A California breakfast hack that could really catch fire
It isn’t often that hoteliers offer a “pre-roll” — once known as a joint — at breakfast along with morning coffee, yogurt and burritos, but something tells me this might be one California trend that catches fire elsewhere.
In 2016, the Golden State voted to allow recreational cannabis use, so sharing (not selling) with others within the hospitality industry became a natural extrapolation. Anyone in California can grow up to six flowering plants on their own property.
One of the few “sharing” establishments is Mine and Farm, a nine-room bed-and-breakfast tucked into Sonoma County redwoods along the Russian River in Guerneville. Owners Bryce Skolfield and Suzanne Szostak began offering their homegrown products to clients two years ago when they made the life-changing decision to enter the innkeeping business.
Leaving their jobs in tech and public policy was the easy part. Like many high-octane 40-50-somethings, they were ready for a fresh, perhaps less stressful, challenge.
And what could be more relaxing that opening a B&B during a pandemic?
This is not your usual Victorian venue, heavy with antiques or studied preciousness. Rather, this remodeled, doily-to-Dali farmhouse has the feel of a salon or club. The common room is a large living area featuring modern furniture, a bookshelf filled with collected esoterica and oddities (an RBG statuette next to a T-Rex tooth), as well as books, gameboards, snacks and a wine fridge. The feel is upscale, sophisticated and low-key, infused with an ambient energy, thanks to Bryce’s 100-wordsa-minute dispositions on any number of topics.
And, of course, the pre-roll at breakfast.
Along with the smoke, Bryce offers a soft-pitch lesson in cannabis politics and policy — if one is interested. Sharing viewpoints is part of the experience that the owners intentionally cultivate.
Even the nomenclature at Mine and Farm is purposeful. Words such as “joint” and “marijuana” are in disuse there, as they are elsewhere in the industry among those dedicated to full legalization of “cannabis,” the preferred term. The terms most common in my day are now passé, loaded with negative connotations. Even “joint,” Bryce says, harks back to the illegal days of nickel bags and tilted box tops used for separating seeds from the grass.
“We’re trying to elevate cannabis,” says Suzanne, who previously worked for Google and YouTube. This isn’t your parents’ college-era scene, in other words. You’re as likely to see a financial adviser or a dentist inhale here as pour a glass of wine — or both. You very quickly forget that cannabis is still considered an illegal drug in some parts of the country.
It’s plainly time for NORML (National Organization for Marijuana Reform) to insert the “A” back into its acronym.
In their two years as hoteliers, Bryce says only a handful of guests have declined the offer of a pre-roll. No one thus far has been rude, but if someone doesn’t like the vibe, the owners won’t object to their leaving. Their point of view is free; their pre-rolled cannabis is just an alternative to a chocolate on your pillow. I’m betting I’m not the only guest who has considered asking for a late checkout.
I haven’t smoked or ingested cannabis in any form since the day I became pregnant 38 years ago. Though I accepted the morning share, my “Gorilla Glue” pre-roll from Mine and Farm is still in its wrapper. But you never know.