Owners: Jennifer and Dustin Olsen
Crew Size: 4 including our 2 children, Audric, age 17; Sunny, age 9
Location: Lebanon, OR, In the foothills of the Cascade Mountains
Acreage: 14 acres
How long have you been in operation: 7 years. We’ve been selling to the Co-op that entire time.
What do you grow? We grow certified organic mushrooms, dowel plug spawn, grow-at-home mushroom kits, and spawn for medical mushroom tinctures.
What does the Co-op buy from you?
Cultivated and wild harvested mushrooms, and medicinal mushroom tincture (you can find this in the wellness section)
What do you use to control weeds, pests, and pathogens?
We keep our growing facility very clean, and use sticky fly strips.
Please describe your farming philosophy:
The Mushroomery is a family-run, certified organic mushroom farm that specializes in growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms from spores and wild harvesting mushrooms. Our wild mushrooms are ethically harvested to ensure the health of our forests. We strive to create the least environmental impact as possible.
Can you tell us a little about growing mushrooms?
We begin the process with spores and transfer these onto petri dishes containing agar to make a mushroom culture. The culture is then transferred onto grain spawn to make a master spawn jar (the first type of spawn in a consecutive series of spawn jars). When fully colonized, the grain spawn is transferred onto sawdust creating generation 2 spawn. When this is colonized we transfer again onto sawdust (3rd generation spawn) but this time the sawdust contains supplements. We then either transfer this spawn onto another substrate for fruiting or fruit it as is. The entire process from spore to fruiting can take 2-3 months. One mushroom culture can make 3,750 3rd generation spawn jars.
Please tell us your story:
Dustin and Jennifer met in Bellingham, WA in 2004. Both of us were working in the mycology field and had a passion for mushrooms. We began experimenting with growing wild mushrooms and decided we wanted to start an organic, ecologically conscious mushroom farm that focused on growing medicinal and rare mushrooms.
Our favorite parts of the job include the cultivation of rare culinary mushrooms, making medicinal mushrooms and tincture accessible to those who wish to use them, working with our two children, and attending farmers’ markets.
We love educating the public about cooking with mushrooms, their many different textures and flavors, their nutritional and medicinal properties, and how people can grow their own mushrooms. The Mushroomery is always changing and improving with new and exciting ideas and techniques.