The Raw Bar at Island Creek Oysters Opens for its Second Season

Thanks, Boston Magazine, for coverage of the second season opening of the Raw Bar at Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury, MA. This was a fabulous project to provide planning, permitting and design services for as part of ICO’s transformation of its stunning historic waterfront farm site. Come get some oysters and learn about the extraordinary things Island Creek Oysters is doing to elevate the aquaculture industry in New England and beyond.

Fish Out of Water: Maine's Burgeoning Aquaculture Scene

Issue 5 of Food+City Magazine is on newsstands now. In this article, I profile two aquaculture endeavors operating at vastly different scales, each innovative in its own way. It was a pleasure to get out on the water with Ryan McPherson, Merritt Carey and Peter Miller of the Maine Aquaculture Co-op. Those scallops are tasty!

Boston's Commercial Seafood Industry: Past, Present and Future

It’s been a pleasure to work with a variety of tenants at the Boston Fish Pier to deliver a walking tour and lecture on behalf of the Friends of the Boston Harborwalk, most recently to 138 members of the Iowa Farm Bureau visiting Boston. These events affirm that Bostonians and others are keenly interested in the role the commercial seafood industry continues to play in the Boston Harbor and the Boston Economy.

Congrats, Island Creek Oysters on your successful zoning change!

A big congratulations to clients Island Creek Oysters on the successful passing of their petition to change the zoning of their new farm site from residential compatibility (RC) to neighborhood business district 1 (NB-1). The 11-acres site, located on the Duxbury waterfront at Snug Harbor, includes twelve existing buildings (approximately 60,000 gross square feet), several of which are historic houses converted to lab and office space by previous owners, Willam F. Clapp Laboratories and then Battelle Memorial Institute, who used the site as a center for marine science and research for decades. We look forward to building on this legacy. Preserving the character defining features of this beautiful site, we aim to improve both its coherence and functionality for ICO's core farm operations and related consumer facing activities, as well as for research and education programs of the Island Creek Oysters Foundation. Thank you to the residents of Duxbury for voting on March 10th and for your continued support for this project and its role in the Massachusetts aquaculture industry. We've benefitted greatly from ideas contributed by countless individuals - town leaders and town hall staff, neighbors, educators, oyster aficionados, and other impassioned citizens -- in the planning process.  We look forward to continuing a robust dialogue as we refine the vision for the project and make it a reality!      

Seafood Traceability Nets New Benefits

Food for thought on the work of innovators at the crossroads of the commercial seafood industry and information technology. Warning: reading this may make you hungry for oysters.  As always, a pleasure to contribute to Food+City Magazine!

Staple or Delicacy, It's in the Can

Issue Number 3 of Food+City Magazine is out! Thanks for the opportunity to contribute, Robyn Metcalfe. Are you a tinned fish fan? Then I hope you'll like this story on the evolution of canned food.  

Found Object

Still one of my favorite houses to have written about:  Casa 218  

Such an elegant rediscovery of an existing building, coupled with a carefully scaled new addition.  Well done, Candid Rogers!  I only wish the article included more photographs of the interior addition, because it's wonderful to see how it "complements through contrast" the interiors of the existing building.   

Really, Really Smart Cities

Illustration by josh cochran

The new edition of Food+City Magazine is out! Take a look at our ideas for how food might fit into the future of urban landscapes. Thank you to Robyn Metcalfe for the opportunity to contribute. And excellent job on the illustration, Josh Cochran! Kudos to the entire F+C team for creative and insightful storytelling about how food in delivered to our cities, and the many things you are doing to catalyze supply chain innovation. Read online or look for a print copy of the magazine, which is beautiful, at Whole Foods.     

Follow the food: walking for groceries in three central Boston neighborhoods.

This map was inspired by a discussion with Lisa Macalaster, Coldwell Banker real estate agent.  Take a look at the comparative analysis of walking distances to supermarkets and speciality markets in Boston's Beacon Hill, Back Bay and South End neighborhoods.