Just Off the Boat

Summertime in Hyde County means an abundance of food of all sorts. Beautiful vegetables and fruits flourish in our dark soil, and my boys and I have been enjoying a steady stream from our gardens and local farms. My favorite local summertime food doesn't plant its roots in our fertile earth, however, but can be instead found in the rich waters of the Pamlico Sound that hug our coastline. That's right, I'm talking about shrimp!

The Pamlico Sound stretches over an area of 1700 square miles, and due to a maze of shifting shoals, its depth averages about 15 feet.  Receiving freshwater from the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers and the Albemarle Sound, as well as saltwater from the ocean through multiple inlets, the Pamlico Sound offers a mix of habitats that supports a wide array of aquatic species.  About one-half of the entire state's shrimp production comes from the Sound and its tributaries.  The two most commonly harvested shrimp species in our area are the brown shrimp and the white shrimp, with the brown shrimp moving through the Sound in July and August, and the white shrimp following in September and October.  

So a hankering for steamed shrimp made me round up the boys and head on down to Engelhard.  A short 20 minute drive had us at the docks of Williams Seafood, the place we go every summer for mounds and mounds of beautiful fresh shrimp just off the boat, and today was no exception.

You have to feel great when you pull up somewhere for fresh seafood and this is the first thing that you see.  It can't get any better than this, unless you were actually eating them on the boats fresh out of the nets!  An assembly line efficiently hauled the precious cargo onto the dock, where they were placed into buckets of fresh, icy water, rinsed and drained.

From there, they were transferred to the sorting tables, where a quick-fingered crew de-headed and sorted the icy shrimp.  Cole and Greyson watched the entire operation with rapt attention, and when I asked them what they thought of what they were seeing, Greyson said that he "bet everyone sure had some cold fingers."  I would have to agree with him there!

We left Williams Seafood with 10 pounds of beautiful shrimp and great big smiles on our faces.  As I loaded up the boys for the ride home, I told them that I had "fun, fun, FUN!"  and Cole said, "Mom, why do you sound excited like a little kid?"  I told him that it was because I knew how good those shrimp were going to taste for dinner tonight, but that was only half of the truth.  The whole truth is that I love this!  I love driving around Hyde County and discovering all of these wonderful places to buy fresh, local foods.  To me, there is nothing better than knowing exactly where my food comes from, and if I can't grow it or raise it on my own, then the next best thing is buying it from my neighbors and their local farms and businesses.  Doing this not only gives me the peace of mind of knowing that I am feeding my family the freshest, best food I possibly can, but it also helps support the place that I now call home and those that have made their living off of this land and these waters for generations.  I am doing the right thing for the environment, for my family, and for my community, and that is what what brings the smile to my face and makes me "excited like a little kid!" 

I remember when we told some of our friends and acquaintances that we were moving to Hyde County.  "Just for the weekends, right?" was the general response.  No, we would say, for good.  "Really?" would always come their incredulous response.  "Well, what's there?"  No, we had no family there, and we didn't know many people, but none of that mattered to us.  This place spoke to us - this flat land of verdant fields, wet woods, cypress fringes, and waving golden marshlands.  This place where I see more black bears walking edges of the roads than I see passing cars.  This place where the Tundra swans sing you to sleep on late November nights.  This place where my boys roam wild and free, faces sporting sticky brown Lake mud, warm blackberry juice, and careless smiles. Just like the Robert Frost poem from which Hyde County adopted its slogan, we  too took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

I want to thank those of you who spend your precious time reading my thoughts and ramblings, and please feel free to drop me a line in the comments section.  I would love to hear from you!