Most of that is grown in just a 10-by-10-foot mylar tent set up in a converted art studio. Right now, they’re producing over 100 pounds per week, including different kinds of oyster mushrooms, lion’s mane, shiitakes, reishi and chestnut mushrooms. Pasteurization ensures no foreign fungi remain to outcompete the farmed mushrooms.

“We put that into smaller containers (usually plastic bags or buckets, though because of their shape most mushroom farmers refer to these growing units as blocks) and then pasteurize them.”

“To make that growing medium we use spent coffee grounds and brewers’ grains, mixing them in specific ratios with water and sawdust from a local cabinet maker,” Livingstone explains.

Then either the gelatin or liquid solution is used to inoculate a final growing medium. From there, some strains are transferred to a Petri dish of gelatin to continue growing out. Livingstone Mycology’s process starts with a liquid broth culture where tiny fragments of mushroom mycelium are suspended in a solution with the sugars and minerals they need to grow. Mushrooms reproduce many different ways in the wild and in a controlled farming environment. When the lab closed for good, they used their savings to buy discounted lab equipment and repurposed it to begin Livingstone Mycology, pouring themselves into the business full time. When COVID hit they were laid off and soon channeled energy into foraging, learning more about different mushroom species and their uses. There, Livingstone served as head of microbiology and Linscott as head of vertebrates and invertebrates, both applying their scientific training to optimizing the growth of tiny plants, animals, fungi and bacteria. This one was at Connecticut Valley Biological, a now-defunct company that grew and sold living biological supplies for science classrooms. Just like their mushrooms, Linscott and Livingstone’s farming careers were born from a lab. They also upcycle food waste to grow their mushrooms and sell their wares at farmers markets across western Massachusetts. “We are a small gourmet mushroom business focusing on growing fresh mushrooms and making medicinal extracts using state-of-the-art techniques,” explains Linscott. How do they grow? How do you cook with them? What medicinal effects might they have?Īt Livingstone Mycology, scientists and farmers Hunter Linscott and Nich Livingstone are helping people approach mushrooms and the benefits they bring with more clarity and confidence. More than most foods, the popular understanding of mushrooms tends to be shrouded in mystery.

Sportnation with oyster mushrooms