OysterMom tales of raising premium nurtured oysters

Somewhere along in the 1960's, my grandmother Anna Keller bought a shinny new white Chevy Impala with red leather interior.  She saw it on the car lot and bought it right then and there.  The thing was, she had never driven a car.  It had just gotten to the point in her long independent feisty life that she wanted her own transport.   She enlisted help from a neighbor to teach her the basics and a few days later showed up at our house that was 100 miles to the west.  This was not the first time Anna had surprised us with her strength as a single mom.  She had raised her 12 brothers and sisters and my dad with firm ear pulling and fine example. Last year at the start of my own Oyster Aquaculture operation, husband Jack informed me his boat was NOT a working boat and would not be available to me for oystering nor would he be dedicating his time to serve as captain. I scrolled through Craigslist and other boat classified ads each night until a 19foot Carolina Skiff caught my e

I noticed him in the fall of 2015.  He came to an oyster meeting and stood out from all the rest because of his interest and aptitude.  He is tall, young, cute and ready to be an oyster farmer as his main occupation.  He started working for Sharon over on Alligator Harbor and I was sad -- because she nabbed him first. Then he had a car accident. A very bad accident.  I followed his recovery on his fathers Facebook page.  It was heart breaking.  We all wondered if he'd ever walk again.  But this was Reid. And Reid masters everything and overcomes obstacles.  He has recovered and is walking and is so amazing. I met him and his father at a Wakulla Environmental Institute event in the spring -- and asked if he would help me.  We exchanged numbers.  Months later -- in July, Reid started working for me.  It was like a dream come true.  His youth and vitality. His knowledge of the water - his boat - and the oysters is such a huge help to me.  He heads out regularly, tends my oysters

It is true.  I have crabs.  Blue Crabs. Stone Crabs.  Some are as small as a lentil seed.  And the ones I found this weekend, hunkered down in my diploid oyster baskets were 5inches or more when they were flailing their claws at me.  They managed to eat enough of my oysters to grow to that enormous size inside the basket.  They bullied out all the other crabs so they could have it all to themselves.  One crab per basket. So what kind of life is that for a crab?  They have a bounty of food - until they consume it all. They are protected from crab eating predators. They are alone.  No mating if they've pushed all the other crabs out. And how do they survive the 24 hours the baskets are lifted to de-foul every week?  As I opened each basket and dumped the contents into a bin, the crab would scurry to a corner, claws spread wide ready to attack.   I would flip it into the water after giving it a severe warning to stay out of my oysters and watch it scurry away --

It is official.  OysterMom is a Certified Shellfish Processor and open to sell my - or anyone else's farmed oysters!    OPEN FOR BUSINESS!  Thanks to Frank and Anne Ashcroft, I have a corner behind B&B Sporting Goods at 1139 E. Tennessee Street in downtown Tallahassee in a place we fondly refer to as Oyster Alley. Cooler in place. Binder with page after page of records I must keep, WIFI, remote temperature gauges to monitor the cooler's every temperature shift, hand washing sinks, paper towels, toilet paper and hot water all in order as required by the State of FL Division of Aquaculture. I'm out peddling my oysters and taking orders. Come see me.  We'll shuck a few and tell tales of the sea.

Florida has been in a hurricane dry spell since 2005.  And then, one August day, this tropical storm seemed to be headed our way.  Poorly organized, the meteorologists struggled to predict just where it might head.  The forecast map looked like a child's first drawing - squiggles on the page.    We opted to take a few precautions.  We dropped the oyster baskets to the lowest point on the riser   poles, Stabilized the riser poles. And waited.   As the Tropical storm got its name, Hermine, I was on the east coast of FL on Amelia Island for the FL Forestry Association annual meeting.  Weather there was blustery as another storm was headed along the east coast to NC.  I worried. I knew that wouldn't help, but still, I could not stop thinking about the farm and all the time and money invested and how this one storm could wipe the work clean.   Thursday at 10:00 am, I and most of the other meeting attendees opted to check out of the wonderful Omni Resort and head home

Poaching of farmed raised oysters ruined an early 1900 attempt to farm oysters in the famed Apalachicola Bay.  Hunters of the wild oysters found it much easier and quicker to just take from the farm and sell the oysters as their own.   Imagine where FL would sit now in the world oyster market has that not closed the farms. Today, poaching continues and indeed, threatens the new farms just starting in water column oyster aquaculture.  It is deflating. Disappointing and financially devastating.   The oysters float in baskets and feed in a vast bay.  - reaping all the benefits of the sea.   The farm infrastructure is sometimes visible from land but only accessible by boat.   It takes a lot of work and a huge commitment of time and money to work an oyster farm.  So poaching is a real threat.   We, the oyster farmers, watch out for each other.  We know each other's boats and each other.  If we see someone out on the Aquaculture Use Zone, we stop and talk.  Its like talki

New federal regulations deem it mandatory for the oysters to be delivered to the processor by 11:00am in the summer months and chilled to 55degrees within two hours of delivery.   Sounds simple, but let me tell you what this entails.  a.  Prepare the oysters for a speedy pick up on the day of delivery by sorting out marketable size oysters and counting out 100 per basket. b.  Depart my house at 5:45am to pick up Michael at 6:00am c.  Drive to Rock Landing Marina where the staff have launched and fueled Ginny d.  Motor to the lease - a 17 minute ride under the best conditions - 45 minutes in the worst conditions. e.  Pull the oyster baskets and dump into mesh bags f.   Pile them in the boat - carefully counting to insure the market order is met g.  Reverse ride back to the Marina h.  Load oysters into carts to get them to the parking lot. i.   Load oysters into the truck. j.   Drive 1 hour 15 minutes to Buddy Ward's seafood processing plant at 13 mile k.  Unload

It is summer in FL. Temperatures have been abnormally high for June and the oysters are growing rapidly.   At the suggestion of Leon from Australia's SEAPA Co. I have installed colorful pool floats to the bottom of each of my SEAPA baskets.  The lease looks very happy in orange, bright lime green and yellow. The oysters are tumbled with the tides and winds. I don't have to shake each and every basket! Loving the look.  Loving the effect.

It was Saturday, April 2, 2016.  Michael and I were on the water for the first time since Matt Hodges and I had readied 1350 oysters for market on Monday, March 28.  Matt and I had also moved my remaining 42 baskets from the Wakulla Environmental Institute's Research and Education Lease to my lease in Oyster Bay.  It had been a long day and a hard day of work on that Monday with Matt.  I felt good about all we had accomplished.  I was happy to have all my oysters in one place.  That following Thursday, Matt picked up the 1350 and took them to WEI - a donation for a Chamber of Commerce event that would be held on Sat April 2.  They wanted my oysters as they were large, beautiful, perfect.  Michael and I tended to sorting and starting my system for organizing now everything was in one place - and then we noticed that 2 of the 6 mm baskets holding my new spat, the O'Malley's as I had named them as they had been delivered on St Patrick's day, were missing.  We checked

We were flying across the water - following a fellow oyster farmer who was in a tunnel bottom boat with a Jack Plate.  We were both racing to the oyster leases to catch the low tide before it began to rise.  Then he almost got stuck in that magical boat that seems to only need a coating of water over the Bay's muddy bottom.  And he raced on leaving us stuck. Seriously stuck.  We exited Ginny, my 19' Carolina Skiff, and sank knee deep into the mud.  We tried to push, pull, then rested. It was impossible.  Only more water would be of help.  And then, I decided to fiddle with the Lowrance which had again given me fits.  I took off my prescription polarized Gucci sunglasses and put them on my head.  A habitual action, but I had my warm hat on so they really didn't hug my head as they normally do.  And then, it happened.  I leaned over to look at the water depth and they fell into the water.  It was only 8 inches, but clouded with the mud stirred up from our efforts.  I trie

The new logo has arrived and I am so happy with the strength and commitment is exudes.  I had a difficult time deciding which design to use and had two graphic designers working on the task.  One - this one -- lives in Holland.  The other a close friend of my daughters.  They were all so exceptional it was a major decision but this one stood out when I hung them on the walls.   I hope you like it and that you love the oysters as much as we do.  OysterMom.  Nurtured Premium Oysters from Oyster Bay, Wakulla County, Florida Raised up right with tender loving care.  Thanks, OysterMom. 

The Lowrance lit up when I  had connected it at the dock.  I saw the logo then went about attending to casting off and getting underway in the channel.  But then, it was dark. Gone.  Could I make it through Dickerson and Skipper Bays to weave my way around the oyster bars and low water to get to the Aquaculture Use Zone (AUZ)?  I had relied on the GPS so much - even on regular outings to the Wakulla Environmental Institute (WEI) Research lease in Skipper Bay.  Could I make to to Oyster Bay?   Of course not I decided -- and then it clicked on and Michael, Topper and I set out to see the new anchor pole installation on my lease.   The water was glass and the morning fog clouds had lifted but still held a grey blanket overhead.  The temperature was expected to rise to 70 today and with low tide at 12:30, we were out and about early and ready for a long day. At the AUZ, Bob Ballard, Exec. Dir. of WEI and two salaried oystermen, E.J. and John Wallace were preparing to install lines.  Th

His Mother is acquainted with mine and we delivered her home roasted nuts to him at Christmas time.  He had recently moved to Tallahassee after losing his vision two years ago.  Topper, his service dog, was thrilled to have visitors as was Michael.   I have never been around a blind person to know anything about how they get by living alone.    But in that short visit, I learned that Michael had lost not only his sight, but a way of life.  He had been an avid fly fisherman and instructor.  He back packed, did hang gliding, and an entire array of outdoor sports.  Now, his life centered around learning how to be blind.  He's learned braille, established his apartment and set up voice activated everything that couldn't be labeled in braille.  He and Topper get a 4-5 mile walk in daily, but aside from that, his days of adventure have been limited. We spoke of the oystering and he gently asked if he could go out with me.  Why not I thought.  Why not.  I had recently taken my 87 ye