Ark. mushroom growers turn a hobby into a business

SEARCY, Ark. (AP) — Five years ago, a love for edible fungus drove three men to learn to grow their own shiitake mushrooms.
Today, the group farms the fungus from 5,000 oak logs, selling them to individuals and businesses all over Arkansas.
David Owens, David Sullivan and Mark Wood all met while working at the former Kohler factory in Searcy. “We started with 120 logs just for ourselves,” Wood said. “The first year, we ate all of them. The second year, we had a big flush. We didn't know what to
do with all of them.'”
Owens said the big flush yielded 50 pounds of mushrooms in three days. Owens suggested they sell them, Wood said.
“We thought we could make a little money off of them on the side,” Wood said. “Then, we decided to into it big time. We did 1,500 the third year.”
The first customer to purchase their stock was Doc's Grill, Wood said. Now, they send their goods to Harps in Searcy, the Country Club, Lulav's of Little Rock and many individual customers each year.
“It kind of evolved from something we were interested in as just strictly a food source into what it is today, a 5,000 log project.”
Owens said there were two main reasons they chose shiitake mushrooms in particular.
“One, it's a premium mushroom,” he said. “Two, on the ease of growing.”
“It has a good shelf life,” Wood said. “After dehydrating them, you can freeze them for three days and can put them on the shelf for months and months. In the refrigerator, as long as
they're in a cardboard or wax box, they can last two to three weeks. Plus, they have good nutritional value. They're high in vitamin D and have more antioxidants than blueberries. You can also cook them in many different ways.”
Wood said his favorite way to prepare the mushrooms are to fry them like French fries. Owens said he prefers to sauté his in olive oil.
The actual process of farming the mushrooms can be tedious and labor intensive, Owens said.
First, he said, an oak log is cut in 36-inch segments. Holes are drilled in diamond patterns over the surface of the lock.
“After you drill the holes, you get sawdust spawn infected with a certain strait of mushrooms,” Owens said. “You use an inoculating tool to fill the logs with spawn. Then you roll the log down to your waxing area and dab a bit of wax on each and every hole. This, as Mark said, keeps the spawn moist and keeps insects from getting in there and stealing it. Then you take the log out to the lay yard, where it incubates for nine to 12 months.''
“You have to keep them watered,” Wood said. “You can't let them dry out.”
Once the logs are incubated, they are moved to a harvest area, where they sit upright and await harvesting.
Owens said he learned his techniques from Tom Kimmons, who used to run a shiitake farm in Shirley.
“He was very helpful to us” Owens said.
Owens noted that he and his two friends are rarities among new mushroom farmers. “We're one of the few people that have gotten into this and lasted over three years and keep driving to make it into a business,” Owens said. “Most people, once they start, it's too much work,'' Wood added.
“When you're up to your knees in water in 32-degree weather, sloshing logs out through the woods, people pretty well decide they maybe ought to get into the stock market,” Owens said. “It's very work-intense and tedious.”
Owens said the most difficult part is obtaining the oak logs.
“We cut all of our own wood,” Wood said. “We can't afford to buy it, since we're still just getting started. We've cut wood in eight inches of water, then hauled it all out on a four-wheeler.”
Owens said the group is always looking for donations of wood suitable for growing. But Wood and Owens said the yield of the farm is worth the effort.
“And the taste, it tastes like a mushroom,” Wood said. “Like, white buttons, they don't have a taste. They're grown in straw and sawdust, and they don't have a taste.”
Owens said he hopes to expand both the number of logs on the farm and the variety of mushrooms. “We're already into oyster mushrooms, we started those, and we're trying to get into morels and wine caps,” Owens said. “We also want to expand on the produce market.”
The farm, which is located on Wood's property, also has a garden for produce like tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini, as well as some more unusual crops like rat-tail radishes and gooseberries.
“We want to keep on providing new and unique produce items to the public,'' Owens said.
Owens said the farm is looking to sell more mushrooms to individual customers. They will have a kiosk set up at Spring Park March 12 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and again on following weekends.