Finding Our Third Place: Nourishing Community Beyond Home and Work

What Is a Third Place?

Most of us spend the majority of our lives in one of two places: home or work. But sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who first coined the term “third place,” reminds us that there’s another kind of space—just as vital to our well-being—where community, connection, and conversation thrive.

Third places are the informal gathering spots that serve as anchors of public life. They are cafes, parks, barbershops, bookstores, farmers markets, and yes, even fermentation festivals—anywhere people gather to share ideas, swap stories, and feel a sense of belonging.

A Festival That Felt Like Home

This past Saturday, Christina and I had the opportunity to participate in the 2025 Hex Fermentation Festival in Baltimore, hosted by our friends Meaghan and Shane of Hex Ferments. The festival was buzzing with life—fermentation demos, vendors, and passionate conversations about food and health.

We had a Modern Stone Age Kitchen booth, and I taught a workshop on fermented dairy and home cheesemaking. But more than anything, the day felt like a celebration of something much deeper: community.

The Compliment That Stuck With Us

At one point, a regular customer of ours, Dani, stopped by with her partner and introduced us to the concept of the third place. “That’s what you’re building in Chestertown,” she said. She then added that Hex Ferments is her third place on the Western Shore, and the Modern Stone Age Kitchen is her third place on the Eastern Shore. Once we looked into the concept, we were incredibly proud of her observation—because she was right.

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It’s About More Than Food

The Modern Stone Age Kitchen has always been about more than food. It’s about people. It's about creating a space where people feel seen, heard, welcomed, and nourished—not just by what’s on the plate, but by the shared experience of eating, learning, and connecting together.

We realized that’s exactly what Meaghan and Shane are doing with Hex Ferments. The festival was a perfect example of a third place done right. It brought together a diverse group of people around something that matters—real food, fermented traditions, ancestral wisdom—and did so in an atmosphere filled with curiosity, kindness, and openness.

While we were there, I also had the chance to reconnect with fermentation icon Sandor Katz—someone whose work shaped my own early journey into fermentation and helped inspire the foundation of the Eastern Shore Food Lab. It was a full-circle moment to gift him a signed copy of my book, Eat Like a Human, and to hear that he had just seen it on the shelf during a recent trip to Sardinia!

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What Makes a Third Place Truly Nourishing?

So, what does it take to create a truly nourishing third place? Here are a few things we believe matter:

• A sense of community and belonging – You feel welcome the moment you step through the door.

• Kindness as a baseline – Not optional. Essential.

• No room for divisiveness – Complex and meaningful conversations are encouraged, but not at the expense of compassion or respect.

• Shared purpose – Whether it’s fermentation, fitness, faith, or food—something that brings people together around a common cause.

• Consistency and care – A place you can count on, where people show up with intention.

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We’re Building This Together

We’re proud to be building something like that in Chestertown—and we’re not alone. We see it in the work of Hex Ferments and many other incredible small businesses that are quietly shaping their communities with love and purpose.

We’d love to hear from you: What else do you think makes a third place feel special? Let us know in the comments! What makes you feel at home when you’re not at home or work? And how can we continue to grow the Modern Stone Age Kitchen into a space that nourishes you—body and soul?

Let’s keep the conversation going.

Bill chatting with Sam Shoge and his family