Island Creek Oyster Tour
A dozen Boston Dames toured the Island Creek Oyster Farm in Duxbury, Massachusetts on Friday, August 12th. It was a perfect summer evening. We started at ICO World Headquarters where Director of Marketing Chris Sherman gave us a brief history of Island Creek Oysters. From headquarters we caravanned to picturesque Duxbury Harbor where we toured Island Creek's new hatchery where they are successfully growing oyster seed, followed by a quick stop on the docks where we witnessed the truly remarkable process of introducing oysters the size of the head of a pin to the bay where they grow until they are ready to be brought to the nursery.
We climbed into two boats, one helmed by Chris and one helmed by ICO's original oyster dude, CJ Husk. It was a sight to see so many lovely Dames on the rustic and simple ICO boats. We visited the nursery, learned more about aquaculture and then headed to an oyster float where we popped bottles of French Rosé and enjoyed the oysters CJ and Chris shucked. It was marvelous to taste what Skip Bennet has coined the "Merroir" of Island Creeks - slurping the bivalves on the very water where they were grown was a once-in-a-lifetime taste experience.
After our tour we enjoyed dinner at Blakeman's on Duxbury Beach. More wine, lobsters, clams, chowder and lots of delightful conversation filled in the time between sunset and moonrise. Our meal was topped off with a spectacular Nectarine and Raspberry Pie provided by Dame Guida Ponte of Verrill Farm.
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(Left to right Front row)
Dame Guida Ponte, Dame Ellie O'Keefe, Mary Anne Mueller, Dames Lucille Giovino, Winnie Williams, Nancy Fischer, Susan Chused-Still and Alice Synnott
(Left to right Back Row)
Chris Sherman - Director of ICO Marketing, Joost Verhofstad, Dames Joan Sweeney & Ellen Bartlett
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