Nautical Farms
If you’ve enjoyed Offshore Greens™ then you’ve enjoyed delicious, nutritious, organically certified sugar kelp from Nautical Farms in Machias, ME. We caught up with Morgan-Lea Fogg, Co-Founder of Nautical Farms and a supplier of Offshore Greens™ main ingredient, to learn about the farm's story, commitment to sustainability, and more.
Jake Patryn and Morgan Lea-Fogg, Co-Founders of Nautical Farms
SG: Nautical Farms – how did it all start?
MF: The idea of Nautical Farms started in Colorado, where my co-founder, Jake, and I were living. We were diving into topics around health and wellness, and seaweeds – with their awesome nutritional and environmental benefits – kept coming up. The more we learned about the power of seaweed, the more it brought us back to our roots; both Jake and I are originally from Maine, and Jake is a generational fisherman. We were telling our fishing friends back home that they should try cultivating seaweed and they thought we were totally insane. Seaweed as a crop was still really new, but to us it was also really exciting. So in the summer of 2017 we moved back east to make Nautical Farms a reality, and started growing that fall.
SG: What’s the farm like?
MF: We’ve been learning and growing each year, and we’re now operating on four acres with thirty growlines. For seaweeds, we cultivate sugar kelp, skinny kelp, and alaria. We just added mussel cultivation this year.
Harvesting (above) and drying (below) the sugar kelp.
SG: Your focus on sustainability is clearly stated on the Nautical Farms website. Could you tell us about this aspect of the business?
MF: One of the main reasons we started Nautical Farms was to contribute to sustainable food systems and regenerative aquaculture. We really, really love that seaweed is such a sustainable crop, and we believe seaweed to be a foundational pillar for a healthy planet. We’ve always thought about building a sustainable business and strong business, rather than going big for the sake of going big and growing as much seaweed as possible. We’re organically certified, grow regeneratively using a 3D ocean farming model, harvest by hand, and only use biodegradable or reusable packaging.
SG: What sort of nutrients are in the seaweeds you grow? And what’s your favorite way to eat them?
MF: Seaweeds are high in protein compared to land based vegetables. They’re also rich in fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, iodine, calcium, iron, magnesium, and more.
One of my favorite seaweed dishes is carrot and alaria pudding, the recipe for which is on the Nautical Farms website. And I love Offshore Greens™! I’ll often grab that instead of a coffee. Just some Offshore, hot water, and a little bit of wildflower honey.
The scenery of Nautical Farms.
SG: What’s your favorite thing about being a sea farmer?
MF: My favorite thing is working with nature, working with the seasons, and being on mother nature's time. It’s just beautiful out on the ocean. But while it’s wonderful it’s also really, really challenging and unpredictable at times. You wake up in the morning and you never know if it’s going to rain, snow, be sunny, or all three.
Morgan with fresh fronds, on their way to you.
Thank you Morgan for sharing the Nautical Farms story. 🙏 Learn more about Nautical Farms at nauticalfarms.com, and nourish your body and soul with their kelp in Offshore Greens™.