#49 Skye Steritz - Noble Ocean Farms

Skye Steritz is a small business owner, an activist and a teacher. She co-owns Noble Ocean Farms with her husband, Sean, which aims to improve both human health and ocean health through cultivating sugar kelp, ribbon kelp, and bull kelp in a responsible and ethical way.

As an activist, she works to protect clean water and is actively involved in habitat preservation and restoration in the Eyak territory of Alaska, where she lives year-round. Following the leadership of dAXuhnyuu (the Eyak People), she supports several key cultural and environmental revitalization initiatives. Additionally, she coordinated the nationally-renowned Stream Watch volunteer program to protect Alaskan salmon and watersheds on the Kenai Peninsula. 

In this episode, Mark and Skye talk about becoming a kelp farmer, what it takes to start in this new and emerging business, what role and and cooperation does community play in this type of business and what kind of food does kelp actually produce and how do we eat it?

Save What You Love with Mark Titus:⁣

Produced: Emilie Firn

Edited: Patrick Troll⁣

Music: Whiskey Class⁣

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Creators & Guests

Host

Mark Titus

Mark Titus is the creator of Eva’s Wild and director of the award winning films, The Breach and The Wild. He’s currently working on a third film in his salmon trilogy, The Turn. In early 2021, Mark launched his podcast, Save What You Love, interviewing exceptional people devoting their lives in ways big and small to the protection of things they love. Through his storytelling, Mark Titus carries the message that humanity has an inherent need for wilderness and to fulfill that need we have a calling to protect wild places and wild things.

Guest

Skye Steritz

Skye Steritz is a small business owner, an activist and a teacher. She co-owns Noble Ocean Farms with her husband, Sean, which aims to improve both human health and ocean health through cultivating sugar kelp, ribbon kelp, and bull kelp in a responsible and ethical way. As an activist, she works to protect clean water and is actively involved in habitat preservation and restoration in the Eyak territory of Alaska, where she lives year-round.

What is Save What You Love with Mark Titus?

Wild salmon give their very lives so that life itself can continue. They are the inspiration for each episode asking change-makers in this world what they are doing to save the things they love most. Join filmmaker, Mark Titus as we connect with extraordinary humans saving what they love through radical compassion and meaningful action. Visit evaswild.com for more information.

00:00:01:06 - 00:00:30:23
Mark Titus
Welcome to the Save What You Love podcast. I'm your host, Mark Titus. Today's episode, we sit down with Skye Steritz. Skye is a kelp farmer and a teacher from Cordova, Alaska. She and her husband, Sean, have been running Noble Ocean Farms for several years now. It's a completely regenerative kelp farm. It's a beautiful place. I've had the privilege of filming and spending time with them in one of the most unique ecosystems I've ever seen in the world.

00:00:31:01 - 00:00:56:12
Mark Titus
in Alaska. There. And today on the show, we talk about how does one become a kelp farmer? What does it take to do the work necessary to get up and running in this new and emerging business? What role does community play in creating a new business like a kelp farm? How about what role does it take in terms of cooperation with the community?

00:00:56:14 - 00:01:21:23
Mark Titus
And also what kind of food does kelp actually produce and how do we eat it? It's a scintillating show. It really is. If you've ever had any interest in getting involved with regenerative farming, or understanding more about where it comes from or what it does to save the things we love, this show is for you. Check out all the images and the links in the show notes today, and make sure to check us out at Ivar's.

00:01:21:23 - 00:01:34:20
Mark Titus
Welcome! If you're up for a subscription to Wild Salmon sent to your door in time for summer barbecues. And we will see you down the trail.

00:01:34:22 - 00:02:11:00
Music
How do you save what you love?
When the world is burning down?
How do you save what you love?
When pushes come to shove.
How do you say what you love?
When things are upside down.
How do you say what you love?
When times are getting tough.

00:02:11:02 - 00:02:16:03
Mark Titus
Skye Steritz. Welcome. Where are you coming to us from today?

00:02:16:05 - 00:02:29:00
Skye Steritz
Good morning. Thanks for having me, Mark. I am in Cordova, Alaska, which is yak land. yeah. Here on the coast in, the temperate rainforest and beautiful.

00:02:29:00 - 00:02:52:04
Mark Titus
And it is, I was absolutely, blessed enough to stay with you and Sean. Your husband. That sounds funny to say. it's only been a little while, and, man, it is such a beautiful country that you live in. Let's start right there. Why do you live there? Why do you live in Cordova, Alaska?

00:02:52:06 - 00:03:29:01
Skye Steritz
Yeah. So I had previously lived on the Kenai Peninsula in my early 20s, fell in love with Alaska. I went to study water resources policy and management in a few different places and, knew that I wanted to end back up in Alaska and wanted to work at the intersection of protecting waterways and and ways of life and interweaving social justice with my environmental passions.

00:03:29:03 - 00:04:11:14
Skye Steritz
So a friend of mine, when I was finishing my graduate program, a friend introduced me to Dune Lingard, who is an Niac elder here, and he and I jumped on a call, when I was still in my program, and he invited me up to come come visit, his place on Yak Lake and, see if it could work out with his nonprofit organization, Yak Preservation Council, which in the past few decades has done a lot of really incredible work protecting land and water around here since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.

00:04:11:16 - 00:04:42:10
Skye Steritz
And so I came up to Cordova, sight unseen in the summer of 2019, and stayed with Dune and his crew and, just fell in love immediately with the place and the people and the work. And yeah, Sean was already friends with Dune, so I ended up meeting Sean a few weeks into living here and, yeah, that's that's how I ended up here, and I.

00:04:42:11 - 00:04:59:09
Skye Steritz
Yeah, I kind of like you said, it's just such a beautiful place that has this special magic and energy and abundance, and it just draws you in, and it's really hard to leave. So we're we're here now.

00:04:59:11 - 00:05:29:22
Mark Titus
Beautiful. Well, glad you are it because I get to come visit, which is super awesome. And, I'm going to I'm going to ask you some more detailed, information about your upbringing. But first, just since we're hovering around Cordova, I didn't really have an idea of what it would look or feel like until I got off the plane and got on the ground and was just blown away, and my heart was just yanked wide open.

00:05:30:00 - 00:05:50:20
Mark Titus
Can you just can we take a couple minutes for you to just paint a picture for us? What is what is there what what's going on on that great big delta and the mountains surrounding it? What's happening in Cordova? Why is it the way that it is geographically, physically, beautifully, socially? Just a little bit more about why that place is so cool.

00:05:50:22 - 00:06:17:09
Skye Steritz
Yeah, there are a lot of superlatives we could bring up, but, really, it's Cordova is right in between the copper River Delta and Prince William Sound and our friends. David Grimes says that those two massive ecosystems are two halves of a beating heart. You can't have one without the other. and they both support, some of the same species.

00:06:17:09 - 00:06:54:13
Skye Steritz
So, yeah, we have the largest contiguous wetland and on the West coast of the United States and, that's the copper River Delta. We it's May right now. We just, have been welcoming these millions of shorebirds that, use the delta as a stopover site on their migration, their annual migration up to the Arctic. So, yeah, as many as 5 million birds come to to feed and rest in these really rich wetlands.

00:06:54:15 - 00:07:25:00
Skye Steritz
but, yeah, just the the diversity of plants and animals, you know, of course, there's bears and moose and deer and porcupines and so many salmon. they live in the sound, you know, people people are fishing for all kinds of things. really rich marine environment with, beautiful islands. And the forest is always green because it is a temperate rainforest.

00:07:25:00 - 00:07:53:18
Skye Steritz
So, you know, it's covered in moss and, lichen and just vibrant and always and always buzzing with life. And so it's a really special place to live. It's kind of some people say it's kind of like stepping back in time, because it is such a small town that's geographically isolated. So you can only reach it by, by ferry or by plane.

00:07:53:20 - 00:08:28:02
Skye Steritz
and we have about 2500 year round residents that doubles in the summer with salmon fishing. But that small population in, in such a remote area creates this culture and atmosphere of caring for each other and working together, across differences. And people really do just show up and give generously and trade, I would say like, that's something I love is like the trade economy is very alive and well here.

00:08:28:04 - 00:08:34:22
Skye Steritz
so yeah, it's it's really neat. I've never, never lived anywhere like it. Never been anywhere like it.

00:08:35:00 - 00:08:54:14
Mark Titus
I like the word buzzing that you used. One of the days that I was there, I, I took your recommendation. You were working, but I took a hike. and it was up, and I'm going to forget the name of the hike, but I was up a knob. Yeah, where there was an overlook of the delta in the woods.

00:08:54:14 - 00:09:31:07
Mark Titus
And I felt the the hum. It felt that that deep quiet of the delta. But there was so much life in and underneath it, and, it was very moving. Yeah. And, I feel that and also got to witness the trade economy part of things when you, we came back to shore after, filming together out at the kelp beds and you had folks just pour down to the dock and they bought some of the kelp and some some you did a trade with.

00:09:31:07 - 00:10:02:12
Mark Titus
And it was like there is real community here. Yeah. And, and then, of course, there's just the dazzling, dazzling White Mountains and, dear listener, we'll, we'll have some of these photos in the show notes, from my visit there a couple of years ago. So check those out that these white, incredible, stark mountains right at the edge of the water, there's just like you said, they run out of superlatives.

00:10:02:12 - 00:10:09:20
Mark Titus
There's just such a unique, incredible, geographic feeling of power there.

00:10:09:22 - 00:10:27:13
Skye Steritz
Yeah. For sure. And also, cultural mixing as well with several different Alaska Native peoples, making their homes here. And, and that's really cool to see. Also.

00:10:27:15 - 00:10:56:16
Mark Titus
So let's talk about that a moment. where what is your integration? Obviously being a newcomer, both literally and also, you know, figuratively, or in a more deep time sense, what is your feeling of integration with the people that have been there for millennia? And how have you felt that kind of integration has, folded into the work that you get to do?

00:10:56:16 - 00:11:10:03
Mark Titus
And we'll get it deep into the work in just a moment. But I'm interested in that, that integration with the indigenous folks, who have called, this their land for time immemorial.

00:11:10:05 - 00:12:01:10
Skye Steritz
Yeah, I was I was really privileged to be welcomed here by Dune. And then, working for the Yak Preservation Council allowed me to also work with, supporting the Yak language revitalization projects and, just seeing this, like, really powerful, meaningful work being done to revitalize, revitalize this beautiful yak language. And. Yeah, so I feel lucky to have been able to learn about the, yeah, culture and the the language and the land early on in my time.

00:12:01:10 - 00:12:27:21
Skye Steritz
I feel like I got lucky in that regard. I got like a really deep dive into learning, learning things, which is proved to be really valuable and important. And yeah. And then of of course, it was also Dune that invited us into this kelp space and asked us to become part of this first group of kelp farmers.

00:12:27:23 - 00:13:03:05
Skye Steritz
because it was it was his vision for the region to, have this traditional food source be grown and not just wild harvested, but cultivated so that we're not depleting the wild kelp beds, but we're you know, putting native kelp species back out there, and growing it ourselves and then harvesting it for people to, to eat locally and across Alaska and across the, Pacific Northwest especially.

00:13:03:05 - 00:13:29:17
Skye Steritz
So, yeah, that was I would say, yeah, two really special invitations that helps me feel integrated and like I'm able to participate in a meaningful way. And yeah, our goal is to is for noble ocean farms to benefit this community. And so. Yeah, I'm I'm lucky to be able to to be here and do this.

00:13:29:19 - 00:14:06:13
Mark Titus
You are. And we're going to get into noble Ocean Farms here in just one click of a segment. But first I promised we'd go way, way back. And I just wanted to see if you have some recollection of growing up. What was your what was your childhood like and how did you do you remember some, semblance of the lights turning on about, connection to water, connection to land, connection to that which is bigger than us as, as a child growing up.

00:14:06:14 - 00:14:39:10
Skye Steritz
Yeah. I really learned my respect for nature and saw a can, a deep connection and intimacy, a reverence, with nature for nature demonstrated by both of my parents. And I again feel very privileged for that. But they would bring us, to the beaches in California every summer, and, we would spend a lot of time there snorkeling.

00:14:39:11 - 00:15:06:09
Skye Steritz
I remember, yeah, some of my early snorkeling experiences were very monumental, like 6 or 7 years old. And, being off the coast of California and, a couple of the Channel Islands out there and just especially seeing my dad the way he would just dive into the water, he was like, he's like a seal boy. Like he just.

00:15:06:14 - 00:15:50:01
Skye Steritz
It's one with the ocean and, and and stays out there for a long time and goes in every day that he can and, loves to learn more about the animals and everything that's going on. in the ocean. So that was, obviously very impactful for me as a child. And, I just remember always thinking, like, if someone asked me my favorite activity, I would say snorkeling, growing up and still to this day, I just love, like, being immersed in the water and, yeah, just it's a whole other world.

00:15:50:03 - 00:16:13:00
Mark Titus
It is. it is one of these times. we'll have to do some river snorkeling together, either. Oh, yeah. Up there or down here. Yeah, yeah, because I'm in the same boat. I would love to do nothing like it. All right, well, so we've been kind of, going around the edges here, but I'd love to dive right in.

00:16:13:00 - 00:16:29:04
Mark Titus
What is Noble Ocean Farm? And, how has that emerged as, a from a vision into, a reality of your and and on your husband's life.

00:16:29:06 - 00:17:00:16
Skye Steritz
Yeah. So it's a, it's a small family farm that the two of us run together and, we've grown three different native species of of kelp, which, of course, are the large brown seaweeds. And we focus primarily on sugar kelp, saccharine. but yeah, it's basically we are farming out in Simpson Bay, which is Eastern Prince William Sound.

00:17:00:17 - 00:17:45:15
Skye Steritz
It's about 11 nautical miles from where we live. So, there's a whole process and, and different activities associated with kelp farming depending on the season. So to run a kelp farm, the first step is gear work. So, you know, like we're working with lines, anchors, buoys, connecting devices, like snaps and shackles and rings, that we use to create this big underwater rectangular array that's suspended about seven feet below the surface of the ocean in this, remote bay.

00:17:45:17 - 00:18:25:06
Skye Steritz
And and then the next step is to to find the most abundant wild kelp beds. And we go and we snorkel and we use, scissors and dive bags, and we cut off the fertile portions of the those kelp blades, when they are in that reproductive phase, which is in the fall. So, we collect from 50 different individual, parent stock and then they grow in a nursery, basically in aquariums until for about six weeks until late October or so.

00:18:25:06 - 00:18:51:03
Skye Steritz
And then we, we plant those spore fights there. We call the the twine is like our seed spool that we wrap around the lines that are already submerged on the farm. And from those little tiny spore fights, the kelp then is in the water all winter long until we harvest in April. And, yeah, can grow to be very large.

00:18:51:03 - 00:19:07:01
Skye Steritz
As many listeners, I'm sure know, it's one of the fastest growing, species on the planet and, just really beautiful in many ways. So, yeah, that's what we do. We grow kelp.

00:19:07:03 - 00:19:31:00
Mark Titus
It is beautiful. And, folks, if you want to take a peek in the show notes, I had the privilege of spending some days together with Sean and with Sky, and, got to film a little, a little brand film, with you. And, it's just it is gorgeous where you are. And, the work is beautiful, too.

00:19:31:02 - 00:20:02:08
Mark Titus
Why do it? It's a lot of work. And, I think there's a lot of folks out there that have ideas about getting into regenerative food in some, some capacity and kelp, you know, I think the first blush that people who have heard of kelp farming have thought it, thought about it in some, you know, lustrous sort of terms like it may be a panacea for all of our ills.

00:20:02:10 - 00:20:30:03
Mark Titus
When you get down into it, it's really hard work. And you've got this, this real, balance that I've observed that you have to create an economic reality of sustainability also with the output of this beautiful regenerative product. So why why do it in the first place? How did you how did you get into it? And what's what's the broader backdrop of why this is something that that you're passionate about every day?

00:20:30:05 - 00:21:08:13
Skye Steritz
Yeah, I think it's, the reason we got into it. Well, there are a few reasons, but feeling like we need to strike a balance more of a balance in our relationship with the ocean as humanity and I believe, and many, many others, through research and, study, are are finding that kelp is super beneficial for the ocean for several reasons, in that it creates habitat for juvenile fish and tons of other marine species.

00:21:08:15 - 00:21:44:00
Skye Steritz
It is also removing carbon from the seawater surrounding the farm, so it's reducing at least local ocean acidification. and then for a place like Cordova, where we live, that it's very hard to grow vegetables on land. And when you go into the grocery store in the wintertime, especially, it's hard to find, fresh produce and that looks appetizing.

00:21:44:00 - 00:22:22:10
Skye Steritz
Like, a lot of times it's just it's already wilted or, yeah, it's traveled so far that it's lost its nutrients already. So that was, one of our big motivators is I'm really passionate about food security and living in a remote region, in a place where it's hard to grow food on land, it just makes sense to cultivate crops in the ocean that are also traditional food sources and have, ecological benefits.

00:22:22:10 - 00:22:26:14
Skye Steritz
So that's really that's our big motivation.

00:22:26:16 - 00:22:52:05
Mark Titus
Excellent. Well, so what do you know about those health benefits? And in terms of what what kelp can bring to the human body, but also to, you know, you touched on it a bit. There's the it builds habitat, but, why is it just such a pure form of food?

00:22:52:07 - 00:23:24:14
Skye Steritz
Yeah. So kelp for us humans, it's it's really rich in a lot of vitamins and minerals. Zinc, iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium are a few, but, yeah, just some of these minerals that are hard for us to get from land based plants. so healthy for those reasons. Really good for the digestive system, beneficial for people with diabetes.

00:23:24:14 - 00:23:57:03
Skye Steritz
And, other, other health issues. really good for women, especially in pregnancy. I have friends that were like really consciously integrating seaweed into their diet during pregnancy because of, yeah, the specific benefits for women, but yeah, just I mean, we're we're growing it in such, a remote, clean place that's away from, from any human settlement.

00:23:57:03 - 00:24:18:11
Skye Steritz
And my favorite way to eat it is honestly just straight out of the ocean. Like, as soon as we harvest it fresh. it's so good. It just. Yeah, it gives you, like, that zing, that salty goodness of the sea. so, yeah, it is really pure and and, delicious. But yeah, a lot of other, a lot of other species like to eat it too.

00:24:18:11 - 00:24:19:16
Skye Steritz
So you.

00:24:19:18 - 00:24:20:18
Mark Titus
Yeah. Yeah.

00:24:20:20 - 00:24:37:01
Skye Steritz
Some of the fish, you know, like rockfish and, other species that are out there. I've read that a good chunk of the carbon nitrogen in their bodies comes from kelp, too. So.

00:24:37:03 - 00:25:01:01
Mark Titus
Well. And your. What you eat in rockfish tacos are delicious. So go and clear back to the sauce. Well, look, I've had it right right off the boat with you. And it is delicious. And it does. You feel it. Yeah. In in your in your body. it just feels good. But for, listeners that are like, hey, this this all sounds great, but how would I eat it?

00:25:01:01 - 00:25:32:15
Mark Titus
What what does that look like? Like this. This kind of dips our toes into that foray of, how do we get it? From the water to the boat to a processing plant to to other people that can eat it? Obviously, there's no question a big part of your work is creating food security locally. Is there a plan to, extend that beyond Cordova and the locales of, of, South East?

00:25:32:17 - 00:25:43:07
Mark Titus
Well, you're kind of in south central, Alaska, but, what how do I eat this? If you know? What are you talking about? And where would I look for it? And what would I do with it when I got it right?

00:25:43:07 - 00:26:23:22
Skye Steritz
So we yeah, we have capacity to grow a lot of kelp here. And, eventually it'll be more than this town can consume. So we will we are working on how to stabilize and process it. And we have done, some of that already. So we, we have blanched, vacuum sealed and frozen kelp in packages. and in that form, it's really great to just thought in eat it with seaweed salad, make a seaweed salad, put it in your soups, your stews, wrap your fish in and cook it like on the fire.

00:26:23:22 - 00:27:08:18
Skye Steritz
How we did when you were here. those are just a a few of the uses, but, we are also working on solving the challenge of how do you dehydrate something in an energy efficient way in a rainforest. So, we're working with other local groups, scientists and nonprofits, and, one of our friends, Alicia, at the Prince William Sound Science Center, had this really good idea to use waste heat from the local, electric cooperative that they, it's a byproduct of their processes.

00:27:08:18 - 00:27:37:08
Skye Steritz
At one of their plants. So she got this awesome grant to, builds a structure on that lot so that we can pipe the waste heat in and we can put our. It's not going to be just that heat that dehydrates the kelp, but we would have our dehydration machines in there so that we're using less energy and it's less expensive and better for the environment, to dry kelp there.

00:27:37:08 - 00:27:48:04
Skye Steritz
So the the end game we're going for is, is drying kelp and then shipping it out dried. So we're not shipping the water weight that's in the kelp.

00:27:48:06 - 00:27:48:23
Mark Titus
Perfect.

00:27:49:01 - 00:27:50:10
Skye Steritz
Yeah. That's what we're going to.

00:27:50:12 - 00:28:19:05
Mark Titus
Well we're on we're on similar trajectories as usual. we've got our salmon jerky product coming out soon in June. So June of 2024. Yeah. For similar reasons. Having a shelf stable product makes a lot of sense. And, folks, if you haven't seen or tried the, Noble Ocean Farms, kelp, salmon, Poké Ball that we have done a, short film on.

00:28:19:05 - 00:28:45:02
Mark Titus
Check it out in the show notes. It is unbelievably delicious. I could eat it every week, for sure. And we are selling that. So, you can go get that from Eva's wild.com. There's a little plug.

00:28:45:04 - 00:29:13:14
Mark Titus
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00:29:13:15 - 00:29:39:00
Mark Titus
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00:29:39:02 - 00:30:08:10
Mark Titus
Visit Evaswild.com to join our growing community doing good by eating right. That's "save" spelled backwards. wild.com and eat wild to save wild. Hey, what? I'm also noticed thing about Cordova, and we talked about it a little bit before is the role. And I know this firsthand as well, from living in southeast in the wilderness for years, down near Ketchikan.

00:30:08:10 - 00:30:37:14
Mark Titus
You know, when I, when I was a guy that. Yes, Bay Lodge, you community is huge, and we're, you also you are also a teacher, in town. And, I'd love for you to tell us a little bit about that, but, in addition to that, you rely on each other for daily life, for entertainment, for social purpose.

00:30:37:16 - 00:30:54:11
Mark Titus
and I've seen very in a real way for the success of your business. So what all of that said, what role does cooperation play in Cordova as a as a teacher and a kelp farmer?

00:30:54:13 - 00:31:17:07
Skye Steritz
Yeah. Absolutely huge. We could not do any of this on our own. yeah. Cooperation is essential for this industry to get off the ground. There are a lot of challenges to making regenerative agriculture really take off and become economically sustainable. Right now, it's honestly not profitable.

00:31:17:09 - 00:31:17:23
Mark Titus

00:31:18:01 - 00:31:53:15
Skye Steritz
But we are working together to solve those, those challenges. And, the few other farmers here, the few other kelp farmers and the several additional oyster farmers, we're all helping each other out in different ways. sometimes it looks like, getting a ride on someone's boat. Someone. Sometimes it looks like, you know, people helping each other drop these huge anchors that we have to use to, on the bottom of our kelp farm.

00:31:53:17 - 00:32:33:13
Skye Steritz
Sometimes it's having a, an ocean farmers market where we're selling things together, and kind of doing some awareness raising and marketing efforts together. There's a lot of that. And just sharing what works and what doesn't work. That's one of the most important things. And I've been happy to see that, almost everyone who's involved in kelp farming in Alaska has been willing to share what techniques are working, what gear is working, what's not working.

00:32:33:15 - 00:33:11:13
Skye Steritz
what? You know, things you should stay away from. And that's been absolutely huge for us. Like, we we have to rely on each other, to make it work. And honestly, for some of the, the markets too, I think we're going to have to we've been talking about forming an actual kelp co-op and I think it's becoming more of a real, necessity, honestly, for, you know, none no one small family farm can purchase these big pieces of equipment that we need to stabilize our kelp.

00:33:11:13 - 00:33:40:23
Skye Steritz
We've been doing it all. Small scale by hand. really tedious and time consuming. But we need to. We need to get some equipment that can help all of us be able to, to stabilize our kelp. And we have to probably own and, manage those. So and also to access certain markets, we should get our crop together and, and sell some of it as a cooperative as well.

00:33:41:01 - 00:33:58:15
Mark Titus
So, so it's very much, rising tide floats all the boats and, and I think not just from a, you know, egalitarian perspective or, it's doing the right thing. It's. You're so remote.

00:33:58:17 - 00:33:59:05
Skye Steritz
Yeah.

00:33:59:05 - 00:34:27:12
Mark Titus
It is so expensive. Yeah. equipment, transportation, logistics, all those things. And look, I got to I got to watch firsthand, you know, while we were filming together, out at your farm, your friends and mine, Nellie and Michael Hand, who have beautiful salmon company. Drifters Fish company is direct from the fishermen to, to tables and to chefs and to folks like us.

00:34:27:14 - 00:34:47:13
Mark Titus
They they spent the entire day. And in fact, you had a member. Of course you could. Of course, you remember had a exhilarating time with Sean, Sean's head in the engine room. And, and they were there, spent their whole day, you know, in fact, even in towed us in when we. Because we had a problem with the engine.

00:34:47:15 - 00:35:19:13
Mark Titus
that's the kind of stuff that I think we idealize from those of us who are back in the day from, you know, watching, Northern Exposure on TV. But this community sense of lifting each other up and truly having this not just lip service, but this real belief and understanding and complete affirmation and faith in man if it goes sideways, I know my neighbor has my back because I have their back.

00:35:19:19 - 00:35:30:16
Mark Titus
Yeah. are there other examples of that, you know, coming to pass over the last several years while you've been, working on getting things up and running?

00:35:30:17 - 00:35:54:21
Skye Steritz
Oh, for sure. Yeah. It's it's so real, the fact that we all rely on each other. yeah. Like, with, our friends, Catherine, Kail and Tia, they have another one of the kelp farms that's in windy Bay, and they're also cordovan. And, so we've helped each other out on a on both of our farms. We've gone to their farm.

00:35:54:21 - 00:36:31:12
Skye Steritz
They've come to our farm, shared knowledge, done different parts of the process together. And also with dune dunes, taken us out to our kelp farm, helped us harvest and vice versa. so yeah, there there's so much collaboration that's, that's going into making this a reality. And yeah, like you were saying with the school, it's been really cool to, for me, like wanting to bring my passion for the ocean, my passion for youth education together.

00:36:31:14 - 00:36:50:01
Skye Steritz
So I've been finding ways to do that. And it's been really supported by, by the school and the other teachers asking me to come in and present, you know, kindergarten, second grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, and do these kelp presentations and, and talk to the kids about what it means to be a regenerative ocean farmer here and what it actually looks like.

00:36:50:01 - 00:37:10:21
Skye Steritz
And, some of the older grades have gotten really into helping, brainstorm and work through some of the logistical things of, ways that we could harvest more efficiently the kinds of things that we could invent rigging for our boats. because a lot of these kids have experience on boats and, yeah, some of them more than me.

00:37:10:21 - 00:37:35:01
Skye Steritz
So, so it's really cool. And, we've got the kelp into the classrooms, also into the school lunches and kids who are pretty fascinated by it. interested. So my next goal is to get, a grant to bring kids out to the kelp farm and maybe someday to do, a seaweed tumble culture in the classroom so they can actually grow kelp in the classroom, too.

00:37:35:02 - 00:38:19:07
Mark Titus
So rad. Love that. It's funny. You know, I we've got. Sisters in law and brothers in law and, the whole tumble of of kids, nieces and nephews, you know, ten of them in different age ranges from 25 down to ten. And, in that whole jumble of humans, there's certain folks that, you know, don't like fish. And then there's other some of the kids would show up to our house from, you know, literally, you know, little infants on and we just put fish, fish on their plate or put it in their mouth and they love it.

00:38:19:10 - 00:38:33:21
Mark Titus
And, you know, I think that's that's such an interesting thing to serve kelp in schools. if, if kids don't know they don't like it, they're going to eat it, right? Yeah.

00:38:33:23 - 00:38:48:16
Skye Steritz
Yeah. And some of them, they're, it's completely new to them and they're like kind of weirded out by it at first. But you know, I just tell them, like most things that are good for your body, you might not like it the first three times you try it, but you just got to keep trying it in different forms.

00:38:48:16 - 00:39:08:00
Skye Steritz
Like, maybe you don't like this salsa, but maybe you would like some kelp pesto. Or maybe you would like kelp in your pasta, or your bread, or your muffins. Like, you know, there's so many different ways of incorporating it into the diet. So I'm just, since it is a, a new thing for a lot of children, I'm trying to encourage them to stay open to it.

00:39:08:00 - 00:39:13:13
Skye Steritz
And, there are lots of different ways they could consume it.

00:39:13:15 - 00:39:33:01
Mark Titus
Science is involved with what you're doing to, and clearly you eat just like any farmer. You have to understand the science of what's happening with your crop. How has that factored in both yours and Sean's backgrounds, and has it been a steep learning curve?

00:39:33:03 - 00:39:59:03
Skye Steritz
Yeah, I would say it's a steep learning curve. farming in general is a is a steep learning curve. And yeah, learning like the right depths. You know, just what what's happening in the water column at, different depths, you kind of have to have. We're trying to find that that Goldilocks zone of the right amount of nutrients and salt water and sunlight.

00:39:59:07 - 00:40:52:10
Skye Steritz
So you can't go too deep or else they don't. The kelp won't have enough sunlight. You don't want to be too close to the surface either. Or the the sun could bleach the, the kelp out. And so, yeah, it's it's finding that that perfect zone for the kelp. And it's been really cool to work with, some different researchers, especially at the University of Alaska, that are doing neat projects, like one that I'm thinking of is, our friend Cameron, who's studying the different types of kelp being cultivated across Alaska and, their polysaccharide content so that we can see if these kelps would be good in nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, there's a lot of

00:40:52:10 - 00:41:24:06
Skye Steritz
medicinal uses. and depending on, I want to say, it's like the sole faded polysaccharide content of the kelp. So, Yeah, just doing water samples and kelp samples and sending them off to different scientists. And of course, we do that for, for the food portion of our kelp, too, is we have to get it all tested and, do that, that as part of our process before serving it to anyone.

00:41:24:08 - 00:41:28:22
Mark Titus
Yeah, of course, it's the sulfide polysaccharide. Everybody knows that.

00:41:28:22 - 00:41:33:21
Skye Steritz
I think I don't we but I think that's what it's.

00:41:33:22 - 00:42:02:06
Mark Titus
Don't don't worry. I don't know what I'm talking about. while we're hovering on this food science, what can we expect as far as kelp in value added products moving forward down the line? what do you what do you see as an integration? Maybe not today or tomorrow, but maybe a year, a couple of years from now as what's your vision?

00:42:02:08 - 00:42:09:20
Mark Titus
Best case scenario for kelp appearing in more of a mainstream diet in in North America?

00:42:09:22 - 00:42:45:09
Skye Steritz
Yeah for sure. Well, some of the things that you see already right now, you see kelp chips, you see help burgers, kelp salsa. kelp popcorn. I think we need to do more of those Poké Bowl kits. That's a really cool use of it. people love seaweed as seasoning, you know, very corky, making different mixes with, yeah, different spices or sesame seeds, stuff like that.

00:42:45:11 - 00:42:46:21
Mark Titus
So, yeah.

00:42:46:23 - 00:42:53:23
Skye Steritz
but there's also a lot of other things that I think we haven't even tapped into yet that could be done.

00:42:54:01 - 00:43:16:04
Mark Titus
The fruit cake is a great idea and an immediate idea, right? If the, if the freeze drying or the not the freeze drying with the, the drying process takes off. you know, that's just it's delicious. Yeah. It's such a savory great addition, to to cooking. we'll talk more about that.

00:43:16:06 - 00:43:20:00
Skye Steritz
Yeah. We like to sprinkle it on everything. Just keep by the stove.

00:43:20:02 - 00:44:09:12
Mark Titus
Listeners, let us know if furikake sounds like a good idea. and, you know, we've been talking a little bit about education and young people, and I think what I've observed is another, you know, reason number 55 of why I'm hopelessly in love with Alaska is there are a lot of young people that have gone into the, being food makers, into being fishermen, being, farmers, kelp farmers, being folks that are are taking a different tack in life and kind of getting off the fast track of the corporatization of all things and, you know, saying, hey, maybe there's something really deep and meaningful in providing for an essential food source for for

00:44:09:12 - 00:44:33:04
Mark Titus
life and doing it in a way that is a good way and a substantive, but a sustainable and a regenerative way. What advice would you have for other young people that are maybe, you know, not sure what they want to do? And thinking, hey, this could be a really viable and meaningful option for me.

00:44:33:06 - 00:45:10:18
Skye Steritz
Yeah. Take a risk. Follow your heart. Listen to your elders. I think yeah. If people have a passion for regenerative food there are so many ways to participate in this movement and get involved and learn more. Yeah I think it's always, empowering to just learn, learn more. before diving in and, you know, like kelp farming, it is really hard.

00:45:10:18 - 00:45:54:16
Skye Steritz
And it takes a while to, to really make it, a sustainable business. But, there are so many ways that young people can tap in to creating, regenerative food system. And I think that's a huge piece of the puzzle that we're dealing with, with climate change. And, yeah, just just people being secure to live anywhere, you know, like in Alaska means people can stay in their home villages and, you know, if if there are enough opportunities to.

00:45:54:18 - 00:46:15:17
Skye Steritz
To have food and have good jobs and, you know, all these pieces that make up, quality of life that. Yeah, they're just endless options. And I love, chatting with young people, obviously as a teacher. So always happy to talk with people.

00:46:15:19 - 00:46:50:07
Mark Titus
Yeah. And you, you had such an you've acknowledges such, such a, a beautiful opportunity to be mentored by a guy like Dune Nygard, who's been a, you know, a rock in, in creating, beauty and regenerative interest infrastructure, where you live, what role does mentorship play in this type of work and are you considering and it sounds like you already are offering mentorship to others, but passing along the gift that you've been given?

00:46:50:09 - 00:47:21:03
Skye Steritz
Yeah, I think mentorship is so huge in everything that we endeavor to do in this life. I think we have to find. People that are a generation or two older than us, that have been through it and had experiences, we shouldn't try to set out doing it on our own. We you know, we shouldn't. that just makes it harder for us.

00:47:21:03 - 00:47:57:06
Skye Steritz
And it's yeah, I think that we have to be humble and and listen to the lessons of those that have come before us and, and that are willing to share. That's such a gift when people are willing to share what they've learned. And absolutely, Sean and I are thinking about that. And, wanting to host interns, wanting to someday create some sort of, program where, yeah, people can come work on our farm, kind of like, what's it called, a work trade.

00:47:57:08 - 00:47:58:01
Mark Titus

00:47:58:07 - 00:48:23:02
Skye Steritz
Stay with us and work on our farm and we'll cook your food and show you around this incredible place. So yeah definitely want to always be in a mentorship role, for people of different ages and help them figure out the best way of pursuing their passions and getting clear on, on those passions and what they want to do.

00:48:23:04 - 00:48:46:04
Mark Titus
That's an incredible statement and an incredible opportunity. And I know you would do great justice to that, and you would be of great service to to young people and interested people in this. And so, if you if you're listening and thinking about it, reach out and we'll get to the where to get in touch with you at the very end here.

00:48:46:04 - 00:49:06:20
Mark Titus
But, Skye, how important is a wild reverence for nature, a reverence for wild nature in in the soul of the work that you're doing. How does it feed your heart? And, how does it affect you getting up and going to work every day? Is it again? It's hard work.

00:49:06:22 - 00:50:11:15
Skye Steritz
Yeah. I think. Times. Reverence for nature definitely plays into everything that that I'm doing from the kelp farm to the classroom and, you know, looking out the window and seeing these big, beautiful mountains in this sacred place and knowing that it's been intentionally protected for a long time, and it needs to be continuously protected into the future and that definitely, drives us to, to continue on this very difficult path of, of kelp farming and to keep talking to the next generation about what their what, what their visions are and how, you know, the, the places that they care about the species that they care about, the ways that they find magic in

00:50:11:15 - 00:51:09:02
Skye Steritz
this environment and helping them draw the connections of like, okay, you see magic in the mushrooms that grow in, in the forest, you see magic in the mountains. And what do we need to do today to make? Those parts of your current reality be available to your future children or grandchildren, great great grandchildren. and kelp farming for me is a is also a part of that because we, we just want people to to be able to eat food that has had a net positive impact on, on the planet instead of vice versa.

00:51:09:04 - 00:51:58:14
Skye Steritz
which unfortunately is often the case with conventional large scale farming. right. So yeah, the reverence for nature is huge. You know, I think it's we're we're all a part of nature and we have to keep connecting with it. And in intimate ways. And, you know, like not being afraid to speak out for the water and, and the trees and the birds and, you know, all the animals that we love, we have to be to be bold, to use our voice and, and direct our messages and be strategic too.

00:51:58:14 - 00:52:19:10
Skye Steritz
And, you know, that's something I talked to kids about, like some of my students have written letters to the president in the past few weeks and, you know, wanting to have a few words. And I'm like, yes, we're going to send these like, you can do this any time you can send, you can call, you can write letters like, this is absolutely a huge part of having a functional democracy.

00:52:19:10 - 00:52:20:05
Skye Steritz
It's like.

00:52:20:06 - 00:52:20:21
Mark Titus

00:52:20:23 - 00:52:46:13
Skye Steritz
We are we are the government. We need to participate in it. so yeah, I think just helping helping the kids draw those connections because they are in love with this place too. And, their brains are still forming and figuring out how can what can we do so just helping them to see those paths, like, there are so many things you can do.

00:52:46:15 - 00:53:38:01
Mark Titus
Beautiful. You touched on, something the political process and and being part of a functional democracy. And one thing I always like to touch on, on this show is the fact, the unavoidable fact that we are in a siloed tribal society now, and I'm sure there, there you experience that even in Cordova. what do you feel like the, the key to moving forward as a functioning society is and do you feel like the work you're doing to save the things you love by creating resonance with food grown the right way?

00:53:38:03 - 00:53:41:11
Mark Titus
Is that helping the process?

00:53:41:13 - 00:53:44:06
Skye Steritz

00:53:44:08 - 00:54:01:10
Mark Titus
Is there something in the work that you do about providing food for folks that can help? Bring people to the table together as opposed to divide us further.

00:54:01:11 - 00:54:44:18
Skye Steritz
I think food. Yeah. Always food has that capacity to, to bring us together. And I think kelp is special because it's important to a lot of different, groups of people. And you know here Alaskan Native people have used kelp for millennia. Also, Sean and I's ancestors are from Ireland, Scotland, that part of the world where people have also used kelp for millennia, that we have a large population of folks from the Philippines here in Cordova that have had seaweed be part of their diet forever, too, and they're very excited about having locally grown seaweed.

00:54:44:20 - 00:55:20:06
Skye Steritz
So yeah, I think kelp is a is a great, Place for us to, to converge. And and food in general is a great place for us to, to converge and come together. And I see it actually as part of the backbone that keeps the Cordova community strong, is that people just bring each other food, they cook for each other, they chop off, you know, Herring Row at your house or, you know, they bring whatever extra mushrooms, they collect it, you know, things like that.

00:55:20:08 - 00:55:56:17
Skye Steritz
that allow us to be able to. Yeah, talk. Even if we have different points of view, different political beliefs. We have this environment in common. We all need to eat. And when we share those foods, that we've harvested, we're building relationships. We're building trust to be able to have conversations, that sometimes might extend into politics and then hopefully we have more of a place of respect because it's like, hey, this person brought me herring eggs.

00:55:56:17 - 00:56:17:22
Skye Steritz
Even if, like, I don't agree with who they're going to vote for, I can still talk to them calmly and kindly and hear their perspectives and share mine. And it doesn't have to be an argument, you know. It can be just here we are chatting as neighbors in the driveway, and this is how I feel. This is how you feel.

00:56:17:22 - 00:56:23:05
Skye Steritz
We don't have to feel the same way, but we can hear each other out.

00:56:23:07 - 00:56:37:16
Mark Titus
And that's how it is from Cordova, Alaska. Yes. I couldn't agree with you more. Skye, if folks want to get in touch with you or follow along with what you're doing, what's the best way to do that?

00:56:37:18 - 00:57:08:04
Skye Steritz
Yeah, we have a website, NobleOceanFarms.com, and we're also on Instagram and Facebook. You can also email us I'm Skye[at]NobleOceanfarms.com and yeah, we're always available to chat with people. We're constantly looking for collaborators and the food world and just other other people who are passionate about the environment and want to help raise awareness.

00:57:08:04 - 00:57:11:06
Skye Steritz
So would love to connect with people.

00:57:11:08 - 00:57:30:03
Mark Titus
Beautiful. Well, you don't get out of here without doing the bonus round. Everybody gets it. So we're going to just imagine for a moment here. You're you're a teacher. You're great at this. let's just hope this never happens. But let's just imagine that a tsunami was on its way. And you could once you get your loved ones out of the house, you could only take one physical thing.

00:57:30:05 - 00:57:34:09
Mark Titus
What is that one physical thing you would take? Wow.

00:57:34:11 - 00:57:48:09
Skye Steritz
One physical thing. You know, I think it's going to be the, the rope that Sean and I tied at our hand. Fasting ceremony.

00:57:48:11 - 00:58:08:01
Mark Titus
Beautiful. Also useful as a kelp farmer moving forward. If you need a little hunk of rope. That's beautiful. and if it was a one metaphysical thing about you. One trait that makes Sky. Sky, what would that one thing be if you could only take one?

00:58:08:03 - 00:58:15:12
Skye Steritz

00:58:17:16 - 00:58:20:15
Skye Steritz
Hair. Simple.

00:58:20:17 - 00:58:21:11
Mark Titus
Care.

00:58:21:13 - 00:58:24:16
Skye Steritz
Caring. Compassionate.

00:58:24:18 - 00:58:38:16
Mark Titus
And you got all that in spades. Well, thank you, my friend. What a wonderful conversation today. And, I can't wait till our next one and to come visit again. And, until then, we'll we'll see you down the trail.

00:58:38:18 - 00:58:42:04
Skye Steritz
Thank you so much, Mark. Good to see.

00:58:42:06 - 00:58:45:07
Mark Titus
You, too. Bye for now.

00:58:45:08 - 00:59:16:14
Music
How do you say what you love?
How do you say what you love?
How do you say what you love?
How do you say what you love?

00:59:16:16 - 00:59:40:16
Mark Titus
Thank you for listening to Save What You Love. If you like what you're hearing, you can help keep these conversations coming your way by giving us a rating on whatever platform you're listening from and leaving a comment on Apple Podcasts. It really helps get the word out. Check out photos on our Instagram feed. We're at Save What You Love podcast, and you can get links from today's featured guest in the show notes of this episode.

00:59:40:18 - 01:00:09:14
Mark Titus
Join our growing community by subscribing to our newsletter at evaswild.com, and then clicking on connect in the upper corner. You'll get exclusive offers on wild salmon shipped to your door, and notifications about upcoming guests and more great content on the way. That said, Evaswild.com the word save spelled backwards, wild.com. This episode was produced by Emilie Firn and edited by Patrick Troll.

01:00:09:16 - 01:00:15:13
Mark Titus
Original music was created by Whiskey Class. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you all down the trail.