The Oyster Blog

The official Anderson's Neck blog with progress updates on our mission to Save the Bay One Oyster at a Time. We will notify you when we post new articles if you Join Our Mailing List.

A Year in the Life of an Oyster Farm

by Michael C. Hild

2012 was a magical year, filled with memories we will cherish forever. We chronicled some of the more poignant events on our blog in an attempt to keep you apprised of the foibles of our nascent oyster farm. Here is a brief look back. It was a year we rang in camping at The Neck […]

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Oyster Futures

by Michael C. Hild

America’s oyster future looks to be poised for an enormous rebound. During the gilded age, Americans and Europeans alike ate enormous quantities of the storied bivalve. Today however, an average American eats only a quarter pound of oysters over the course of an entire year. The French on the other hand never gave up their […]

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Keep on Shuckin’

by Michael C. Hild

So how do you transport a large quantity of oysters to restaurants in an environmentally friendly yet temperature controlled environment throughout the year? You buy a refrigerated truck with solar tie-in, that’s how. This road machine is designed to not only transport oysters, but it doubles as our our walk in cooler as well. And […]

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Solar Is Power

by Michael C. Hild

Anderson’s Neck Oyster Company has no electricity, which is a huge obstacle. The old plantation home and the various outbuildings that once stood on the property have all collapsed after centuries of neglect. These structures were never wired for the modern world. In order to address this problem, I contacted the local electricity provider, Dominion […]

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Love in a Box

by Michael C. Hild

Coming Fall of 2012! Get ready boys and girls… How do you get love in a box shipped direct to your door?  Buy our oysters online of course.  Premium, straight out of the water, sustainably raised oysters in fact.  Our blood, sweat, and tears go into raising these gems.  What do we ask in return?   When […]

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Our Oyster Jet Boat

by Michael C. Hild

One thing was clear after a year of farming oysters.  We needed a boat.  We only could access the area immediately next to our dock for placing our oysters in off bottom cages.  A boat however, would open up the 300+ acres of oyster grounds we controlled so we could place oyster cages in the […]

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Taken to the Woodshed

by Michael C. Hild

When someone gets taken to the woodshed, a beat down normally ensues.  Well the Anderson’s Neck oyster shed has been beating me down for almost a full year now.  Here’s how a simple shed can become very complicated. After all our shed construction material was delivered, I had to get the necessary permits to begin.  […]

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The Second Vintage

by Michael C. Hild

It’s hard to believe but we were already making plans to lay down our second year’s vintage of oyster seed in the York River.  The decisions we had to make were 1) should we plant at all, 2) if we decide to proceed, when should we put the oysters in the water, and 3) how […]

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Ocean City, Baby!

by Michael C. Hild

So in the process of buying equipment for our oyster farm, I was asked casually at least twice by two different suppliers if I was going to the Ocean City, Maryland conference. I had no idea what they were talking about. I realized I’d better figure it out though. After a little research, I realized […]

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The Oyster Hoister

by Michael C. Hild

When I tell friends that I am the proud owner of an Oyster Hoister I get two questions: “What the heck is an oyster hoister and why on earth would anyone need one?” Let me explain. When we first started our oyster farm, we had no boat. We did however have a very large dock […]

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