I moved away from the big city, where I worked as a cook, bartender, and played music with several bands. Now I live with my wife Christy, our son Eli, two cats and 19 chickens on the other side of Puget Sound, in a house we built ourselves. We're turning 5 acres of raw land into a sustainable homestead. You can read all about it, if you feel so inclined, on our website www.MellishFieldsWest.com. I'm the chef of a farm-to-fork restaurant in Kingston called Mossback, where we use fresh, seasonal food from small farms in the area, change the menu daily, host live music and events and make a damn fine pot pie. My wife works there as well. When we're not working or staring adoringly at our son, we're building things in our shop, kayaking, gardening or daydreaming about when we get to travel next.

Oh yeah, about my less than stellar reply rate: I seem to get a lot of mass messages from people looking to stay in Seattle. Enough that I no longer bother replying to them. To be clear here, it takes about an hour to get to Seattle from Kingston, and if you only have a couple of days to see the city, you're gonna want to be a lot closer. As long as you're not just copy-paste-ing me something about having one night in Seattle, I'll get back to you. If you've already read this far into my profile, I can tell you're not that person, so don't worry about it, and thanks for being awesome.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Traveling and hosting. I love the concept and have been doing it for a while. I'd gladly do anything in my power to help this community stay alive and grow.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted a lot of people, and have loved every opportunity to learn from them and get to know them. Couchsurfing is a disproportionately awesome crowd. I've also couchsurfed my way through twelve countries so far, and look forward to more.

Interests

Sustainability, alternative building, DIY anything, small scale agriculture, small economy, luddite rants, music, building strange contraptions, bicycles, cooking, eating, meeting people, camping...

• cats
• chickens
• diy
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• drinking
• gardening
• shopping
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• homesteading
• music
• live music
• kayaking
• camping
• agriculture

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies! Music! Books! Hoorah!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I went spalunking 15 stories beneath the surface of Hungary, somewhere near the Croatian border with a motley, yet friendly group of Hungarian cavers who cooked me paprika potatoes let me camp with them.

Teach, Learn, Share

Always glad to exchange recipes, cook some dinner for people, share music, play music, drink and talk, have adventures. Always open.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Got a kitchen? I can cook for you. Wanna talk about travel? Politics? Agriculture? Brazilian music from the 60s? I'm your man. Wanna sit in silence? I can do that too. Wanna share anything about your home? I wanna learn.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Belize, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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