How We Farm
Grown with care, guided by science, and shaped by the tides.
We farm the way nature intended—by working with the tides.
The Species We Farm
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Fast-growing, deeply cupped, and briny-sweet.
These are our go-to oysters for everyday enjoyment and classic half-shell service.
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Our Native Species
Small, delicate, and packed with umami. A rare treat and an important part of Washington’s indigenous history.
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Sweet, firm, and perfect for steaming
Our clams are grown on clean, protected tideflats and hand-dug at harvest.
Our process
From seed to harvest, our process is slow & intentional.
We start with hatchery seed, raise it in bags and on the beach, monitor growth and meat quality, and harvest by hand. Every step supports a healthy ecosystem.
Heritage Practices & Stewardship in Action
We’re proud to work in a way that enhances the marine environment—sustainably growing shellfish in commercially certified waters to keep the inlet clean for future generations.
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Bigger companies do the hard work of spawning and raising seed in the hatchery. Hatcheries are mostly located in Hawaii where ample sunlight boosts phytoplankton production for the seed to eat well. Once the seed is big enough to leave the hatchery, it’s moved to a more local FLUPSY (floating upwelling nursery system) which is where we pick it up from. We buy oyster seed when it’s 12 mm long - in July for Olympias and September for Pacifics.
In April, we buy clam seed that is 12-17K/L size that we continue to nursery in our Harvest Frame until it’s big enough and we have ground ready to directly plant it.
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For Pacific and Olympia oysters, we put ~350 animals in a bag. We clip the Pacific oyster bags to a rope on the beach to overwinter.
We strap the Olympia oyster bags to rebar racks that rest on PVC runners. Duane designed the racks so that we can pull them out deeper or more shallow depending on the weather and tide. Olympia oysters are sensitive to extreme heat and cold temperatures.
We scatter the clam seed over netted ground to protect it from predators like graceful crabs.
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In April/May, we open up the grow bags and spread the Pacific seed - which is now about 2 inches - directly onto the beach. This allows the oysters to harden their shells and grow their frilly edges.
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Our Olympia oysters grow their full 2-4 year life cycle in grow bags. The bags protect them from the invasive Japanese oyster drill which is a snail that bores through the shell and kills the oyster. The bags on racks keep the oysters elevated off the soft mud to enable them to feed efficiently. Twice a year - in April and November-January, we hand sort every oyster to pick out drills and make sure the animals are in clean bags at the correct density to thrive.
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Each May-August, we harvest 10,000 pounds of seaweed. Sea-lettuce, Ulva intestinalis, grows prolifically on our bottom culture oysters and predator clam nets. As the seaweed dies, it smothers the oysters and clams and deprives them of oxygen. We hand harvest the seaweed to minimize it’s negative impact on our crops. We transport the seaweed in bushel baskets to the nearby Squaxin Island cannabis farm, Native Sun Grown, where Nick and his crew compost it to grow healthy marijuana plants. This provides a natural & locally sourced fertilizer for Native Sun. Soil test show that the salt levels are within an acceptable range and valuable trace nutrient levels are elevated.
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We time our oyster season to harvest when our oysters are in prime condition. We raise diploid Pacifics that spawn in the summer. And we are careful not to disturb our Olympia oysters’ reproduction when the female oyster is internally brooding her fertilized eggs in the early summer. So we start harvesting in late October and continue harvesting weekly until we have sold all our market sized oysters for the season which is usually early May.
We hand rake our Pacifics into rows at low tide and then hand fork them into bushel baskets. We then wash and hand sort the oysters into three sizes (<3”, 3-4”, >4”) for market.
Since our Olympia oysters grow out deeper (-2 to -3 foot elevation), we have to watch the tide table carefully to pull bags when we can reach them. We store Olympias in our Harvest Frame where they can easily feed between harvest and market.
Our clam season is May/June - September when we aren’t harvesting oysters. We hand dig our clams using 6 tined “scratchers” to gently unearth the clams that are living just beneath the surface of the sediment. We take the clams that are at least 1 ¾ inches and leave the smaller clams to keep growing.
