We've had our first full week of inoculations and have about 200 logs done. Yikes! Last year our employee was on his second season with us and had already done inoculations the year before, so there wasn't much learning or training to do. Sadly, he moved on (for more education!) so we have a new employee who is learning all the ropes. Hopefully he and Jeremy will get up to speed soon because we need to be doing closer to 400 logs a week to get done at a reasonable time. Wish us luck - and good speed!
Inoculations are a bit all-consuming right now, so not much else is going on at the farm. The new fruiting chamber is at a standstill. Most everything has thawed, but there are still piles of snow on the north (shady) side of everything! We are definitely in mud season here.
We are looking to the very near future and seeing just how much there is to do. Normally we wouldn't hire more production workers till late May or June, but we probably have enough work for another person right now. If you or someone you know might be interested in working on a mushroom farm, please reach out to us! There are more details on our website. The job is pretty intense, but it's pretty rewarding when all the mushrooms start popping up.
While we're talking about jobs, there are two other positions we're looking for as well.
First, we need someone to run our farmers market booth at Mill City Farmers Market from May through October. We're open to hiring two different people who trade off - as committing every single Saturday for the summer can feel a bit much. Details on our website, and please reach out soon if you're interested - May will be here before you know it!
Second, we're looking for a "picker/packer." Funny name - super important job! This person helps do all the packing and packaging of mushrooms every week - prepping for the farmers market, CSA deliveries, orders for grocery stores, etc. They also help with picking mushrooms. Generally this person doesn't have to help with any production work (moving logs, etc) unless we're in a bind. As usual, details are on our website, and we'd love to hear from folks who are interested in this position.
The on-farm jobs also come with free housing (including utilities and internet) and mushrooms! =)
Spring workshops
We have just two workshops planned for this spring - if you want to learn how to grow your own mushrooms.
The first is April 3rd through Egg | Plant Urban Farm Supply, 10:30 am - noon.
This class is via zoom! Once registered, you pick up your class supplies at EggPlant in St Paul.
Our other workshop is through Women's Environmental Institute
Sunday, April 25 - 1pm - 4pm
This one is in-person at WEI’s Amador Hill Farm and Orchard, 15715 River Road, North Branch MN
It's still CSA season!
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for folks to come together to support local farmers and make sure they can keep farming - and you get a box of veggies every week throughout the growing season. Many CSA farms now offer add-ons - extra items produced either by that farm or another.
Every year we offer a mushroom add-on through a number of CSAs - so you can have mushrooms in your CSA box along with all those yummy veggies! We have finalized our list of CSA partners for 2021. We're excited to be working with almost all the same farms from last year, and a few new ones too!
If you're in the market for a CSA veggie box and want some mushrooms on the side, take a look at any of these excellent CSAs:
Blackbrook Farm
Farm Farm
Fresh Earth Farms - new!
Good Acre
Growing Lots Urban Farm
Shared Ground Farmers Co-op
Sogn Valley - new!
Sweet Top - new! (and their CSA is sold out for the season!)
Threshing Table Farm
Turnip Rock - new! We won't have an add-on with Turnip Rock, but we'll have products listed in their online farm stand.
Lastly, we are bringing back our direct-from-our-farm CSA this summer - in case you already have a CSA and it's not one of those listed above.
Here are the details!
Pick up will be from our booth at the Mill City Farmers Market during market hours
Pick up dates are every-other-week from June 5th through October 9th
What you get: in the course of 10 deliveries you will receive 10 third-of-a-pound boxes of fresh mushrooms, a reishi brownie, a jar of shiitake powder, and a mushroom butter.
The price is $66.95. (If you want to pay in cash or with a check at the farmers market it's $65!)
If you often shop at the Mill City Farmers Market and purchase our mushrooms, you may be wondering why you’d purchase a farm share instead of just purchasing from our booth. There are a few reasons:
You’ll get a great variety of mushrooms – including ones that aren’t available at our market booth.
Because our farm share is direct, we can offer it to members for a good value, between 25% and 33% less expensive than other market sales
Since direct farm shares are paid for ahead of time, you can step up to our booth and pick up your share with no fuss!
Please note this change from last year: If you forget to pick up your share, we won't be organizing how to replace that share in a following week. That just got way too complicated last year! This year, any unclaimed shares will be donated to folks in need of some fresh produce – and mushrooms! It will go to the MCFM Greens for Good program.
Spore is trying to help me catch up on paperwork, but all these numbers make him so sleepy!
