Fungi-allah-faeeia-ashay-ahsay

Yesterday crissy and I set off in search of local farmer and farmers for a workshop coming up next month at the ranch. Local agriculture in the San Luis Valley. I am working on the menus and we set off in search of field trip destinations as well as a guest speak. Here is what we found.

1st stop: Rakrah Mushroom farm. Largest employer in the valley at 300 people working 24/7 and supplier of button and portabella mushrooms to Sysco, Grocery strores and other food service venues. One crazy place and very full of shit, literally. They make their own compost from hay in the valley, add in liquid nitrogen (turkey poop), gypsum, etc and make huge windrows of compost for each flat they will then inoculate with the spawn grown on barley grains.


















Huge rooms of Douglas fir flats comtaining the homemade compost.



















And then they fruit:


And they are cut 3 times for different sizes and sent to the slicing room and or the packing room. This place was bumping. Music blaring, boxing being carted around on dollies and fork lifts, conveyor belts a runnin'.....



The ladies hard at work packing the sliced mushrooms.

















No rest for the weary here at the MZR....the mushroom lawn decor and the portabellas that are going into my bison sirloin burgonion tomorrow.