy has never ceased, but for most of history’s primarily agrarian working populations for centuries we only needed two outfits: one for work and one that could be worn on Sundays, weddings, funerals, or seasonal celebrations. They had to last so they were made of materials that were durable, yet affordable. Craft was important, the crafter admired. Think pegs not hangers, certainly not closets filled with years and years of impulsive purchases.

The rise of humanity as penultimate fashion consumers came out of the industrial revolution which democratized fashion through the advent of machine production and the availabliity of a growing worker class- cheap labor.  When production eventually began to outstrip consumption, a little thing called consumer engineering was created and through relentless ad and news campaigns the need for clothing was replaced by a desire for it. Thanks to the affordability of new synthetic products made from the abundance of oil the burgeoning fashion industry we didn’t need nature anymore. Fashion conglomerates were able to keep prices low and competative, production high and constant, feeding the thrill consumers grew to love of reinventing themselves each season. Planned oblescence, where clothing was designed to break down to drive even more purchases (and something now built in to almost everything we purchase) accelerated the burgeoning industry even further.

Today its virtually impossible to ignore the siren call to purchase new clothes and shoes, bags and accessories – because for the stakeholders of the fashion Industry, their profits depend upon on us doing so. But while there’s no denying there is joy to be found in wearing something of beauty or utility that elevates how you feel, the fashion addiction has made the industry the planet’s 3rd most polluting industry, with 100 billion items of clothing produced ever year, only a fraction of it sustainably sourced or fabricated. Only 1% of all clothes are recycled when we are done with them. Just reducing the amount of our consumption would be great, but it won’t move the dial, and truthfully, it’s not gonna happen. 

But what if if there was a way to satisfy our lust for fashion and how it makes us feel that wasn’t harmful to the environment? What if a responsible use of nature and technology was focused on creation of circular fashion economies designed from the start to significantly lighten humankind’s carbon footprint?

Join us on Sunday, August 11, when Conversations Worth Having welcomes Near Future’s Zem Joaquin to lead a Conversation about The Future of Fashion. On the dias with Zem will be Marci Zaroff, the woman who coined the term ‘eco fashion’ a decade ago and has built multiple successful businesses creating green, cradle to cradle fashion lines. Lewis Perkins from the Apparel Impact Institute, whose mission is to verify, fund and scale new fashion programs that can decrease carbon emissions, with be with us as well. And to address how technology may hold some answers to a clean green fashion future, both Garrett Gerson and Liam Berryman, of Variant3d and Nelumbo, will be speaking. Both are at the cutting edge in using technology to produce new innovative programs - Gerson’s Variant 3D’s Loop system promises 90% waste reduction, especially encouraging full-on creativity for start ups; Nelumbo, a locally based company relies on a platform technology that applies morphology, shape, or structure to surfaces. Nelumbo’s use of materials science - Metamaterials- professes to only use ‘clean ingredients.’ It will be fascinating to learn what that means.

There’s a lot to parse here, and we’re excited to get started. Ticket holders to our conversation about fashion are encouraged to dress in something they love - this is going to be fun and interesting - and to bring challenging questions for our speakers. With our interactive ‘art’ installations we’ll also lean a bit more about what all the perplexing labels on clothes really mean, and re-discover how touch factors into our material choices. And we are especially thrilled to welcome local artist Maya Eshom to present Textiles on Fire, which engages another one of our senses, and might just have a profound effect on what you purchase next.

Hope to see you on the 11th.

For CWH,

Jil Hales (barndiva) Dawnelise Rosen (FARMpeneurs), Susan Preston (Preston Farm and Vineyard), Amber Mcinnis.

Plastic? Think Again.

The community gathers for Conversations Worth Having #2 : Trash Talk, February 16th, in Studio Barndiva

Full Disclosure: we initially had great concerns making Trash the subject of our second Conversation Worth Having. But something happened after our first conversation, Gorgeous Garbage, that made the conversation about trash imperative. Of the many things we took away from our first community evening the realization that haunted us, as never before, was that even if we managed to divert more organic waste into making compost and soil, even if everyone we knew got better at recycling, even if these things began to miraculously happen all over the world, humanity would still go on filling the oceans with plastic, building higher and higher landfills of toxic waste. All the things we no longer have use for - our trash - endlessly circling and befouling the globe.

CWH is all about gathering community to have Serious Fun. We want to talk about important issues in a way which enables us to come away from these conversations making better choices, strengthening a commitment to live lighter on the ground. We don’t want to give up our creature comforts. We care about design. We want to live in a world with the ability to surround ourselves with useful, beautiful things. How do we make this compatible with individual actions, taken consistently, that signal true change in the way the social order works?

As life would have it, over 50 years ago I forged a beautiful, lasting friendship that among its many gifts brought a wondrous goddaughter into my life. And as luck would have it - for me and everyone who attended our February 16th Trash Talk - she has made it her life’s work to build just such a near future, or at least the possibility one might exist. we’re talking about businesses that take honoring a healthy ecology and a respect of the earth into every step of their supply chains. We’re talking about the products and the conduits that bring them into our short and precious lives.

Her name is Zem Joaquin. A founding member of Cradle to Cradle, for many years her company Eco Fabulous espoused the philosophy that we did not have to live lives of deprivation to be good global citizens. If we knew where to look, showed extreme care about how and where things were made, we could be as fabulous as we dared. She dared.

For the past five years she has grown an astonishing community of brilliant, innovative leaders- self identified disrupters to status quo supply chains- made of up scientists, inventors, doctors, designers, artists, and producers of all the things we use in our lives. It’s called The Near Future Summit and through it she has become a champion for businesses that “accelerate solutions to improve societal, individual and planetary health.” Dawnelise, Susan, Amber and I did our due diligence and research into how best to position Trash Talk - we toured Recology SF, met with the wonderful Deborah Munk, director of the artist in residence program. We listened to fascinating sustainable producers at a Women Founders Talk at the Ferry Building. We read and researched. Finally, after an edifying three day experience at 2023’s Near Future Summit, Zem guided our choice of speakers who graciously traveled to Healdsburg to talk to a sold out crowd in Studio Barndiva on Friday, February 16 for Conversations Worth Having, #2, Trash Talk.

It was delicious but serious fun, as you know if you attended. If you didn’t, we missed you. Here is a visual taste of this throughly stimulating evening.

Our Speakers: LEFT: Toby Corey, COO of Cruz Foam, a sustainable foam packaging company that sources fully bio degradable materials made from shrimp shells, mushrooms, and recycled paper as an alternative to styrofoam. Cruz Foam was a PentAwards Bronze winner and one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2023; CENTER: Gorgina Alcock, of GaeaStar, a ceramic zero waste alternative to single use plastic cups and vessels made of a clay, water, and salt sourced close to where it is 3’D printed (our CWH branded cups were produced in San Francisco from Sacramento clay); RIGHT: Beth Rattner, a director of the The Bio-Mimicry Institute, who walked us through the essential bridges we must start building between biology and design by advancing the adoption of nature inspired strategies. Highly recommended reading: Biomimicry, Innovation Inspired by Nature, by Janine Benyus, who founded the Biomimicry Institute, and The Second Body, by Daisy Hildyard.

ABOVE: Julia Marsh who with her Husband Matt founded Sway, also joined our speaker forum. Sway is a start up whose goal is to harness the power of seaweed to create home compostable replacements for plastic. For their efforts they were the Winners of the Tom Ford Innovation Prize for 2023.

Sway embodies a central premise of circular economies around design that was a take away from the evening: design out waste, keep materials in use, regenerate natural systems. And this: as a consumer, make better choices.

We were proud to have several local businesses who share our concerns about sustainability contribute to this Conversation Worth Having. Formost among them was Little Saint Healdsburg Healdsburg, whose chef, Stu Stalker, provided exquisite bowls of Little Saint Farm Vegetables with spreads of Carrot Tahini w/ dried chili, Cultured Cashew w/ Tomato Chutney, and Green Lentil Hummus. Little Saint’s director of beverage and sustainability, Matt Seigel collaborated with Barndiva’s Scott Beattie on both the spirit and NA cocktails: A Caipirinha made with Novo Fogo Carbon Negative Organic Cachaça, and Rangpur Me Another, our NA cocktail made with Rangpur lime as a cordial, anise hyssop tea, coconut yogurt, and Ritual N/A rum.

For those enjoying wine in their GaeaStar cups, we were honored to serve Delta Wines for Change made by our friends at Brick and Mortar, Alexis and Matt Ioconis. In bringing the climate conversation to the dinner table, Delta addresses greener packaging, reduces their carbon footprint in every aspect of wine making and supply chain choices, and donates 10% of all sales to the Surfrider Foundation, Cool Effect, and groups fostering environmental education- like Conversations Worth Having.

We also wish to thank Hotel Healdsburg’s Circe Sher for hosting some of our speakers and providing a discount for those traveling for the event. Coming soon: GaeaStar cups in the Hotel Healdsburg Spa.

And for anyone who missed the event or just wanted to keep the conversation going the next day, Flying Goat Coffee on center street hosted a pop-up on Saturday Feb. 17th using GaeaStar cups, which they gave away with every coffee sold.

A dinner for our speakers and a limited number of ticketed guests was held after the event in barndiva, which Daniel Carlson and I filled with foraged arrangements from our forest in Philo. We were so pleased he was able to join us for this CWH.

The Conversations Worth Having team is Dawnelise Rosen, director of Farmpeneurs, Susan Preston, of Preston Family Farm; Jil Hales, all things Barndiva, and Amber Keneally who researched and created our medicine cabinet art installation.

It is our goal to keep Conversation Worth Having events small enough so the actual conversation we have after listening to our speakers is forthright and meaningful. To find out about future events, sign up for the Barndiva Blog, Eat the View, or follow us @barndivahealdsburg.

Wednesday at the Barn.......Primal Brain Food......Ginger and Pierre's Wedding...

Dish of the Week

Crispy Ballantine of Marrow & Pan Roasted Scallop

 Summer Corn, Micro Greens & Basil Coulis

Long before we were hunters, we were foragers eating what scraps of meat we could scavenge off fallen prey after the apex predators with full stomachs had moved on. No one knows where the impulse to raise a stone and break the bones of those animals to get to the nutrient rich marrow inside came from, but the fat gleaned from them helped us survive the early winters of our civilization. Many scientists believe the fat-soluble vitamins found in those bones, and the interior columns of marrow, were crucial to hominids developing larger brains.

With the invention of weapons we moved on, to whole animals and choice cuts of meat, but marrow never disappeared from the playing field of cuisine. Every country has classic recipes using it ~ to thicken soups, as a base for sauces, to inspire pasta fillings, or just slathered on bread instead of butter. When served on its own, you usually get the roasted bone with a scoop, a tradition for which we have Louis XV to thank. But whether you eat it off an elegant silver spoon in Monaco (at Alain Ducasse’ Louis XV) or chow down in East London with a platter overflowing with bones in a sea of parsley (at Fergus Henderson's St. John), marrow is delicious. There are some things you put in your mouth ~ oysters and foie gras come to mind ~  when sensation precedes all thought and taste. The flavor of marrow is fragrant and meaty but secondary to its texture, which is incredibly light. It’s fat, yes, but fat with attitude.

When served as an entrée marrow is usually paired with red meat, the classic ‘whole animal’ connection. Makes sense, but ultimately, a bit limiting. After a few bites, with nothing for the rich flavors to play against, umami on umami cancel each other out.

Ryan has found a way around this conundrum by creating a dish that features marrow as a luxurious condiment in a main course. It’s an inspired pairing with scallops that results in a frisson similar to the one you get with Chorizo and Clams ~ disparate ingredients that compliment each other, but ultimately stand alone.

While this week’s DOW is probably not a ‘try this at home dish,’ if you want to cook marrow out of the bone all you need do is soak the bones first in ice water. This will pull any remaining blood out (even yellow marrow will have some), while time in icy water chills the fat making it oh so easy to slide out of the bone. Drew rolls the marrow in sifted flour before sautéing in grape oil and finishing with Maldon salt. Timing is crucial. You need just enough heat to warm the marrow through, stopping just short of its melting point. Drew, always admirably stoic even when facing a full incoming board of orders, handily coordinates a perfect scallop with the perfectly cooked marrow, but it could be nerve wracking for a lesser chef.

This isn’t a straight up surf and turf attraction, but something far more subtle. Ryan's is a very modern presentation which explores marrowfat’s incredible lightness of being, taking it out of the context of the bone altogether. Visually, on its own, marrow is but a white plug of fat, so Chef surrounds it with color ~ a single gorgeously golden pan roasted scallop with late summer corn and a vibrant basil coulis. The dish is finished with a conga line of pungent micro greens with just enough punch in the Russian Kale and Bull’s Blood to refresh the palate.

Reading up on marrow I came across a highly entertaining blog called Mark’s Daily Apple written by a body builder with a discernible jones for primal brain food. No silver spoon for this guy ~ according to Mark Sisson “paleo reenactment is the only justifiable course of action,” when eating marrow.  Just have at it, he says, like our ancestors used to. He (and Fergus) have a point, but when it comes to the evolution of this remarkable ingredient,  I think I’ll stick with Ryan.

Best of the Blogs this Week...

No one would argue that Barndiva isn't extremely photogenic, but though we see ourselves frequently in food and weddings blogs we rarely link you to them. Mea Culpa. My extremely talented goddaughter Zem Joquin (ecofabulous.com), no slouch when it comes to all things 'virtual,' implores me to remember the internet is all about SHARING. And hey, it's ok to blow your own horn. I know she’s right, but I fear I come from another time and place. Chef and I have wanted to keep the blog ‘clean’ looking and ad free, with original copy and images every week that aren't just re-posted. But I'm coming around to see that for those of us dedicated to DO EPIC SHIT (more on this next week) we are stronger in numbers.

So here are two blogs that came across the desktop this week I really admired. The first is the beautiful wedding album of Ginger and Pierre, shot by Traci Griffin. By any accounts, this is a pretty stunning couple. But it’s the warmth of these images, which flowed from the wedding couple and every one of their family and friends on the day that makes this album so special. These guys are from New Orleans, so they started with a surfeit of soul, but Traci captured all the sweet details that made this wedding remarkable. The couple even skipped out during the salad course to quickly shoot the fading sunlight of their wedding day in random vineyards and fields around Healdsburg. (It was nice to see Hotel Les Mars in the early shots, and Dragonfly's florals, which captured the casual elegance of the day.)

Amber got an email this week from the newlyweds, back in the Big Easy, bailing out water from Hurricane Issac, still high from their nuptials. No worries: these guys can float.

The second link is to a personal blog by a couple who travels to ride their bikes, eat and drink wine. Lots of it. Not a day goes by I don’t walk through the dining room and see someone lifting a cell phone to take a snap of their meal, and while I think visual diaries are fun (in small doses), rarely do I see blogs as tight as the one Katie posted about her and Whit's trip to Sonoma on her blog,  Is There Any Wine Left?. Was it laudatory? You bet. Would I have posted it if it weren’t? Probably not, but I sleep better knowing there are bloggers out there who put real time and effort into relaying their lives to friends, especially when what we do is involved. There is so much crap on the internet. And while we’re long past the point of thinking every image taken steals our souls (if true, then we have none), I still believe when you come into someone else's house and take an image away, you should try and make it a good one. Katie can write, as well.

Eat the View!

All text Jil Hales. All photos Jil Hales (unless otherwise noted.)