The COVID-19 pandemic made it nearly impossible for kelp farm owners Lexa Meyer and her husband Alf Pryor to process their harvest last year. Despite the inability to bring in outside workers due to travel restrictions, they managed to complete the harvest by hiring 25 to 30 locals to help.Â
In addition to owning the kelp farm, Meyer also works as the Alaska mariculture manager for Blue Evolution, a California-based company that makes kelp products.
She said Blue Evolution is able hire people for about six weeks to process kelp during the harvest season. This occurs during the spring, at a time of the year when there is typically less fisheries work because processors are preparing for the summer salmon season.Â
I canât remember a spring quite like this one, as if sheâs dragging her feet.
Lawns around town are slow greening up, daffodils refuse to bust out, and has anyone seen a bumblebee yet?
And threâs concern over seedlings getting too tall and leggy thanks to stubborn weather and frustratingly cool soil temperatures.
âAny guesses when the last spring frost date will be this year?â texted a fellow gardener itching to transplant broccoli and cabbage.
Aware that more than one gardener was frustrated with persisting cold, I posted the following question on the Kodiak Growers Facebook page:
Registration is now open for the 2021 Seaweed Farm Start-up Training Program, aimed at providing the tools and training necessary for Alaskans to start their own seaweed farms.
The program, run by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and Alaska Sea Grant, is aimed at commercial fishermen, Alaska Natives and fishing communities. The deadline to register is Feb. 1.Â
The programâs introductory webinar will be held on Feb. 2. Webinar attendees will then be able to register for a week-long series of virtual multi-day workshops that begin on Feb. 22.
The week-long program will also include one-on-one mentoring for high-performing participants, as well as potential in-person, hands-on field training in the spring and summer of 2021.Â