It’s not unusual to find tangled seaweeds and seagrasses on Nova Scotia’s beaches. Irish moss, sugar kelp, rockweed and eelgrass are all common finds. Loosened from their strongholds, they are often washed onto the beaches by the waves at high tide, appearing either individually or with others in the strandline.
On this small stone beach in Cow Bay, there is often a narrow strip of seaweed. However, what I found this week was far from ordinary. A massive heap of seaweed consisting mostly of the brown variety lay in a distinct mound on the shore. The heap appeared a few feet high in some spots. Thrown onto the beach during our recent stormy weather, this is the thickest stack of seaweed I’ve ever seen over my years of visiting our local beaches.
Though seaweed is growing in popularity as a health food in the western world, and has traditionally been used by gardeners for fertilizing the soil, this mound will likely be on the beach for some time. As it’s so thick, the seaweed probably won’t have a chance to dry out during low tide. Despite the cold weather, kelp flies were swarming around the already rotting mass when I took these photos on Wednesday.
Seaweed scattered along Conrad Beach near Lawrencetown in November
Last month, Em of Diabetes Dialogue, offered some excellent information pertaining to the health benefits of seaweed:
“As I understand it, all seaweeds are edible, but they must be gathered from pollution free waters. http://www.ryandrum.com will give you good information and Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD is a professional person who is well acquainted with both coasts.
The Maine Sea Vegetables link on my post will also be helpful for you, as what grows in the Bay of Fundy likely grows on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore, at least to some degree.
Ryan says that not all seaweeds taste good, in the sense that some are very strong textures. The ones eaten by Native Americans, Europeans and Asians tend to be versions of the same species. Interesting, eh?
But, as I understand it, barring any natural or man-made pollution, you should be safe in collecting fresh seaweed — now, navigating the coastal rocks is another matter!
Ryan explains how to “harvest” and not kill the plant, which is critical as, evidently from about the 1980s onward, commercial businesses have been using Norwegian mechanical harvesters, all over the world, to indiscriminately “rape” the ocean. Whole species have “disappeared” and are at or near extinction just in order to show up as “organic” and “regular” fertilizer or be used in Caribbean natural-Viagra drinks (these species were over-harvested by hand). How incredibly maddening!
Dr. Drum says we need to demand laws to stop all this over-harvesting and to encourage marine farming of seaweed, as is done in parts of Japan, on strings or on matted net.
Why can’t business use the less-invasive technology, first?! I hate to think how much damage these companies have wrought, unabated. So Drum says that Maine is threatening a 5 year moratorium on all seaweed harvesting, which would be devastating to the responsible hand harvesters, who in a year probably don’t take as much as a mechanized harvester does in a day or so.
Anyway, as your estuary and possibly coastal area, seems quiet, maybe you can learn more and safely harvest your own.
As far as health is concerned, the more I read, the more I see that this primal plant, which has supported all Life, from it’s inception, is truly the most nourishing plant we could use everyday.”
For more information on using seaweed for fertilizing gardens, see Anne’s post on Winter Gardening at Nova Scotia Island Journal.
Wow! Of course, being the rock picker I am…my eye went right to the lovely piles of rocks shining in the sun! Treasures abound in Cow Bay.
My eyes would usually go to the stones first too but this mass of seaweed was enormous and impossible to ignore.
I have often wondered about the ‘treasures’ that are both buried and washed ashore here. Perhaps the treasures of the natural world are the most valuable yet.
Bet it was a cold slippery walk Amy Lynn.
Not too slippery but incredibly cold. This past week has been NASTY. It’s that wind.
It’s amazing how often spotting something interesting on our rounds leads to one conclusion. We really need to pay more attention to how much garbage and sewage and other pollution we create–and to what we do with it. Mama Nature’s getting sick of doing housework.
Gerry, for ages, the ocean’s been considered a dumping ground. The more we begin to see how the health of the ocean and our personal health is linked, the more likely we’re to treat it with the respect it deserves.
Thank for the info on seaweed. I’m a big fan of seaweed, and am curious if it could be/or is harvested off Novia Scotia?
Yousei, yes, it is harvested off Nova Scotia.
I never thought of this before, but why is it the saltwater on the seaweed doesn’t work against gardens? Not concentrated enough to hurt?
Pamela, if seaweed is hosed down prior to adding it to the garden, it’s supposed to get rid of most of the salt.
Thanks, Amy for following through on doing some articles on seaweed, as you had mentioned you would.
I am shocked at the size of this pile and the oceanic devastation it must mean. I can only think that the mechanical harvesters have been at it, weakening the plants. I certainly hope the community will not just let it be wasted, so at least ‘some Good can come from this’.
The more I read about the Miracle Food of seaweed / sea veggies, the more that I am convinced the lack of Iodine and Iodide is the root cause of ALL the chronic afflictions which have reared their heads, especially in the last 60 years, as our meager consumption of Iodine foods has plummeted even further. Seaweeds and sea veggies are the best Iodine foods on the planet, and land plants have little or no Iodine, unless the garden soil has had seaweeds applied to it as fertilizer.
To learn more about using seaweed in your body, please read the series on my blog as it stands so far. I am going to keep writing, as it is such important knowledge to spread far and wide!
I hope your readers will spread it, too, with copyright attribution, as you did.
I also hope these links will format properly, if not, please correct them, Amy.
Diabetics – Iodine and Health 1
Diabetics – Iodine and Health 2
Diabetics – Iodine and Health 3
Diabetics – Iodine and Health 4
Diabetics – Iodine and Health 5
Diabetics – Iodine and Health 6
Diabetics – Iodine and Health 7
I wish all your readers, along with you and your family, a very Happy and Peaceful Holy Day and season … being Jewish, tomorrow is the last of Hanukkah for this year.
Best to all – Em
Thanks for all your links and information Em. Seaweed is so popular for its health benefits in the Far East. It’s only a matter of time before we catch up.
I doubt if anyone will take advantage of the availability of this seaweed. It would have to be transported up a hill in an area that’s not vehicle-friendly.
[...] “What the Waves Dragged In” – Photo from Flandrum Hill Gardens fertilizer, garden, mulch, seaside gardens, seaweed [...]