Latest news with #outdoorlife
Forbes
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Inside Mendocino Grove's Celebration Of Local Bounty, Community & Connection
Mendocino Grove Friday Night Dinners Mendocino Grove, the award winning, upscale camping retreat on the picturesque Mendocino coast, has evolved into more than just a weekend escape—it's now a seasonal hub for food, music, and community gathering. Throughout the summer and into fall, the property hosts weekly Friday Night Dinners and a series of special culinary events that highlight regional farms, local talent, and the rugged luxury of outdoor life on the Mendocino coast. These experiences are open to both guests and the public, offering a laid back, yet lively, way to connect over a shared meal. At the heart of the weekly dinners is Chef Chantelle Sookram, whose résumé includes Nopa in San Francisco and Blue Hill in New York—two restaurants known for their strong focus on local sourcing and seasonality. Before landing in Mendocino, she co-founded the Miami-based pop-up series Love and Vegetables in partnership with Earth n' Us Farm. Now working closely with producers like Nye Ranch, Mist Farm, and Wavelength Farm, Sookram adapts each week's menu based on what's in seasona and growing locally. 'Friday Night Dinners were created to welcome our campers with a comforting, home-style meal after a long drive,' says co-owner Teresa Raffo. 'Each week is inspired by a global comfort dish, like chicken pot pie, lasagna, or ramen, built around high-quality ingredients and whatever's fresh from our local farms.' Each dinner includes an entrée, side, and dessert for $30 per adult and $15 per child. Guests bring their own drinks, settle into the communal meadow complete with fire pits and lounge seating, and enjoy live music from local musicians like 2Ton Bridge and Kendall Dean. The vibe is unfussy and relaxed, but rooted in intention and quality. From Indian butter chicken and carnitas bowls to cottage pie and chicken tagine, each weekly dinner offers a different cuisine. Mendocino Grove Friday Night Dinners To keep things fresh, Mendocino Grove also brings in guest chefs for one-off dinners. 'Chef Chantelle is the heartbeat of our food program, but we love bringing in guest chefs, especially during our Winemaker Dinners,' says Raffo. 'This season we've hosted Chef Garrick Tallman for paella and wood-fired pizza, Chef Mark Dym for gumbo, and Chef Kathy Fang, who's cooking for the PlumpJack dinner. It brings fresh energy to the table while keeping our core philosophy intact.' Menus often draw on global inspirations—like Indian curries or Creole classics—but are tailored to the off-grid setting. 'We focus on honoring the essential flavors. A dish like paella starts with great saffron, good stock, and fresh local produce,' says Raffo. 'Cooking outdoors adds its own magic—open flames, wood ovens, and that sense of being close to nature. It makes each dish feel a little more connected to the land.' The next event? BBQ Dinner & Music: Travis Howard, Danny Merrick & Friends on August 24th. The events also reflect Mendocino Grove's broader values, with seasonal themes and nonprofit collaborations woven throughout the calendar. 'Our seasonal event ideas come from two places: our community partnerships and what's in season,' Raffo explains. 'We collaborate with organizations like the Mendocino Film Festival, Mendocino Music Festival, and The Good Farm Fund… Every dish starts with what's fresh and local. It's what gives our events their soul.' Two standout fall events highlight this approach. The Good Farm Fund Anniversary Dinner supports local agriculture with a hyper-seasonal menu featuring ingredients from farms that have directly benefited from the nonprofit's grant program. Mendocino Grove event 'This event is rooted in gratitude,' explains Raffo. 'The Good Farm Fund provides critical grants to local farms and helps make their food more accessible… It's farm-to-table in its purest form, and a way for us all to give back.' Then there's the fourth annual Fall Festival coming up November 14th and 15th, which marks the close of camping season. This highly-anticipated event features two days of musical acts featuring Marshall House Project, The Gold Souls and Tracorum; crafts that include leather work, Shibori dying napkins and things, macrame and flower crowns; and a selection of food such as chile con carne and Thai green curry. 'It's a true community celebration and is intimate—under 200 guests—all-inclusive, and deeply intentional,' Raffo adds. 'We gather under one big tent to eat, make things, listen to music, and dance… a chance to celebrate the land, the farmers, and the shift into fall.' Whether it's a Friday night ramen bowl or a once-a-year festival dinner, Mendocino Grove's food programming remains rooted in its location, its people, and the seasons that shape them both.
CTV News
17-07-2025
- CTV News
Essentials for every summer adventure!
Ottawa Watch Cool off the right way with some great snack ideas and some summer essentials for your next camping trip.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Yahoo
Camper builds makeshift bush toilet
Camper Tom Madden constructed a makeshift bush toilet on his NSW Central Coastal property using a fallen tree branch and wood offcuts. Oh, you've got it, OK, yup. I've left a shovel here to fill it up as you go. Oh my god. Just dig and you can really go to town. You got some armrests here, lean back if you want to get really into it. OK, wow, crafty, um, yeah.
CBS News
06-07-2025
- CBS News
Breathtaking sights and sounds from Wyoming's Green River Drift
It is 4 a.m. and 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker is preparing for a horseback ride on Wyoming's Green River Drift, the longest running cattle drive in the United States. Whitaker is saddled up to join Brittany Heseltine, then a 29-year-old range rider. Her job is to guide and watch over roughly 600 cattle in mountain pastures during their summer grazing. It was her third on the drift. The job lasts about five months and can be grueling. While on the remote range, Heseltine lives in a small, isolated trailer without running water and cell service. "It's just absolutely amazing to be out here alone in nature with all the wildlife," Hazeltine told Whitaker in 2021. "And I get to work my dogs and drive my horses every day. And, of course, the cattle. It's something that really soothes my soul and it really speaks to me, I guess. It's really difficult to explain, but I love it." Whitaker and 60 Minutes joined Heseltine for a one-and-a-half-mile trek that lasted close to three hours before the herd stopped for a bovine siesta. Watch Bill Whitaker's full 60 Minutes report below. The video above was originally published on October 17, 2021 and was produced by Sarah Shafer Prediger and Keith Zubrow. It was edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.
The Verge
30-06-2025
- The Verge
Jackery's capable, solar-powered generator is nearly half off
A summer camping trip is the perfect excuse to stop staring at screens, but it doesn't mean you need to go completely off the grid. Jackery's Explorer 1000 Power Station V2 lets you charge your gadgets and have more fun while you're camping. For instance, you can plug in a projector, speakers, or a space heater. In other words, it's great for entertainment and for maintaining a certain quality of life you may not be willing to give up while camping. This charging station, which also includes a SolarSaga 200W Portable Solar Panel, costs $698.99 ($601 off), its lowest price ever at Amazon. The Explorer 1000 v2 will typically output 1,500 watts, which is enough juice to run a mini fridge, coffee maker, and other small appliances, or recharge a smartphone dozens of times. It can handle 3,000 watt power surges if a gadget draws a lot more energy briefly. The Explorer 1000 has three AC Outlets, two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, and a DC power port, and can power or charge multiple gadgets at the same time. A small screen shows its battery percentage and how much power is being drawn. You can also view that information on your smartphone using the Jackery app. The Explorer 1000 recharges in under two hours when plugged into an outlet, but you can reduce that time to one hour by enabling its Emergency Charging setting using the Jackery app. Fast charging will sacrifice battery health, which is something to consider. Jackery says the Explorer 1000 can retain up to 70% of its original capacity after 4,000 charges. The SolarSaga Portable Solar Panel that's included can refill the generator's battery in about seven and a half hours with direct sunlight, and you can cut that time in half by connecting a second one. The panel is waterproof, and can be folded up to protect the panels from damage. The panel uses a sensor in the upper-right corner to automatically adjust its positioning to ensure the sun is hitting it at the optimal angle. Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox weekly.
