Mushrooms for Everyone
by Danielle Moore
Here's an interview with Tradd Cotter, with Mushroom Mountain, presenter for the workshop "Mushrooms For Everyone."
Learn even more about Tradd Cotter from his TEDTalk and his video on Repowering America.
Q: What got you interested in mushroom cultivation?
A: It basically found me. I wasn’t interested at all until I toured a Mushroom Farm on John’s Island, SC when I was twenty. I needed a job while I was in college and wasn’t interested in flipping burgers, so I went out to tour the farm to see how they were being grown. I toured with the owner and offered some insight since I was a biology major. As I was driving off after the tour, the owner ran out and knocked on my window, offering me a job on the spot. That was the “moment” mushrooms found me…. That was 1993 and I haven’t stopped ever since.
Q: How did you develop Mushroom Mountain and what were your goals in developing it?
A: I left my position as head grower when I was 21, I dreamed up a concept for a farm that could be interpretive, tour-able, have a nature trail, and a laboratory where I could clone or culture anything I wanted to experiment with for production. I started to purchase laboratory gear one piece at a time, it isn’t cheap, and the learning curve was difficult since no one was teaching sterile culture of fungi. I owe much of my success to much more failure. Now I realize that in order to succeed as an entrepreneur you have to be willing to take calculated risks, but by fine-tuning my skills and challenging myself to constantly strive for new ideas and pioneer cultivation concepts, I am always making new discoveries that I can share with other growers.
Q: What are some common myths or misconceptions about mushroom cultivation you would like to dispel?
A: Mushroom cultivation is actually very easy with the proper instruction, and you don’t need a whole lot of space or money to get started. For the past 100 years it has been a centralized and monopolistic industry. Recent availability of cultivation classes, spawn for small-scale producers, and the need for local food has changed everything.
Q: How do you come up with the recipes on your blog, like chantrelle infused vodka? Are there any others you want to share?
A: European, Soviet, and Asian cultures have infused fungi in their alcoholic infusions for centuries. It just hasn’t caught on here in the U.S. Olga [my wife] and I wanted to try to bring it back as an interesting way to extract the medicinal properties of many fungi, plus it affects the flavor! Keeping interesting recipes and experimental dishes on the website definitely offers more ideas for consumers and cultivators to try something new to share with their potential market buyers as well. Education…you have to educate your clientele as how to use the products you are selling. If they don’t know what to do with them, they may cook up a dud and never buy your mushrooms again!
My favorite is the dried mushroom powder used to “flour” meat or fish. I dry and powder shiitakes or oyster mushrooms using a blender, then roll the item (chicken) in the powder mixed with spices, sear in oil, then bake. It makes a unique “mushroom crust” that is amazingly different and addicting. It works great on seafood, chicken, or any protein source like tofu or tempeh.
Q: You are working on a new book. Tell me about that.
A: A cultivation manual and also a manual for beginners to advanced. It is going to be able organic mushroom farming and how to become not just a mushroom farmer but what are your other benefits from being a mushroom farmer. The waste can be used to clean up toxic waste. I would wish for my farmers to not just grow mushrooms but to reach out and be more interactive with their community and go after problems that communities are facing like composting. I want to see a lot of growers connecting and sharing knowledge so I am trying to get this knowledge out and make it easier for the everyday farmer to understand. Right now there are only scientific journals that are very complex. I am trying to simplify the complex and make it easy for people to get started. It is kind of a breaking ground kind of book rather than just reading about it. I want it to be turnkey options where you can read a few chapters and decide which direction to go.
Q: What is the most exciting aspect of your work?
A: Discovering new species in the forests, culturing them and the cultivation trials is my favorite part. I love waking up in the morning and walking through the lab and greenhouse to see what new things are happening. Since we experiment so much at our farm, there’s always a new discovery every week and that keeps it exciting.
Q: Are there any new discoveries recently that you’d like to share?
A: I’m studying bacterial fungal interactions and it’s an ongoing process but every week we are seeing progress with different mushrooms. Not every mushroom can be grown in a lab or commercially so I’ve been trying to isolate the bacteria that go with the mushrooms I get from the wild. They won’t produce a mushroom without other microbes or bacteria collaborating with them. I am isolating the native bacteria that are compatible with the fungi and we are about to embark upon republishing lifecycles for fungi that include bacteria. Existing lifecycles are just a big circle and right now we are going to be able to add a whole other organism to have two organisms in one lifecycle instead of just one. We all can’t live without specific bacteria and specific microbes on or inside or body. Fungi is a very basic model and what I’m seeing is we will not only be able to sell mushroom spawn but also a whole new way of selling the spawn plus fungal culture plus bacterial culture that works with it. We will be able to offer new varieties that have been un-cultivatable.
Q: What is the best piece of advice to give a person new to mushroom cultivation?
A: Attend a workshop that focuses on the fundamentals and also offers advanced theories. I try to cover it all in our programs, from beginner to advanced, so no matter what level you walk in at, I make sure that you walk out with a solid, confident grasp at getting started immediately without worrying too much about trial and error that book-driven startups can create. Start small, but always think big. Never oversell your mushrooms or create the market without being able to supply them. Never sell what you can grow, grow what you can sell if you are in it for a business.
Q: What do you think about the current food system?
A: I see the tables turning in a positive way; the more information out there to consumers makes the system transparent enough for anyone to make better decisions about their food and what they are giving to their family. I am a little disappointed with the lack of support and enthusiasm from our food and agricultural policy makers. I think its time for the next generation of farmers to start electing and hiring the right people who will make true and final change happen.
Q: How can some of your practices contribute to fixing the current food system?
A: Mushrooms are well respected for their nutrition and medicinal properties. Since they do not ship that well it encourages local cultivation efforts. Mushrooms also recycle locally available agricultural debris, breaks down pesticides and herbicides from traditional farmer waste, and keeps production cycles circular…from plants to mushrooms, to soil, back to plants! I tell folks at conferences, “what would happen if you put a sealed, transparent dome over your city? Would you be able to make everything you needed to get by without the outside world?” I think we must place that imaginary pressure on ourselves to force a stronger nucleus for keeping things even more local than they are now.
Q: What aspect of Plow Forward are you most looking forward to?
A: I love sharing our knowledge the most. I feel like we have so much information that can be put to great use by many existing and new farmers. The ethereal energy by so many gifted and sharing with the hungry and ambitious is a feeling that will never get old. The excitement and anticipation of learning something that can be life changing always gives me goose bumps, so we are attending other lectures as well to become more well-rounded farmers.
Q: What other lectures do you plan on attending?
A: It depends on Olga’s and my interest. We like to culture and growth things. We are into composting and you’ll probably see me in a permaculture lecture. I’ve seen Will [Allen] before but it’s always good to have a refresher. We are also interesting in things we aren’t doing yet but would fit in with our farm. I’m big into pollinators, organic soil and rain and water harvesting. We aren’t at that point yet but I would love to attend anything that has to do with conservation, recycling or healthy perpetual systems. Olga and I will divide and conquer.
Q: Why would you recommend your workshop to an attendee at Plow Forward?
A: Mushroom Cultivation is an adventure. They grow so rapidly on many local and inexpensive agricultural byproducts, so cultivation is not an expensive undertaking for beginners. Our workshop is designed to be in-depth but never intimidating, I use general terminology and teach the process from beginning to end in great detail. I always bill our lectures as “a lesson that lasts a lifetime!” I hope it will be as life changing for you as it was for me 20 years ago; it has never lost its spark.
Our workshop will get them caught up quickly to all the people who have had experience. The next two hours will be intensive but easy for everyone to digest. They should walk out with a really strong sense of “I can do this.” I want them to walk out encouraged.
Q: What message would you like the participants of Plow Forward to take away from your workshop?
A: Mushrooms can be grown on anything just about anywhere. Mushroom Cultivators are protectors of the planet, magically creating edible protein from waste and other debris, creating soil and fresh earth for the next cycle of life. Understanding the cycles of life and the role mushrooms play in ecology can unlock a respect and understanding that will be well rewarded…with mushrooms!
We are always walking around and talking with the conference attendees. We try to stay really available the whole time. We will have a booth and we will really try to maximize our contact time so people get a chance to ask questions.