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We are thrilled to share that on June 6, we met up with Friends of the Rappahannock at the marina, loaded up two boats, and headed to the restoration site in Meachim Creek to kick-off this reef project!

Summertime means outdoor brunches and brunches mean Bloody Marys.  Let’s combine the best of brunch for this month’s recipe: Bloody Mary Oyster Shooters.

We all know that the flavor of an oyster is impacted by where it is raised. But did you know that an oyster can sometimes be a different color based on where it is raised? This isn’t very common, but there are some areas where oysters will regularly take on some coloration because of the cycle of local algae. North Carolina and France both have areas where an oyster’s gills will turn green over winter because of the presence of a blue-green algae called Halsea Ostrearia. This ecological event is celebrated in France, but North Carolina is still coming to terms with it. These oysters used to be sold at a discount because people did not like the color and...

So what is an oyster nursery? It will look a bit different depending on the farm, but generally a nursery is a collection of equipment designed to make it easy to grow and manage a very large number of very small oysters in a relatively small space. In one part of our nursery, we have as many as 500,000 oysters in a land-based tank that is 10’x4’x3’ — basically the same volume of water as a large hot tub.  Having so many oysters in a relatively small space makes taking care of them easier as there all easily accessibly so can quickly clean their temporary and make sure they’re not too crowded. As Taryn likes to say, it’s like running a hostel...

2020 was brutal for Rogue Oysters -- and the entire oyster industry. We did not come out unscathed as we only sold 20% of what we had available, but we are committed to making the most out of a tough situation. Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) has a goal of restoring 125 acres of oyster beds in the lower Rappahannock by 2025 and we've been committed to helping! We're partnering with FOR to use Rogue's soon-to be-homeless excess oysters in joint oyster reef restoration projects. We're giving oyster lovers the opportunity to sponsor oysters in their transition to oyster reefs throughout the Rappahannock.