Farmers Go Down to the Ocean

“Farmers and fishermen are a lot alike,” said Ann Molloy.  We were standing on the dock outside the Neptune’s Harvest fish fertilizer facility in Gloucester (pronounced Glosta) Massachusetts.

We agreed, and said both are very dependent on weather and have to work hard for long hours to provide nutritious food.

“And they have to be able to fix complex machinery far away from port, or the barn,” said Ann.  We were looking out over a busy harbor that has sent its formidable fishing fleet into the North Atlantic for about 350 years.

We had been searching for a source of organic fertilizer and settled on the Neptune’s Harvest product.  Here’s the story.  Neptune’s Harvest and its sister company, Ocean Crest Seafood, buy fish from various fishing boats.  The fish are filleted, then put on ice and trucked to stores and restaurants around New England.  The parts of the fish that are left over are then turned over to the Neptune’s Harvest building next door and cold processed into liquid fish fertilizer.  The two businesses employ more than 50 people. 

When you’re farming, vacations are few and far between, so we decided to turn our quest for organic fertilizer into a mini-vacation.  We loaded a cooler with some of our delicious beef, grabbed a quart of maple syrup and set out in the pick-up truck for Gloucester. 

The weather was beautiful and the further south we went the more vegetation was in bloom.  We arrived late afternoon, found a motel, walked around town, then went out and had ourselves a wonderful seafood dinner. 

Next morning we went to the docks and found the Ocean Crest/Neptune’s Harvest buildings.  The company is a real family business, run by five siblings.  Neptune’s Harvest has grown to the point that it now has its own tractor-trailer tank truck and delivers fertilizer as far away as Florida.

We got a tour of the facility from Ann Molloy, who runs Neptune’s Harvest.  She was very happy to trade seafood for beef and syrup.  They filleted the cod and haddock while we waited and the scallops were so fresh they glistened.  Then they loaded two 55 gallon drums on our truck and we set off for Vermont.

Hopefully, the fish fertilizer will do a good job of nourishing our fields.  After all, for millions of years water has eroded the land and carried minerals and nutrients to the ocean.  Now we are bringing some of it back.

By the way, the fish and scallops they gave us were out of this world.  When it comes to seafood, freshness makes all the difference.

To find more information, check out neptunesharvest.com.  They are happy to ship small quantities to home gardeners.