Meet the mission-driven team of Ocean Farmers behind your Kelp Jerky
Published by Eve Palmer,
It's officially the Kelp Harvest season! And we want you to meet the female owned and majority female run team behindSummit Point Seafood who grow the kelp to make our Kelp Jerky!
Founded by Colleen Francke, Summit Point Seafood is operated with a focus on helping individuals in recovery. Summit Point believes in sustainable and responsible harvesting practices, doing good for our coastlines, cleaning our oceans, supporting their sisters, and getting their hands dirty to help themselves, the earth, and others.
Photographer Jonathan Laurence was lucky enough to accompany Colleen and her team for one of their farm visits this past month and the photos are stunning.
When Colleen began working in aquaculture, she knew it was her life's passion. However, something still felt like it was missing. In 2016, Colleen decided to stop using alcohol to "cope with life's challenges". It was this decision that led her to find a community of women, all of whom were in recovery and in the process of reclaiming their lives.
Colleen then decided to integrate recovery into her framing practices. She realized very quickly that joining these two interests into one organization was where her life's calling truly lied.
AKUA is also a majority female-run business so teaming up with these mermaids to to source the world's best kelp was an easy decision.
The photographer behind these photos, Jonathan Laurence is listed as one of the most collectable artists in Maine by Maine Home and Design. Before setting out to take photos of kelp farming, Jonathan recently boarded a container ship to sail across the north Atlantic ocean during mid-winter as part of an artist residency, followed by a trip to Greenland to watch the icebergs migrate out of the fjord and to dip his toes in Disko Bay.
Want to learn more about kelp farming? Watch our IGTV of Morgan Fogg from Nautical Farms (another one of our awesome female kelp farmers) as she leads us through a typical day of a kelp farmer.
Read more about the Salt Sisters.
More on photographer Jonathan Laurence.
You might also like to read
Skip articles sliderAKUA’S Afternoon Fiesta at De Buena Planta
AKUA family & friends gathered in person this past weekend at De Buena Planta in Venice, California!...
The Alchemical Elements of Kelp
Alchemy – in its most plain terms – is “the process of taking something ordinary...
