Awesome Skylar. First, Hama Hama is one of my favorite restaurants in the world and I think THE quintessential NW restaurant. Second, I’ve harvested a lot of oysters … but not off the beach. A buddy and I set up our own oyster grow operation in the water out front of his parent’s house on Whidbey Island and did a bi-weekly harvest for months, until I got too sick of driving up to Whidbey all the time. But I’ve never tried the open harvesting like this and now I’ve got to. Nice article and nice pics.
So for the “oyster farming” setup, we had these plastic mesh bags (they looked like big purses) that we’d fill up with the oyster sprat that we got up at Taylor Shellfish Farms, and we’d weight them down and tie them off to a buoy and put it out just beyond the low tide line, then go pull ‘em up and check them every few weeks. It was exceedingly simple, says I: I was just following along with Scott and his dad, who had been doing this for years.
As for Hama Hama, my one visit was on a rainy 45 degree day in mid-February and we had oysters and chowder and bread and beer sitting out under one of those plywood A-frames with the heater on, and it just felt so cool. On the beach, beer, oysters, cold, rain … and of course dark, mid-November dark, even at 3 in the afternoon. I really dig the northwest summers, but there’s something to be said for those cold dark days of winter and this just seemed to capture it.
One of my favorite activities in the PNW is harvesting oysters. Grab a couple of camp chairs, head down to the beach, and harvest your own food. Sounds perfect. The first time we did this I remember the sign saying you can’t take the shells but there wasn’t any other info, luckily some fisherman were packing up for the day and filled us in. It’s just a really unique activity. Can’t wait to go again this year!
Awesome Skylar. First, Hama Hama is one of my favorite restaurants in the world and I think THE quintessential NW restaurant. Second, I’ve harvested a lot of oysters … but not off the beach. A buddy and I set up our own oyster grow operation in the water out front of his parent’s house on Whidbey Island and did a bi-weekly harvest for months, until I got too sick of driving up to Whidbey all the time. But I’ve never tried the open harvesting like this and now I’ve got to. Nice article and nice pics.
oh very cool! what did the set up look like?
I've actually never had the food at Hama Hama (other than some oysters) but now I might have to - what makes it your quintessential NW restaurant?
So for the “oyster farming” setup, we had these plastic mesh bags (they looked like big purses) that we’d fill up with the oyster sprat that we got up at Taylor Shellfish Farms, and we’d weight them down and tie them off to a buoy and put it out just beyond the low tide line, then go pull ‘em up and check them every few weeks. It was exceedingly simple, says I: I was just following along with Scott and his dad, who had been doing this for years.
As for Hama Hama, my one visit was on a rainy 45 degree day in mid-February and we had oysters and chowder and bread and beer sitting out under one of those plywood A-frames with the heater on, and it just felt so cool. On the beach, beer, oysters, cold, rain … and of course dark, mid-November dark, even at 3 in the afternoon. I really dig the northwest summers, but there’s something to be said for those cold dark days of winter and this just seemed to capture it.
One of my favorite activities in the PNW is harvesting oysters. Grab a couple of camp chairs, head down to the beach, and harvest your own food. Sounds perfect. The first time we did this I remember the sign saying you can’t take the shells but there wasn’t any other info, luckily some fisherman were packing up for the day and filled us in. It’s just a really unique activity. Can’t wait to go again this year!
I have always wanted to try this! Thanks for the tips