Chris Buck found the ideal spot for growing oysters on Virginia’s lower Eastern Shore at Cherrystone Creek, where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic.

“Geography is an important factor,” said Buck, who founded Ruby Salts Oyster Co. in 2010. “I had the good fortune to come across a piece of intertidal bottom suitable for growing oysters. They take on the flavor of where they’re grown, and the Chesapeake Bay is an amazing resource with a wide salinity range.”

Buck is among oyster growers featured a Virginia Farm Bureau report last week.

Wind, tide cycles and heavy rainfall can alter salinity levels.

“But we’re able to stay pretty consistent at the mouth of the bay,” Buck said. “So our waters are not as susceptible to fluctuations.”

Celebrating Virginia’s No. 1 rank in oyster production on the East Coast, Gov. Glenn Youngkin proclaimed November to be Virginia Oyster Month. The state is home to eight different oyster regions, each with its own taste, history and heritage, originally harvested by Native Americans and early colonists.

Now consumers shell out for fresh oysters that are iced and shucked at fine restaurants and in stores year-round.

“Aquaculture is a booming industry in Virginia,” Youngkin wrote in the proclamation. “The average dockside value for Virginia’s wild and farmed oysters is approximately $40 million annually.”

Consumers are now eating oysters year-round because only consuming them in months ending in R is an antiquated philosophy, Buck explained. Commonly-used triploid oysters are sterile, not expending energy—and meat quality—on reproduction in warm summer months. “We also have rapid transport with mechanical refrigeration,” he added. “When oysters are harvested and cooled, they are safe to consume in warmer months.”

To support state aquaculture growers, ask specifically for Virginia oysters, Buck advised. The method of consumption is up to you.