Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm

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The Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm (PMCSF), operating since 2010, is located on the pristine Bloedel Reserve tidelands on Bainbridge Island. The PMCSF seeks to connect community members directly with the benefits of a healthy watershed by growing, harvesting and eating volunteer tended oysters. Growing shellfish has many environmental benefits, including improved water quality, increased species diversity and eelgrass growth. In fact, a single oyster can filter 20 gallons of water a day. Shellfish can be part of the solution to restoring Puget Sound. We believe this positive connection between you, your environment and your dinner plate is the key to active and enjoyable environmental stewardship.

The Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm crew is looking forward to the 2016 harvest season with anticipation; mouths are watering for more of the sweet and delicate, tasty bounty of oysters. The harvest schedule is set and CSA memberships for 2016 are now available, but they won’t last long!

Since the inaugural 2010 season, CSA membership to the PMCSF has increased every year as more Bainbridge residents are building a connection to their marine resources and renewing their commitment to clean water and healthy shorelines. During the 2015 season we harvested over 1400 dozen oysters for 74 loyal CSA members and local events. We aim to enroll 80 members in 2016! 122 volunteers certainly had their work cut out for them in 2015 - contributing more than 300 total work hours to the farm sorting, bagging and hauling oysters.

Thank you to all who have supported the farm by purchasing memberships, volunteering during farm seeding and harvests, and slurping the delicious oysters that are the result of our efforts to protect and maintain great water quality and healthy beaches surrounding Port Madison and Bainbridge Island. All farm proceeds go back into local water quality and habitat improvement projects!

We are sold out of 2016 memberships. Please check back again next year.

Event	Date	Harvest Time	Oyster Pick Up Time	Oyster Pick Up Location
Harvest	April 8, 2016	11:00pm - 2:00pm	After 5:00pm	382 Wyatt Way NE, Bainbridge
Harvest	May 6, 2016	9:30am - 12:30pm	After 4:00pm	382 Wyatt Way NE, Bainbridge
Harvest	June 3, 2016	8:30am - 11:30am	After 3:00pm	382 Wyatt Way NE, Bainbridge
Harvest	June 24, 2016	12:30pm - 3:30pm	After 6:00pm	382 Wyatt Way NE, Bainbridge
Harvest	July 22, 2016	11:30am - 2:30pm	After 5:00pm	382 Wyatt Way NE, Bainbridge

For more information about PMCSF and related projects or to get involved, please contact josh@restorationfund.org>

Oyster-Give-Away Program

Our Oyster-Give-Away Program is a related project aimed to address pollution that affects local harvest. Step up to get your septic systems inspected and maintained and we will salute you with FREE OYSTERS for helping to improve water quality conditions in the Sound. More information about the program HERE.

The oysters will be distributed come spring, but don’t hesitate to schedule the inspection now. Time has a way of getting away from us. The Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm is alive and well thanks to continued awareness and actions people are taking to maintain and improve local waters. This program is intended to provide tasty incentives for addressing water quality issues. Contact josh@restorationfund.org for more information. Please join us!

Thanks to Kitsap Public Health District, the Bloedel Reserve, and PMCSF CSA members for making the Oyster-Give-Away Program possible.

Where to find Port Madison Petites

Harbour Public House Friday evening oyster bars
Bainbridge Island Town and County Market on occasion
Local events: Vodka & Oysters, Whiskies for Wildlife, Bloedel Garden Party and more
Become a CSA member and receive regular deliveries!

Highlights & Completed Projects

Thanks to the help and support of our community, project partners, volunteers and farm members, we have accomplished the following PMCSF related milestones between 2010-2015:

Received the first farm permit under the Army Corp’s new national aquaculture regulations.
Increased the number of Community Supported Aquaculture (CSA) farm members from 6 in 2010 to 74 in 2015.
Harvested 5392 dozen oysters between 2010 and 2015. This supplied our CSA members, the Bainbridge Island Farmer’s Market, special events, local restaurants and the Town and Country and Central Market grocery stores.
Involved 540 volunteers who spent nearly 1500 hours seeding, harvesting, sorting, and hauling oysters.
Restocked the PMCSF with as many as 35,000 new ½ inch oyster seed each year during our “Planting the Seed; Sowing and Celebrating Local Shellfish” volunteer events.
Prevented nearly 1500 gallons of sewage from potentially entering Port Madison as a result of a free mobile pump-out service PSRF provided in Port Madison Bay in 2010 and 2011.
Launched a new program to provide free oysters to homeowners who have their septic tanks inspected or pumped.
Installed many new shellfish gardens around Bainbridge Island, Suquamish and Indianola, bringing the total number of personal shellfish gardens supported by PSRF to more than 200.
Hosted shellfish seed sales in 2010-2015 distributing over 300,000 oyster, mussel, and clam seed to individuals for their own shellfish gardens

An Interview with Betsy Peabody

Click the play button below to listen to a podcast Betsy Peabody did on the PMCSF with BCB (Bainbridge Community Broadcasting).

Food Blog

One of our CSA members, Heather Burger, has started a food blog and posted on the PMCSF oysters after last week's harvest! Check out her blog, and look for the April 26, 2015 entry about the yummy Port Madison Petites.

Watch an excerpt of Gardening with Ciscoe Morris, featuring the PMCSF

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