I’m visiting my friend Liina in San Francisco this week. Meanwhile an article about my business emerged through the publication Tasting Table- Follow the link. Usually I receive 1-3 email per week relating to She Sells Seaweed. The emails and orders are streaming in. I like the action! I don’t mind delaying my now routine walk through Golden Gate Park to answer emails. Though I would like to get out to see the Buffalo this morning!

I will be shipping out the most recent orders this coming Tuesday or Wednesday so look for your seaweed towards at the end of the week.

My kelp in San Fran

Great way to start the New Year: selling seaweed to a healthy handful of the 700 plus farmers that attended the NOFA Massachusetts Winter Conference. You could call me a “farmer of the sea” as one fellow did yesterday except that I simply gather a natural resource, and gladly share it. I work on the more strenuous end of the wild crafting spectrum! I received so many excellent questions that challenged my knowledge on the trade. The inquiries lead to many wonderful conversations ranging from the water quality of our bay to how the body assimilates minerals from seaweed- raw vs. cooked. I met a woman that had harvested seaweed with Ryan Drum a West Coast seaweed guru. I would love to visit him. I met someone that graduated from my high school 40 years before me and is also a teacher and farmer. I also saw the familiar faces of seaweed customers and enthusiasts encountered over the past year from Maine, RI, and Ma. Being set up alongside mostly exhibitors, at an educational event, I wasn’t sure that I would sell as much seaweed as I do at markets. People approached my table very eager to learn all about the harvest, few left without a bag of seaweed in hand. The conference was the perfect environment for me to educate people about seaweed, the main reason why I started this project/business. I really felt that I had found my niche and many people expressed their appreciation. At one point I though, I get it! People want to support me and buy my seaweed because unlike other seaweed companies I am filling a nice out in the communities connecting with people. I wouldn’t be able to do it if I didn’t have the customers. I am so drawn to the culture of farmer’s markets and eager to learn about opportunities related to food education. If anyone that attended the conference reads this and would like to share a bit about their experience at the NOFA conference please post a comment as I missed out of the workshops. Thanks to everyone I met Saturday for being so open and supportive!

Time for holiday! I will not be selling seaweed until next year and I am happy to have a break! But I must say that the New Amsterdam Market was worth the haul! Despite the threat of a blizzard, a dead car, and sinusitis- I filled Neisha’s Prius with wakame, kombu, kelp, dulse and nori and headed straight for the storm! Actually, I checked the internet for the weather and saw that the storm was timed just so I would get to Brooklyn just as the storm was about to begin, and by morning the roads were plowed! I shoveled out my car with a dust pan and headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. I had a good feeling about the market- the New Amsterdam people bragged about the number of people coming out last year in side ways sleet. The market goers are tough! I figured- I’m sure people will be ready to shop in a winter wonderland! Especially for SEAWEED!… The market was great. I talked about seaweed until I had no more voice. I met lots of great seaweed enthusiasts. Drank hot coffee and warm cider. And tried not to think about my frozen toes. Hope everyone enjoys a good wassail for the coming new year!

I was sitting on the subway feeling hot and tired after a long day selling seaweed at South Street Seaport. I unzipped my sweatshirt and immediately recalled unzipping my wetsuit on the motor boat ride home from a morning harvesting seaweed. I opened up my new book, the photographs revealed strong, tough looking men crossing South Street wet, cold and fishy. I though “how uncomfortable”. I hate being wet and cold. But I also though how necessary and interesting their work is. That moment in the hot subway I felt a wave of appreciation for my work out on the water. There is something inside of us that needs to be doing that work. I need to do work that pushes my body. Work that has a history to it. Larch has taught me to stay present in the work and I will keep practicing that. For me it is for the moment and the memory. Selling at the markets and sharing the story keeps the work alive.

The book South Street by Barbara G. Mensch is about the history of the Fulton Fish Market- the oldest fish market to have stayed at one location. It survived in Manhattan from 1822 to 2005. Barbara signed her book, to her left I sold seaweed and to her right Megan sold olive oil and vinegars. I gave out samples of a wakame salad made with a dressing Megan whipped up using her oil, vinegars and sea salts. Megan is going to sell my seaweed at her shop called Provisions on Beekman St. Many other shop owners showed interest in carrying my seaweed. That is something I will need to think about and plan for with next summers harvest. For now I am happy working my way into markets here and there selling directly to people and through my website.

I really love that seaweed harvesting has brought me to a historic place, South Street Seaport. The essence of the men that kept the fish market going for so many years is being kept alive by today’s vendors and an organization that values the public market.

Wow! This time last week I had finished the first of three days selling seaweed at the Common Ground Fair in Unity Maine. It was a very successful weekend. I made lots of connections with costomers, reconnected with most of my dear friends in Maine, bartered for some great products (elderberry syrup, chaga lotion, sunflower oil…) and ate some delicious local to Maine foods.

I sold seaweeds alongside my friend Travis who solds dried loose herbs that he harvested from his land in Cherryfield Maine. We shared a booth with a BEAUTIFUL family from Blue Hill- they harvested potatoes and wildcrafted a savory chicken mushroom. We all come together under the name Living Roots Farm, and next year we hope to do it again with even more wildcrafted foods. I hope to grow some shiitakes in the future to add to my soup mix for a new product- we’ll see!

The common ground fair is my favorite event of the year! I will write more about it later!

I just want to thank everyone who visited my booth last weekend and at the Bread Fest in Northampton the weekend before. Both events were successful and really fun for me.

I am going to work on paypal next week. Until then, email me a list of the seaweeds you would like to order and your shipping address. I will ship the seaweed with a bill and you can send me cash or check.

Enjoy the rustling of the leaves and the changing light. Oh the moon is getting near full!

Well I also have a number of markets lined up for selling. A few definite and a few tentative events. I was invited by the Hungry Ghost Bakery to sell seaweed at their bread festival on September 20th from 11am-4pm in Northampton, ma. I will also be selling at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, ME September 25th, 26th and 27th.

I may have the opportunity to sell my seaweed at a market in Manhattan three times this fall/winter. I am really hoping this works out! I have spent little time in the city and I have a few very close friends there- what a great excuse to visit! I really appreciate the mission of the market. Their idea is to “revive and reinvent the Public Market as a civic institution” in NYC. They support local regional small businesses. Visit their website to learn more- New Amsterdam Market.

I haven’t got around to getting pay pal on the website. I still may get it going mid month but I much rather put my energy into figuring out markets and selling directly to people- face to face. If you have purchased my seaweed in Providence please continue to look for it at the markets I have listed on my events and markets page. I plan to be at the Winter farmer’s market at the Hope Artists Village once or twice a month come time.

May everyone enjoy our transition to Autumn. Did you all see the beautiful full moon this weekend?

I hope to get the seaweeds up for sale on the site really soon!

From RI I traveled to Western Mass for the Northeastern Organic Farmers Association’s summer conference. I attended workshops on growing mushrooms and on Agro-forestry. I didn’t think I knew what agro-forestry was until I slipped into the lecture and marveled at photographs of familiar friends from the Appalachian forest. When I was at Warren Wilson I came really close to starting a project growing woodland medicinals, like goldenseal, but I got side tracked. Still a dream! I sold lots of seaweed at the NOFA conference on Saturday- it was encouraging selling at a market where people were very familiar with the produckt and had no problem buying multiple bags.

Don’t you think a shitake and seaweed soup mix would be fun!?! I have a contact in Western Mass that is already growing mushrooms and I hope to visit and learn more asap!

I am resting now in Steuben. Packaging seaweed and keeping Larch’s business going. I visited John and Irene at Zocolo yesterday and we played music in Winter Harbor. I got to sing a few songs for the crowd- about 15 people. I sang Red River Valley and I Shall Be Released and we all played some waltzes and jigs and enjoyed the journey that Irene, Jon and Carl took us on to foreign lands- Turkey, Italy, Mexico… It’s so nice to play music for people.

Check back on the site in the next week for new seaweed specimen shots.

Yesterday was a treat! I met up with some friends and went on a little adventure. We swam twice- once at a river where I had the best back massage by the rapid and a beautiful chocolate lab joined us! After the first swim we found a place to hike and I learned a number of new plants… we were so lucky to fall upon a trail with quite the community of plants and fungi. The view at the top was expansive- we could see past our small mountains to the sea and some of the islands.

On the way home we discovered bouquets of chanterelles and eventually made it home to make a yummy meal of chanterelles, leeks and dulse over angel hair with fresh parmesan cheese… thankyou, thankyou, thankyou bountiful earth!

I took some nice photos in the red zone off of cranberry point the other day and after harvesting kelp we scrambled over to the island there and nibbled on ripening gooseberries. I definitely don’t want for much while I’m here at least as far as nourishment goes.

The chef from Chez Pascal in Providence is going to use a few of my seaweeds in his dishes. It is at a restaurant and inn called Castle Hill in Newport, RI where all of their cooking oil is turned into biodiesel and all of the waste including dinner ware will be composted at the event! I just read the description of the farm that makes the compost- it sounds like a great operation. I am excited to have more opportunities to connect with local farmers. I am really thankful that the Farm Fresh community in RI is so supportive and welcoming to me and my seaweed. By the way, they sell my seaweed at the farmer’s market at Armory Park 3-7pm on Thursdays and downtown farmers market at Kennedy Plaza and Exchange Terrace Fridays 11-2pm.

I have met some resistance in Western Mass because their locavor movement is so strong and my product isn’t local enough for certain markets and events. I am interested to see if I can get to know some people on the ‘inside’ and discuss with them the value of my seaweeds. Our waters here in Maine are perfect for seaweed harvesting because they are cold, less polluted (at a distance from point sources polluters) and there is excellent surf and nooks and crannies where many of the seaweeds like to grow. I think it’s a loss to not offer such an amazing food, and me as a resource to educate people about its value.

Please share your ideas about eating locally! I remember being inspired by the diagrams in Fukuoka’s book One Straw Revolution- where he beautifully charts a Japanese local diet. It was so refreshing in its simplicity. I whole heartedly believe in earth care and people care! Incorporating the seaweed work and food into my life helps me in meeting my need for caring for myself and the earth.

And speaking of RI and Western Mass, my other two home bases… We had 4 visitors this week that brought so much joy to our big secluded home. Julie from Shutesbury, a long time seaweed customer of Larch’s felt a strong pull this summer to come check out the surf. I enjoyed her company so much- her appreciation for nature- cluing me in on bird calls and her knack for inquiry. She is an amazing communicator and shared so much with me. I also had 3 friends from Providence visit, Marguerite, Scott and their tiny person Elska. We got so lucky because the weather shifted and the sun popped out! Elska had her first boat ride as we harvested Ascophyllum (rockweed) for the compost pile and then Scott came out for a digitata and alaria harvest. We all went on a field trip and visited my friends’ farms and bakery in Brooksville. And we shared some mighty delicious meals! There are so many beauties in the world.