How does your home shellfish garden grow?

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QUILCENE, Wash. -- Ah, springtime and the life-affirming scent of freshly turned dirt in the garden.Make that the strong odor of just-slung mud on a tide flat, if you're a gardener of shellfish.A small-but-enthusiastic group of home shellfish gardeners plants seeds that will grow into oysters, clams, mussels and geoducks.Like all gardeners, they begin with a trip to the nursery. But these particular gardeners go to places like the Taylor Shellfish Farms Hatchery at Quilcene, Wash. and plunk down as much as $200 for shellfish seed and apparatus. More than 3,700 tideland owners have purchased seed from Taylor Shellfish Farms sales since 2001, according to a company count.It's an infinitesimal portion of business for the company that has operations along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia, and that sells seed to growers as far away as South Africa and Hong Kong. Just at this one hatchery, about 300 million mussel seeds, 30 million oyster seeds and 4.5 million geoduck seeds are produced each year, according to David DeAndre, Taylor Shellfish seed-sales manager.Half the activity inside the 24-acre hatchery's metal sheds is devoted to growing algae to feed the seeds. It's a little like making bread and starts inside a hot and humid lab."That's my starter culture," said manager Ed Jones, standing next to beakers. The simple organisms start in those, multiply fast, then are transferred to large, floor-to-ceiling plastic bags. When the algae has outgrown those, they're transferred to progressively bigger vats. At the end, the vats are about the size of municipal water tanks."That takes a lot of hard work, dedication," said Jones, who oversees the 24-7 operation. Water that runs to the tank whooshes under floor grates as workers scrub algae scum out of vats.The hatchery was featured on the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs."Looking way out of place in the beachside hatchery is a vat of humongous geoducks, some as old as 50 years. Like the big bull in the field out back, they're for breeding, Jones said.The other half of the operation is growing oyster, clam, mussel and geoduck larvae, which will undergo metamorphosis and turn into seed, or baby shellfish.Recently, Jones leaned over an outside sand- and water-filled bed. Miniature geoducks the size of ladybugs peeked up at him.Soon, they'll be bundled up and shipped to be grown at Taylor Shellfish Farms facilities or sold to other growers.And to home shellfish gardeners like Joe Michael of Bainbridge Island. He got the hobby from his friend, Don Beach, who picked it up from a neighbor."We like to barbecue them," he said of his oysters. Put them on a hot grill seven to 10 minutes until they pop, lip side down so it doesn't lose all the juice, he advised. Serve them on the half shell with garlic butter and herbs.But growing your own isn't for every beachfront dweller.Bob Woolrich, a manager with the Washington state Department of Health, said that if it's not safe to eat shellfish from your area, it's not safe to grow them for eating."That's where shellfish gardening should happen," he said.If you're not sure, call your local health department.Michael said it feels good to have a hobby that helps the environment a bit. Shellfish filter impurities out of the water.Just be sure to remove the shellfish from the water before they die, and release all the impurities they spent a lifetime collecting, Woolrich said.(Contact Rachel Pritchett of The Kitsap Sun in Bremerton, Wash., at www.kitsapsun.com.)