It’s a snowy winter morning and Connecticut oyster farmers Kim and Gretchen Granbery are setting out for their last harvest of the year.
The couple owns and operates Leetes Island Oysters. They start their oysters from seed in the wild in Branford’s Hoadley Creek. The oysters are then moved to the Thimble Islands to age for three years.
Since travel by boat is difficult when this inland estuary freezes, this is the pair’s last trip of the winter. The break providing them a chance to “exhale” before resuming operations in the spring.
But today’s trip is filled with hard work.
As their boat bobs, fresh oysters are hauled out of the water and dumped aboard a small table.
“This is where we wash their face and brush their teeth,” Gretchen jokes as she sprays, scrapes and sorts the oysters.
Kim says he “did a stint” with a local oyster company in the 1990s, but credits the founding of Leetes Island Oysters to a 2017 effort directed by David Carey, director of the Connecticut Bureau of Aquaculture.
The department created the Branford Aquaculture Initiative, which seeks to “revitalize a dormant tradition, promote restoration and provide local employment.”
Today, hundreds of acres of land within Connecticut’s Thimble Islands are growing shellfish. In 2023, the state's oyster beds generated more than $14 million in annual sales, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
