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10 On the Farm Supplement of The Canadian Statesman and Newcastle Independent, Wednesday, March 20,1991 Darlington Farm Growing Mushrooms by the Millions by Laura J. Richards Some people like them raw in salads, while others like them fried with onions and heaped over a steak. Some like them in stir-fries with vegetables and tofu and others like them in cream soup and sauces. It really doesn't matter how you like them, just as long as you know that you do. What are they? Mushrooms. Mushrooms, like people, are creatures of habit. There are certain things they like and things that they don't like. Take for instance the stiff they grow in. They don't like to grow in just any old type of material. They prefer composted manure. "The compost must have a lot of nitrogen in it," said co-owner Michael Manion of the Darlington Mushroom Farm located on Taunton Road. The mushroom farm grows 1.4 million pounds of the delicacy each year. In a three-week period, 18,000 pounds of mushrooms can be harvested. To obtain that level of production, Mr. Manion's employees put together a luscious assortment of goodies goodies for the mushrooms to feed from. There is the urine-saturated straw and manure, poultry manure from local suppliers and gypsum gypsum from Hamilton. Sounds like an interesting interesting meal for mushrooms, doesn't it? "With everyone talking about composting these days, we have one of the biggest composting ope tions around, said Mr. M; era- an- îon. The compost is turned four times in two weeks. The temperature inside the ricks (long rows of compost material) material) is about 180°F. Before the compost is taken taken into the long houses to prepare beds for the mushroom mushroom spawn, it is "pasteurized." "pasteurized." During this process, live steam in injected into the composted material to kill outside weed seeds and other foreign matter, Mr. Manion said. After the 10-day pasteurization pasteurization period, the ammonia smell from the compost is gone and the material is then cooled to 80°F. It is at this time that the compost is distributed onto the beds. Next step is adding the mushroom spawn. The spawn is introduced to kernels kernels of wheat, rye or millet and is grown on the kernels. Spawn is "like a mold on bread." The bread (or, in this case, the kernel of grain) is the host, explained Mr. Manion. The spawn he buys is shippéd in from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania and refrigerated until used. Once the mushroom beds are ready for the spawn, the kernels are added. The beds are then tamped with a machine machine to make the compost material firm and even. The beds are covered with plas tic and left for 14 days. During this time, the compost is kept at 76°F. After After 14 days, the plastic is removed removed and peat moss is applied applied one and one-half inches deep. Then the watering watering begins. Mr. Manion explained that since mushrooms are 94 per cent water, they need a lot of it to grow. Over the next seven to eight days, water water is constantly being added to the beds. The beds are checked to see if a crust has formed on, the soil from all the watering. watering. If a crust has begun to take hold in the bed, then a machine that Mr. Manion calls "the ruffler, for lack of a better word," is used to break up the crust." Then the watering process starts again. Ten days after the peat moss is applied, the root system system or mycelium should be up into the peat moss and surfacing. This is the vegetation vegetation state, explained Mr. Manion. The next task is to take the bed from this state to the next phase--the fruiting body or, in other terms, the reproductive stage. It is at this stage that the familiar edible mushroom appears. At this time, the mushroom mushroom house is cooled off. "When the fresh air hits the mushroom, it think's its going to die so it forms the pin, Mr. Manion said. After the pin (the tiny, young mushroom) is formed, it will be 10 days before the first pick. "X. Lucia Dumitru uses a light on her hard hat to look for the choicest mushrooms she can find on this section of the 60-foot mushroom bed. Each "house" has 12 beds. One of these houses can produce 18,000 pounds in three weeks. Lucia filled little blue styrofoam boxes with mushrooms destined for the local markets: V. '. '. ' ; Darlington Mushroom Farm Ltd. co-owner, Michael Manion, shows a package of millet kernels on which mushroom spawn is grown before being shipped to mushroom mushroom farms. The spawn is kept in a cooler until the beds are ready for it. A little over a month after the spawn has been placed in the beds, the mushrooms will be ready to harvest. HIGH TENSILE FENCE èÿERTS 100,000 pounds of RAM FORCE + PLUS 1 FOUR WHEEL DRIVE ONE TON TRUCK + PLUS PRESSURE TREATED OR CEDAR FENCE POSTS = EQUALS FENCE POSTS PILE DRIVEN INTO GROUND P.D.Q. Ask us to PILE DRIVE YOUR FENCE POSTS FARM or RESIDENTIAL CALL TODAY FOR A FREE ESTIMATE (416)786-2200 3455 Stewart Rd., Newtonville