An Oyster Life (Blog) — Aquaculture

With spring in bloom, now is the perfect time to freshen up what’s on your plate. Incorporating local foods into your diet can have dramatic health and ecological benefits. We pride ourselves on being stewards for the environment and constantly work to Better the Bay. Creating sustainable, nutritious food is obviously a huge part of what we do, and we know that our farm works within a larger cycle. When you choose to combine our fresh, farmed oysters with local produce and meats, you’re choosing to develop a diet that’s sustainable and responsible. Locally sourced foods reduce greenhouse gas emissions,...

Oysters are truly a miracle food. Not only are they delicious, they’re also high in zinc and protein. They have numerous ecological benefits, and they continue giving after they’ve been shucked and slurped. Saving and recycling your oyster shells is a great way to maximize their value and benefit the soil and critters in your region.  Save the Soil Adding oyster shells to your mulch in late Spring and early Summer can give you garden a big boost. Oyster shells have high amounts of calcium which can balance soil pH levels. They also help strengthen plant cell walls, improve nitrate...

Chances are, if you’re an oyster lover you’ve come across a pea crab or two in your day. But, to the oyster newbie these little ocean treats can be an unexpected surprise. In reality, the pea crab is a rare delicacy that many people are unfamiliar with. Meet the Pea Crab Pea crabs (Pinnotheres Ostreum) or oyster crabs (Zaops ostreus) are soft bodied crabs that live in bivalves like oysters and mussels. They’re kleptoparasites meaning they seal food from hosts to survive. Both varieties behave similarly and are generally referred to as pea crabs. They live inside the oyster’s gills,...

Our mission isn’t just to provide you with delicious oysters shipped fresh to your door. We also want to do our part to help preserve and improve the invaluable Chesapeake bay watershed. Oyster farming brings much needed revenue to the area and the oysters themselves act as filters, helping to clean the bay’s water and improving the overall ecosystem for other wildlife.  As global warming, pollution and other factors continue to put more and more pressure onto this crucial watershed, it’s important we find ways to help. Here are a few ways you can help protect the Chesapeake Bay: Pick...

I got my oysters, now what?   Easy! Unpack the box, store sack in a cooler or pour oysters into a bowl for storing in the fridge. You can also check out our blog on serving raw oysters for more tips.   For the fridge: You want to be careful not to let your oysters dry out, which is why the damp towel is important. If you’re storing oysters on ice, make sure they don’t sit in freshwater. Stored properly, your oysters should keep for up to 10 days.    Spotting a dead oyster is simple. If the bivalves are...

As people have been opening oysters as long as we’ve been eating them. At some point, we were bashing them open with rocks, or heating them with fire. As we’ve evolved, so have our oyster shuckers. PHOTO: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY The oyster revolution of the Chesapeake- fleets of boats full of teams of men would hit the shore with their precious cargo, and their shanks. The first oyster knives on the Chesapeake were produced in Crisfield, Maryland and dated back to the early 1900s. They were originally made of iron rods, with one tapered side and one blunt...

There are a lot of myths around what oysters eat and how it affects their flavor. We’re going to bust some common oyster myths and show you how sustainable oyster farming creates a halo effect of benefits for the entire ecosystem.