Hugo said we’d start at 7am. Clearly for him, the work starts early, and he doesn’t let any daylight go to waste.
So I loaded up my sons, grabbed a coffee, and we made the drive from Mobile to Bayou La Batre to visit the Point aux Pins oyster farm, just as the sun was peeking through the sky. When I pulled up next to a warehouse off the main road, I thought we’d made it. I thought wrong.
(Holly Swafford/SoulGrown)
But there was Hugo McClure, alongside his wife Yvette, ready to start the work day, graciously letting my twin sons and me tag along. Yvette took one look at my sandaled feet. “Those probably aren’t gonna work,” she said with a smile. Hugo pulled an extra pair of boots out of the truck and I slipped them on. We piled in, and we were off…