About The Sea Gardener

Marie Power, aka, The Sea Gardener, is passionate about nature. And she loves to share her passion and knowledge with other people, through a variety of foraging, cookery and educational events, on and around the coast;

seaweed and wild food foraging and cookery, the wider ecological web on the rocky shore, sustainable ways to forage, traditional and contemporary uses of this indigenous health food all form part of her events.

These are complemented by her book, The Sea Garden and a range of award-winning artisan snacks and cookery ingredients based on seaweed, under The Sea Gardener brand.

Her introduction to seaweed as a food took place when she was very young. Her cousin, Jackie Power gathered carrageen around Stradbally Cove and it was cooked by his sister, Eily Begley, into a very healthy dessert. The strong taste did not appeal and it was much later when Marie developed ways to make tasty as well as nutritious food using seaweed. In 2006, she was inspired to use seaweed again, and began foraging on the local beaches in Co.Waterford and experimenting with cooking different seaweeds. An Irish Wildlife Trust outing, organised by Marie, on rock pool ecology, included soup, scones and cookies she made using seaweed, and the response was overwhelmingly positive! Further workshops followed and this led to a regular appearance at the Dungarvan Food Festival at Clonea Strand, now an annual event.

Meeting the people who attended the workshops (in Clonea, Ardmore, Tramore, Cheekpoint) proved enjoyable and inspiring. People expressed delight in the tastiness and goodness of seaweed and requests for more in-depth workshops and demonstrations and for Marie’s recipes led to a short 2-page handout and soon the idea of writing it all down in a book was mooted and thus “The Sea Garden” was born.

Marie decided in 2012 to blend her skills from the world of management and education with her interest in ecology and foraging. She undertook the UCC Diploma in Field Ecology and completed the publication of the book. She now combines foraging events with the production of a range of healthy seaweed-based snacks and looks forward to continuing this stimulating journey with seaweed and wild food. Collaborations with The Copper Coast Geopark and National Biodiversity Data Centre, Irish Widlife Trust and Bealtaine Festival of Outdoor Science, Comeragh’s Wild Festival, WIT School of Culinary Arts, West Waterford Festival of Food, Waterford Harvest Festival, Bia Bo Finne, Inishbofin and Seafest, Inishturk are now an enjoyable part of what she does.

She would like to acknowledge the support of these agencies & organisations:

Waterford Chamber Skillnet https://waterfordskillnet.ie/

FTC Consulting http://www.ftc.ie/index.php

Waterford LEO – County & City https://www.localenterprise.ie/Waterford/

Failte Ireland, Ireland’s Ancient East.

Taste Waterford

Celtic Routes

BIM – South East & Seafood Research Centre, Clonakilty

FLAG – http://www.bim.ie/

Seaweed Cookery Workshop

A Walk On The Wild Side

Go Wild With Seaweed

Seaweed Session With Friends

Seaweed Cookery Workshop

A Walk On The Wild Side

Go Wild With Seaweed

Seaweed Session With Friends

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