Michiana mushroom growers are devoted to their craft

This devotion to all things fungi is common among mushroom growers in Michiana.

After getting kicked by an ostrich one too many times, Nick Stama of Baroda, MI, decided enough with the birds. Now he raises oyster mushrooms at Stama Farm and sells them to local restaurants and a handful of retail customers who order ahead.

But like the ornery ostriches, Stama’s first foray into mushroom growing was discouraging.

He’d ordered a kit advertised in the back of a magazine, but when no mushrooms appeared, Stama started experimenting. Now the large building—which is built into the side of a hill on his sprawling wooded property near Singer Lake—is devoted to oyster mushrooms in various stages of fruiting.

In one room, hanging from the rafters, are plastic bags Stama has filled with straw he sterilized in a metal drum fashioned from an old turkey cooker, inoculated with spores and then left in the dark to start fruiting—a process that takes about two weeks. When that cycle is completed, Stama moves them into a humidifying room where he has set up several large fans that continuously diffuse mist through the air. Here oyster mushrooms in various stages of color and size grow until they’re large enough to be harvested, cleaned and bagged for delivery.

“You don’t get a break when it comes to mushrooms,” says Stama, who plants several times a week to keep up with the demand. “I have more orders than I can fill. But hey, they’re better than ostriches.”

Cindy Grewett, owner of Kitty Hill Organics, started raising shiitake mushrooms on her 10-acre farm in Dowagiac, MI, several years ago. It was a departure from the heirloom produce she has grown and sold for years at the St. Joseph Farmers Market.

“You start with logs and drill holes all around them, put the mushroom spores in and then plug the holes with wax,” says Grewett, who has help from her nephew, who has a PhD in soil microbial ecology. “You then stack the logs—oak is the best—on top of each other.” 

Grewett favors shiitakes because of their antiviral and antibacterial properties.

“They contain phytonutrients, which are good for your heart, help prevent cancer by inhibiting the growth of cells and fight infectious disease,” she says. “And I like the taste.”

Warren Chatwin, owner of The Scholarly Shroom in South Bend, started growing mushrooms as a course requirement for his PhD candidacy in biology at the University of Notre Dame. Chatwin is focusing on forest genetics research, which he says is not so different from mushroom genetics.

“I needed to pick a micro-organism to study,” says Chatwin. He decided to study oyster mushrooms because they’re the easiest, most forgiving and hardy. “They also require a different kind of prep than other mushrooms,” he says.

Chatwin started off by ordering mushroom growing kits, but has expanded his enterprise. He pasteurizes his own wheat and cereal straw (you can also use sawdust as the growing medium for oyster mushrooms) by putting it in hot water for a few hours.

“Oysters grow very vigorously,” he says. “From the time you inoculate the growing material to the time they are ready to harvest, it takes about a month.”

Chatwin took a hiatus from The Scholarly Shroom this summer but says he’s back at it and will have his first harvest ready to go in September.

Chatwin raises enough oyster mushrooms to sell them regularly at the South Bend Farmers Market, though he says it’s not very profitable. But it’s an intriguing— and slightly addictive—hobby.

“It’s definitely fun,” he says. “That’s why I keep doing it.”

Kitty Hill Organics
9618 Columbia
Dowagiac, MI
269.208.8757

Purple Porch Co-op
123 N. Hill St.
South Bend, IN
574.287.6724
purpleporch.coop

The Scholarly Shroom
918.289.6090
facebook.com/scholarlyshroom

Stama Farm
10332 Singer Lake Road
Baroda, MI
269.422.1211