North Bay bakery owner ready to rebuild after redwood crushes part of property

Cazadero bed and breakfast operator Mark Weiss is not one to wallow.

Even last week, when a giant redwood tree crashed into his dream property and decadeslong project — Raymond’s Bakery and Elim Grove Cottages — his focus quickly turned to the repairs ahead. And how he actually looks forward to doing them.

“Well,” he said, looking out on Wednesday over the destroyed outdoor eating area and cracked concrete popped up by the tree’s uprooted base, “I’ve got my winter project picked out.

“It’s a beautiful day to be alive and to have to deal with all of these problems,” he added.

For Weiss, the whole situation demonstrated how magic can happen even in dark times, especially when the community steps in.

Weiss purchased the Cazadero property just under 24 years ago, when the five “cottages” — repurposed “earthquake shacks” built as temporary housing after the devastating 1906 earthquake in San Francisco — were in deep need of repair. The property was littered with tarps covering unfinished projects.

“It just felt like it was waiting for me,” said Weiss, who had always dreamed of having a bed and breakfast where he supplied the baked goods.

He opened the bakery immediately and, after much construction, opened the cottages about a year later. Ever since, he has created a culture of community in the space.

In the kitchen, he has baked for countless charities, guests, neighbors and construction workers handling storm-related repairs. The cottages have housed thousands of guests. An outdoor stage and eating area have been home to many concerts and community pizza nights.

Fortunately, the fallen tree did not damage any buildings or injure anyone. But as the sun rose on Christmas Eve, Weiss could see all of the things that needed to be done, hopefully, by April, when the outdoor space typically reopens.

The removal of the fallen tree. The assessment of an even larger redwood that is now leaning. The jackhammering of the bakery’s now fractured concrete foundation. And lots of rebuilding.

However, as he surveyed the destruction, neighbors and guests slipped on gloves and began clearing the area. A GoFundMe account was created to raise money for the rebuild. And that night, two musicians pulled out a French horn and a trombone and gave a Christmas Eve concert in the rain as other guests and Weiss’s family feasted on his freshly baked goods.

The crash

Weiss remembers a flash about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, immediately followed by the explosion that comes from wood smashing into asphalt.

Good, he thought, it didn’t sound like a cottage or building had cushioned the fall.

His house, on the same property only a few hundred feet away, shook.

The tree was one of many to fall during a severe windstorm that produced gusts of up to 49 mph in lower elevations and knocked out power to thousands of homes.

In Healdsburg, a large oak tree fell onto parked cars at the corner of University and Lincoln streets. In Guerneville, a tree fell into a home, narrowly missing a 3-year-old child, and crushed three cars.

After hearing the tree crash in Cazadero, Weiss grabbed his flashlight, headlamp and work clothes. His teenage son, Eric, who had been sleeping in the bakery, came through the door and confirmed what had happened.

The duo then plunged into the pitch-black, violent churning air and herded all of the guests into the bakery. They got the emergency lights — this is far from Cazadero’s first power outage — made tea and hot chocolate and waited out the night, some of them returning to their cottages. Weiss closed his eyes for an hour and then went back outside.

Three of the four guest cars were totaled. Tree limbs blanketed the area.

In addition to all of the destruction, Weiss saw all of the things that the tree didn’t hit. He genuinely thanked the tree for “being so considerate” and falling away from his son in the bakery, all of the guests, a storage shed and a propane tank.

He also mourned the tree, which was part of what made the property feel so magical.

“That grove is so special,” said Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chair Lynda Hopkins, whose district includes Cazadero. “That’s what west county is … living in the woods is part of the community. And yet it’s also a danger.”

That danger still looms with another even larger tree leaning on the property. That, Weiss said, is the first thing he will tackle. After that, he will take it day by day, cleaning up what he can, alerting upcoming guests to the property’s condition, and monitoring the kitchen wall, which is a foot above the cracked foundation.

He also has to focus on his health and push through the chronic pain he faces every day.

Another key piece in Weiss’s story, and a part of the reason why he has the positive outlook he does, is that for longer than he has had Raymond’s Bakery, he has had colon cancer. Weiss has had 34 hospitalizations in the last 21 years in relation to the disease. He often has to rest.

The other half of it is that Weiss’s father, for whom the bakery is named, died of cancer a few weeks before he purchased the Cazadero property.

So, last Wednesday, when Weiss was able to walk, he said he was happy to work. Even another guest, Emma Halseth, said she heard Weiss and his son talking on Christmas Eve about all the lumber they would get from the fallen redwood and how they would use it to reconstruct the property.

“Everyone has had the experience of being in a bad mood for no reason,” Weiss said. He sees the value in being, “in a good mood for no reason.” Even though it can be hard and takes time.

Hopkins met Weiss more than 15 years ago when they were both selling at local farmers markets. She described him as someone with a “generosity of spirit,” who was always giving away baked goods at the end of the day.

He carried that same spirit to Raymond’s Bakery.

“The space he has created is reflective of his soul and who he is as a person,” Hopkins said. “He just creates community where he goes.”

Practicing kindness

Weiss has a habit of welcoming people into deep conversation and an insatiable itch for making meals that people love. One guest, Gina Biernacki, drove up last April planning for a quiet weekend alone, only to find herself chatting with Weiss for hours and days. She also ate “the best bread I have ever had in my life,” and then Weiss taught her how to bake it.

“I’ve been baking bread daily ever since,” Biernacki said.

In addition to being generous with his baking, he also offers free stays in the cottages to people undergoing cancer treatment.

“He practices kindness,” said Mike Ruby, who teaches music at a summer camp across the street from the bakery. Weiss also makes “the best croissants I have had outside of France,” Ruby said.

Ruby started the GoFundMe for Weiss after seeing posts about the tree falling. As of Monday afternoon, it has raised more than $22,000.

It makes Weiss slightly uncomfortable. He said he even struggles with getting paid for his work. But he said yes to the online fundraiser and to the helping hands of community members who rearranged their Christmas Eve plans.

Weiss said all he hopes for every day is to leave one positive impact on someone else. So to see other people using their energy to do that for him is deeply moving.

“It’s not the money, but just like one of my friends said, the reflection of the impact of who I’ve chosen to be,” he said.

A lot of work lies ahead. Cleaning up branches. Tearing apart the bakery’s old foundation. Pouring a new one. Crafting new outdoor tables, hopefully using wood from the fallen redwood.

Weiss knows he has help, especially from within his own family.

Early on Christmas Eve morning, as Weiss and his son went to the spot where the tree pulled out of the ground, the 15-year-old shared a thought.

He said he knew the tree falling would affect the property and their lives. “But I also am kind of excited about rebuilding this with you,” Weiss recounted proudly.

Later Weiss said, “I was thinking the exact same thing.”