The Little Ram Oyster Co., a farm of 2 million oysters on the North Fork of Long Island, started with a Groupon.To celebrate a friend’s birthday in the summer of 2017, Stefanie Bassett and Elizabeth Peeples joined eight other enthusiasts in Long Island City to learn how to shuck oysters at a discount. The Brooklyn couple, who knew each other from middle school in Columbia, Md., always had a love for the delicacy. But as they laughed with their friends and fumbled with their oyster knives, they also listened intently as an instructor explained the history and magic of the mollusks.… (MORE)
Do you ever find yourself craving oysters, but it’s 9 p.m. on a Tuesday? Now, you can get farm-fresh oysters 24/7 with Little Ram Oyster Company’s Oyster Automat. This one-of-a-kind rotating vending machine — located at the Southold farm stand — is stocked daily with oysters, shucking kits, seasonings, and much more… (KEEP READING)
Along the northeasternmost tip of Long Island, a collection of charming waterside hamlets celebrates the simple joys of slow living with a bounty of family farms, small shops, and outdoor dining spots to take in the views. Oysters are an essential element of the local ecosystem. At female-founded Little Ram Oyster Co., the one hour farm tours cap off with a dozen bivalves.… (MORE)
Little Ram Oysters is a 10-acre oyster farm owned-and-operated entirely by women, harvesting about 1.5 million oysters a year. The owners show Madison Mills how the filter feeders get from their waters to our plates. (WATCH)
Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Bassett had been working in New York City for 17 years—Peeples in interior design, Bassett in advertising—when they decided to move to Long Island’s North Fork and become oyster farmers. The way they tell it, their journey began with a Groupon for a “very boozy shucking class in Greenpoint.” Participants were invited to eat as many oysters as they could shuck. “I did about two,” Bassett says. Now she can shuck 200 in half an hour.… (MORE)
Every Wednesday from 4-7 p.m., starting on June 1 and continuing throughout the summer months, Little Ram Oyster Company will host a delectable oyster happy hour at Southold’s newest waterfront hotel, The Shoals. Parked in the grassy lawn, between the hotel and Little Ram’s newly debuted oyster building on the property sits The Shoals Food Truck serving an array of summer classics including Little Ram Oysters, lobster rolls, and soft-serve ice cream, alongside a wide variety of grab & go meals like salads, bento boxes, and grain bowls. Each Wednesday evening, Little Ram Oyster Company will flip the Food Truck into a ’Shuck Truck’ for those looking for a mid-week pick-me-up. Open to the general public as well as those staying at the hotel, guests can expect $2.50 Little Ram Oysters, caviar, drink pairings and music.… (MORE)
Right next door to the hotel, the owners have partnered with a female-owned family business, Little Ram Oyster Company, on a terrific oyster program, headed by local couple Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Bassett. The two took over the historic waterfront building next to the hotel. The business is now fully run out of the building, from which the two also hock their wares—unshucked oysters, along with kits to help open them—and supply the Food Truck with their goods. They also host farm tours and private shucking workshops. The mollusks are also a boon to the local ecosystem; each one can filter some 50 gallons of water per day, ridding it of pollutants like nitrogen. It’s clear the owners are committed to the area and proud of its heritage… (MORE)
Little Ram owners Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Bassett have taken over the historical waterfront building, once referred to as the Scallop Shack. The building has gone through a renovation in an effort to maintain its historical significance. “Aquaculture on the East End has seen rebirth over the past decade as increasingly more oyster farmers start farming our local waters,” said Peeples during The Shoal’s opening event. “As oyster farmers, we feel charged to encourage the viability of shellfish farming and reinvigoration of this historic industry. Oysters filter over 50 gallons of water a day.”… (MORE)
Little Ram owners Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Bassett seized the opportunity to move their operations to the site. Little Ram will host a takeover every Wednesday evening, turning the truck into a shuck truck for a craveable happy hour that’s incentive enough to visit. They’ll also offer farm tours and shucking workshops, allowing participants to get their hands dirty and see the operation up close. “The important thing for us is to really focus in on this space for anyone who’s coming down to buy oysters and make it really experiential,” Peeples said… (MORE)
The Shoals has partnered with family businesses like Little Ram Oyster company, whose restaurant and project is vital in preserving the area’s delicate marine ecosystem. Few summer moments are dreamier then downing a few bivalves from the Shuck Truck, the Shoals’ own food truck turned over for oyster nights, while sipping something local looking out over the water… (MORE)
Respecting the local heritage and culture, The Shoals have partnered with female-owned family business, Little Ram Oyster Company, to offer a robust oyster programme, whilst collabs with local community partners will showcase exactly what the area has to offer and create a full-circle hospitality experience that is connected to the heartwarming folk who make up the locality… (MORE)
"The owners of Little Ram Oyster Company, Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Bassett, are stewards in the oyster development and advancement in Southold, and we thought they'd be great partners. They are excited to serve the most craveable oyster experience on the North Fork while also sharing their knowledge with our guests through onsite educational opportunities," Tibett added.… (MORE)
You may have tried Little Ram oysters at Frisky Oyster or one of your other favorite places to dine. Or perhaps you’ve driven by their roadside stand in Southold and grabbed yourself a couple dozen to take home with you.
But now the popular shellfish company has a brand new location… (MORE)
After 17 years working in high-end interior design and advertising, Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Bassett needed a change. They wanted an environmentally sustainable, outdoor lifestyle that would allow them to work with food. Says Bassett, “We were ready to get our hands dirty.”… (MORE)
In the North Fork on Long Island, N.Y., Little Ram Oyster Company generated 100 percent of its sales of farmed oysters to local restaurants and the pandemic-related closures threatened their business.
“COVID hit a year after we bought the farm and it threw a big wrench in our business plan,” admits Stefanie Bassett. “We had to start thinking creatively.”.… (MORE)
Little Ram Oysters is taking a dive into community supported aquaculture, that is, following a similar plan to a traditional community supported agriculture but using their own products. “We are members of CSAs,” said Stefanie Bassett, who founded Little Ram Oysters with her partner Elizabeth Peeples. “The thing that we love about them is the fact that we are supporting our local farmers and giving them the tools they need to have a successful year.” The oyster CSA comes in two different options. Both start on Memorial Day, while one finishes on New Years Eve, meant for the year-rounder, the other ends on Labor Day… (MORE)
Outer Boro Broad sits down with Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Basset, owners of Little Ram Oysters, to chat about topics including leaving NYC, motherhood, their favorite spots on the North Fork, and a unique culinary offering they’ve created just in time for the holidays… (MORE)
If you want a locally sourced meal for the holidays, but don’t know how to get it, Little Ram Oysters and Chronicle Wines are doing all the legwork for you. For Christmas, the oyster farm is releasing a book of recipes for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner, the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Each of the recipes features plenty of fish and oysters, obviously, but also local produce from a few of the farm stands still open this time of year. The recipe book comes as part of a meal delivery kit, complete with oysters, produce and many of the ingredients necessary to cook the meals… (MORE)
In our opinion chowder is the perfect autumn meal, it’s warming, hearty and creamy and the variations are pretty endless. And it turns out that we’re not the only big fans of the dish. Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Bassett, founders of Little Ram Oysters, took to Instagram to tease their recipe for Little Ram Oyster and Corn Chowder and we just knew we had to share it with you. “This is one of our favorite recipes when the long Summer days start turning into the crisp, clear Fall days. It celebrates the end of summer corn and introduces the hearty root veggies back into the mix… (MORE)
It’s 7 a.m. on a crisp October morning on the North Fork of Long Island and Stefanie Bassett is out in the middle of Gardiner’s Bay on a wooden boat, wearing bright orange waders and sampling oysters. It’s a far cry from two years ago when she was sitting in a boardroom in a slick Manhattan advertising office, wondering what she was doing with her life. “It was a constant hustle and I had to put on blinders and close myself off to the creativity that drew me to New York City in the first place, just to get through the day,” says Bassett. “I knew it was time to change something.” (MORE)
Our Front Porch Interviews take you to the homes and neighborhoods of notable North Forkers. This week, Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Bassett, founders of Little Ram Oysters, talk about how they left careers in Brooklyn to run a 10-acre oyster farm and raise their 8-month-old son in Southold. It all started with a Groupon… (MORE)
From the perspective of the millions who get starry-eyed about the idea of moving to New York City, Stefanie Bassett and Elizabeth Peeples had it all. They had intriguing jobs, Bassett in advertising and Peeples in interior design, a happy marriage, and a wide network of interesting friends. But as they began to consider the next phase of their life, the pair realized they were looking for something that was quite the opposite of their life in the concrete jungle. “We knew we could have moved to another city, but while there are so many great cities around the world, they’re not New York,” said Peeples… (MORE)
We’re in the throes of spring, which means that East Enders are increasingly craving a certain sea-based delicacy. Oysters can be found throughout the Hamptons and North Fork, and there are several companies offering delivery or safe, limited-contact pick-up. So pick your favorite oyster dealer, place an order and get shucking!… (MORE)
Elizabeth Peeples and her wife Stefanie Bassett of Southold recently purchased an oyster farm in Gardiners Bay, known as Little Ram Oyster Co. They said they feel the community support, but are still affected by the high costs of starting and running a farm… (MORE)
Peeples and Bassett were inspired by Erin Byers Murray, author of Shucked, a woman they say confidently entered what has historically been a man’s world with little to no experience. Fully immersed in living and working in the oyster industry, Rivara has been another source of motivation. On top of being women, Peeples and Bassett are aware of other challenges they may face as they explore aquaculture. In an area where generational families have long worked the water, being recent transplants from Manhattan could be cause for pushback, on top of their being gay. However, they’ve found respect from baymen and oyster farmers that realize the pair are legit, doing what it takes to run a successful business… (MORE)
