Local Oysters Join The Baskets At Columbia's Friends & Farms; Somewhere Steve Vilnit Smiles

Sapidus Farms oysters that you can buy through Friends & Farms

Folks who love local oysters should check out the Friends & Farms offering where customers can add Chesapeake and other oysters to their weekly food baskets.

Friends & Farms is a Columbia service where customers buy regular baskets of seasonal food.  It's a variation on a CSA, except that the company doesn't farm.  They buy meats, fruits and vegetables from a variety of places.

As long as the season lasts, they're now buying oysters as well.  You need to be buying a basket to sign up for add-ons, but that would let you buy any of four different oyster varieties -- listed on the Friends & Farms Web site by the aquaculture group that farmed them.

I'm a huge fan of Chesapeake oysters.  Last summer, Steve Vilnit took me along on a tour of an Eastern Shore oyster operation.  Vilnit promotes Maryland seafood for the state government.  The oysters were exceptional, and I could see why it's great for the bay and why they're worth seeking out.  This week's varieties at Friends & Farms run from $38 to $60 for 50 oysters.

Check out Friends & Farms' web site for more about the food baskets.  I haven't tried them yet, and I was surprised at how weekly CSAs didn't mesh with the way that I cook -- and that was when I had the freedom to eat late and cook anything for two adults!  But CSAs and Friends & Farms have great supporters, and they're terrific for bringing real foods to the fore.