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Mushroom Container Farming
Inside the Container: Growing Gourmet Mushrooms with Urban Gourmet Farms
Since 2015, one dedicated mushroom farmer has been cultivating gourmet mushrooms to serve restaurants, markets, and his local community. What began as a personal passion has grown into a thriving business, producing hundreds of pounds of mushrooms every week from inside a carefully managed shipping container farm.
Urban Gourmet Farms specializes in a wide variety of mushrooms, with oyster and shiitake mushrooms leading the charge in both volume and popularity. Oyster mushrooms alone account for over 300 pounds of production each week, with several varieties—including grey, yellow, and even trumpet mushrooms—grown in rotating cycles. Shiitake mushrooms, a fan favorite, are produced in large quantities as well, sometimes reaching 250 pounds per week.
In addition to these mainstays, the farm also cultivates more delicate or specialty mushrooms in smaller batches. These include the eye-catching yellow oyster, the prized lion’s mane, and the richly flavored maitake (also known as “hen of the woods”). Maitake mushrooms are grown less frequently due to their longer cultivation times and the greater amount of space they require.
The farm runs on a structured six-week growing cycle. Mushrooms are grown in climate-controlled shipping containers that allow for precise environmental control and efficient use of space. While mushrooms themselves aren’t hard to grow, producing 700 pounds a week is a serious challenge. Sanitation, equipment maintenance, and environmental control are critical to consistent yields and healthy crops.
Each container serves a different purpose in the production cycle. In one room, blocks of mushroom substrate enter and begin the pinning process. Once pinning starts, oyster mushrooms can double in size within 24 hours. After the initial harvest, blocks are left to rest and can often produce a second flush of mushrooms about a week later. Generally, the farm limits each block to two flushes to maintain efficiency and cleanliness in the tight growing space.
The shiitake room operates a bit differently. These mushrooms require a more humid environment and tolerate higher levels of carbon dioxide compared to other varieties. This allows the grower to reduce ventilation needs and place less strain on the HVAC system, which is especially important during hot and humid summer months. The shiitake logs themselves even generate heat, which must be factored into the room’s overall climate control.
On average, each shiitake log produces about three-quarters of a pound of mushrooms, though some logs can yield two massive mushrooms instead of many smaller ones. The variability in yields is just one of the many factors that keeps the grower constantly learning and adjusting his methods.
Ventilation is another key challenge. Air must be circulated daily, regardless of outdoor conditions. In the peak of summer, pulling in 95-degree, humid air adds significant stress to the air conditioning systems. Still, careful planning—like growing shiitake in a higher CO2 environment—helps reduce the cooling load and maintain stable conditions for each variety.
The farm’s success is rooted not just in cultivation but also in strategic partnerships. One of the most important relationships has been with Fresh List, a local food distributor. Working with Fresh List since around 2017, the farm has been able to efficiently supply mushrooms to over 20 wholesale accounts, in addition to two major farmers markets in the area.
Fresh List takes in about 100 pounds of mushrooms per week, serving as a central hub that distributes to both commercial clients and individuals. This arrangement saves the farmer from making long trips for small orders, like driving across town to deliver just two pounds. Instead, Fresh List helps consolidate deliveries and ensures mushrooms get to where they’re needed quickly and efficiently.
What started as a curiosity about how mushrooms grow turned into a full-fledged business. Over the years, this farmer has turned a personal passion into a productive and sustainable operation, providing fresh gourmet mushrooms to chefs, market-goers, and food lovers throughout the region. His journey proves that with the right knowledge, planning, and dedication, even a few shipping containers can be transformed into a farm that feeds a community.