Episode 8: Stonington Farms Shellfish - Love, Loss and Oysters with Kris & Beth Simonds

In this episode of OYSTER-ology, Kris and Beth Simonds share their heartfelt journey into oyster farming and the work they do at Stonington Farms Shellfish in Mystic, Connecticut. Despite having a picturesque farm at Murphy Point, their journey wasn't smooth. After the sudden loss of his wife and mother to his son Jake, Kris gradually found solace and purpose in oyster farming. With Jake's passionate involvement, Kris transformed their home into an oyster farm. Beth, who had endured years trapped in an abusive marriage, found new love and direction with Kris, eventually joining him and Jake full-time on the farm and full-time in life. Together, they face the challenges of running an oyster farm while being deeply intertwined in their work and personal lives, striving to deliver top-quality products. They also emphasize their commitment to community and environmental stewardship, despite facing financial and operational hurdles. Their story is a testament to human resilience, passion, and the importance of finding a calling that merges work and family life. They even talk about Beth's beloved ducks, which add character to their idyllic farm setting. Third partner in the farm, Dana Hines, is also part of the "crazy mess" that is Stonington Farms, and solidifies the bond of life, love and oysters. That lively conversation can be heard in Episode 9 after you enjoy this one. Oyster farming with Kris and Beth isn’t just a job; it’s an inspiring journey worth savoring as much as their succulent oysters.

NOTE: This episode contains some explicit language or topics, so you may want to make sure the kiddies and HR are not listening in...

Shownotes:
00:00 Introduction: The Unseen Essentials

00:30 Meet Kris and Beth: The Oysterology Guests

00:49 The Idyllic Mystic Cove

01:20 Kris's Journey: From Loss to Oyster Farming

02:26 Jake's Passion for the Water

06:57 Beth's Story: From Teacher to Oyster Farmer

11:44 Building a Life and Business Together

20:00 Challenges and Triumphs in Oyster Farming

24:07 Innovative Techniques and Environmental Impact

32:24 Oyster Varieties and Market Categories

33:42 Challenges in Oyster Farming

34:27 Connecticut's Oyster Legislation

37:14 The Co-op Controversy

42:42 Community Outreach and Education

45:18 Personal Reflections and Future Aspirations

55:29 Oyster Farming Passion and Philosophy

Links:
https://vimeo.com/946310418?&login=true
Video: Rising Tide To Table. An outstanding video highlighting the work of Stonington Farms Shellfish and Chef Emily Mingrone

https://www.foodwalkers.com/foodwalkers/2024/1/21/stonington-farms-shellfish-shucking-it-forward-with-love-amp-oysters A post with numerous photos by OYSTER-ology host, Kevin Cox, about Stonington Farms Shellfish on Foodwalkers.com

https://www.stoningtonfarmsshellfish.org/  Stonington Farms Shellfish website.

Please be sure to Like and Follow OYSTER-ology wherever you listen to podcasts, and tell others about it. Every positive mention of it helps more people find the podcast!

Transcript

Stonington Farms Shellfish, Kris & Beth Simonds

[00:00:00]
Beth: We have everything that you can't buy. We have the location, we have the chemistry, we have the recipe, we have the drive, we have the passion. We have the people, we have the following, we have the relationships. We need money and it's really fucking hard to find that.

Bubbles

 Kris and Beth, thank you so much for being my guests on Oysterology. I'm so excited to have you guys.

Beth: we're thrilled you're here and love to share the farm with people that appreciate it.

Kevin: this is one of the few times I wish I had video podcasts because I want people to see this place because it's unbelievable.

It's pretty

Beth: special. It's amazing.

Kevin: you have this point on the water. what is this body of water called? They call

Kris: Mystic Cove. This is Murphy Point that we, Murphy Point that we live on. Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin: It is so idyllic. It's beautiful. The [00:01:00] birds, the ducks. Of course that I want to eat your ducks.

Oh my god. Much like when I say that. Well they taste

Kris: awful. Work hard, play hard. Yeah, it's a great. spot,

Kevin: the dogs jumping in the water, the boats, it's,

Beth: it's a big, crazy mess, but it's our big, crazy mess. So,

Kevin: right. And that's the beauty of it. And that's one of the things I want to talk about is it's your big, crazy mess.

Kris: So I want to hear your story, and how you got into. Oyster farming, even before, this particular farm.There's a million stories within the story,

 Um, I've actually been in the house for 30 years here, uh, 31 now almost. And, just very, very fortunate to have, spent so much time here. I kind of grew up, always in the mystic area, always out in the water. the love of the water, the environment, is just what's always driven me.

we've always been passionate about, being out on the water, but never really found our place. Like we're always fishing and lobstering and, you know, but being here and having the boat slip at the house and having the [00:02:00] water right here, just never really, found the ideal thing to do from here, particularly for work, to use this place to its potential.

 until, after my. My late wife passed away, back in 2012. And, um, luckily, from that, we had a son, Jake, who was, uh, 8 at the time, and now is 20. And, he is the same thing. Always just passionate about being out on the water. always kind of looking for that, for that niche.

I mean, he started out his first boat at five, he had a little rowboat and then, um, you know, worked his way up and was always driving whatever boat I had and, and whatever else. So just spent so much time on the water that he started using all his spare time. And this is kind of a coping skill.

Two, you know, after losing his mom, he just spent so much time out in the water. They started doing shoreline cleanup. with boatload after boatload of garbage. And, um, [00:03:00] uh, that was kind of, you know, his thing, he still continues doing that today, just a much smaller scale because we're.

Kevin: So water boy into water man kind of thing.

 so did you start this with Jake, with your first wife? Is that what happened?

Kris: No, actually she, she had passed away. I mean, she passed away suddenly when we're on a camping trip and, uh, 43 years old. Um, you know, just, uh, a sudden shocking and, uh, um, luckily, you know, we, we each had some life insurance.

If we hadn't, we wouldn't be in the same spot here today to plan for the worst, hope for the best kind of thing and, uh, knew You know, Jake being, special needs to a certain extent, being on the autism spectrum, was going to need, a lot of care.

And, so that money was kind of set aside when she passed. I didn't know what to do as far as, how, how to help him. It took a long time to figure that out. So I, I invested in real estate, [00:04:00] um, bought places, fixed them up, resold, et cetera, and, uh, in the process of doing that, I, I met guy, Tim, who ended up working for me, he approached me just telling me about this, oyster farm that was for sale,

Kevin: cause at the time you weren't doing oystering or anything you were doing your,

Kris: that was, a dad, a mom, uh, carpenter, uh, you know, struggling. And, as soon as he kind of told me what it was all about and what it entailed, it just, lit us both up and I ran it by Jake and he just, you know, glowed, that he was actually gonna be able to be productive doing something, on the water.

 so again, I kind of got out of the real estate end of it, sold the property that I had across the street, that was invested for kind of his future and bought the farm with that money. And, um, You know, it started out rough, obviously, um, in terms of income, at least, uh, the oystering was great, but, you know, we started out, had a couple of years before COVID and then obviously, [00:05:00] you know, COVID itself was tough and, worked, worked our way through it and are, are growing now, but, um, Back to the early stages.

I mean, he was, I guess, 14 or so by the time 2017 rolled around. And, he just, every minute we weren't oystering, he was YouTube, he was reading, he was watching, you know, different things, learning about different methods, different oysters, different facts and,

Kevin: you helped him find his calling.

Well, yeah, that,

Kris: that, and, using his condition to its full extent. Capacity. I mean, you, he'll tell us how many oysters on or on what site, how long they've been there, when they're going to be ready. That's not 96, 000. It's 97, 200 or, and so he's, he spends a lot of time and notes and papers, paper after paper, after paper, I can't even keep up. Sleeve of paper in the house, but that's how it kind of started. Um, and then, uh, sounds

Kevin: like that's the key to good oyster farming is having somebody who really can [00:06:00] keep track of everything like that.

Kris: But, but then, you know, the fortunate enough, um, 2019 to, have, uh, um, Beth's kids were both helping us out. on the farm. And she started coming along, to help us with the oysters on Saturdays and come out fishing and stuff with us.

And, um, once she was involved, just kind of never left, you know, just it. You know, we instantly

Kevin: did human resources ever get involved in the whole thing about like the boss hitting on the help kind of thing with that?

Beth: I, I do lobby for more sexual harassment, just not enough. You know, I

Kris: welcome Beth.

Kevin: This is Beth.

Beth: No, I get insulted if he does not pinch my ass on his way by. Um,

 No, it's

just like, what better? What better way to work, right? Everything's funny because we've cried enough. So let's just laugh at everything. Right. So, I got into this because I [00:07:00] fell in love with an oyster farmer.

I grew up in Stonington. I've always been a Stonington girl. my great grandfather was a commercial fisherman. My grandfather, my uncle, um, all fin fish and lobsters and scallops. And, certainly never thought I would. You know, be doing that. But, um, Jake was actually one of my students when I worked in the public school system and I thought, all right, this kid's pretty cool.

And, and I remember the, like the second day I met him, um, he pulled me aside and he said, I want to tell you something. And, so he told me about his mom and so we kind of, connected and then it wasn't long after that before he was asking me to be his mom. And I thought, oh, that's really sweet.

It's really cute. And. He was just wacky. So I thought, all right, I've got some wacky boys of my own. These kids are going to be buddies and I hooked them up. And, that was it. They just became fast friends. And, and, they're, they're funny because my boys are very quiet and reserved and, Jake is the total opposite.

So they were like a [00:08:00] funny match. And, Then I met Kris and thought, Oh my God, this is the cutest man I've ever met.

So I had a, like a massive crush on him and they would all make fun of me. He would come in for meetings and I would like, have to be shot with a tranquilizer dart to get through it.

Cause I just like, I, I was like off the wall when he would come in and, I was in a pretty horrible situation. I, you know, it survived 20 years of an abusive marriage. and it had really just kind of checked out and, uh, I had gone into survival mode and decided that I just wasn't going to have feelings anymore.

And, you know,the state of Connecticut doesn't do a great job protecting women and children. the husband, the father, whoever will always have 50%. And, uh, I realized, you know, three restraining orders in that it was safer to stay. And so I did. And, I just had sort of resigned myself to this existence.

And, uh, I met Kris and, You know, it was [00:09:00] all just me thinking he was adorable at first, and then I started to, Come to the house in the farm and I remember the first time he asked me to go fishing I was dropping the boys off and he said you coming out with us, right and I Didn't know what to say.

I was it was just like so not what I was prepared for and I went and I thought I Just I have to be around this person as much as possible.

 I remember when you missed your birthday party to hang out with Kris.

My phone was blowing up and I was in huge trouble and I was like, I don't give a shit. You guys can cut the cake. It's fine. I'm where I need to be.

Kevin: to know that and feel that so strongly.

Beth: I never thought First of all, that it was real. I thought this is bullshit. This is what happens in movies.

And, um, then to find out, not only is it real, but to have it happen to you, it's, it's just mind blowing.

you know, and, and then everything changed, I spent so much time hiding and trying [00:10:00] to not be noticed and be invisible. And then, um, it just was, It's indescribable.

I mean, it's like a religious experience. It must be like the awakening people have when they find religion. and, um, My ex had become more and more aggressive about knowing where I was and what I was doing. And so I came to stay here in the studio.

because it's a private road And because he Didn't want to go toe to toe with Kris. I was able to hide out here And I left everything behind Kind of under the guise that I'd be back,

Kevin:

Beth: I knew I was never gonna go back But it was what I had to do to land here and I knew if I could just get here.

Everything would be okay. And And

Kevin: how long ago was that?

Beth: Was in 2019.

Yep. It was the first weekend of November. I moved in here. Yeah. And, um, the farming was therapy for me, so I would. You know, after a lot of years of thinking you can't do anything like, Oh, I can move this [00:11:00] really heavy tote and I can do it without help.

 all of my confidence and strength had been stripped from me. And so I just start, I mean, they pick on me now cause I won't, I would rather break my arm than have help. And I, it might look funny and it's going to take me longer than it'll take you, but I'll do it by myself.

 So they tease me, but there's a reason why I, I do that. And it was, it, the farming became therapeutic. And then,it was all I wanted to do. I couldn't be away from Kris. So I left my job and I started working with Kris full time. He taught me carpentry and, farming and, um, That's it.

Kevin: Kris, you're even cuter now than you were a few minutes ago, man. Isn't

Kris: it? He's taken. The story is awesome. Yeah, when she finally left, left work and came to work with me, it was, uh, it was just a whole different experience. I've never worked with somebody that we could just have fun the whole day, even when things are horrible.

I mean, I just think a few of the horrible. [00:12:00] Circumstances we put through on miscellaneous jobs, you know, there's always something that's that's really difficult and I wouldn't want to do that with anybody else it's like You know, it's it's like we never have a really bad day the same day You know, so one of us, you know, picks the other one right up and most of the time we're everything's fine but when we have those moments, it's the other person one of us takes charge and pulls it back together.

That's the first time I think we've been a part of an actual team where where it felt like Unconditional support all the time. Not just that, the shared interests. I mean, I just feel like the luckiest person. I mean, somebody that wants to come fishing with me and that, you know, when I wake up at three in the morning and can't sleep, we'll come down to the workshop with me and mess around with stuff.

Not because they want to, but just to spend time together,

Beth: I thought for sure he would find someone and that I would have to either I just, I, thought, okay, I'm, I'm in way too deep. I knew that I was completely in love with him, and I thought, I have to make a choice.

Either I, [00:13:00] either I separate myself now, or I stay and I suffer when he finds someone better.

Kris: I, I never thought I was gonna find anybody either. I mean, when Rachel died, I put my name on the stone. I just, that's the, you know, I said, okay, that's it for me. You know, I'm here now just for Jake and help him.

Do what he's got to do and get through and didn't think I deserve to be happy, you know, and then when it happened, it was just, you know, night and day and, and Jake knew it too. you know, once, uh, he started seeing a real difference obviously in overall, happiness and, you know,

Beth: it's hard to, you have to tread lightly, you know, like you want to, you want to move in and make your place here, but then you have to be respectful of.

Who was here before you and Was plucked out of thin air and dropped here. And But that's like the ducks. I brought those so like there were no ducks here before me that were Domestic and perfect and beautiful.

And, and so I feel like I added. They do look

Kevin: tasty.

Beth: No. Um, but [00:14:00] like I added them. So like that was my little contribution to the place here. And that helps me to feel. Oh, you've had a

Kris: lot more than that, but I mean, you didn't walk into the easiest. Scenario with Jake, you know, still in, still in school.

And obviously, you know, we talk about all the good things, but there's been, you know, a lot of difficult ones getting, you know, uh, just, coexisting, know, little battles, but, uh, in general, yeah.

Beth: I mean, I had to maintain control. cause that's how we stayed off the radar. And then, you had a little more freedom. So, so I, you know,

Kevin: so all of a sudden there were boundaries that Jake wasn't accustomed to from a person that he wasn't accustomed to.

Beth: Yep.

Kevin: Yeah.

Beth: Certainly not at home. He had them when he was my student. Right. Because I'm a big believer in you're going to grow up to be a man and I don't want you to go to prison. Number one, and I want you to have people that love you and I want you to find your [00:15:00] Your tribe and have you know people that will be there when we're not you have to you have to give and be a certain you have to be mature and willing to Compromise and be considerate if you want to have that in your life.

 So I do push him really hard, but it's because I want him to be happy

Kris: I mean, wouldn't trade it for anything, just us being able to, live together, work together, you know, it's almost just two entirely different things, but our work time is our family time.

Kevin: Yeah.

Kris: And that's one of the things that just really, you know, interested me right from the beginning, because, uh, when I was trying to, you know, single dad trying to work and trying to take care of Jake and, and everything else, it was like, Giving up, spending time together and, uh,

Kevin: And probably needing to mourn yourself too, right?

Well, I

Kris: didn't get the chance to for a long time. I mean, I, I, you know, um, it started [00:16:00] out going to therapy with Jake, you know, to the, to the same, to the same therapist for a number of years before I could even begin just because, um, you know, all my energy went into what he needed. Sure. And, uh, Yeah, it's tough.

It's still tough. Yeah.

but that's another thing, that, Beth's awesome about is when I need to talk about Rachel or when I need to look at some pictures or do my thing, there's no judgments.

Beth: It's hard, you know, because when somebody passes, they're sort of canonized, right?

Like it's only the good

Kevin:

Beth: coming from where I came from, where I was, It's highly replaceable, and often was, but that's my struggle and that's not something Kris should have to deal with. So if he needs to crack out the photo albums, I'll go play with my ducks. I mean, it's not something I feel comfortable being a part of.

That's sort of where I've drawn the line for boundaries for myself. rachel belongs to Kris and jake and i don't need to own any part of her but I respect [00:17:00] When they need space and time,

Kevin: it's one thing when you're with someone because they've Broken up with someone and chosen you You Um, it's another to be a little fucked up from 20 years of torture and know that they didn't pick you so much as who they really wanted was gone. And so it's hard to not feel like a second fiddle.

Beth: It's really complicated. Yeah. Um, but I feel like Kris lets me. about it when I need to.

Kris: Um, and I think part of that is, is that, you know, there's no, there's no choosing, there's no comparison. was a chapter or multiple chapters in my life.

And that, that, that book is done and

Beth: it's just a learning experience for me. Um,

Kevin: and to know that, to know that you are good enough and that you are wanted and important Yeah,

Beth: it's a, it's a very strange sensation, um, and [00:18:00] to let myself get comfortable in that space is difficult because it, you become very vulnerable when you let go.

And so when you've survived by just turning on, I mean I could switch off my feelings like a light switch for so many years. So to let that go and allow feelings in. Um, is pretty scary. but.

couldn't give this up for anything. Oh my god

Kevin: and probably wouldn't have been able to do this kind of thing without the support of mr.

Cutie over here

Beth: Oh, no, absolutely. No, he put up with more bullshit I tried so hard for the first year to get him to just dump me Because I thought I can't do it. I need him to do it I need him to throw me out so this can be over Before I get any happier

Kris: well, she would try the little stunts even you know, just to see how I would react, right?

I mean, i'm all done being you know, being unhappy

Beth: like I love cooking breakfast for him and I love Just doing little things.

Kevin: It's a beautiful [00:19:00] team. and, you know, we're sitting here in your studio, which is, is it an Airbnb or is it

VRBO?

That's please. Oh,

anybody who's coming anywhere near mystic needs to come here. This place is amazing. Um, so. , you've, you know, you're doing the same kind of work. You're working together, like you said, and you're obviously both very good at it, so

Kris: Well, we enjoy what we do and, the studio's just a good representation of, the details in how everything's not cookie cutter. And, that's how our life is. Our jobs are like that and our oysters are like that, you know, our work reflects. Uh, when we got into this, we're like, we're going to deliver like a superior product or we're not going to do it.

Kevin: Yeah.

Kris: And either all in or all out. Yeah. Yeah. There's no, no half ass either. We're going to just stick with the construction or if we're going to grow the oyster farm, we're going to grow it in a way that, uh, we're going to have the best product and not let it get out of hand to the point that [00:20:00] that.

Kevin: and what I observe with your oyster farm is it's this remarkably self contained unit I mean, your house is literally above your farm on stilts, like above the farm.

But do you ever feel like you can't get out of the office because that's home?

Kris: Yep. the studio used to be, my office and downstairs was my carpentry shop.

And I wasn't able to relax until I got it out of here and moved to a different location But I haven't felt that same kind of stress with the farm. It's a whole different.

Beth: I think for me it's a difference between, um, yeah, when we're here and it's a beautiful day, I love that we can just jump on the boat and not go anywhere.

Kevin: Yeah. But

Beth: then in the middle of the night, when we're worried about money or numbers or harvest or the boat. It would be nice to not be here. so there's the good and the bad. You know, like it's, it's great to be able to just run downstairs and jump on the boat. but then, it's not great to walk into the bedroom at night and see the stack of bills

[00:21:00] Next to the bed.

 but, we're fully immersed and that's part of what makes us unique. I think

Kevin: it really is unique from the oyster farms that I've seen You have this unique operation and

 the first time I came here, I drove down the private road and into your parking area. And it was amazing because it's a beautiful house in an incredibly gorgeous location. And then it's also, clearly a working oyster farm with the equipment and the boats. And, you have a Flopsy where you're actually, growing your own seed to the right size to put out.

Kris: none of that was here like I said for years we didn't know what we could do out of here. I was always searching for something that We could do out of here as a job, but never found it until till the oystering so no none of that was there we always had boats in the slips You know, we're always out in the water, but all of that equipment that you see is all stuff that we built and put together and assembled over, over time.

Kevin: do you have anything in the Flopsy right now or is [00:22:00] everything out there already?

Beth: We were supposed to get our seed early this year but we had that cold snap.

So we don't have anybody in there yet except for what we brought in to show the high school kids

Kevin:

Beth: but at least 3 million coming in this year to run through the upwellers for seed.

Kevin: And the upwellers down there are large enough that you can accommodate 3 million.

Kris: 3 millions are actual max for running four to six millimeter seed mixed with the other methods. We use 500, 000 this year. We, we got at large enough to bypass the upwellers. Cause we needed to kind of stagger that product to a certain degree. So everything's not ready at the same time.

Everything's not in the same stage, So yet this year, it'd be three and a half million seed last year. we did 3 million and, right now we've got, let's see, like a million winter over seed and cages out there. Um, we've got 1. that we planted last year as, a mix between two [00:23:00] inch, variety, just different times.

And beyond that, there's 600, 000 or so of smaller stuff. So that's what we're really trying to do is stagger because our wholesaler really wants product, throughout the whole winter, So we're trying to take care of that and really build our local, local restaurant stuff for the summer where we can really maximize the, income from it.

Kevin: And you've got, about 10 acres of, bottom leased out here?

Kris: Oh, right in front of the house here is, I think, 8. 9 or something, but together, you know. 120? Yeah, I think it's over that with the

Kevin: I didn't realize it was that much. Yeah.

Kris: Yeah. No, it's not all usable. Like you'll get a plot, you know, that you lease from the town that might have two acres of great bottom, but you're paying for 20 acres to be able to get. So the ground slowly gets expanded and you can use cages and so on and so forth in the muddier areas if you elevate them.

But, in general, that's, a mix of usable and [00:24:00] unusable grounds. But we just recently got a couple more grounds in Stonington that are almost all usable.

Kevin: are you trying to mix kind of old school, traditional oyster growing on the bottom with new cages or floating cages or anything like that?

Beth: Yeah, we really do a little bit of everything. if you just, float your oysters, you're not going to get the same taste and you're not going to get the same shell structure. and if you just bottom plant and don't move them, you're not going to get the same, shape and consistency.

So that's part of why we manipulate the oysters so much is that it, It gives us a really uniquely shaped oyster and a consistent chunk of meat in every single one.

Kris: Yeah. And I think part of that too, when you talk about different methods, a lot of it is first of all, what we learned right off the bat from when we bought the farm, the person we bought it from worked with us the first year.

So we took what we learned. We took what other people were doing. We experimented with things. and kind of found what worked for [00:25:00] us. It's an expensive process. Um,

we had two, two occasions where we lost large amounts of oysters to crabs. and then we had a

Beth: cold snap and they were exposed.

So we had those crazy winter tides and the cages were, the oysters that were inside were exposed to the air.

Kevin: And

Beth: we couldn't get to them because we were iced in. And so we actually stood here and could see them. knew that they were just like freezing out there and there was nothing we could do.

I can't

Kevin: imagine the feeling you must have when you see that.

Beth: it's like there's, From seed there, we treat every single one like it's going to make it to market. so the hours that were lost, you know, not just the money, but the hours and the effort and the muscle that went into every oyster that died.

Kevin: What kind of percentage did you lose both with the freezing and also with that crab incident?

Kris: we still got oysters from each one of those. For example, the crab grounds, we, had 750, 000 planted there and they wiped out probably, 70 percent [00:26:00] of that, but that wasn't the whole product for the year that was, you know, we plant multiple grounds.

So that was one portion. um, that was a big hit though. put us, as an overall, I guess around 15 percent for the year of what we bought that went to market versus now we're running, around 20, 21, 22%. Which is

Beth: pretty high for this area. you know, if you never put them on the bottom and they're not exposed to any kind of predators and most of us out here do some form of bottom planting,

 and so there, there's always the chance of blue crabs or oyster drills or, Or whatever, um, you

Kevin: must have a hell of a lot of blue crabs though. If you're getting that kind of,

Kris: it's really changed, with the, climate change. I mean, it's, again, I've been here For so long, we used to crab out here all the time and yeah, they're like seven year cycle and there'd be times where there'd be hardly any.

Well, since we started the farm, they're just increasing every year. I haven't seen [00:27:00] any fallback. I mean, last year we, we dredged at least one up in every month of the year, you know, which is all

Beth: different life cycles. Yeah. I mean, there's babies and there's full grown crabs.

Kevin: so one of the things in terms of your technique that I find really interesting is, you're doing what looks like kind of old school dredging, which I guess is the really traditional way of doing things here.

Plus you're doing Bottom cages. And do you have any floating cages No,

Kris: we experimented with that. And there's one other farm here that has all their gear floating because they found a really good spot. But when we experimented with it, within a week, somebody had cut things.

people just don't want to see it. we had floating cage and we found it about a month later, it drifted over on an island and the rope was clearly cut, you know,

Kevin: So it was more not in my backyard rather than let's steal the oysters and

Kris: well this whole area.

I mean You know, there's not miles and miles between one shore to another so you [00:28:00] do see everything in between and I can see, you know I I wouldn't want somebody coming out in front of our house and loading it up with the So I, I can't really complain about it. If I'm the same,

I think there's a place for it though. And that's just, you know, slightly offshore, not in these little. Coves and bays

Kevin: but I suppose with all the boat activity here too.

That could pose a problem Yeah, people

Beth: get curious, I I think people think that our buoys are a lobster pot sometimes And so they're just gonna go have a sneak peek and you know, we've seen people kind of cruising around our gear

Kris: we can see everything. I told one group of people that were out there on one of somebody else's farms, I said, Oh my God, you're really lucky that I found you out here oystering. The guy, this is his grounds. And if he found you, he'd shoot you and they're putting stuff back in the water and they're out of there,

so I think a lot of that part is public knowledge. I mean, all of the areas are closed for public [00:29:00] oystering other than these specific spots, not just because of testing, but because the rest of the spots are. they're for farming

Kevin: and this is people's livelihood. You're dealing with, so you

Kris: can't just go, randomly.

And that's, that's where it is tough on the bottom. I mean, our electrician

Kevin: apparently

Kris: used to go to where one of our grounds are and get oysters off the bottom, but nobody knows. So it's, it

Beth: doesn't belong to anybody. I'm going to take

Kris: But that goes back to the question you had about, the dredging and why dredge it's one of the oldest, ways of doing it. and I wondered that a lot at first when I was running numbers with Tim about buying the farm, he was using numbers from his friend's farm up on Wellfleet.

All right. And he has claimed, as much as 80 percent of what he bought. Was going to market all in bags, never touching the bottom, all one season oysters. So I mean, he's making, making top dollars. So I'm like, Oh, why the hell are we going to take all these oysters and put them on the bottom and lose all this and everything else? It's a totally different [00:30:00] product.I like the taste of some of the well oysters, but man, they're, crumbly, you know, and there's certainly a market for really small. Oysters. There's nothing against them at all, but this is just a completely different product. Is it

Kevin: the shells not as tough because they're just floating in bags,

Kris: when the oysters on the bottom, it's in direct contact with its natural environment and soaking up the minerals and, getting a harder shell from being moved around, tumbled around every time you're dragging that dredge. We do it a lot with an open basket where we're not picking them up.

We're just kind of tumbling them out in the bottom so that they, toughen up, but also the ones that have kind of gotten buried, get a chance to, get to the surface and grow as well. so that's where we are now is really just a mix of everything. We know what size we can put them on the bottom as, and, unfortunately with the crabs we're pretty close to that and bags, but we put the bags themselves on the bottom for a while first, before we open them [00:31:00] and, dump them out, just to kind of help them get acclimated to the bottom a little more and direct contact with the.

Minerals and natural environment. That's

Kevin: one of the things that I think makes your oyster so unique is that it's a a multi style growing process, because they're on the bottom and they're in bags and they're in bags on the bottom. So you're getting an oyster that's kind of a more.

Well rounded oyster, in terms of shape, size, flavor, all of that.

Kris: And that actually is what led us to doing a couple of different sizes, even different brands. We have kind of three different, varieties based on size, shape, et cetera.

Kevin: you got some fancy names for him too?

Kris: Well, I mean, our Stonington's are kind of our Primo oyster, the perfect raw bar shape, size, weight, you know, we really picked through those. Well, those are all the local restaurants or the high end ones on wholesale.

And what's

Kevin: the average size of those shells? They're

Kris: basically three to three and a half. So average size three and a quarter.

Beth: But all [00:32:00] uniform. All pretty. You know, nothing that's banana shaped or concave they're all solid.

Kris: And all of those out of shape ones, et cetera. most of those go towards, the next size, which Murphy points, named right after this point here, um, will allow those to grow. You know, to be at least cooking size oysters. you know, some of the crazy shapes don't correct at all.

But, and they just become, filters on the bottom, that we leave there, but. You know, I would say most of our oysters get sold in one of the three categories, the Murphy points at a larger cooking ones. And then the last, uh, brand is Mason's Islands, which is our island right out here. And those are, you know, I call them barely legal.

They're, they're just, you know, Oh my God, here we go. He didn't know

Beth: that was a magazine until I explained it to him. He's like, what is the big deal? And I said, It's a magazine. I didn't know it was a magazine. Well, we were actually, look at, and it's like, it's like, they look like they're [00:33:00] 15. I was going to

Kris: pitch this to Legal Seafoods, you know, these barely legal,

That sounds like, absolutely perfect. And she thought I was perverted.

Kevin: HR department had to step in again.

Beth: When I, to Legal Seafood, I think it's funny.

Kevin: so barely legals. I like those. those would be, I often compare Eastern oysters Pacifics and other oysters out on the West coast.

Those would be like the little Olympia's that are, inch and a half. Yeah. I mean, I'd like

Kris: to, like to say a little bit smaller, but in general state of Connecticut, three inch. So these are ones that are just barely three inch. They're light. They're a couple of months off of being Stonington's, you know, so they're a little bit better of a price point for wholesale.

Kevin: how long really are you growing an oyster before you take it to market?

Kris: 18 to 24 months kind of average. some of them, even a little less than 18, the fast growers, some of them as much as 30 months. The slow, so, and I

Kevin: guess everything slows down in the winter.

They [00:34:00] just kind of dormant

here. They're dormant in the winter. they say below 50 degrees, they're still pumping down to about 40, but Not very efficiently. so we do lose that whole part of the season. So we don't have any real same year oysters here. everything that we buy, um, for seed this year that we're getting in May, we're selling next spring, next summer, next fall. So there's a lot of planning involved in the staggering of the seeding and that sort of thing is critical, I

Yeah.

 You had mentioned something to me about, Connecticut size requirements versus Rhode Island or other

Beth: states. We have a three inch minimum. Other states do not.

So

Kevin: that means you can't take it to market if it's under three inches.

Beth: other states can bring their oysters here. so Connecticut vendors can buy oysters that are under three inches, but we cannot sell them.

Kris: so Rhode Island can sell their two and three quarter oysters in Connecticut, as well as Rhode Island, and we can't sell them either place at that size.

Kevin: from a [00:35:00] legislative standpoint. Connecticut's cutting its own nose off.

Beth: so that's one of the things we're pushing for in legislature. and actually we have been featured in a documentary for the state of Connecticut to push Connecticut as an oyster destination, similar thinking to, lobsters in Maine.

And that's something that we're hoping. of this documentary is that you kind of get the point across. Is that documentary

Kevin: out already? May 15th. And what's the name of it?

Beth: At Home on the Harbor.

I believe it's gonna go through some film festival type things.

like mystic film festival

USA today will be there. New York Times will be there.

Conde Nast traveler.

so it's just hilarious.

Kevin: you guys have a pretty good social media presence like I see you on insta all the time and

Beth: I don't know a lot about it I'm learning as I go.

your

Kevin: website is beautiful though. I mean, it's really, I did that. Did you really? Yeah. It took a long time. Could you do mine?

Beth: You [00:36:00] got like two months to get me. It took a long time. because I don't know how to do any of that stuff. So it was just all self taught. and of course Dana does the beautiful design work for us, our logo.

Kevin: I had

Kris: one other thing to throw back at you, about the, the sizing with the State of Connecticut apparently, that was pushed by Bloom, which is the largest, Company in Connecticut now

Kevin: who is bloom?

Kris: largest oyster come maybe in Connecticut.

Maybe the East Coast. and

Kevin: what's the name of that company?

Beth: Oh

Kevin: Cops Island, right So

Kris: they have multiple so they have they have a ton of wild oysters and the size does not apply to wild oysters

Kevin: only cultured oysters

Kris: So that's why they pushed it the three inch limit because now they dominate anything under a three inch for the state.

Kevin: So there's a lot of politics going on here,

Kris: they actually bought, part of Mystic Oysters, and [00:37:00] eventually will be purchasing the remaining part, and that's been our, the kind of thorn in our side, I would say the only real negative thing about it.

About what we're doing is absolutely

Beth: the only

Kris: thing that goes on at the co op there.

Kevin: Tell me what the co op is. You took me there before and I thought it was fascinating, but tell me about that.

Kris: You know, it used to be a lobster hatchery way back in the day.

The building has a lot of history. the state of Connecticut leased it to town of Groton town of Groton took it over and can, keep it as long as there's aquaculture going on there.

Kevin: So it's a building across the water here

Kris: in Noank in no water. Yeah. Has its own

Kevin: pier.

Kris: Yeah. Yep. And there are three farms there, us, uh, Noank Oysters, and Mystic Oysters.

 Yet, the way it's set up is everybody thinks it's just Mystic Oysters. You know, they wrote their name on the roof. the website basically just brings you, it links you to Mystic Oysters, it links [00:38:00] you directly to the mystic oysters. When you go look, you try

Beth: to call the co-op, it goes to mystic oysters.

Kris: Yeah.

Kevin: It never operated as a true co op. because oyster, you know, we're not growing bananas where all the bananas are the same, they're all different products. So it never really worked as a co op, but it was established that way.

Kris: Kind of as a cookie cutter template to, to get use of the property.

Kevin: Because it's shared facility You would need that space and equipment we

Kris: use all our larger equipment down there. you know, we have a seed shaker here, but we have our tumbler down there.

We have our cooler, we have our workshop and everything down there. And, even though they're a larger company, everybody has, one member, and should have that one vote. yet the way it's run is just, the president. who's from Mystic Oyster just makes decisions entirely on his own, even though I'm vice president of it, nothing is even shared with me.

Beth: we don't have any

access to financials. We've never seen a tax return. so we put money in, [00:39:00] in good faith as part of our agreement, but we have no idea where that money goes.

We also were locked out, So basically, mystic oysters invested a lot of money in the building on their own, and built this big fancy cooler, but then wanted to charge people to use it, even though it's designated shared space and then locked us out of it.

Kris: Well, they took the common processing area and they turned it into a cooler. So they didn't take one of their spots or one of ours and they did so without any kind of voting or any kind of discussion.

You know, It's like repaving a random parking lot and then saying you can't park there, right? You know, There's no votes. our dock is in bad disrepair I offered to contribute all the labor being in the construction industry if the co op would just pay for the Material for the wood instead of going to vote.

He just says no

Beth: You know, the governor was invited to the co [00:40:00] op to visit. He didn't know it

Kris: was a co op. He thought it was Mystic Oysters. Yes. Everybody thinks that he owns

Beth: the building.

when they locked us out of that cooler, if we hadn't just happened to have had our reefer truck on the way, we would have been out. We would have been done.

So we were running the truck here as a cooler we got permission from the state to do that to harvest on our boat and Pack on the boat and then get everything right into the truck.

Kris: it would be pretty easy for us to walk away from there and still be able to run this business but Part of this is the future of not just Jake, but, um, that's the first thing that comes to mind for me though, is for him to really be able to expand being able to use that, property, is a huge part of it, but also, just for future companies to get in and get started because as many oyster companies as there are now, there's such a demand. that the demand well outweighs what's being produced. And if people just, you know, produce [00:41:00] a better product, then they're going to survive.

and when times get a little bit tough, market wise, all those little ones that, are the ones that are going to disappear, you know, and the ones that are working hard selling.

the best quality product or will be the survivors of it. and a shared space

Kevin: to me makes so much sense because there is a barrier to entry. It's not just about buying your gear and your seed and throwing it out in the water. You have to process it. You have to store it. All of that sort of stuff.

Beth: But how cool would it be to be down there with like a grill going and talk to each other

 it's

Kris: a great mechanism for, for field trips, for events, for, you know, learning, getting people involved. I mean, that was part of what it was intended for and since has just become monopoly. There's other

Beth: farms that want in that have been denied. but we didn't know they'd even tried.

Kris: When I called things out and tried to have an actual meeting I don't know if I was at four or five times that I've called out meetings that we've just been denied. I just either [00:42:00] don't get a response or I get, no, so we're working hard on a revamp trying to make it instead of a co op, maybe a oyster group or, something that's a little more in tune where we all just rent space and you're responsible for your own space.

Therefore, nobody is in charge of the property other than maybe a manager.

before somebody gets hurt on this dock, for example, or, even simple things, what maintenance needs to be done, what we do about signage, you know, we were told that we weren't allowed to have any events down there, but then they're doing like campaign events and shucking events and everything else.

So. it's a sore spot right now, but I want to just keep pushing on for the future of it.

Kevin: one of the things that I think is so interesting about what you guys do too, you're doing, a lot of kind of paying it forward to other groups and kids

 is it like. The outreach arm

Beth: yeah, well, I Think when you've been through what Kris and I have been through and you come out the [00:43:00] other side you have this feeling of gratitude and you're obligated to spread that like concentric circles of Good that just like forever continue

And I've always been a big believer in that you never take more help than you give. And if everybody just helped more and tried to think about other people a little bit more frequently and just showed appreciation for other people and what they go through. we'd be in a far different world and Like what better platform than this?

I mean there's so many kids in this area that Have never put their feet in the saltwater. The the income disparity in this area is is staggering You know, you've got kids at school that got a brand new, 30 foot boat for their 16th birthday, sitting next to kids that only eat at school because they don't have food at home.

And, your only exposure to the water [00:44:00] shouldn't be, during your sailing lessons at the yacht club. So there's gotta be a way to get more kids involved and we've got to bring on more environmental stewards. And, the only way you're going to get kids to care is to get them to fall in love with the water.

 and they've got to get to it first. So

Kris: things have a way of working their way around. It's like the more good you do for others that does work its way back, you know, you've got to put it out

Beth: there.

Kris: And we've, we had, we both had such a string of bad luck that sometimes it's really hard but it's like, you know, just keep pushing, keep doing the right thing, keep doing it, keep doing it.

One day this

Beth: week, I silently wept all day.becauseit can be so discouraging, because you think, what more do I have to do and how much harder do I have to work?

For things to turn around and for things to, to not be easy, but like tolerable.

Kris: Well, the long history of the house here and the family situation and hopefully, Jake's mom [00:45:00] passed down her part of the house to Jake. Hopefully I'm able to do the same, but it's a difficult, task with no retirement, so again, we tried to do as many things for as many other people as possible.

possible as well, just because we're, we feel really fortunate for the situation we are in. But, there are times, especially doing two full time jobs that just, it's tiring. Yeah.

Beth: there are times that we're doing jobs that are physically demanding, but leaving a lot of head space.

anything where we're not doing any sort of intricate woodworking. Your mind just goes and goes and goes and if you don't reel it in, you're in big trouble because when you stop and really absorb the whole picture, it can be really scary. It's really overwhelming.

So many things have to continue going right for us to survive. And so many things need to change for the better for us to really grow It's such a gamble You know, but how do you not take it [00:46:00] with everything that's gone in you can't go back now,

You just have to hope

So, it's scary. The lack of control.

Kevin: and yet you're still thinking of others and you're still paying it forward.

You did something with, I think, was it the mavens?

Beth: We love them. that's, getting young ladies out on the water. And, the great thing about mavens is they are a part of, the new England science and sailing group. And,

They're exploring jobs in aquaculture.

 so they actually get their boating license. They learn first aid. So it's a lot of empowerment for these girls and they're fantastic. Kind of life skills. Oh yeah, we had a ball with them. I mean, they're just so funny. And then the high school kids that come out and actually eat oysters and then vomit all over the pad is fantastic.

And, um, we do a lot of charity stuff and we donate raw bars to charity. So as a silent auction gift, we'll donate a 20 person raw bar with t shirts and

knives and, [00:47:00] It's just fun.

Kevin: Now. Do you guys eat oysters a lot? I'd be eating them all the time.

Beth: Really? I mean It's snack on them.

Kevin: Yeah. But when you're out on the boat, you shuck one or two, you got a sample, like

Kris: getting a fresh one right out of the water. Well,

Beth: cause who gets to do that? I mean, that's, it's such a treat.

Kevin: Seriously. I mean, that's right.

Beth: Yeah. Quality

Kris: controls. It's fun snorkeling for him to just when, when the ground's almost empty, we'll, we'll snorkel, get the last ones just because it's fun, but seeing them partially open, you know, and seeing the actual muscle inside, then they snap shut.

Beth: But

Kevin: you don't do like oyster stuffing in the turkey or like, you know,

Beth: stuff. Oysters. I love stuffed oysters. If we get some really funky ones or some real big ones. I do it like a, like you would do with a clam, just chorizo, chop them up with chorizo, butter, breadcrumbs, lemon, parsley, and bake them and they're, they stay soft [00:48:00] and sweet where clams can get a little bit rubbery.

Um, the oysters stay really supple and they've got a, a, like a more mild flavor and they're so good.

Kevin: Do you still get the flavor of the oyster with the chorizo and everything in there?

Beth: Yeah. I mean, you know, it's an oyster, but it's not,

I can get anybody to eat them that way.

Kevin: Maybe. Now with your ducks out here, you have 19, did you say? Yep. 19 ducks. Oh, I'm sorry. I counted this morning when you weren't looking.

I, I only got 18. But don't check my truck

Beth: bullshit because I can feel it that they're all out there. Yeah, I can tell.

that was funny when we went to the ball game and we're walking through a Chinatown in New York and they're all hanging in the window and the Chinese restaurants,

Kevin: Well, I have to, I have to make a confession.

I, um, always buy the ducks hanging in the windows in the Chinese restaurants. They're so good. So don't hate me.

Beth: Too late.

Kevin: you're going to have no air in your tires when you go outside. No, I love my ducks. I just. [00:49:00] They are so funny to me.

Yeah.

they are truly free range ducks. They're not swimming. They're walking around.

Kris: Yeah. When they were little, Beth used to have to chase them around the cove and a kayak to get them to come in. like 10 o'clock

Beth: at night.

Kris: Yeah, that is cool

Beth: so, so now I've heard. Good memory. Well, not necessarily good memories, but interesting memories about ducks. What would you say is your, most powerful oyster memory?

Kevin:

Kris: I would think it'd be when you and Dana were eating them but they weren't, they weren't big oyster eaters and we got one of the local restaurants here.

And so we went and ordered our own oysters and so we could pay for a bottle of

Beth: champagne and

Kris: they were just struggling to eat them. Like

Beth: I cut mine with a knife and fork.

Kevin: were they like, they're just regular oysters.

Beth: But we're not there.

They don't

Kris: sell us anymore, but we had a little problem with the purchasing agent there that, yeah, so,

Kevin: well, they're missing out. Yeah, right. S and P get, get on it, man. [00:50:00] Before they're not available.

Beth:

Kris: but all the wait staff would constantly tell us, Hey, those are the go to oysters,

they're a bag of a hundred. They'll sell a hundred of them. some brands get, 80, 85, they can actually sell. Yeah. everywhere I delivered

Beth: last week, they called me like two days later. We're like, we're out.

one restaurant doubled for this week. So that's pretty cool.

Kevin: When you're Selling to restaurants on a regular basis what is typical in terms of the volume of oysters you're selling to any given place do they say?

We want 300 or do they say we want 5 000?

Beth: so our biggest restaurant here is Oyster Club, what

Kris: are they in the summer like? 1600. A week. Yeah. That's a lot of oyster.

Yeah. And they

Beth: typically sell out before we bring them the following week.

Kevin: And Oyster Club is here in Mystic. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Any place called Oyster Club is my kind of place.

Beth: it's just so cool to send them places. local where like I can drive by and say they're eating our oysters right now. And then we took Chelsea to Boston for her [00:51:00] 16th birthday.

 Dana and I took her and it was like a girl long weekend and we stayed right by Fenway and all these like neat pubs around Fenway, they had our oysters.

And so we introduced

Beth: ourselves, you know, and met managers and shook hands and had pictures taken

Kris: There's a lot of fun watching other people eat our you know, enjoy Yeah,

well

Beth: I'm like having people here they want to know I mean they get the oysters from us direct all the time But they want to go eat them in a restaurant, too

Kevin: Sure, do you do farm tours for people?

Beth: We need another boat,

Kris: which we're working on, but that, that's definitely on the menu.

We still are doing some now, but really we need the other boat because one needs to be working 24, you know? We're asking way too much of the one boat we have right now. You know, just a 21 Carolina skiff to do what we're doing

Beth: that's the frustrating part. That's what, that's what kills me is we have everything else. Like we have everything that you can't buy. We have the [00:52:00] location. We have the chemistry. We have the recipe. We have the drive. We have the passion. We have the people. We have the following. We have the relationships. We need money

Kevin: and

Beth: it's really fucking hard to find that.

and I keep saying like we got, like, we're just going to keep pushing.

Something is going to come of this. Like we need to get out there. we're so overdue for a break. We've got to be patient and just like stick with it. And when we're, paying for the truck out of pocket instead of the farm paying for it, Just got to go for it.

 you know, it's and all our eggs are in one basket, Totally self employed So, you know COVID affected building oysters and the rental all three of our businesses were affected by COVID So it was like total shutdown on all fronts. Thank God the state and the government offered us some relief but We were just down and out.

There was nothing going on. We had one job where the people weren't [00:53:00] living in the condo that they had purchased and we were completely redoing it. And that's what got us through. Cause we could be there at work and we could charge, you know, our hours and just not be there at the same time.

Kevin: that's what kept

Beth: us afloat.

Kevin: where do you hope you'll be in five years? Where do you see yourself?

Beth: I would like to be just oystering and still working our asses off.

It's still being filthy, dirty, exhausted, tired, but being able to. Take a Sunday afternoon off.

Right.

Beth: And not, you know, because we'll go fishing now and it's like we spend the whole time talking about everything we should be doing.

 So,

Beth: I would love to be just oystering and just feel a little more Safe and comfortable, like a little less financially vulnerable would be great.

Kris: Yeah. I mean, I see a sell in a million a year, which enables us

Beth: to

Kris: have full time income for everybody. Um, yeah, I'd like to mix in boat tours and when I have some [00:54:00] time off. I mean, I love being in the boat when we have time off, so, yeah. A lot of fishing. Yeah. I think the big thing for me too is having some time in the winter outta here,

Kevin: Other than repairing gear and stuff like that during the winter, you're not doing much. No. You're not out on the water,

Kris: well, I mean, at least a day a week, we're harvesting. We sell all, all that. Jake likes it. So you know what? I mean, yeah, you go,

Kevin: he's young, beat it.

They don't get cold. Yeah, no, the,

Beth: the pain level in the cold is brutal for him, especially. I don't even know how he goes up and down the stairs.

Kevin: it's so awesome that you have Jake here who loves it.

Beth: Who's

Kevin: good at it. Who understands the business knows that. He can take this way into the future and hopefully that will give you guys a little more freedom.

Yep.

Kevin: Yeah

Beth: I'd like to do something with a couple nice houseboats off of here.

Kris: And rent those as well. You know, because we have the docking facility and everything else to do that. But, we'll see.

Kevin: just love

Beth: people. [00:55:00] I'd like, I, I want to meet everybody. I want to talk to everybody.

Kevin: Well, what I also love is, not just that you want to meet people, but that you want to share this with people.

Beth: I can't keep that to myself.

You know,

Kevin: I have to say that this was definitely the most fun interview I've ever done. Well, Dana's

Beth: not here yet, so.

Kris: That's true. Did you get enough, uh, oystering part of it? I know, it's like, wait, you guys, you guys farm oysters?

Kevin: Yeah, oysters. what's an oyster? I think that we did because Oyster farming to me and the whole point of OYSTER-ology isn't just about oysters Because if it was only about oysters i'd have exactly one episode You know It's about the people who do it the passion the culture the place It's all the methods the methods the backgrounds what leads you to this what you know all of this and You guys are like the perfect Would you call yourself small to medium oyster farmers [00:56:00] or how do you rank?

Kris: I still think we're a small farm in comparison to most, but the one word that I would pick out of all the ones she has is a passion. You know, when you have to have the passion for what you do, no matter what it is, and you put all of your effort into it, you know, the product is shows,

Beth: a guy that, was one of our competitors who was particularly, unpleasant.

And somebody came to the co op and bought our oysters instead of theirs. and he looked at that person and he said, oysters, just an oyster. And I thought

Kris: I mean, that's your philosophy.

Beth: You're in the wrong business. You better go get a job at a bank or something. You shouldn't be farming. If you think that you can't make your product better than anybody else's than just,

Kris: and we charge ten bucks more for the same number.

Beth: And we get it. Every time.

Kris: They ought to just go eat clam

Kevin: strips at Hojo's.

Beth: Yeah, they really should. That's their shellfish existence. Lonely, lonely old men. It's a

Kevin: soul sucking experience. Sad fucking [00:57:00] bastards.

 I might need a cocktail to recover

Kris: from this.

Beth: We're not good at staying on topic.

I

Kevin: Well, Chris and Beth, thank you so much. I can't wait to go I

Kris: appreciate your time. Look forward to another one

Kevin: All right guys, thanks again

Well, that’s it for this episode of OYSTER-ology. Thanks to my guests, Kris and Beth Simonds . As always, show notes can be found on this episode’s page and if you enjoyed it please rate or review us on whatever podcast platform you listen on. I’m your host Kevin Cox. Join us next time when we pry open the shell of another interesting OYSTER-ology topic.

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