How to Reuse Shells
It is only near the sea coasts, though, that oyster shells are used for roads and ditch-linings and such rougher businesses, and there certainly you would not find a gastronomic connection… unless for remembering, with far-fetched romanticism, that every shell once held its tasty lodger, which must have been swallowed somewhere, by someone, before the road could be paved.
- MKF Fisher
Reuse Your Shells:
In soil as a natural liming alternativeOyster shells are 96% calcium carbonate, and can raise the overall pH (or alkalinity) of the soil. Higher alkalinity can fortify new soil, help trees in acidic soil, and be a top-dressing for vegetables. Farms we work with use shells for their tomatoes, melons, and apples.
For egg-laying chickens as a slow-release calcium supplementOyster shells provide nutrients chickens otherwise may be missing in their feed. Calcium deficiency is common in hens, leading to bone fragility, soft-shelled eggs, and reproductive harm. Farms we have heard from offer shell separately from other feed, as each chickens’ need for calcium varies.
In bioremediation projectsOyster shells can help create a “filter sock” to naturally detoxify soil. Organizations we work with have used oyster shell, along with oak mulch and oyster mushrooms in burlap, to help soil at post-fires sites in Altadena and the Palisades.
- MKF Fisher
Reuse Your Shells:
In soil as a natural liming alternativeOyster shells are 96% calcium carbonate, and can raise the overall pH (or alkalinity) of the soil. Higher alkalinity can fortify new soil, help trees in acidic soil, and be a top-dressing for vegetables. Farms we work with use shells for their tomatoes, melons, and apples.
For egg-laying chickens as a slow-release calcium supplementOyster shells provide nutrients chickens otherwise may be missing in their feed. Calcium deficiency is common in hens, leading to bone fragility, soft-shelled eggs, and reproductive harm. Farms we have heard from offer shell separately from other feed, as each chickens’ need for calcium varies.
In bioremediation projectsOyster shells can help create a “filter sock” to naturally detoxify soil. Organizations we work with have used oyster shell, along with oak mulch and oyster mushrooms in burlap, to help soil at post-fires sites in Altadena and the Palisades.
In hardscapes, swales, art
Line your garden bed, pave a path, create a shell-y swale. Have fun!
Someday we would love our shells to…Create a shell reef. In Maryland it’s actually illegal to throw away shells. Programs in Taiwan, on the East Coast, and in Orange County are already leading the way. Why not here in LA too?