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David ☕'s avatar

I've snorkeled amongst bull kelp forests - they are beautiful but you need to be careful not to get entangled - my Dad used to get us to collect seaweed for our garden - I've used it to create liquid fertilizer which is great but looks yukky

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

It smells a bit too! But great stuff! And no. I did not bring any home! 🤣

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Diane's avatar

I loved the info on the seaweed and the different types and habitats! Perhaps because my major was biology, so I have some prior knowledge and I love the sea. :) I tried to post earlier on the drought in your Illinois and my Arkansas, over 2 months now with virtually no rain, but I see it didn't make it to the post. Hope this does! xo

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

Yes it has! Two months!! That is a long time without rain. Do you have well water?

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Diane's avatar

Yes, thank goodness we have well water! We have had to use it to keep our garden alive this summer. And no beautiful fall foliage this year. :( The leaves are going from green to brown. Spring and your gardens look wonderful there! And the ocean!

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Angela L Hoy's avatar

Frank was a natty dresser! How nice to have clear images reaching that far back. Early 1940s?

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

I think the 1940’s too. We have a lot of good pictures but very few are annotated. This one is unusual for its casual movement - so I am wondering what camera they were using.

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Juliet Batten's avatar

I used to gather kelp from the beach, but not any more. At my favourite beach the kelp has been depleted by a business using Woofers to collect it. The local people are fighting to leave it there as it provides a home for sand hoppers and other creatures that the endangered dotterels eat.

Kelp is also a food source for creatures like shellfish, and as it breaks down, small organisms that feed on it become food for larger fish.

So I don't take it any more.

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

Interesting that someone is gathering the seaweed. What are they doing with it?

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Juliet Batten's avatar

They use it to make organic fertliser, but are removing it on such a scale that the dotterel chicks lack shelter and food. Other wildlife on the beach is affected too. Locals have tried talking to them but with little response. It’s ironic that a so-called environment-friendly business would be harming the environment and not care.

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

Such a shame. Removing any resource en masse like that is destructive to the environment. Like taking all of a wild plant. We always leave plenty t for next year..

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Hans Jorgensen's avatar

I loved the lesson in kelp and sea weeds! Being a landlubber like me, there is so much about 80% of the earth that I still need to learn :)

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

80% and growing - tiny lessons are the best I think. Good morning from Australia😃

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Nancy Blodgett Klein's avatar

Frank is a snappy dresser, indeed. Judging from the cars, I say this photo was taken in the 1930s. I‘m curious about what he is wearing that looks like it might be a gold chain of some kind. Do you know what that is, Celi?

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

Yes - that is a silver watch chain - I have the chain and the watch! Engraved too!

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Nancy Blodgett Klein's avatar

How cool is that!

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Eha Carr's avatar

Well, as it happens, I have a slip of seaweed in my mouth as I keyboard this :) ! Love the stuff and wish I was close enough to pick the it for me, me, me - never mind the plants ! But have used seaweed fertilizer all my life and loved your very knowledgeable story and your picture I would also think of framing! Trust you got home without problems, and the young Master is fast asleep and you are having a glass of white in the garden :) !

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

We are home and of course I got straight to watering the garden in this sandy soil we have here! It is a perfect spring day!

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Mad Dog's avatar

You'll need to gather some seaweed before departure!

Your great grandfather looks quite dapper! While I can see cars from the 20s and 30s, I think there might also be some from the 40s...

I've just been looking out of the night-time window. The feral cat is cleaning itself on the garden table (unpurrturbed) while badgers are eating leftovers from supper.

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

Dapper is the perfect word! So, the cat is not bothered by the badgers?

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Mad Dog's avatar

No the cat is quite nochalant about badgers and foxes. They sit out there every night, though I don't think there's a Wind in the Willows type friendship ...but perhaps I could be wrong ;-)

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Cecilia At The Kitchens Garden's avatar

Wind in the Willows relationships!!

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Siobhan Wilde's avatar

All I want for the world is more Wind in the Willows relationships

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