- Why is it a winter crop?
- Sugar kelp grows in cold water and short days, which is exactly when nothing else here is growing. It goes in around November, does almost all its lengthening between December and April, and is cut in spring. That is also why it suits a lobster boat: the gear is idle in the months the kelp needs working.
- Why cut in spring rather than let it keep growing?
- Bryozoan. It is a fouling organism that settles on the blade as the water warms, and once a blade is furred with it the crop is no longer food. There is a window, it closes, and cutting late costs more than cutting a little early.
- Do you need a lease?
- Yes. Sited aquaculture in Maine is leased through the Department of Marine Resources, and the site, the gear and the acreage are all on the record. PLACEHOLDER: confirm — lease number and acreage are not stated here because they are a matter of public record and ours has not been transcribed onto this page.
- Is it really carbon negative?
- We do not make that claim and we would be careful of anybody who does. Kelp takes up carbon and nitrogen while it grows; what happens to that carbon after it is cut depends entirely on what the buyer does with it, and most of ours is eaten. What we will say is what the inputs are, and the inputs are on this page.
- Can I visit the farm?
- In April and May, if the weather allows and you do not mind being cold and wet at six in the morning. Out of season there is nothing to see: four acres of open water with a few buoys on it.