Producer's Profile: Far West Fungi
 

Located on less than a mile from the ocean in the Monterey Bay is Far West Fungi. Originally a white button (Agaricus) mushroom farm with multiple buildings housing different stages of mushroom activity. 

Arriving a little on the late side I was warmly welcomed by the owner, John Garrone who immediately showed me around the farm.  

All of the mushrooms are spawned onto wood mulch (a by-product of the cabinet making industry). Growing mushrooms, depending on the variety can take up to 8 weeks. First the mulch is sterilized, then packed into plastic bags, innoculated with mushroom spawn and placed onto multiple shelving racks that are moved by fork lift from one room to another. While John was busy with a service man I spoke with his son who recently graduated from Davis and is now helping out on the farm. He took me into the "experimental room"which he uses for experimenting with other varieties of mushrooms not yet in cultivation. Trying to mimic a wild environment is tricky and comes with practice, trial and error. He was experimenting with the Bluet mushroom, typically found only in the wild and not currently under cultivation. And it appeared to me that he was having some success.  

The white mycelium begins to run throughout the grow bags and "eat" and decompose the wood chips. The bags are then moved into fruiting rooms, slit open and misted by overhead irrigation. The smell is quite delicious, musky and woody and varies from room to room. Three pickers roam through the different fruiting rooms, each mushroom variety has their own particular condition and are kept separated. On a daily basis they harvest 700 pounds, supplying Whole Foods and distributors, as well as their store in the Ferry Plaza Building, San Francisco and many farmers markets around the Bay Area.  

Lastly, the cool storage room where boxes of mushrooms await sale. Besides the shittake and oysters, they grow the Matsutake and Hericium varieties. 

This family business is committed and passionate about mushrooms and bringing all varieties to our tables. 

Foothill Collaborative for Sustainability FoCuS presents two events 12 & 13 February....

3rd Annual

Seed Share Event

Saturday, February 12, 2011

11 to 4:00pm 

Columbia Elementary School, Columbia 

Begin the 2011 year with seeds and plant an edible garden. Everyone interested in gardening is welcome! You'll find many open-pollinated and heirloom seeds saved and collected by local growers. Varieties of vegetables, herbs, beans, fruit and grain seeds, potatoes, cuttings and potted plants saved and collected by local growers.

We'll have special guest, small scale grain grower,  John DeRosier from With the Grain in Pasa Robles. He'll be sharing his seeds as well as his wealth of knowledge in a workshop on the "Basics of Grain Growing".

Come hear local experts in a series of workshops from; seed saving to beekeeping, soil fertility to chicken and egg raising; pruning fruit trees to keeping worms and more.

Grain & Bean Growing Demystified

Sunday 13th at Outer Aisle FOODS, Douglas Flat 

Join us in welcoming, John DeRosier from With the Grain, Paso Robles. DeRosier is a small scale grain grower farming a stretch of land in the what was traditionally the winter wheat growing area of California during the early 1900's. He has been cultivating land in this region for the past three years, trialing many varieties, testing crops and building up his seed stock. There are only a handful of small scale grain growers in California of his type, that are growing multiple varieties and marketing them through a CSA program.

DeRosier will be present at the Grow Your Own Food: Seed Share Event on Saturday, February 12th in Columbia. Not only will he be sharing some of his seeds, but will give several presentations during the day on the subject of grain and legume growing.

On Sunday, February 13th, DeRosier will give an informative and more detailed session at Outer Aisle FOODS, 1192 Highway 4, Douglas Flat from 9am to noon. If you are a serious gardener and/or farmer, this will be the time to come with questions. You can expect him to cover cultivation, suitable seed types, soil and weather conditions, equipment and processing. Cost is $25. We invite you to bring a potluck lunch to share with fellow attendees.