Middle school students in Herring Gut Learning Center’s seaweed aquaculture program were treated to a visit from Carly Weinberg of Dulse and Rugosa, a Maine-based company specializing in creating bath and beauty products from botanicals and seaweeds.  Toting boxes of different oils, botanicals, seaweeds, soaps, and scrubs, Carly talked about starting up the business with her mother in 2013 to create products inspired by her Gotts Island home.  She grows and gathers all the botanicals used in her products, which range from bath scrubs, hot island teas, soaps, and shampoo bars.  She also collects seaweed, including the namesake dulse, and different varieties of kelp.  All the materials are grown or collected from Gotts Island, located off the coast of Mount Desert Island. 

The students were excited to learn about all of the products that Carly brought and got the chance to create their own salt scrubs and bath teas using botanicals and seaweed from Gotts Island.  Carly brought dulse, kelp, lavender, bachelor button, calendula, and many other types of botanicals for the students to use. 

For more information about Dulse and Rugosa or to purchase their products online, please visit www.dulseandrugosa.com.  Their products are also available locally at the Good Tern Co-op, Archipelago, and the Belfast Co-op.

The students in the seaweed aquaculture program at Herring Gut are growing kelp on a micro farm in the lobster pound on our campus.  In the spring when they harvest their kelp, they will be tasked with creating a product.  As inspiration for their final product, students are researching different companies in Maine that use seaweed.  If you are a company that uses seaweed and are interested in speaking with the class, please contact us at (207) 372-8677.      

Founded in 1999, Herring Gut Learning Center is a non-profit education center in Port Clyde, Maine that partners with public schools to engage students, teachers, and the public in hands-on aquaculture and marine science programs, provides professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers, and offers a summer first work experience for young teens.   For more information, please visit www.herringgut.org

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