How SingleThread Is Leading Sustainable Dining

A little known fact about chef Kyle Connaughton is that he quietly dons vintage Alexander McQueen while working on his farm. He and his wife, Katina Connaughton met at a punk rock show when they were 15, so naturally, they have a strong affinity for British fashion brands aligned with the punk movement like McQueen and Vivianne Westwood. The idea for their farm-to-table restaurant, SingleThread, spawned in some ways as an extension of their punk values.

After living and working in Japan and England, the Connaughtons wanted to be in the world of fine dining but didn’t feel quite at home there. “We wanted to be, work, and execute at that level. But not necessarily all those things felt like they were us,” says Kyle. “So it was a balance of ‘How do you be at that level, and at the same time, be true to who you are?’”

Katina, SingleThread’s co-owner and head farmer, tends their loamy, 24-acre Sonoma County farm consisting of a greenhouse, shade structures, an heirloom fruit orchard, and beehives nestled by Dry Creek Valley and the Dry Creek stream. The farm supplies vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers, and honey for dishes like gazpacho and megumi wagyu at SingleThread’s idyllic inn and restaurant kitchen just four miles away in downtown Healdsburg.

SingleThread’s principal commitment is letting the land lead the kitchen. The Connaughtons were incredibly intentional about the land they chose for the farm and developed a layout for crops that works harmoniously with the periods of extreme drought and wet seasons that have become exacerbated due to climate change.

By keeping seasonality and native plants top of mind, SingleThread lessens the impact on the farmland by not forcing what it cannot handle. Katina places emphasis on soil health and productivity, rejecting pesticides and working with natural solutions, like fermenting and companion planting, that not only benefit the soil but also yield nutritionally dense and flavorful crops. The entire life of a crop is considered and accounted for, and waste from the kitchen returns to the farm to use as fuel.

Placing their own limitations on what they grow, Kyle has cultivated a strong farming community outside of SingleThread only sourcing from local businesses be it fisheries from the coast, a neighbor’s peach tree, or a local ranch that raises ducks exclusively for the farm. Their approach and deliverance of high-quality ingredients through this ecosystem has earned them three Michelin stars and a Green Star.

“It's always in flux, and it's always changing. But that's also the opportunity, because you're always thinking creatively. You're always putting together this giant puzzle. If we make this change here and this menu that affects this here, and I think we really love that constant evolution and change.”

And after nearly a decade, Kyle says he and his team are nowhere near set in their systems. If anything, they have a deep understanding that change is constant.

Their next frontier is diner education, asking how SingleThread can live beyond the confines of the farm. The team has stewarded many season-specific workshops where folks can get hands-on experience harvesting fruit, arranging flowers, and becoming acquainted with native vegetation through nature walks.

They’ve also taken the model on the road, popping up with “ThroughLine” on a tour through Park City, Utah; New York City; and the Hudson Valley. The experience takes diners on a 12-course omakase journey, paired with an eight-part film series unveiling the stories behind all the hands that make SingleThread's sourcing and culinary artistry possible. 

“What they're experiencing is the culmination of all this work and these relationships, and oftentimes behind that is very important, environmental, social, cultural work that's being done, and the guest just sees the final result as the plate of food,” says Kyle. “The hope was that a guest walks away from the SingleThread dining experience or ThroughLine experience and begins to seek out those things in their own life more broadly, like working more directly with farmers or season and locality, really taking a look at their seafood choices and the different people, artisans, and crafts that they may work with to support a broader ecosystem not just in the context of fine dining but in the context of everyday life.”