Figuring out first-hand food
Ever wondered how much 100,000 baby oysters weigh? Well, I can tell you. 752 grams, a little over a pound and a half. Our 100,000 came yesterday, from Mook Sea Farms, in Maine. They’re shipped overnight in a styrofoam cooler, wrapped in a handiwipe. Each oyster is about two millimeters, and they make a pile [...]
Yesterday our 80,000 oysters went back in the water. Just so you have something to look forward to, I promise, over the course of the season, to explain what we’ll be doing with the oysters and why, and you’ll be able to pick up all sorts of arcane trivia about the life and times of [...]
I’m on record as being a lily-livered water sissy. I don’t like being in a boat unless the sea is calm, the sky is clear, and the water temperature is above deadly. It has certainly crossed my mind that, given my abject cowardice, oyster farmer wasn’t the most prudent choice of occupation. Growing shellfish means [...]
Because I’ve spent what we’ve had of spring fretting about my garden, mishandling my seedlings, and grousing about my soil, a piece of news slipped under the radar. We bought another boat. If you’ve been following this space, you know we already had enough boats to make a raft of armada jokes possible, so you’re [...]
This past Thursday was Ag Day here in Massachusetts, a day designated for farmers and food producers to come talk to legislators. I brushed the chicken poop off my shoes and, in my capacity as nascent oyster farmer, headed for Boston. I went with Les Hemmila of Barnstable Seafarms and a posse of other growers, [...]
It’s in August, when water temperatures are in the 80s and the sun shines on Cape Cod’s waters, that it’s just possible to form a romantic idea about oyster farming. Even in high summer, though, It’s unlikely that such an idea will withstand a few days out on the farm, pounding stakes into the sand, [...]
I’m not in a deer blind today because I’m at a conference. The last time I was at a conference was when I had a real job, back in the Pleistocene Era. I went to a lot of conferences then, all about computers. The breakfast table conversation was usually something along the lines of, “So [...]
All this time I’ve been thinking that Kevin became an oyster farmer because he feels a profound need to grow things, to create wholesome food, to contribute to sustainable aquaculture. He wants to spend his days doing something constructive, something productive, out in the beautiful waters off Cape Cod. Hah! He did it so he [...]
I’ve always been too literal for my own good. A complete lack of awareness of this thing they call subtext has cramped my appreciation for many works of literature. Ulysses, say. Or any Henry James novel north of The Portrait of a Lady (that one, I get). “Concrete-bound,” I think of it as. I remember [...]
Today I had an epiphany. Just as yoga’s getting old, I found the replacement fitness regimen, sure to capture the exercise-minded public’s imagination. Are you ready for this? Drumroll, please. It’s bullraking! What’s bullraking? Well, I’m glad you asked. Clams bury themselves in the sand, usually between about two and five inches deep. To get [...]
Tamar Haspel has been writing about food and health for over a decade. She recently moved from Manhattan to Cape Cod. She’s adjusting well. [Read More …]
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