"In myth (as well as biology),
the sea is the source that all
things arise from and return
to." - Paul Pitchford

If you haven't heard, we Greenhorns are quite the algae allies. Check out our exciting & new(ish) spin-off project, Seaweed Commons! Seeking to form ecologically minded seaweed coalitions through a commons-based approach, support and inform public discourse, increase algal literacy, and set up an appropriately scaled & just seaweed economy.

(Dear designers with laptops and time, Seaweed Commons is seeking a new logo!! Will barter designs for Maine seaweed, nutrient dense, responsibly wild-harvested, and major umami yum for your soups. Contact [email protected] if you are interested.)

If you are lucky to live coastally...and the shore in your home place is not over crowded...this could be a great place for escaping shelter-in-place: take up contemplative tide pooling, salt-air-breathing, paradigm shift reimagining, and (when back at home) supporting the online sales efforts of any number of responsible edible seaweed producers! Salt Point Seaweed -- epic Recipe Collection recetly released, Maine Seaweed LLC, and Greenhorns director Severine's very own Smithereen Farm -- visit the dreamy web shop!

Ready to deep dive into the world of seaweed? Sign up for this Introduction to Algae Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) produced by the Algae Technology Educational Consortium and UC San Diego with funding from the Algae Foundation, the National Renewable Energy Lab, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Recent in seaweed scholarship, "Seaweed in the time of Covid" from the illustrious Josie Iselin, author of The Curious World of Seaweed. View her gorgeous website here (and purchase her book if you want to learn more about specific algae species! In a stunning coffee-table-book format).

We hope you'll take some time to look through our knowledge sharing site, seaweedcommons.org. Marine algae case studies from around the world illustrate the full range of issues from small scale wild harvest of edible seaweeds, traditional uses in Asia and Europe for fertilizer, large scale cutting and machine-harvest of rockweeds, the international corporate players, the range of approaches undertaken by fisheries ministries and the complaints of local communities. We have information about traditional net-based aquaculture systems for nori in Asia and large scale biofuel kelp farms proposed by the US department of energy for federal waters off the Eastern Seaboard. We look into toxic algae blooms, the cultivation of seaweed for biofuels, aquaculture, and the IMTA (Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture) designed to capture the runoff / nutrients from salmon pens around the world. The 'global archives' section is especially slimy with diverse seaweed learning!!

Sample recipes from Salt Point Seaweed's Recipe Collection! Incredible stuff: