We are official oyster gardeners.

The boys and I picked up a bag of oysters for the oyster gardening project this morning. Five other families have joined us to care for 50 shells covered in spawned oysters until November. These families are: Biggs, Williams, Huete, Seaborg, and Grant. All of the families are members of 4H and the children are homeschooled. This is a science/4H project to teach the children (ages 5 through 16) about our eco-system by learning one part of it and relating the importance of the part to the whole.

Our cages are hanging from a pier just north of the CR1 boat ramp. What a lovely area on the Mobile Bay and easy to get to.

Each week we will be checking the oysters and cleaning them of barnacles, drills and crabs. We have to take growth measurements and report them to the folks at the Mobile Bay Oyster Gardening Program. This is basically a reef-restoration project we are involved in.

By November the oysters go to a non-commercial reef in the Bay to help keep the water clean. We need it with the oil off our coast.

Check out how you might help http://www.oystergardening.org and please keep us in your prayers.