Believe in Kelp!

 
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Many Uses for Kelp

Lazy Point Farms is investing in the future of kelp. We’re excited by the endless possible ways that seaweeds can be incorporated into our daily life. Healthy nourishment for humans and livestock, earth-friendly alternatives to plastic, innovative cosmetics, and eco-conscious fertilizers for farmers are just the beginning!

If you’re interested in incorporating sugar kelp into your restaurant’s recipes or small business’ products, contact us for more information or read on for inspiration.

Kelp Uses
Kelp as an eco-conscious solution to build healthy plants
Kelp as an eco-conscious solution to build healthy plants

Products made from seaweed have the potential to go beyond merely replacing more harmful alternatives, and actually help heal the planet directly through their use.

Growing sugar kelp protects our shorelines and marine life. It forms the earth's "second lung" as it sequesters carbon more efficiently than trees, it restores biodiversity in our waters, and it scrubs the water from our nitrogen polluting habits.

Sugar kelp, when applied as a soil amendment or foliar spray, also can have beneficial impacts on soils (increased moisture retention and beneficial microbial activity), root development and fruit production. Commercial nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture are a significant source of water pollution. Excess nutrients added to the soil but not fully used by crops wash downstream and result in contaminated water and disrupted ecosystems. When used instead of commercial fertilizers on local agricultural products, seaweed creates a natural loop for nitrogen to move through the environment.

pictured above: Emily packages some kelp grown by our partners for use by local gardeners

Kelp Can form the basis of Eco-conscious bio-plastics & textiles
Kelp Can form the basis of Eco-conscious bio-plastics & textiles

Non-degradable packaging accumulates in landfills and on our beaches, with at least 14.5 million tons of plastic ending up in our oceans each year. Some innovative creators are finding ways to use kelp and seaweed as a substitute for synthetic fibers or plastic packaging, replacing products which are actively harmful to the environment with more eco-conscious alternative. With naturally occurring properties like hydrophobicity and permeability, kelp can be broken down into sugars and carbon molecules and then reformed along the same lines of the polymers that make up more traditional plastic packaging.

pictured above: Seacell, manufactured by a German company, is a textile made from seaweed

Kelp to Nourish Ourselves
Kelp to Nourish Ourselves

Seaweed is high in fiber and rich in iodine and other nutrients--it's one of the greatest natural gifts available that we can give to our bodies, both inside and out.

Sugar kelp can be eaten fresh in salads. It has been blanched, cut into strips and served as a healthy pasta substitute. Kelp can be a base for soups and broths or used as an alternative to animal protein or added to vegan favorites for flavor and texture. It can be blanched and vacuum packed, fresh frozen, pickled and dried.

Seaweeds are becoming increasingly popular worldwide as a food source. We created Lazy Point Farms because we believe in the future of kelp and that it should be easily available to all American families: on plates, for pets, as skin care, and in gardens as fertilizer.

pictured above: veggie tacos made with locally harvested pickled kelp stipes from Lazy Point Farms partner Susan Wicks' Violet Cove Oyster Company

Kelp in cosmetic and medical products
Kelp in cosmetic and medical products

Delicious and nutritious as it may be, kelp has potential far beyond the dinner table. Brown seaweeds--like the sugar kelp grown by our Lazy Point Farms partners--contain a variety of soluble polysaccharides, making them useful for commonly manufactured products ranging from cosmetic to medical.

Fucoidan, laminarin, and carrageenan, which all occur at high levels in marine flora, have the potential to act as a protectant against photo-damage. Alginate, a viscous gum derived from macroalgae, has anti-bacterial, drug delivery and tissue engineering applications and is widely used in modern commercial hydrogel wound dressings.

pictured above: a body scrub made from a safflower sugar kelp reduction, calendula, vitamin E, rosemary, lavender, neroli, sea salt

Kelp to feed livestock
Kelp to feed livestock

Seaweed is food…but not just for people! Not only is it a much more sustainable product that the corn or alfalfa that often makes up livestock diets, it also contains a number of bio-available nutrients and minerals like Iodine that can improve the health of ruminants and even, potentially, be passed on to human consumers of dairy products.

But it doesn’t end there. Cattle and related livestock are responsible for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gases, but studies have shown that when certain algae species are included in livestock feeds, harmful methane emissions can be reduced by as much as 82%.

pictured above: our founder Justin Moore processing kelp following Lazy Point Farm’s first harvest season

 
 

 Why sugar kelp?

 
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KELP IS GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Removes excess nutrients - Kelp requires the nitrogen, phosphorus, and minerals naturally found in marine waters. Most coastal waters, however, have an excess of these nutrients, especially nitrogen. Kelp absorbs excess nitrogen and helps mitigate the water quality degradation that leads to algal blooms, low oxygen, and declining marine life.

Removes carbon dioxide - Kelp utilizes the CO2 that is dissolved in marine waters from the atmosphere. Reducing CO2 helps mitigate climate change and the ocean acidification caused by excessive CO2. Controlling acidification is critically important to shellfish whose calcareous shells require ‘normal’ pH.

It’s safe and sustainable - Cultivating kelp in open waters requires no chemical, feed, or other inputs. It creates habitat for a variety of small fish, crustaceans, and other marine organisms. It’s ‘environmentally sustainable’ as it meets a resource need of current and future generations without compromising the health of the ecosystem that provides it.

As an alternative to traditional fertilizers and plastics - Kelp can be used as an alternative soil additive to nitrogen based fertilizers for earth-friendly farming and its possibility as a bio-plastic to replace synthetic bandages and wraps is currently being explored. Want to know more about how Lazy Point Farms is partnering with a local business to bring kelp-based soil additives to farmers?

Volunteers show off kelp grown in Hempstead Bay, April 2022

 
 

Violet Cove Oyster’s Sue Wicks pairs her shellfish farm with kelp lines

KELP FARMING SUPPORTS SHELLFISH GROWERS

Most growers are also shellfish farmers. Many New York growers cultivate eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) for the half shell market. Sugar kelp can be grown on the same leases that growers hold for shellfish. An additional crop is welcomed by many growers and one that requires far less handling than shellfish.

By working with existing shellfish farmers and other aquaculture specialists Lazy Point Farms is trying to fulfill our goal of being kind to each other.

 
 

EATING KELP IS A GREAT WAY TO BE KIND TO OUR BODIES

Not only are seaweeds and kelp a renewable resource, they are also nutritionally dense and delicious! Sugar kelp is high in iodine and other minerals like vanadium that can help regulate blood sugar. We’ve partnered with a team of scientists and other specialists—like the Southampton based East End Food Institute, whose Mary Ogno is pictured blanching kelp here—to help local businesses who want to experiment with sugar kelp recipes.

Mary Ogno of the East End Food Institute helps the Lazy Point Farms team prep harvested kelp for consumption

 
 

JOIN us

End Users

We welcome anyone interested in fresh or processed sugar kelp or its ingredients.  Let’s work together to explore ways to utilize kelp - send us your contact information, your particular interest, and whether a courtesy sample might be useful.

Environmental Organizations and Municipalities

Growing kelp is good for the environment and can be instructive for your members. Join us for the next season!

Current and New Growers

If you are a current grower or someone who wants to cultivate sugar kelp, we’d like to hear from you. Want to learn more about how to grow with us? Send us your contact information and your proposed growout location.