Story and photos by Adrian Lysenko
James Gill, owner of Kam River Mushroom Farm
Things are springing up in the backwoods of Stanley. James Gill, owner of Kam River Mushroom Farm, has been growing mushrooms for about five months now and has big plans to expand. “Mushrooms, I think, are so cool right now,” Gill says. “People are excited to see them, not just because it’s delicious food, but also because they’ve heard that like the lion’s mane [mushrooms] have all these benefits, and that’s also something that’s coming to light as well.”
Pressure cookers ensure sterilization in the beginning stages of growth to prevent contamination and promote healthy growth.
Gill, who grew up in the area, says he’s been interested in foraging since his youth and loves seasonal food. “I’ve always had a great deal of respect for farmers and people who grow food, and I never thought I would have the opportunity to do that,” he says. “But when it came down to the actual idea of growing mushrooms, then it started to make sense. It’s like okay, I can grow mushrooms. […] I had a gut feeling that this could be good for our community.”
Everything starts with oats,” Gill says. Once everything is sterile, he adds a piece of mycelium (a thread-like body of a fungus). “Because it’s sterile, the mycelium can just take over, and then we wind up with something like this.”
Gill sold his mushrooms last summer at the Kakabeka Farmers’ Market, and says he’s now expanding his operations with equipment arriving from southern Ontario, and growing in a new space on the farm to meet the potential demand of the community and beyond.
Mushrooms are grown on hanging straw logs. “They love straw,” he says. “And then often our other mushrooms require hardwood, so we use hardwood sawdust, supplemented with something that’s nutritious for them.”
“I would love to have a market table, kind of year-round, and then eventually, I would like to see our mushrooms on the menus at local restaurants,” he says.
Inside the darkroom, the mushroom mycelium can take over with the help of controlled temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide.
