Discover-
our farmgate
The Oyster Farm Shop is situated across the road from the working oyster farm in American River township on Kangaroo Island. Oysters are graded and packed for sale in the sheds on American River wharf.
Watch the crew bring in boat loads of freshly harvested oysters ready for grading or sales most week days!
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Visitors can also see fresh oysters being shucked in our processing facility at the rear of our farm shop most mornings when in season. These shucked oysters are retailed through the farmgate and set aside for local caterers and restaurants.
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The concept of our farmgate has grown from simply selling wholeshell oysters at the shed door to providing a Harvest of the Day menu based on our farmgate products, fresh from the ocean as well as other iconic aquaculture and sustainable seafood from the Kangaroo Island region.
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The Oyster Farm Shop is where we showcase not only products from our farm but also iconic aquaculture and sustainable seafood products from the Kangaroo Island region including:
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Pacific Oysters
KI Native Angasi oysters
Kangaroo Island Abalone & Abalini
Wild/Farmed Marron
King George Whiting
Southern Calamari and more...
History of Our Farm Shop
Historically the farm had operated harvests and sales to wholesale customers mostly off island during the Pacific Oyster Season April- November. Then the farm would stop selling and close during the summer months when the pacific oysters went to spawn.
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When we bought the farm in 2008, we decided to restock part of the farm with Summer Oysters or spawnless so that we had product over the summer months for visitors to the island to enjoy. It takes 18 months to 2 years for oysters to grow to the first saleable size and we started this in 2010.
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In July 2010, our farm was hit by a ‘1 in 30 year storm’ the locals called it from the NE which wiped out some of our aging infrastructure and, in a year where we had filled the farm to its capacity, we lost 50% of our stock. So it was even more important for us to be able to sell directly to the customer as we did not have the quantities to ship wholesale pallet loads off island due to the storm.
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In Oct 2010 we opened a farmgate called The Oyster Farm Shop. The building the shop is in had been empty for 8-9 years. So we bought it and put a sign out. With the help of some local entrepreneurs who utilised the premises and sold our wholeshell oysters for us we slowly started to build up the retail side of our business.
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Slowly over the years our products have grown in reputation and The Oyster Farm Shop is now a ‘must visit’ foodie experience with oysters coming in fresh off the boat and shucked on the premises. We now produce a range of smoked products including oysters, mussels and fish and were the first outlet on the island to retail Kangaroo Island Abalone products. More recently we have been offering on-farm experiences including our Shucking, Secret Oyster Bar and Sashimi Experiences!
