The evidence is now at your neighborhood farmers’ market: fresh, locally grown mushrooms are bursting with aroma and flavor superior to mushrooms that have been on a shelf or in a refrigerated container for a week or more. Responding to the quality, top chefs and consumers are demanding more of these delicacies. Unfortunately, demand still surpasses supply.

“I can’t begin to grow enough to meet the demand,” says Daniel Parson of Decatur’s Gaia Gardens, who has been growing shiitake mushrooms for several years. “I sell at the Morningside Organic Farmers’ Market, and if I don’t bring mushrooms, my customers are asking for them!”

In hopes of sparking mushroom growing throughout the state, Daniel has been teaching a shiitake growing workshop for Georgia Organics for the past several years, and he has been instrumental in helping several growers get started. Adding mushrooms to their product mix helps these market growers diversify their offerings while extending their growing season.

Farmers aren’t the only ones interested in growing edible fungi. Serious hobbyists grow in basements, recreation rooms, and shady backyard nooks throughout the city. Mushrooms require the same basic elements as other growing things: a vigorous strain of mushrooms suitable for the region in which you live, something for them to grow on that supplies their nutritional and supportive needs, water, and sometimes a change in temperature at the right time. Unlike vegetable crops, they thrive in moist, full-shade conditions.
Mushrooms, like shiitakes, begin as spores, which are released from the gills underneath the cap. When they land in a favorable environment, they develop into mycelium, a network of fibers that penetrate and cling to a substrate. Young mycelium are called spawn.

Shiitake cultivation involves inserting plugs of spawn-riddled substrate into holes drilled in hardwood logs. Once sealed, the mycelium thread throughout the log. Six to 18 months later, the fruits—what we know as the mushroom—appear.

A good alternative for those not interested in waiting that long is the oyster mushroom, which fruits in six to eight weeks, not months. Generally known for its reputation as a neutral-tasting mushroom that takes on the flavor of what it’s cooked with, oyster mushroom varieties can vary a lot in their flavor and in their color: pink, golden, blue, white, and brown—a rainbow of hues are all available.

“Oyster mushrooms will grow on a lot of different types of cellulose,” explains local mushroom enthusiast and grower Cornelia Cho. “Because they spread quickly through the growing medium, they colonize it before other fungi and mold.” This fast-growing characteristicmakes oyster mushrooms an easy variety to try at home.

Turns out that oyster mushrooms may have a higher calling beyond being delicious. They also have the ability to break down complex hydrocarbons into CO2 and water. “Nature doesn’t know what to do with these compounds—pesticides, dioxins, PCBs, and other petroleum and manufacturing by-products—but mushrooms are really good at breaking them down,” extols Cornelia.

For farmers and backyard growers alike, mushroom growing can be both fascinating and lucrative. After taking one of Daniel Parson’s workshops, Brady Bala of Double B Farm in Conyers embraced the mushroom world whole-heartedly and now has about 900 shiitake logs. “I can sell all the shiitakes I don’t eat,” Brady said, then added, “But, I eat as many as I possibly can!”

Georgia Organics will host their third annual mushroom growing workshop December 6 in Decatur. In addition to shiitake cultivation, this year’s workshop will feature instruction on growing oyster mushrooms on pasteurized substrates.
More information on the class is available at www.georgiaorganics.org/events.

Suzanne Welander is the communications and outreach director for Georgia Organics and editor of The Dirt. She lives in downtown Atlanta with her canoeist husband Tom, three chickens, two beehives, and one very large fig tree.

Laura Martin is the author of 25 books on gardening, food and crafts. Her latest book, The Green Market Baking Book (Sterling Publishing), will be released fall of 2009.

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