Most of the mushrooms found in the region’s grocery stores aren’t grown in New England, but according to Amanda Allen, who owns Woods & Weiland Farm in Peterborough with her husband Zach, mushrooms can be grown locally.
Amanda and Zach officially registered their business about a month ago, and just last week they had their first harvest. Mushrooms can be harvested a lot more frequently than most farmed plants because they’re fungi, not plants.
“They’re mycelium,” Amanda explained.
Mushrooms reproduce using spores, which drop off the caps of fruiting mushrooms. When a spore reaches a substrate-like soil — a carbon-rich substance — it develops into a complex root system that absorbs nutrients from the environment.
“The fruiting body is the mushroom we know,” Amanda said.
The Allens use a substrate composed of dirt and soaked grains to grow their mushrooms. They have a grow tent inside their home and are able to regulate air circulation, humidity, temperature and light to optimize growing conditions. For this harvest, they grew oyster mushrooms and lion’s mane, but for future batches, Amanda said, “If there are any particular requests or types of mushrooms, we are open to trying other varieties.”
Amanda and Zach have always enjoyed farming. They’ve kept bees and chickens and grow a vegetable garden, and Amanda said they both thought “mushrooms are really interesting,” so they started growing for themselves.
“We were growing enough that we got to the scale where we wanted to share with others,” she said, plus mushrooms aren’t grown on a lot of local farms, so they felt like it was an underrepresented item in the local food market.
Amanda said people have shown a lot of interest so far. She is excited to see how the business develops, and they hope to expand as they gain traction.
“If there’s enough interest, we’re hoping to add additional growing space,” she said.
Amanda and Zach moved from Ashburnham, Mass., in November, in part because they loved the community in the Monadnock Region. As they start their business, Amanda said they are “trying to build a relationship in the community.” She said they have applied to secure a spot at the Peterborough Farmers Market in July and are hoping to have a stand at the Hancock Farmers Market this summer, as well.
The Allens would also love to have a mushroom CSA at Woods & Weiland in the winter, since their indoor setup will allow mushrooms to be grown year-round.
Recently, scientists and doctors have been discovering new uses and benefits of mushrooms for humans and the environment, but there’s still a lot to learn about fungi. Amanda said mushrooms are “a little shrouded in mystery. They’ve been an interesting thing to learn about” as they expand their farm.
The Allens keep a “mushroom compost” on their farm. Amanda said “At some point the substrate loses energy,” at which point it is added to food scraps and organic material waste to create compost.
“We incorporate it all together. It creates a nutrient-rich compost,” she said.
Woods & Weiland is at 302 Old Dublin Road in Peterborough. They have a self-service farm stand out front and accept payment using Venmo and Square. They have mushrooms, cut-your-own herbs and rotating vegetables for sale.
They will keep the community updated about their business and farm on Instagram, Facebook and their website, woodsandweiland.com.