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| My Job...Growing Mushrooms |
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A few people have asked questions about our business of growing mushrooms, so I thought I would share some pictures with you of the process we go through to get the mushrooms.
This first picture is a pic of the greenhouse, that sits down below our regular house...
Next is a picture of the autoclave, where we sterilize grain that is in autoclavable bags. After they have cooked and cooled, we pour liquid spawn on them. It takes about two weeks for them to grow and be ready to use. They will be completely white with growing mushroom spores also called mycelium....
And the grain goes into the spawn room after it has been inoculated with spores where it is kept warm to spur growth...
Once the grain is ready it goes into the cooler for storage for up to six months. When we are ready to use it, we "cook" straw in the steam room, to pasteurize it for the grain...
We cook the straw over night, after we have "watered" it...there is a sprinkler system that waters the straw so that it is moist for pasteurization. After it has "cooked", we let it cool for several hours, and then we prepare to "inoculate" the straw with the grain of mycelium. Below is the inoculation table.
The straw is spread out on the table, and we empty one bag of grain onto one basket of straw, mix it up and stuff it through a hole in the end of the table, into a plastic bag...
After the bag is stuffed, pounded down and compacted tightly, it is tied off, put on a hook and moved by trolley into the spawn room, where holes are punched into the bag to allow air to move through it, and promote growth of the mycelium. Depending on color of mushroom, they can begin producing as soon as two weeks.
They will be moved out of the spawn room into the grow room, which is kept at a cooler temperature, has lights and also has a humidifan to increase humidity. There is no outside light allowed in, only the lights overhead, which are needed to increase the color of the mushrooms.
And the next four pics are of the actual mushrooms that we grow...oyster mushrooms, in four different colors...pink, yellow, grey, and white.
 
 
I pick the mushrooms twice a day, pack them into five pound boxes, and store them in the cooler for up to a week. They do not have a long shelf life, so our goal is to get rid of them quickly. We sell to distributors and restaurants, but our biggest seller is to farmer's markets.
We also grow shiitake mushrooms, but we buy those blocks already made and basically all we do with those is set them on a shelf in the grow room and they produce in about a weeks time. We only grow those May through September for the farmer's markets. We have tried to make our own blocks but had trouble with them, and the company that we buy them from has a good product that produces a lot, so it is easier to buy from them.
My husband and I built this greenhouse pretty much ourselves. We had someone else pour concrete, and hook up the heaters, but the rest we did ourselves. My husband did all the plumbing and electrical work. The company that we bought the greenhouse from told us it would take six weeks to build, but it took six months. Maybe they were thinking we would have a crew of people to help us build it, but it was just us two, with an occasional extra hand from my mother-in-law, or someone Jim worked with. It was NOT a fun experience. But the sense of accomplishment once it was done, was great. We could not have done it without God's help. And He is the one that keeps it going now. With the economy the way it is now, business is slow...but the farmer's markets start up this week, and that will be a big shot in the arm. Our goal is to eventually grow only for the farmer's markets, and close it down in the winter. It is hard to keep heated in the winter...we used to heat with propane, but now have a wood burning furnace, which my husband has to keep chopping wood for all winter long. It gets tiresome, and we are hoping to be able to close it down for the winter starting this year. We'll see how sales go this summer.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed learning about what I do! I'll try to answer questions if you have any.
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interesting!
I love mushrooms for their imune building properties.
I made a pot of stew with "hen of the woods" that I found growing in PA when we lived there.
Scott acted like I was trying to kill him... lol |
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Do u use manure to fertilize? That was always the going joke when we used to do magic mushrooms, how they were in dung. My parents had many greenhouses with a produce and plant farm, and they were all wood heated. It's a lot of work, getting up several times a night to stoke the fires, but surely much cheaper; especially if the wood is off your own land (which my parent's was). That is A LOT of work to do the mushrooms! I'd have never known. |
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| lol And atleast here in Canada, your stoves in your greenhouses don't have to be CSA approved or whatever you call the States one. |
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Deb |
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April 30, 2008 at 9:15am |
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Steve, We buy our spawn from someone else, who actually takes a culture of the mushroom he wants to grow, and puts it on a petrie dish...when it grows enough, he puts into sterile water, and it goes onto a shaker table where it shakes until it has grown sufficiently. I am not sure of that whole process, because we decided not to do it as the equipment we would need was expensive.
I cannot tell how many mushrooms will be produced from a single batch...it all depends on if there are any molds that pop up, which can slow growth or even kill the mycelium...and there are bugs that cause problems too...the average bag of straw should produce eight pounds of mushrooms over the course of its life, which is approximately three months. This is also dependent on color too...the pink ones do not produce as many.
What prompted us to start this business was my husband :) He wanted to have a business of his own in case his job was ever at risk. He did not take into consideration that the economy effects this business just like everything else. He cannot give up his day job, but this does allow me to work from home, which I like.
Hudnall, I do pick mushrooms from the wild on occasion, but only the ones that I know are safe. We have a poster of edible mushrooms and non-edible mushrooms, I never eat anything I am not sure of! lol When we first started growing these, we ate them all the time...now I rarely have them, just because I got sick of them. |
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Deb |
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April 30, 2008 at 9:20am |
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Lara, we don't use manure. The mushrooms actually like the straw and feed off of it. When we are finished with the bags, though, they are added to the manure pit and our neighbor, who farms our land, uses it to spread on the fields along with the manure.
Yes, keeping a wood fire going is a lot of work...especially since this particular kind of mushroom (oyster) needs to have a fresh air exchange every once in a while. So you actually have to have fans on that will bring in the outside air, and it is not heated until it gets into the greenhouse. In the really cold times, we just shut off the fans, and don't give them fresh air. That causes longer stems and smaller caps, but it is easier on us so we don't have to put as much wood in the fire! |
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Cathy |
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April 30, 2008 at 9:46am |
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| EWWWWWEE!! That is the one food ( fungus ) I will not eat !! But, this is interesting ! LOL |
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lol... I did a ton of research online before I picked it cuz yeah how scary is that?
I hate it when I burn myself out like that on something. But if your growing them then I guess you had to. |
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| I am a mushroom- aholic, LOL................I put them in everrrrrrrrrrrything, including my homemade chicken and dumplings, LOLOL so I enjoyed you sharing this with us!!!!! |
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This is fascinating Deb!
I also love mushrooms. I wonder how they would taste in lemonade?
Back in high school I loved mushrooms too, mushroom tea to be exact......thatnk God that part of me died! |
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| Deb, this is fascinating! Wow, thanks for sharing in such detail. I really enjoy eating mushrooms, but have to admit those pictures aren't the most appetizing! lol |
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| Star for the most interesting and educational blog of the day! |
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STUSHI |
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April 30, 2008 at 11:44am |
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| You sound like "Funguys" to hang around with but I bet there's not "Mushroom" in the greenhouse.....sorry...I couldn't resist! Interesting blog though! |
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That's really neat. Ever since I saw the "how they make crayons" segment on Sesame Street 20 some years ago, I've always found explanations and demonstrations on 'how things are done' really interesting. Thanks for sharing! |
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Deb |
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April 30, 2008 at 12:38pm |
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Cathy, I know, I know, I hear that all the time. It has been my experience that you either love mushrooms or hate them.
Hudnall, people are always asking me if I know if the mushroom that is growing in their yard is edible. I am not that smart! I don't know everything there is to know about mushrooms, only the ones I grow, and the ones I do know in the wild. I always tell them it is probably safer to not pick anything in their yards!
Cindy, I put them in a lot of things, but not everything, and never tried them in my chicken and dumplings! You sound like some of the customers that come to the farmer's markets. They seem to get addicted to them!
Michael, I guess if you are hungry enough, mushrooms might be ok with lemonade, but not in it. :) What kind of mushroom did you make mushroom tea out of? Magic mushrooms? lol
Mike, whaddya mean those pics aren't appetizing? :) You don't think you would want to eat a pink or yellow mushroom? And thanks for the star!
Stu, or Lord Gottenowt, or whatever your name is today :) You are super funny :)
Growing, Glad you enjoyed it. We give tours on occasion too. I don't find it all that fascinating, but it amazes me how many people do. |
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| Deb, A LOT more ppl will be apt to eat your mushrooms, knowing they haven't been sitting in dung. lol |
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| That was very interesting, thanks for sharing. |
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THAT IS SO COOL!!
I love it! and I love mushrooms, I knew I liked you for a reason. Besides the fact that you have a good name. :) |
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| In Virginia ginsing sells for $100 @ lb
Some people try to grow the Japanese mushroom. |
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Deb |
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April 30, 2008 at 5:47pm |
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Lara, and people do ask, don't think I would like to eat them if they grew in the manure!
Shirley, you are welcome!
DeboraJ, yep the name is a good name. I am glad you enjoyed the blog!
Tom, morels, (wild mushrooms) sell for an amazing amount of money, as well as chanterelles. Of course, we don't sell those, they are hard if not impossible to grow in the kind of conditions that we have. |
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Ed |
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May 01, 2008 at 7:33am |
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| This is the first time I've seen a blog like yours. Thanks so much. We can get educated and encouraged all at the same time. Thanks for sharing! |
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Jen |
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May 01, 2008 at 2:48pm |
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| You know, Morels always sound good, because the name rhymes with a type of chocolate -- nonpareils |
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Jen |
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May 01, 2008 at 3:29pm |
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This is so KEWL! Thanks for writing this and including photos! Is it ok if I link my garden blog to this blog entry of yours? |
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Deb |
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May 02, 2008 at 5:25pm |
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Ed, thank you!
Jen, feel free to link away :) |
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| This is one of those places that school kids need to go see. Thanks for sharing it with us Deb. Such a neat business and a lot of hard work. Whenever I have mushrooms again, I will think of all the work that goes into growing them. |
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| One more thing...I am curious why you don't use coal to heat? It is about the same cost as wood, but burns all night long...just curious... |
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Deb |
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May 06, 2008 at 10:44am |
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DC, We have given some tours, but mostly to garden groups, college students, or church groups. Not any school age kids.
As far as wood vs. coal, the furnace we have is a wood burning furnace, I'm not sure whether it would be ok to use it with coal...not to mention coal is a lot dirtier than wood. I'll have to question my husband on that one. Also, we have a lot of woods on our property, so the wood is actually, pretty much free. except we do have to replenish it, with new trees. |
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