http://www.localoysters.com Local Oysters DELIVERED Fresh from the Creek to your Door. Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:33:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I am super impressed with the staff and management of Fleet Landing restaurant; they are HUGE supporters of local products.  I had planted about 1400 bushels of oyster shell and single oysters this past summer and I'm now starting to harvest the single oysters...and Fleet Landing restaurant is selling them ... http://www.localoysters.com/64/fleet-landing-restaurant-serves-local-single-oysters/     I was looking back and realized the last post I made was in November!  Well, I've been very busy working hard through the peak of the oyster season and I want to thank all of my customers so far.  The season will be going strong until on into April so call ... http://www.localoysters.com/56/thanks-to-all-of-my-customers/ This recipe is from my wife...she's so nice:   Take some good large oysters.  Of course you must use local oysters, right out of Bull's Bay.  Steam them until they just pop open.  My wife usually uses a roasting pan with a little water at the bottom, and piles the oysters on ... http://www.localoysters.com/53/here-is-a-great-way-to-serve-any-leftover-oysters-you-may-have-recipe/ Today was a gorgeous day on the water.  This is one of my favorite times of year in Charleston.  The temperature was in the upper 70's today and will be in the low 60's tonight, and we were far away from any signs of civilization.  At one point, we were ... http://www.localoysters.com/52/a-great-day-for-finding-oysters/    Here are a few pictures from shrimping in December 2008. Also here's a video that Will McNelis put together from the hour of tedious pan shots I took with a cheeeaaap camera.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY3BOIrUY98   Actually, there's no footage of me in this video because I was holding the camera!  This was taken just before Christmas on the Miss ... http://www.localoysters.com/50/pictures-of-shrimping/  Every time I deliver oysters I get asked a lot of questions about what I do and how it works, so I thought it would be cool if I could put some pictures on the website to give you a feel for what it's like.  I didn't really know how to ... http://www.localoysters.com/49/pictures-from-oystering-and-shrimping-thanks-to-bryan-and-will/ One of the restaurants that I know uses local oysters/seafood first and foremost is Gilligan's.  I think it's great that they make a point to use as much local seafood as possible.  It's probably easier to just take what their standard food suppliers have on the truck, but if a ... http://www.localoysters.com/46/local-restaurants-local-seafood/ Today I harvested oysters for the Windjammer on Isle of Palms http://www.the-windjammer.com/ .  They've been serving our oysters for the past 3 years and they're a great customer.  So, if you want to sample our oysters then swing by the Windjammer on Isle of Palms and order a bucket of oysters. http://www.localoysters.com/45/the-windjammer/ I harvested and delivered 15 bushels for the SunTrust Christmas party on Truluck Island today.  They were expecting around 100 people or so and they were providing plenty of extra food like burgers, hot dogs, chili, and Frogmore Stew so we decided to get 15 bushels instead of the 20+ ... http://www.localoysters.com/44/truluck-island-suntrust-christmas-party/ I occasionally call the local seafood retailers, Mt Pleasant Seafood, Simmons Seafood, Crosby's Seafood, to check on their prices and availability and I've noticed a trend this year with their responses.  What's not surprising is that their prices are between $24 and $27 plus tax per bushel (you pick them ... http://www.localoysters.com/43/mcclellanville-or-bulls-bay-oysters-vs-beaufort-oysters/ First of all, call me and order you bushels of oysters in advance.  Then find or buy a cooker (same thing you use to fry a turkey) or build a fire pit surrounded by bricks or cinder blocks so you can rest a piece of metal above the fire to cook ... http://www.localoysters.com/42/how-to-have-an-oyster-roast/ There are 2 times a year that you should buy shrimp for your freezer.  Most people don't realize this, but you can go to a local fish house or even to a shrimp boat captain and buy the freshest product available for about 1/2 the cost of getting it at ... http://www.localoysters.com/41/when-to-buy-shrimp-for-your-freezer/ When I refer to shrimping, I'm referring to working on a shrimp boat in the ocean, not bait shrimping.  In my opinion, bait shrimping is diminishing part of the culture of Charleston by negatively impacting the commercial shrimping industry...you know, the quaint shrimp boats that everyone loves to look at ... http://www.localoysters.com/40/shrimping-season-is-winding-down/ If you are looking to have an oyster roast and want the best of the local oysters then you're at the right place.  We pick/harvest the oysters from a private culture lease on Bulls Bay and WE DELIVER them to you.  Our goal is to make things easy on you...we wash ... http://www.localoysters.com/39/buy-bushels-of-oysters-from-bulls-bay-in-charleston-area/ I've had 4 days off in a row which is very rare.  We actually went oystering a couple of times and we made some deliveries over the holiday.  Skippy.  I got to spend some quality time with family and even got to go out and see the Have Nots, an ... http://www.localoysters.com/38/thanksgiving-weekend/ Well, the boat seems to be holding it together as we have worked 13 of the last 15 days with only minor things breaking.  On the other hand, we've been catching tons of shrimp (literally).  Today is my brother Bryan's 40th birthday - Happy Birthday Bryan! - We are having ... http://www.localoysters.com/37/shrimping-news-nov-11-to-nov-24/ Holy S%!#!!!!  We lost steering!!  We were in the ocean dragging the nets in a stiff breeze with a building swell on a lee shore and we f*&%$#g lost our ability to steer the boat.  This was bad.  We really could have capsized or gone aground if anything would have not gone our way ... http://www.localoysters.com/36/ram-restricted-in-ability-to-manoeuvre/ I've been very busy... up at 4:30 am and working until 5 pm or so everyday.  We've been fixing the things that break as fast as we can and soon we are going to run out of things to fix.  If the boat doesn't run then we don't make money; ... http://www.localoysters.com/35/shrimping-news-oct-29-to-nov-7/ We got the boat fixed and today was a great day shrimping off of Bulls Bay.  We worked "The Line" which is an imaginary line that runs across the mouth of Bulls Bay...it is illegal to shrimp commercially inside the line so all of the boats that have a shallow ... http://www.localoysters.com/34/white-shrimp-on-the-line/ Richie and I met at the boat at about 4:45 this morning in anticipation of the first day running the boat and catching shrimp.  On the way out, we found that the throttle control wouldn't push past 1200 RPM's.  We generally drag the nets at about 1650 RPM's so 1200 ... http://www.localoysters.com/33/full-speed-ahead/ While I've been oystering and clamming, a good friend of mine, Richie Billington, has been getting his shrimp boat overhauled and ready for the white shrimp run.  Some would say that it's already happened, but those are the captains that just don't want any one else to get out there and ... http://www.localoysters.com/32/getting-ready-to-shrimp/ I got an order for 10 bushels for a private oyster roast today. I picked them, delivered them to the party, and got to hang around and eat them with friends all night long. It was Michael and Mandy’s rehearsal dinner and we all had a great time – congratulations ... http://www.localoysters.com/31/first-oyster-roast/ Same thing...9 ¾ bushels, early start. http://www.localoysters.com/30/sunrise-on-the-bank-ii/ I was out there early today, left the house before sunrise...9 ¾ bushels. http://www.localoysters.com/29/sunrise-on-the-bank/ We went out today just in hopes of finding some good oysters sticking out of the water, but we were a couple days too early. We got five bushels between the two of us, not much for oysters but it covers the expenses.   http://www.localoysters.com/28/couldn%e2%80%99t-wait-but-should%e2%80%99ve/ The tides still aren’t going anywhere and even if they were, the low tide will be around sunrise and sunset for the next several days...these are the days I have off. I try to work on the water every single day because I know that there will be days that ... http://www.localoysters.com/27/tide-vs-time/ Anthony and I spent the day talking to head chef’s and restaurant owners in Mount Pleasant about buying my oysters on a regular basis. We went to Red’s Ice House where they go through about 30 bushels a week and talked with Steve; he’s an old friend of mine and ... http://www.localoysters.com/26/local-restaurants/ The tide still didn’t go anywhere but we managed to get 8 ½ bushels each. The oysters haven’t really grown back much and there’s less to choose from this early in the season, but if we were clamming we wouldn’t have made even half as much because the tide would ... http://www.localoysters.com/25/tide-vs-oysters/ The tides haven’t been moving much because of the north-east wind pushing the ocean into the creeks and the moon and sun don’t want to let it out either. We worked Bull Creek again and got ten bushels each, but that was all we could get because the tide didn’t ... http://www.localoysters.com/24/oysters-again/ The fish house said they’d take oysters and I couldn’t be happier. I can dig oysters with the best of them, and it only takes half the time. It would take me four hours to dig four bags of clams; the earning equivalent in oysters is 9 bushels and I ... http://www.localoysters.com/23/oyster-heaven/ We decided to try somewhere different this time because we had dug most of the clams on that oyster bank already. We went to the very next oyster bank about 25 yards away. Bad decision, I got 500 clams there. I don’t even want to think about it. All I ... http://www.localoysters.com/22/where-to-next/ Back to the same bank, but this time it was much harder to find the clams. We had already dug most of the bank, but we didn’t just clear-cut dig it, we worked up high near all of the various pools that the tide left when it went out, and ... http://www.localoysters.com/21/four-bags/ We saw a Bald Eagle hunting over Bulls Bay today.  We went back to the same bank today and I dug 1250 clams which puts my average at just shy of four per day.  There are several bald eagles that nest in the Awendaw area. http://www.localoysters.com/20/don%e2%80%99t-call-it-a-comeback/ Back to the same oyster bed north of Venning Creek on the bay. I dug 1000 clams, four bags. ‘Four bags’ is my goal every time I go clamming. Some days I can dig more and some days less, but ‘four bags’ is my minimum average. Today I stopped after ... http://www.localoysters.com/19/third-day-clamming/ Today Stephen and I took Venning Creek out to the bay and instead of turning right and looking for King Saul, Sarge and Mary, we turned left and headed north.  I’m sure it was just a coincidence that Sarge and Mary happened to be up there already working; King Saul ... http://www.localoysters.com/13/9-26-second-day-clamming/ I went out with Stephen and we basically followed King Saul, Sarge and Mary.  I say ‘basically’ because we let them beat us to the bank and start working before we decided where to go.  When Stephen and I got to the bay we saw their two boats up on ... http://www.localoysters.com/12/9-23-first-day-clamming/ Well, I got the shifter cable re-installed and put the throttle assembly back together with all of the screws but one...I dropped one screw in the yard or in the boat and decided it wasn’t a ‘critical’ piece, one of three screws used to hold a plastic cap in place ... http://www.localoysters.com/11/9-17-08-repairing-the-boat/ It was hot today and a frontal passage was predicted for later in the afternoon.  I had the boat fueled up and loaded with all the necessary equipment for clamming.  Stephen was riding with me today because he was waiting on a fuel pump so that he could fix his ... http://www.localoysters.com/10/9-16-08-opening-day/ Below are some videos of the process of transplanting oysters from an area that cannot be harvested to an area where the public will have access to harvest their legal limit.  Captain Bob Baldwin and his crew, Jeff, Julie and Joy, used a dredge to bring up about 5000 bushels of ... http://www.localoysters.com/7/planting-5000-bushels-of-oysters-this-year/ First, place an order...either call Jeff at 843-568-6380 to place an order or you can fill out the order form online and we'll recieve your order via email.  We will call you to confirm your order when we read our email.  Feel free to call anytime with questions.  Once we ... http://www.localoysters.com/5/how-does-this-work-whats-the-process/ The best oysters in Charleston come from the Bulls Bay area North of Mount Pleasant.  Bulls Bay is a very large but shallow body of water that stretches from Awendaw, SC to McClellanville, SC.  The entire bay is open to the ocean; there is not a narrow inlet that limits ... http://www.localoysters.com/4/bulls-bay-oysters-charleston-sc/