Northern Michigan man creates indoor mushroom farm
GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- Fungi, it's a passion for northern Michigan native Matt Hall, "I studied mushrooms for five years," he said.
In August 2018 he turned his garage into his 'Shroom Room.'
"We have shiitake behind me and then I have lion's mane right over here in a big white puff ball and then we have maitake here on my right, so we grow three different kinds but shiitake is about 95% of my work," said Hall.
Each mushroom takes a different amount of time to grow.
"In the case of shiitake, it takes about 9 to 10 weeks, in the case of lion's mane it takes about a month and maitake takes almost 3 to 4 months."
He starts by mixing together each batch, they then go into a bag where they are sterilized with heat and go through an incubation period.
"Once they're essentially ready, to what we call fruiting, we put them in a fruiting room, so I'm standing in our fruiting room where there's a humidified zone, there's air temperature, there's CO2 control," said Hall.
He supplies mushrooms for 3 restaurants in northern Michigan.
The Boathouse, Red Ginger and Black Star Farms, he's working hard to keep up with the fungi demand, "I've been very busy which is a good busy," said Hall.
When it comes to the famous morels, you can't find them on his shelf just yet.
"We've had some early success recently with growing morels indoors and learning more about their ecology," said Hall.
It's a work in progress, along with his farm, his goal is to expand to grow and educate others.
"There's work on all levels on standard operating, on innovation, and of giving back, so you really don't get bored," said Hall.
To learn more about his business you can check out his Facebook or website.
