Moon in the Media
Cedar Key Aquaculture Association gives away free clams on Memorial Day
By WCJB News, 5/25/20
It’s not every day that you get some of the best clams in the world for free but due to the pandemic and restaurants being closed, that was the case on this Memorial Day in Cedar Key.
Since restaurants have been closed in Cedar Key for almost 2 months and other events have been canceled due to the pandemic, clam farmers have tons of leftover clams.
Event organizers say they typically sell clams at the seafood festivals and arts festival, but the arts festival was canceled in March. Monday, they gave the same amount of clams that they would have served in the park for the arts festival.
Leslie Sturmer, one of the event organizers, says “between about 11 or 12 local lot wholesalers, they donated the clams from their shops and growers. We’ve got close to 25,000 clams.”
Stone family brings Midwest ‘agricultural spirit’ to one of Florida’s newest shellfish farms
By Global Aquaculture Alliance, 11/19/19
Until 2018, Gretchen and Ian had never seen a clam farm or heard of Cedar Key, Florida.
The fifth-generation farmers from Kansas had planned to continue the tradition of growing corn, wheat, soybeans and alfalfa and raising cattle in the Midwest. But the aquifer that served as their main source of water was being pumped dry, margins were getting slimmer and their futures on the farm felt increasingly tenuous.
When their father, Greg Stone, suggested the pair trade their cowboy boots for rubber boots to start a clam farm, it piqued their interest.
“We always had the desire to be full-time farmers but there was no job for us on our family farm when we got out of college,” Gretchen said. “[Aquaculture] provided the opportunity for us to get into farming, run our own business and enjoy the fruits of our labor.”
