Georgia’s First Off-Bottom Oyster Farm

Words by Jennifer Kornegay
Photos by Peter Colin Murray

Most farmers focus on their crop as food. But Georgia’s Tybee Oyster Company believes the oysters it’s growing—while certainly edible and absolutely delicious—can be teachers too, good to put in your mouth but also good mouthpieces for the coastal Georgia ecosystem they inhabit. “The educational piece of this is probably what excites me most,” says Laura Solomon, who co-owns and runs the Tybee Oyster Company oyster farm with her husband Perry. 

In this way, the Solomons’ oyster farming philosophy stands out, but the farm enjoys another distinction too. When it pulled its initial batch of oysters from its baskets floating in Bull River in late 2023, the farm became Georgia’s first off-bottom oyster aquaculture operation to harvest from the state’s waters. The response was fast and favorable.

“It’s been this great, almost crazy, reception,” Laura says. “People love them.” It’s not hard to figure out why. The unblemished shells, some with pale purple striations, contain plump meat with a salty bite. “We call our oysters Salt Bombs,” Laura says. It’s an apt description of the flavor; the farm’s spot at the mouth of Bull River (between Savannah and Tybee Island) is in sight of the open Atlantic Ocean and so, a high-salinity area. 

The name is also a clever allusion to the location. Tybee means salt in Euchee Native American. And, “in 1958, there was a mid-air collision between two Air Force jets, leading to a bomb sinking and being lost in nearby Wassaw Sound, so we play on that too,” Laura says.

The fun takes on branding and marketing by Southern oyster farms keep the industry interesting, while the concept of merroir, a term describing the taste and texture differences a farm’s specific stretch of water infuses into its oysters—despite all farms growing the same species—is fascinating. 

Off-bottom or floating oyster farming, the method used by Tybee Oyster Company and most Southern oyster farms, differs from raising livestock on land. While farmers do control some aspects of their “crop,” they aren’t feeding them or medicating them. They’re simply protecting them as they grow. Cultivating oysters starts with seed, tiny baby oysters that have been collected from mature oysters after they spawn in hatcheries. Once in the hands of an oyster farmer, these still-growing oysters go into coastal bays and inlets, either in baskets or floating cages attached to lines. 

At this point, each farmer uses his own specific methods to tend to his oysters. They may rest in different depths of water, which can impact taste, thanks to ranges in salinity and available food sources. The baskets or cages are turned and cleaned to keep oysters free of barnacles and other pests that can, at worst, harm the oysters, and at best, take away from the shells’ natural, unblemished beauty. 

Keeping their baskets clean keeps Laura and Perry busy. “Especially in the summer, with the warm water, the oysters grow nice and fat, but the bags get gunked up, and that takes a lot of work.” Area chefs and diners believe the effort is well worth it; demand for Salt Bombs started and remains high. Local pride likely plays a role in the oysters’ appeal too. “The wild harvest from this area is good and salty too, but they are often eaten steamed, so you can’t taste that note as much as when you eat them raw, the way most people eat ours,” Laura says. “So, I think a lot of people around here are just happy to have a great oyster that came from their backyard.”

“Our interest in all this is rooted in wild Georgia oysters too,” Laura says. Perry’s love of local seafood—an affection stemming from his Tybee Island childhood spent fishing and crabbing with family—fueled the couple’s exploration of oyster farming while he was still in the Navy. “He helped his granddad harvest wild oysters, and they’d make oyster stew together,” Laura says. “When we started dating as teenagers, we’d get wild oysters and roast them over a fire on the beach.”

While stationed in Virginia, the couple had a front-row seat to watch that state’s oyster industry take off. “We thought, Why not do this at home in Georgia?” Once they decided to give it a go, the journey to getting oysters in the water proved a long road. “The legislation to make it legal passed in 2019, but then COVID came, and then it took some time for state agencies and regulators to figure out how they wanted to do this. It’s so new here, so there’s been some learning as we go,” Laura says.

The wait was hard, but in the interim, Laura and Perry realized farming was a perfect fit for their inquisitive natures. The Georgia Tech grads both have engineering backgrounds. Perry is a retired Naval aviator and still a pilot, while Laura got her master’s in education and still works as director of growth and planning at a local school. “The entire process, and now actual farming, has been amazing for us,” Laura says. “We both love to learn and play and experiment, and we’re doing a lot of that to see what works and what doesn’t. But so far, everyone is enjoying them.”

While most Salt Bomb conversations begin with talk of their powerful briny punch, it often circles back to Laura’s commitment to sustainability and passing that message along. “As a keystone species that brings some real ecological benefits, oysters are a wonderful anchor point to teach kids about the health of the local environment,” Laura says. “And the best way to teach kids anything is to get them into it. So, here, that’s getting them on the water seeing this in action. That’s what I’m passionate about.”

Proving the extent of her passion, Laura created a nonprofit called ECO (Education, Community, Oysters) to encompass the farm’s educational endeavors. “My education focus is on entrepreneurship and innovation, so my hope is to connect the oyster farm to classrooms,” she says. “Our farm is good for the ecosystem but also good for our community.”

And that good is growing. This past June, Tybee Oyster Company put more baby oysters in the water and has plans to double the farm’s size each year until it reaches the capacity of its lease location. That’s more fresh Georgia farmed oysters for eaters and more opportunities to engage students on behalf of the state’s beautiful coast. “The third grade at the school my children attend is doing an entire curriculum based on oysters,” Laura says. “Getting kids involved and interested early is how we make them into better stewards.”