BEAUTIFUL FOOD ALONG THE RUGGED COAST

By CINDA CHAVICH

(Ferryland, Newfoundland) – Anyone making their way up the rutted, single-track road to the Ferryland Head, about an hour’s drive south of St. John’s, might be forgiven for imagining they’ve conjured a mirage.

For along with the crimson tower of the historic local lighthouse - a beacon that has been guiding ships along the rugged Newfoundland coast since 1870 – they are likely to find two beautiful young women, serving equally beautiful food.

The women are Jill Curran and Sonia O’Keefe, old school friends who dreamed of restoring the decaying local landmark. Through many hours and years of hard work and sweat equity, they combined their talents to realize that dream. And today they are the co-proprietors of Lighthouse Picnics, one of the most delightful culinary experiences on Newfoundland’s east coast.

“People have hiked up here and they’re so surprised to see us,” chuckles O’Keefe, pushing a strand of wavy auburn hair out of her eyes and touring me through her tiny kitchen in the old frame house that hugs the riveted red metal light tower.

“It’s small but it has the most beautiful view of any kitchen,” she adds, pointing to Hare’s Ears island below the rocky headlands and the blue Atlantic, where humpback and minke whales play.

It’s here that the duo turn out their simple but stunning picnic lunches every summer day – food to be savoured with friends, while sprawled on a blanket, enjoying that same dramatic coastal views and breathing the bracing sea air.

The story of the women and their quest to save the Ferryland Lighthouse is almost a fairy tale itself. O’Keefe and Curran met as teenagers, but like many bright young Newfoundlanders soon left their outport communities for university studies and careers. Curran, who majored in Newfoundland history and later in public relations, eventually moved to Ireland and Scotland to work. O’Keefe, an English major with a love of food, ended up at the prestigious Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland.

The women stayed in touch through all of their many moves, and when they spent a homesick Christmas together in 2000 in Scotland, the idea to restore the lighthouse in Ferryland was hatched.

“Sonia wanted to open some kind of restaurant and I wanted to return home,” says Curran. Several generations of her family – the Costello’s – had been lighthouse keepers in Ferryland until the lighthouse was automated in 1970, so her interest in the historic landmark was both professional and personal.

“The lighthouse was where my grandmother was born,” Curran adds, “so I always wanted to see it restored.”

For two years, the women lived on opposite sides of the world - O’Keefe in Iowa while her husband finished university, and Curran in New Zealand with her fiancée – but they continued to work toward their plan to offer lunches at the lighthouse.

“I gave Jill a book for Christmas that year, so that she could write down our ideas and keep track of our plans,” O’Keefe chuckles. “We talked on the phone a lot.”

By June 2003, both women had moved home to Newfoundland and in early July, they were in business.

That first summer was “a leap of faith,” says Curran.

While the trail from town to the old lighthouse has long been used by the locals in this community of 5,600, the last tenant, a local artist, moved out in 1983, and the dilapitated house sat empty for 20 years. So before taking on that restoration project, the women spent their first summer testing their business plan, hauling their picnic foods up the hill every morning and serving lunches outdoors.

“It was me and Sonia and her 8-month-old baby, with umbrellas and baskets,” says Curran.

“Would it work? We had no idea,” she adds. “We were asking people to walk up and we were asking people to sit out on the ground. It was a bit of a crazy idea.”

But the word spread and the community supported the plan, donating historic photos and artifacts, reminiscing about the lighthouse, even pitching in to work when crowds began to turn up.

“One day a woman from town was out walking and came into the lighthouse and said, ‘Jill, there are at least 50 people behind me – do you need any help?” says Curran, “and she came in and helped us do dishes.”

Their first customers were a couple from Colorado on a walk on a foggy, wet morning. When they found the women serving picnics, they stayed for lunch, then had to hike back to their car, and return, with the money to pay.

That winter, the women worked alongside local men, hired by the town through a job creation program, to restore the house. Tools and materials had to be hauled up the hillside through deep snow, and construction done in bitterly cold conditions.

“It was just a matter of time before the lighthouse was completely gone and everyone knew it needed TLC fast,” says O’Keefe. Over three winters, the women worked to rebuilt the house, saving what they could and using old lighting and materials from a salvage yard.

Finally, the rotting floors were repaired and painted a brilliant historic green, the ancient beams and fireplaces revealed, a modern kitchen installed, the and the old coal shed fitted with a refrigerated display case filled with fresh salads and pots of  fluffy rhubarb fool.

Set on a high bluff jutting out into the sea, the Ferryland Lighthouse is accessible only on foot. This means not only paying customers, but supplies, groceries and staff must make the 25-minute hike up to the lighthouse every day.

“I’m making bread all day – 50 loaves a day – but I love making bread,” she says. “I bake hams and chickens in the ovens while the bread is rising, and we always have cold pasta salad and fruit salad, so I chop an enormous amount of fruit.”

It’s hard to predict how many picnickers will arrive each day, she says, but there are routinely more than 100 customers, even on a Wednesday.

At Ballymaloe, O’Keefe learned the ethos of cooking from scratch, using local, seasonal and organic ingredients. And that’s what you’ll find on her menu – native bake apples and partridge berries, freshly shucked snow crab and cold water shrimp, local honey, organic local greens, and home baked desserts.

In fact, on the day I visited, I was carrying bunches of fresh herbs and organic greens up to the lighthouse, thanks to my stop at Mike Rabinowitz’s Organic Farm earlier that morning.

“It has to be summery – picnic food – but I try to keep it local,” she says. “I get so much from Mike’s organic farm – our business wouldn’t be nearly as good if we didn’t have him.”

“Fresh, pure ingredients, and people out there on the bank with an amazing view – it becomes a moment for people, and they seem to treasure that,” says O’Keefe. “There’s something magical about the lighthouse – people feel something there.”

While the lighthouse picnic business closes for the winter months, Curran and O’Keefe are now the official “keepers” of the Ferryland light.

They continue to renovate and improve the space, hosting cultural events, from readings by local authors like Michael Crummey to intimate concerts with musicians like folk legend Ron Hynes. They now offer guided historical walks to the lighthouse, and open for special events, from weddings and gourmet dinners to pirate parties for kids, complete with buried treasure.

“It’s been really wonderful – people here in Ferryland are really proud to see the lighthouse open again,” adds Curran.

Surely, they’re proud of their new lighthouse keepers, too.

www.lighthousepicnics.ca

(A version of this story originally appeared in Chatelaine magazine)

©Cinda Chavich 2007

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