Closer to the Ground

Family, food, and Mother Nature

Author Dylan Tomine, a former fly-fishing guide, is now a writer by trade and conservation advocate. Loving everything outdoors, he and his wife Stacy decided to move away from city life (not that there's anything wrong with it) onto Bainbridge Island to live life closer to the earth.

We're telling you about this book because of its food bent, but I have to say that I enjoyed the book's family focus more than anything. With all the strife and anger and frustration in the world, it's a pretty wonderful tale of a close-knit family who work and play together, and a father who clearly adores his children. My mom has often told me that she has learned so much over the years from her kids (three of us), and Dylan speaks numerous times to learning to enjoy the process or the path vs. the destination or goal from his kids. Just being in a boat on the water with their dad or seeing a bird or porpoise is just as great as catching the fish or the crab. We could all stand to slow down a bit and enjoy what's happening now.

Slowing down is perhaps not the best description, because this family is constantly on the move. The wood they cut is what heats their home. The food they catch or grow and harvest is what they eat. Don't get them wrong: they buy at the store, they have a furnace. They're not reclusive folks who want nothing to do with the modern world. They're just trying to get back to some basics that they love. When the kids are out of school, they're fishing, hunting mushrooms, picking berries, etc. with their parents. The fact that they are so involved gives them great pride in what they produce and great enjoyment in what they eat. It's a seasonal life, so they look forward to chanterelles and blackberries, mourn the passing king salmon season, thrill to the start of Dungeness crab season.

Food is connected to family. Dylan's heritage is Japanese and many recipes have an Asian flavor profile. Others are simply the fastest way to something that tastes good, like his dad's blueberry muffins that use commercial pancake mix. Dylan's early connection to food was his mom's "'you pick 'em, I'll bake it' blackberry pie policy." Years later when his stepmother, Karen the 'Blackberry Queen' passed away, he and his family found it hard to get going on blackberry picking without her. Along with food being seasonal, the book deals with the seasons of life.

Dylan's kids

You'll enjoy this story (because most of us know we won't be out there chopping wood in the snow) all on its own, and then you get the bonus of the recipes. From Chinese black bean spot prawns to strawberry ice cream to crispy panko razor clams, you'll find your mouth watering and your desire for that particular season to roll around again.

Book cover courtesy of Patagonia, photos courtesy of Dylan Tomine

Click here to see the recipe for salmon shioyaki

Connie Adams/November 2015