Up the Creek

 

 

With much pomp and circumstance our hometown and location of our "world headquarters", Duxbury, celebrated the opening of it's bay this past weekend.  The Opening of the Bay, always held Memorial Day weekend, is one of those small-town shindigs that easily inserts itself into the rhythm of the year.

We admit it: Sometimes we're hard to pin down.

We've encountered oyster enthusiasm in just about every form. There was the recent discovery of an oyster-shell engagement as well as a few oyster tattoos. We've even come across a plush oyster toy named Ollie, which is used as an education tool for kids. But oyster music? We had no idea it existed until we met Martin Swinger.

We're often asked what wine (or beer, in some cases) you should drink with Island Creek Oysters.

With the craziness of Oyster Stout launch week is behind us, everyone's breathing easy once again (though some of us are still recovering). Thanks to all who came out to the Harpoon Island Creek Oyster Stout events. There were some incredible parties and it gave us plenty of opportunities to connect with a few super Island Creek fans. During a tasting at the Harpoon Brewery, we met Gail, who along with her fiance Dave, is a big ICO lover. So big, in fact, that the two were engaged over an Island Creek. She told us the story last week:

We're often asked by the oyster curious to describe our farm. While the oysters themselves are grown below the water on the floor of Duxbury Bay, we consider the Oysterplex to be our home base. The barn, if you will.

The structure was built in 2008 and sits on top of a 40-foot float. During the summer, the float is anchored to a mooring and floats in the middle of the bay a few hundred yards from the Duxbury Bay Maritime School.

Do you ever walk into your house after cleaning it the day before and it's somehow messy again? Do you wonder to yourself, how could this possibly happen? Well that's what life is like on the farm these days. Most of our oysters have been moved to the nursery now. They are kept in plastic mesh bags and suspended in racks. The only downside is these bags get very, very dirty. What from? Well, funny you should ask, oyster poop. And lots of it. To make sure the water flow stays consistent, these bags need to be cleaned every single day. Day in, and day out.