Oystercatcher Shellfish

Hey There Shellfish Lovers! The photo this week: clam babies! The seed from this fall and winter will hopefully grow up, not be taken away by hurricanes, and be available next November or December. Until then, I will have clams til sold out, which will very likely be the end of this month; I will not have them again for about a year though I should have oysters large enough to sell this spring.

The storm damage has resulted in less available clam sizes, so there are only pasta, middleneck, and topneck. I have lowered the price of the larger clams a bit to move them, so if you haven’t tried a larger clam before, now is a good time to experiment. In general, I find that even the larger clams are not rubbery as long as you are attentive to not over-cooking them. Because larger clams have larger muscles (feet and siphons - the chewier parts), you may want to cut or chop them for some applications. I usually never do this, though, unless I am making a dip, chowder, or a pilau and want to make them stretch.

With colder water temps (50-53 degrees in the mornings) the crabs have buried up. If temperatures do not increase, I may not have crabs this week but please do tell me if you would like them if they are available. Note the specialty products now includes mignonette (even though I do not yet have oysters – I know you probably need it!) and hot sauce. Clam dip and smoked mullet dip also available!

Hey There Shellfish Lovers! The photo this week: double rainbow in a rain storm. With all this unsettled weather recently, there have been plenty of opportunities to enjoy beautiful scenes and cloud formations while out working. I love my office, even when it’s wet.

SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER MARKET & DELIVERY SCHEDULE:
• DELIVERIES/441 Market Saturday 9.21 (possibly also Friday PM, just let me know your preference) 8:30 AM – 12 PM
• DELIVERIES/441 Market Saturday 10.12 (possibly also Friday PM, just let me know your preference) 8:30 AM – 12 PM
• DELIVERIES/441 Market Saturday 10.19 (possibly also Friday PM, just let me know your preference) 8:30 AM – 12 PM FALL FESTIVAL MARKET

Below is the availability for Friday 9.20 delivery or Saturday 9.21 pick-up at 441 market. Please order by Wednesday evening, September 18th. I will confirm orders as usual. Thank you!

LIVE BLUE CRABS
Fresh from Horseshoe Beach No. 2s (5”-6” from point to point) mostly males with some sooks (females). $1.50/crab or $15/dozen. Please supply either a cooler or reusable shopping bag for delivery or market-pick-up.

SPECIALTY PRODUCTS:
Smoked Mullet Dip: $12
Local mullet smoked with Cedar Key red bay wood and seasonings, picked and hand-blended into cream cheese with Marjorie’s Red-bristled Fiend hot sauce and lemon juice. 8 oz deli container. A refrigerated product, best when eaten within 3 days.

Clam Dip: $12
My clams – freshly harvested, steamed open and chopped – hand-blended into cream cheese with sweet onion, Marjorie’s Red-bristled Fiend hot sauce, fresh squeezed lemon juice (and zest), Worcestershire sauce. 8 oz deli container. A refrigerated product, best when eaten within 3 days.

Clam Broth: $5
The broth left over from steaming my freshly-harvested clams in order to make the clam dip. I use just a bit of water to steam them and add nothing else to the pot. Perfect liquid for a soup, gumbo, or sauce. Bloody Mary’s anyone? 16 oz deli container. A frozen product.

SAUCES:
Marjorie’s Red-bristled Fiend: $12
A variation of a good friend's North Mississippi Hill Country hot sauce, inspired by Marjorie Rawlings and her Cross Creek story of the red pig who ate her fluffy ruffle petunias for the last time. Sassy, slightly sweet and bright. Ground fresh chili peppers from Promised Land Farm, vinegar, Straughn’s honey, bourbon, fresh garlic, dried pineapple, dried mango, salt, mustard powder, ginger powder. 8 oz jar. A refrigerated product.

CLAMS*:
MERCENARIA MERCENARIA, NORTHERN HARD CLAM:
TOPNECKS: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (≥1 1/4”): order by 20 count. $18/20 clams (with a couple extry of course).

MIDDLENECKS: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (1 1/8” – 1 1/4"): order by 25 count. $20/25 clams (with a couple extry of course).

LITTLENECKS: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (7/8” – 1 1/8”): order by 25 count. $10/25 clams (with a couple extry of course). Examples: Order 25 clams = $10; Order 50 clams = $20

PASTA: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (≤7/8”): order by 50 count. $10/50 clams (with a couple extry of course).

*Note: If you would like to consume your clams raw please let me know and I will use the same time/temperature controls as the oysters.

No order is confirmed unless you have heard so from me. Quantities are limited.** Will provide handling instructions.

Hey There Shellfish Lovers! The photo this week: a summer storm out crabbing. I never tire of the colors, textures, light/dark, shapes, and other features of clouds, especially over water. Hopefully we will not get much weather from this system in the Gulf this week. It’s been gumbo weather on the coast the past couple of days.

I’ll have live blue crab again this week, so perhaps some crab gumbo is in order (think crab meat in place of chicken, add other seafood favorites and maybe even some sausage). Folks have been enjoying them while watching the football games. Clam dip is also back, and mullet dip is here to stay for a while. They are fat now. Just be aware that I have few littleneck and middleneck each week until the size picks up on a later planting.

SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER MARKET & DELIVERY SCHEDULE:
• DELIVERIES/441 Market Saturday 9.14 (possibly also Friday PM, just let me know your preference) 8:30 AM – 12 PM
• DELIVERIES/441 Market Saturday 9.21 (possibly also Friday PM, just let me know your preference) 8:30 AM – 12 PM
• DELIVERIES/441 Market Saturday 10.12 (possibly also Friday PM, just let me know your preference) 8:30 AM – 12 PM
• DELIVERIES/441 Market Saturday 10.19 (possibly also Friday PM, just let me know your preference) 8:30 AM – 12 PM FALL FESTIVAL MARKET

Below is the availability for Friday 9.13 delivery or Saturday 9.14 pick-up at 441 market. Please order by Wednesday evening, September 11th. I will confirm orders as usual. Thank you!

LIVE BLUE CRABS
Fresh from Horseshoe Beach No. 2s (5”-6” from point to point) mostly males with some sooks (females). $1.50/crab or $15/dozen. Please supply either a cooler or reusable shopping bag for delivery or market-pick-up.

SPECIALTY PRODUCTS:
Smoked Mullet Dip: $12
Local mullet smoked with Cedar Key red bay wood and seasonings, picked and hand-blended into cream cheese with Marjorie’s Red-bristled Fiend hot sauce and lemon juice. 8 oz deli container. A refrigerated product, best when eaten within 3 days.

Clam Dip: $12
My clams – freshly harvested, steamed open and chopped – hand-blended into cream cheese with sweet onion, Marjorie’s Red-bristled Fiend hot sauce, fresh squeezed lemon juice (and zest), Worcestershire sauce. 8 oz deli container. A refrigerated product, best when eaten within 3 days.

SAUCES:
Marjorie’s Red-bristled Fiend: $12
A variation of a good friend's North Mississippi Hill Country hot sauce, inspired by Marjorie Rawlings and her Cross Creek story of the red pig who ate her fluffy ruffle petunias for the last time. Sassy, slightly sweet and bright. Ground fresh chili peppers from Promised Land Farm, vinegar, Straughn’s honey, bourbon, fresh garlic, dried pineapple, dried mango, salt, mustard powder, ginger powder. 8 oz jar. A refrigerated product.

CLAMS*:
MERCENARIA MERCENARIA, NORTHERN HARD CLAM:
TOPNECKS: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (≥1 1/4”): order by 20 count. $18/20 clams (with a couple extry of course).

MIDDLENECKS: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (1 1/8” – 1 1/4"): order by 25 count. $20/25 clams (with a couple extry of course).

LITTLENECKS: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (7/8” – 1 1/8”): order by 25 count. $10/25 clams (with a couple extry of course). Examples: Order 25 clams = $10; Order 50 clams = $20

PASTA: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (≤7/8”): order by 50 count. $10/50 clams (with a couple extry of course).

*Note: If you would like to consume your clams raw please let me know and I will use the same time/temperature controls as the oysters.

No order is confirmed unless you have heard so from me. Quantities are limited.** Will provide handling instructions.

Hey There Shellfish Lovers! The photo this week: baby Mercenaria mercenaria clams. This is the 4 mm size I normally get from the hatchery; aquaculture lease holders are required to plant a minimum number of animals per acre per year, depending on the species, and many plant significantly more. This is the tail end of the season to get babies or “seed” as we call them. There is generally a fall and spring spawn and a summer and winter growth cessation; the baby season will start back up again in the fall.

UPDATES: I will not be at market May 18th – changing the schedule up a bit to accommodate some oyster planting and clean-up. Also…taking the softshells off the list for now as we have not been catching them (hopefully this will turn around at full moon at the end of the month) BUT adding fresh, homemade clam dip for Memorial Day and June 1st weekends!!! I am doing some tinkering here as I will need to adjust my schedule for the fall season to accommodate making value-added products regularly available (such as clam and mullet dips, fresh frozen and ready-to-bake clams casino, etc.) while also doing a Saturday market (alternating between Haile and 441 as previously) and some deliveries. Also looking for your clam dip feedback as I have not offered it before. Remember it’s just me as a farmer, wholesaler, distributor, value-added processor, and retail/marketer so efficiency and strategy are key, so I would love to hear your feedback on what might make the difference between your ordering or not. Thank you!

MAY, JUNE MARKETS, DELIVERY:
• Saturday 5.25 DELIVERIES AND 441 Farmers’ Market 8:30 AM – 12 PM (Friday delivery or meet-up at Working Food is possible if Saturday is out of the question – since I would rather not lose your business – but will make clam dip Friday after harvest so will have minimal time.)
• Saturday 6.1 DELIVERIES AND 441 Farmers’ Market 8:30 AM – 12 PM (Friday delivery or meet-up at Working Food is possible if Saturday is out of the question – since I would rather not lose your business – but will make clam dip Friday after harvest so will have minimal time.)

Below is the availability for Saturday 5.25 delivery or pick-up at 441 market. Please order by Wednesday evening, May 22nd. I will confirm orders as usual. Thank you!

SPECIALTY PRODUCTS:
Clam Dip: $12
My clams – freshly harvested, steamed open and chopped – hand-blended into cream cheese with chopped sweet onion from Promised Land Farm in Alachua; their own clam juice; Marjorie’s Red-bristled Fiend hot sauce; fresh squeezed lemon juice; Worcestershire sauce. 8 oz deli container. A refrigerated product, best when eaten within 3 days.

SAUCES:
Marjorie’s Red-bristled Fiend: $12
A variation of a good friend's North Mississippi Hill Country hot sauce, inspired by Marjorie Rawlings and her Cross Creek story of the red pig who ate her fluffy ruffle petunias for the last time. Sassy, slightly sweet and bright. Ground fresh chili peppers from Promised Land Farm, vinegar, Straughn’s honey, bourbon, fresh garlic, dried pineapple, dried mango, salt, mustard powder, ginger powder. 8 oz jar. A refrigerated product.

CLAMS*:
MERCENARIA MERCENARIA, NORTHERN HARD CLAM:
TOPNECKS: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (≥1 1/4”): order by 20 count. $18/20 clams (with a couple extry of course).

MIDDLENECKS: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (1 1/8” – 1 1/4"): order by 25 count. $20/25 clams (with a couple extry of course).

LITTLENECKS: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (7/8” – 1 1/8”): order by 25 count. $10/25 clams (with a couple extry of course). Examples: Order 25 clams = $10; Order 50 clams = $20

PASTA: Jones Rack area, mixed sizes (≤7/8”): order by 50 count. $10/50 clams (with a couple extry of course).

*Note: If you would like to consume your clams raw please let me know and I will use the same time/temperature controls as the oysters.

No order is confirmed unless you have heard so from me. Quantities are limited.** Will provide handling instructions.