The sea holds many secrets. That comes as no surprise to anyone who has spent any time in Newfoundland or Labrador where fisherman and beachcombers alike have uncovered everything from decaying giant squid to the time a local fisherman hauled up a rare-to-these-waters long-nosed chimaera. 

Terrence and Courtney Howell, owners of Grates Cove Studios in Grates Cove, also now understand that the ocean holds not only mysteries but treasure too. What’s their now unburied treasure? Seaweed!

On the day we met for a chat, the two business owners treated me to an outside claw-foot tub soak in their seaweed bath water. With my face and neck coated in their specially-created seaweed clay mask and the rest of my body soaking in a bounty collected from the sea, this writer experienced their find first hand. The result? A glow that could not be denied. 

Stepping over seaweed

What started these two down such a path began with a passion for challenge and adventure. They met in 2004 while teaching in South Korea and were united almost instantly by a shared desire to explore and sample their way around their home-away-from-home. 

Courtney was born and raised in a small community in Louisiana, USA while Terrence was born and raised in the Grates Cove area. 

The life of adventure that brought this couple to Grates Cove to open Grates Cove Studios involves travel, hurricanes, disaster relief efforts and a shared curiosity and a love of the ocean. 

Now, along with their 13 year-old daughter, Phoenix, the family has stepped into the skin care business by almost literally stepping over seaweed while out for a beach walk. The beginnings of what is now 7 Fathoms Seaweed Skin Care started with Terrence having a curious mind. He picked up the seaweed, played with it a little, then brought some home. His hands – often raw from hard work and creating with wood – began to heal. Courtney then began using it on her skin and, over time, saw “huge improvements.” 

They began creating products for themselves and for friends, but then they met Doctor Robert Helleur, a retired chemistry professor at Memorial University who had spent his career studying seaweed. The three actually met at Grates Cove Studios where the good doctor had popped in for a bite to eat. The three began talking and the wheels started to turn. 

Incredible Journey

“It was that connection and realizing that we had the same sentiments about how to be sustainable – how to not create an extract that is so chemically laden – that got us all thinking and he offered to consult with us,” Courtney shared. That was two years ago, and they’ve made some impressive strides. 

“He’s helping us perfect our extraction process and we now understand we have something unique. We have something that’s very high quality that is not only beneficial for skin care, but beneficial for functional food products and  could very well be beneficial for compound pharmacists. So we’re now on this journey.”

There’s much research happening as they’ve now partnered with Memorial University to study the “precious extract that comes from seaweed.”

“We’re just on this incredible journey and we’re getting to new areas of research  (on seaweed) right here at home,” Terrence added. The excitement builds as they talk. 

“Seaweed is definitely known for all of its benefits, but we’re only now starting to understand more. We’re so used to getting so much of our nutrients and bioactive ingredients from land but because of so many land issues around the world, where research is going now, where development is going, where industry is going, it’s going out into the ocean because the ocean actually holds more beneficial properties than what’s on land,” he continued.

Sea botanicals are about eight times more effective than land botanical extracts, he added. 

The Beach

The research is really just in its infancy stage, Courtney shared, which makes their journey all the more exciting.

“We just happened on the beach that day, it’s not like we discovered seaweed, it’s just, we were there and we were curious. This journey, where we are now, made us realize that the best decision we ever made was moving to Grates Cove,” Terrence said. 

It’s not just the seaweed, they say. “This community is incredible. There are 15 kids here. Our daughter’s best friend lives here. Two of her classmates live here in this tiny little town. She has a great upbringing where she can come harvest seaweed with us. She likes to go. She explores this area. She learned to walk on this land and she has friends to boot and has a great quality of life here,” Courtney shared passionately. 

They get the best of both worlds, they continue. There’s solitude when they need it and then the area is bustling with locals and tourists at times too.  They are in this tiny, little removed town but get to meet all these people and it fills the social side of life that everyone needs.

They love meeting tourists “from wherever” and they enjoy the solitude.  

“We can be busy then we move into winter where it becomes much more isolated and we can be more reflective and learn from this environment and create from it. If we had moved anywhere else, it wouldn’t have happened that way. We wouldn’t have discovered the seaweed, our daughter wouldn’t have the quality of life that she has. I don’t know how we got this lucky,” Courtney shared.

Now, it’s not like they don’t work hard – they certainly do – still, they know how good they have things too.

 “We work hard. It’s all difficult at times, but everyone’s life is. But we also get to be on this journey that is fulfilling to us. I think people may think we’re crazy, but you know what? I love this becoming, if that makes sense. We are just on this journey together in this amazing place and we are becoming what we were meant to be,” she added.

And what does their “becoming” look like? It looks like the art of unpolished living, she said with a smile. 

“The art of unpolished living. That’s it in a nutshell. We try to offer really nice dishes and we try to offer really nice experiences, but we’re always discovering that it’s never, ever going to be polished. There is always going to be an unexpected experience. And I think anyone who knows us, anyone who’s been following us, they accept that about us.”

‘Unexpected Experience’

Like Newfoundland itself, with unpredictable weather, it’s never going to be perfect. “It’s going to be what it’s going to be. The weather’s going to be what it is. We’re raising a child here. There’s always going to be some sort of wildness happening. And for the most part, our customers are very, very open to that.”

And what a relief it is to accept that, she added. Terrence sat looking out at the ocean as his wife finished speaking. He paused, then spoke. 

“What a  relief it is to feel like we don’t have to be perfect because we’re never going to be. We’re always going to be in the middle of some project but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to do our very best to offer you a wonderful, unexpected experience. You’re on the journey with us. Don’t have expectations necessarily, but come expecting to kind of create your own story.”  

Courtney nodded. “I think the pandemic has made people crave what we have. They just want to be, you know? They want to explore, they want to find something that is fulfilling.”

‘Open Your Heart’

After an evening with them – from a seaweed soak to a night’s stay at their vacation home overlooking the seas – I know exactly what they mean. 

From the unique food at Grates Cove Studios to the seaweed bath experience to just experiencing and exploring the community of Grates Cove itself, it’s one special place on the planet. But, they caution, don’t just experience it, participate too. Courtney smiled. 

“You have to participate whole-heartedly or you’re not going to get it. Open your heart, and your mind, and jump right in. I can’t explain it any better than that.”

To experience unpolished living for yourself, or for more info visit www.7fathomsseaweedskincare.ca or gratescovestudios.ca 

This week, it’s wellness Gill Whelan style, Hockey Hall-of-Famer Danielle Goyette makes ECHL history with the NL Growlers, in conversation with Ben Cleary, one of Atlantic Canada’s top journalist, and learn about the art of unpolished living in Grates Cove!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF6nfZLCnJ8

Terrence and Courtney Howell met back in 2004 while teaching in South Korea. 

Both admit they can’t believe it’s been that long ago, though at the same time, it feels like they’ve known one another their entire lives.

Sitting in the dining room of the restaurant portion of one of their endeavours, Grates Cove Studios, they relax and share a plate of one of Terrence’s specialties, a Korean pancake packed with veggies and flavour, as they gaze out across the calm harbour. It wasn’t a calm night, with record amounts of wind and rain meaning they didn’t get much sleep. With multiple properties perched on the edge of the Atlantic, there’s much to tend to and fuss over. Still, tending to guests is what this couple live for, and sharing their story is worth taking a few moments from ankle-high mucky work outside. 

Courtney hails from Louisiana. Daughter of a shrimp fisherman, she knows the sea. Terrence was born and raised in the Grates Cove area so  being in and around the water is second nature to this artist-turned-chef and jack-of-all-trades businessman. The two crossed paths first while teaching in South Korea, sharing they “explored and ate their way across that country.” The two spent some time in Courtney’s home state of Louisiana before returning back to Terrence’s ancestral home of Grates Cove to set down roots and, as they like to say, they “once again, fell in love.” 

Their website perhaps says it best. Here, in this tiny land between the barrens and the sea, they found what they were looking for. Inspiration. Perspective. Freedom. And a place they could finally call home.

Love at First Sight?

“Life and time goes by quickly,” Courtney stated as she took a bite of Terrence’s lovingly prepared pancake. 

“I’m originally from a small town called Chauvin, Louisiana. I always joke that it’s like a parallel universe to here. My father was a shrimper, so we lived that fishing way of life where your life is very seasonal because you work right on the water.” It was much the same, though a little different, she continued. “I lived in bayou areas close to the Gulf of Mexico, whereas here we live right on the Atlantic, but life was very similar. I feel really welcomed here.”

Was it love at first sight? we ask. “Between her and the island, or between us?” Terrence teased.

They laugh. Yes, and yes, kind of.  

“I think we noticed something we had in common. We both kind of wanted to go explore a lot more than most. We started traveling together, probably within three weeks of meeting.”

Terrence had been in Korea for a while when Courtney arrived and she wanted to explore a fishing museum that was a few hours away from where they lived.  “He was the only person who wanted to come with me. I think it was that initial bus ride where we just knew. It was just such a silly bus ride and I remember how much we were laughing and joking, and we just had this amazing day. I think that’s kind of what sparked it. We were really good at being silly together.”

Starting a Business

It’s a good thing that the attraction, and that spark is still there, because while their business endeavours are certainly labours of love, they have all been labours. From maintaining fabulous staycation/vacation spots on the ocean, to a seaweed spa bath service on the edge of the sea to a restaurant with a menu to drool over and a view to die for, these two have their hands full. There’s also Terrence’s art, and their newest adventure: seaweed. Plus, the two are parents to a 13 year-old daughter Phoenix.  They have a lot on their plate, you might say. “We have a lot of serious things going on but we can still find our way back to being silly together no matter how challenging things get,” Courtney shared.

 Back when they first met, life was “very playful,” they say. How did they get from Korea to Newfoundland? Well, that’s a journey. “I always saw myself coming back and doing something either on family property or property that could be acquired here in Grates Cove. My dad and my grandmother’s from here. Coming back here was something we talked about in Korea. We talked a lot about starting a business and starting something surrounding art and food,” Terrence offered. 

They thought along the lines of an artist residency. 

Things “got detoured,” just a little, they say. Courtney was supposed to join the Peace Corps, for one thing, but just before she was supposed to leave, Hurricane Katrina happened. 

“It was two major storms back to back, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, and … New Orleans was devastated. I knew then that there was an opportunity for the rural communities (used to being flooding from storms) to step up.”

Instead of going into the Peace Corps, Courtney started a nonprofit to help her home state get back on its feet. Terrence was back in Newfoundland and the two kept communicating.

They decided it was time for Courtney to visit NL. “It was October and I was leaving a disaster zone. It was incredibly stressful. And then I get up here and it was a cold, wet, sort of slushy October. Everyone said it was miserable. ‘I’m so sorry that this is how you have to experience Newfoundland for the first time,’ I heard. I was like, ‘I’m in love. This is wonderful.’”

Courtney said, when you know, you know. “We started talking about getting married but I had to go back. That was the hardest thing to do, to get back on the plane, to go back to a disaster zone.” 

Terrence visited Courtney a few months later – incidentally getting detained by customs for trying to bring his over-the-border love some seal meat. They married in Louisiana and Terrence became involved with the disaster relief work. “He got extremely connected to the environmental issues there and then started working on a full body of artwork called A Silent Witness.”

 They were torn between the obligation to stay and help and the desire to return to Newfoundland and start a family. 

Snug Harbour

Grates Cove offered what the young family wanted, they added. “Artwork requires an incredible amount of thought and reflection and privacy. This place is perfect for that kind of thinker and it just felt completely wild. I don’t like using the word magical, because that’s not quite it, but it’s close,” Courtney said.

Their first home, Snug Harbour House, was their family’s first adventure.  

 “It was such precious time. We had the baby. Terrence was here starting to do his art again, so his woodworking was just starting to get established.”

Then, “an old United church and schoolhouse” became available. “We kept seeing it like, ‘this would be perfect. This is the perfect building.’” 

But there were a few snags along the way. “It needed a lot of work. Structurally, it’s amazing, but  there was a lot of work to be done,” Courtney said.

The couple’s common denominator has always been food. From sampling their way across Korea to enjoying what Louisiana had to offer, food was something they enjoyed.  “We’ve always tried to have a minimal impact, as we really wanted this to be our home. We wanted this to be the place where our daughter grew up, but we didn’t want to be the people who came in and did things. We want to be respectful of this community. This community has so much history to it.”

‘All of its Imperfections’

They figured out a way, and opened their doors for dining soon after, Courtney continued.

“When we started the restaurant it wasn’t strategic. It was us doing what we had to do to be able to stay here. That is really what the last decade has been about. And I think we see a fuller picture now. But at the time, it was just how can we stay here? And it was scary.” 

The fear wained as the love grew, however. “I knew that with all of its imperfections, this is where we want to be.”

To experience unpolished living for yourself, or for more info visit www.7fathomsseaweedskincare.ca or gratescovestudios.ca or just get in the car, drive and see for yourself

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgys4wbWSqM