Business is growing for mushroom farmer

Lori Hammelman
Posted 9/3/18

As a stay-at-home mom, Wacey Sassaman started growing mushrooms for some extra income after reading a few articles and discovering an interest in it.

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Business is growing for mushroom farmer

Posted

ROCHELLE — As a stay-at-home mom, Wacey Sassaman started growing mushrooms for some extra income after reading a few articles and discovering an interest in it.

Throughout some of the challenges, growing mushrooms has proven to be quite rewarding.

“God blessed me with this opportunity,” Sassaman began. “It’s rewarding to grow a difficult or hard to grow mushroom. It’s also rewarding to see someone being super excited about the mushrooms when they see them or when I hear about how good they were.”

As Sassaman starts to describe how the mushrooms are grown, it isn’t hard to tell how passionate she is about the process. Currently Sassaman grows several varieties including pink, brown, yellow, King Oysters, Lion’s Mane, Shiitake, and Hen of the Woods to name a few. 

Several are grown in various parts of her wooded property and some are inside of a shaded shed. 

“Most of the mushrooms I grow do need light. They are varieties that contain many more vitamins and minerals compared to mushrooms typically found at the grocery store, which were grown in the dark,” Sassaman said. 

Sassaman’s day starts before her children wake up. Several steps are involved to ensure the mushroom spawn, what’s known as mycelium, are kept at optimum temperature. There is also a substrate, or a growing medium, made up of straw. Certain mushrooms are slow growing and require a sterile environment or mold will take over. 

Sassaman has learned there are several other things involved in growing mushrooms successfully.

“Failure has been a crucial stepping stone,” Sassaman said. “Cleanliness is also important. You have to give each mushroom spawn exactly what it needs for food, temperature, air, and light. My yellow oysters that are outside of the shed get the most beautiful yellow color and the ones inside are pale.”

There have been challenges along the way, especially mold and high temperatures, but they have led to some bountiful harvests for Sassaman. She sells her mushrooms at the Cypress House Outdoor Markets and will be a vendor at the Autumn on Parade Festival in Oregon this fall. She is hoping to reach out to some local restaurants as well.

“Do plenty of research on what you think you can do, what your goals are and how much room you have and places to grow,” Sassaman said when asked for advice to give a newcomer. “There is a lot of work with wheat, straws, and grains and a great deal of heavy lifting of the large pots of water, canners, wet bags full of substrate, grain bags, and straw bales.”

Sassaman said the Pink Oyster variety tastes like bacon or ham, and the Lion’s Mane, which is white with hair-like spines tastes like crab meat.

“It is a nice alternative to crab and has many health benefits too. It is being researched as a powerful brain food and is being used for neurological repair.”