Rachel Marshall meets seasonal market traders Wyreside Mushrooms to find out what it takes to grow mushrooms for a living.
“We were saving up to buy a house, but we set up a mushroom farm instead!” laugh Hayley and Paul, who set up Wyreside Mushrooms in 2022. Paul has turned a lifelong love of growing things into a thriving micro-business which now supplies gourmet, organic mushrooms to local shops and restaurants.
The mushrooms themselves are beautiful, ranging from the coral-like Lion’s Mane to the different-coloured oyster mushrooms. The flavour of oyster mushrooms can vary a lot, from the meaty flavoured reds to the nutty, citrus flavour of the golden ones and mild seafood taste of the greys. The couple have plenty of cooking tips, from creating a meat-free steak dinner with a chunky Lion’s Mane to a ‘pulled-pork’ oyster mushroom wrap.
Environmental sustainability is extremely important to the couple, who focus on using organic, low-impact growing methods. They aim to produce as little waste as possible. The mushrooms are grown on blocks made from sawdust, wood pellets or the hulls of soybeans. After harvest, these materials are composted and used by a local organic veg farm. Any offcuts or mushrooms that look less than perfect are used in ready meals by one of their customers.
Their long-term dream is to set up an exemplary mushroom farm using solar panels for light and power, and a ground-source heat pump to keep things warm. The vision includes greenhouses on the roof to grow veg, using compost created from the material the mushrooms grow on.
“I want to show people how much you can grow on a small bit of land and demonstrate a successful business model for producing more food on less land,” explains Paul. The plan is to scale production up to 100 kilos of mushrooms a week – a lot of mushrooms when you think about how little they weigh.
Paul and Hayley are keen to share their experience with others and have run workshops demonstrating the growing process and exploring the role mushrooms play in ecosystems. They also produce a limited number of fruiting blocks inoculated with mycelium (the long threads from which fungi can sprout). These make a great gift for someone who wants to have a go at growing their own oyster mushrooms at home.
You can buy Wyreside Mushrooms from Gather (North Lancashire’s Food Hub), Single Step in Lancaster or direct from Hayley and Paul by contacting them on WhatsApp 07398 465750.
Paul and Hayley have also run mushroom cooking demonstrations at Lancaster’s seasonal markets, where you can often meet them there in person and taste their mushrooms. The next market will be the Harvest Market on 13 September at Lancaster Market Square.
