Mendocino County Public Broadcasting
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Seaweed Missionaries, Forty Years Harvesting The Mendocino Coast

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When you think of seafood you probably think of fish right? Well there's another kind of seafood that we don't think about much. One most of us have eaten. John Lewallen has been harvesting seaweed from the state beach in Elk for almost forty years. 

The Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company supplies 11 types of seaweed to customers all over the United States, I met them at the crack of dawn on the bluffs overlooking Elk Beach. John is at 75 year-old survivor of cancer and walks with two canes, he considers seaweed to be part of his spiritual path. He and his wife Barbara know just about everything there is to know about seaweed and were happy to tell me all about it. 

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