BOZEMAN, Mont. — You might picture a mushroom farm as a dark network of caves or tunnels underground. At SporeAttic in Bozeman, the reality is much more scientific.
WATCH: Here's how SporeAttic is growing mushrooms in Bozeman
Ben Deuling started SporeAttic six years ago after stepping away from a Ph.D. program in microbiology. He said he was looking for something more fulfilling.
“I didn’t feel that fire inside of me driving me to do anything particularly important with my life,” Deuling said. “I essentially saw this as a way to do something much more fulfilling with my life.”
As the business has grown, so has demand for the mushrooms SporeAttic produces. Deuling said about 38 restaurants in Bozeman, Big Sky and, more recently, Helena now buy mushrooms directly from the farm.
But there is one thing that might surprise people about the person behind the operation: Deuling said he does not particularly like mushrooms.
“You’re probably going to be shocked to hear this, but I don't really like mushrooms that much,” he said.
Even so, Deuling’s background in microbiology has proven useful in developing the farm’s growing process.
The operation is located at Three Hearts Farm, where mushrooms are grown in a controlled environment rather than in soil outdoors.
The process starts with the substrate, or growing material, made from sawdust and soy hulls.
“So this is essentially the soil or the substrate that we grow out mushrooms out of, so sawdust and soy hulls,” Deuling said.
The substrate is formed into blocks, bagged, steamed and sterilized. The blocks then go into the lab, where they are inoculated with mushroom culture.
Deuling compares the culture to a sourdough starter, explaining that it carries the organisms needed to grow the mushrooms.
“You can think of this kind of like a sourdough culture,” he said. “This is just the medium that's carrying the culture.”
The culture is introduced to the substrate during the inoculation process, allowing the mushroom mycelium to colonize the blocks.
From there, the bags spend about two weeks in an incubation area, where the mushrooms can develop without competing with other organisms.
“It doesn't have to compete with anything like it would in nature,” Deuling said.
Once the blocks are ready, they move into a mushroom-growing room where temperature, lighting, fresh-air flow and humidity are carefully controlled.
The conditions can produce noticeable growth quickly.
“They pretty much double in size every day,” Deuling said.
SporeAttic grows 11 varieties of mushrooms, including oyster, chestnut and lion’s mane mushrooms.
Deuling describes lion’s mane as having a mild flavor that some people compare to seafood.
As SporeAttic continues to grow, Deuling said he is producing about 1,000 pounds of mushrooms each week.
For him, the unusual nature of mushroom farming is part of the appeal.
“Because it's so bizarre and people are so fascinated by it, it excites me to bring people in and share it and teach people about it,” Deuling said.
For more information about SportAttic, you can click here.
