Bluestarr Oyster Co.

The idea of Blue Starr Oyster Co. began in 2004.  Building from the ground up took time.

We started out with one raft to suspend our stacked trays from, and a vague idea of what was to come.  It turns out that was probably a good thing.  There is so much involved in building a farm from nothing that we probably would have been discouraged.

We decided the next thing to do would be to build a shipping facility.  Working off of our fishing boat was not effiecient, and DEC requires the oysters to be packed in a certified facility.

So, along came huge styrofoam floats covered in molded plastic, and some big chainsaw milled beams.

Of course even though this looks easy, don’t forget we have to plan for the tides, and work on an unforgivable timeline.  The day we floated it off was exciting.

The work though…

…was just…

…beginning!

It still goes on!  

The shipping facility has made a huge difference in our farm.  We store boxes, gel packs,, and everything else we need to ship there.  We also have a tumbler for sorting oysters, and room for stacks of empty trays.  Flow is king!

With this new addition all of a sudden we had room and time to expand.  So we ordered more trays, and a new tumbler for cleaning and sorting the oysters, and more floats for building more rafts.  Oyster farming is not a get rich quick affair.  Though it is a great place to invest any extra money.

We call the new tumbler the cadillac, and it has really lived up to its name.

At this point we are really starting to feel like there is indeed a sharp learning curve.  We are somewhere in the middle of learning and the amount of paperwork, agencies to interface with, predators to keep ahead of, and sheer work involved to “break even”  is starting to be intimidating!  Luckily we love being outdoors, working for ourselves, and innovating on a daily basis.

So Eric set about building some more rafts.

Putting together some more trays, and selling more oysters!

Along the way we have had plenty of help from various tasters, testers, and trials!