Mushroom farmers with experience/equipment seeking opportunity

My wife and I have been running a mushroom farm for around 6 years now. We have been through many incarnations: at first mainly focused on medium scale gourmet production(oysters and shiitake) for farmer's markets, grocery stores and restaurants. More recently we have mainly been growing medicinal mushrooms for internet sales. We have had experience growing all varieties of oyster mushrooms, shiitake, king trumpet, lions mane, miatake, reishi, and nameko.

We are now at a cross roads, needing to find a new space to run our business. Before we commit to a new place in our area (Northern Michigan) and the debt that goes along with it, we would like to see what our other options might be. We have all the equipment needed to run a medium scale mushroom farm: pressure cookers, flowhoods, shelving, industrial fogger, and perhaps most importantly the knowledge. We are willing to at least entertain many different ideas and are open to traveling and working with different people.

It sounds like you are well established in MI. I have plans, land and some infrastructure in place for outdoor mushroom cultivation here in Fayetteville, WV. I have 25 acres and nearly 20 of that is shaded enough for forest farming and there are two, moist watersheds on the property where fungi would be happy, particularly shitake and oysters. I posted in this forum a few weeks ago an you can read that offer as well "permaculture helpers wanted in WV". There are two large spare bedrooms and ample living space. Just an idea....
john

That is a compelling offer. You are right, we are quite well established so it would be a difficult to pull up steaks. Ideally we would end up somewhere in Michigan, mostly so we can keep our name, but perhaps closer to the big population centers where we would have more of a market for our mushrooms. Either way I appreciate the offer and will certainly keep it in mind.

word

Hey guys, I am a small bio intensive gardener in Oakland county MI. I own an acre of land in Mecosta MI. It has a pretty run down trailer on it, can be fixed up and salvaged. Livable as is if thats your thing ( I wouldn't live in it as is). But on the brighter side it has the little manistee river running through the back corner. There is shade in the back part of the yard. I have not spent much time there since I bought it because I have been very busy with my own farm down state.

Me and my fiance are living in a wood heated tiny home on wheels, and we are living on a rented 15 acres. We have recently decided to not move up to Mecosta as of right now because of the good things we have going on here. Either renting you the land and house for a steal, or doing a land contract would be something I would entertain. we own the house outright. It would be a good quiet place for a mushroom farm. I have talked to a couple neighbors and they seem alright. It is right in town, and has a hardware store, autoparts, library, post office, gas station, and chiropractor. You have state and federal land nearby and lost of organic farms to get manures and old straw from.

There are at least 15 farmers markets within an hour drive. Big rapids and Mt Pleasant only 30 min away.

Not sure where in Northern MI you are from but maybe this would not be a hard move for you. You have electric, septic, and well on the property. The house is legal to live in, needs some tlc though. Part of the house was partly renovated, the back half could use a make over. Or live in the front, use the back room and laundry for your mushroom growing.

Hope this helps some.
Travis.

Just noticed you are in Ossineke. My family owns 100 acres of hardwoods off of Hubbard Lk Tr. It is mostly shaded, well water and geothermal. In the next 10 years I want to start turning that into a homestead, and I am looking for a couple good families now, that I can form a good bond and trust with. I am in the search for lifelong partnerships that could be formed with the end goal of sustainability. That property cannot be used for what you are wanting to do right now thought, only in the next 10 years or so can I really start building it up, right now I am just slowly planting in edible trees.

Wow, very compelling! I'm absolutely buried in work right now but I'll try to shoot you a PM in the next few days.

I ran across your thread while researching mushroom cultivation and I have an idea for you!

I'm a few hours south in midwest Ohio and I'm starting work on a large scale permaculture farm this spring. Well, I'm in the planning stages now so I guess I've already started!
I would like to do mushrooms in logs. I have several acres of woods that might work if the inoculated logs are placed correctly. We get a fair amount of rain in the spring and fall around here so I think it'd work.
My idea is this: Come down and use your experience to help me get set up. In return, I will sell you all the 'fruits' (haha see what i did there?!) of my labor to you at wholesale prices. I can think of 2 other people within walking distance of my land that would gladly do the same. If you were to repeat this process enough times, you'd have your own network of growers supplying your established business. Sure some people would probably take advantage of your intial help, but most likely you would form some good working relationships with most of the people that you helped get started. It's these people that you need anyways because they will listen to your advice, grow what you want and only ship to you the quality product that you need.
This arrangement would probably not provide the grower with an income stream that they could live off of (but it might) but at least in my case, I'm really only looking for many small easy to manage income streams, thus giving me the $$ I need. A diverse approach to earning revenue is, imho, the best way to truly have a sustainable permaculture farm that does more than just provide for your own needs (food ).

Anyways, just a thought that popped into my head this morning!
best wishes to ya!