By JANET COOK
News staff writer
May 30, 2007 

Fungi is growing rampantly in an abandoned building at the old Dee Mill.

Dark, damp roomfuls of it spring to life, in various stages of its nocturnal-like growth. If it could all be gathered up at once, the fungi would weigh thousands of pounds.

That means that the tenders of this fungi, Brian Shaw and Dan Thall, are very busy men.

Shaw and Thall own Hood River Organic, and the fungi growing at their headquarters at the Dee Mill are organic crimini and Portobello mushrooms that supply an increasing number of local restaurants as well as grocery stores, farmers markets and produce boxes for Community Supported Agriculture co-ops around the Northwest.

“We pick every day,” Shaw said. “Timing is crucial. Hours can make a difference.” Of all types of farming, growing mushrooms — especially organic mushrooms — is one of the most delicate from start to finish.

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Shaw and Thall may seem like unlikely farmers. They met in college in West Virginia and bonded over their mutual passion: kayaking. The whitewater challenges of the Columbia Gorge brought them both to Hood River in the late 1990s.

The two were instantly taken with the valley’s agricultural history and potential. They both worked various jobs but began looking into the idea of farming.

“We wanted to grow something that was year-round,” Shaw said. Mushrooms fit the bill since, for commercial purposes, they are best grown indoors. After some research, the business partners found that the only other commercial mushroom grower in the region was in Yamhill County.

“The mushroom market wasn’t saturated,” Shaw said. “Also, mushrooms are very fragile. They only last about 10 days. We knew we wouldn’t be facing competition from China.”

With the help of start-up loans from the Mt. Hood Economic Alliance and the Mid-Columbia Economic Development District, Shaw and Thall launched Hood River Organic in the spring of 2004.

They leased one of the abandoned buildings at the Dee Mill — a 15,000-square-foot empty shell — and retrofitted the interior with eight 600-square-foot climate-controlled rooms, along with some office space.

Hood River Organic had its first harvest of crimini and Portobello mushrooms in February 2005 — on Valentine’s Day to be exact.

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Mushrooms are more akin to animals than to plants. They eat protein and their cell walls are made of chitin, like a crab’s shell, rather than cellulose like plants. Even DNA studies have classified them as closer in structure to animals than plants.

Mushrooms are thought to be an older form of life than plants. The oldest types of fungi evolved in water and most likely played a key role in the development of plants on land.

Perhaps because of this complex etiology, growing mushrooms is, well, complex.

Shaw and Thall spent months researching mushrooms, and were helped along the way by the owners of Yamhill County Mushrooms, who provided information and guidance and with whom Hood River Organic continues to have a close relationship. (Yamhill County Mushrooms has even started an organic mushroom division with the help of Shaw and Thall.)

But much of what they learned was by trial and error.

“It’s a loose science,” Shaw said. “But we’ve learned it to the point where we understand what to do.”

The eight climate-controlled rooms contain neat wooden beds stacked upon each other. Each room contains mushrooms in various stages of growth.

Temperature and humidity are closely monitored by gauges in each room.

“Humidity is the key,” Shaw said. “Mushrooms are 90 percent water. If it’s too dry they’ll start to scale up.” One of the perks of being located at the Dee Mill is Hood River Organic gets its water from underground springs on Mount Hood.

“Since mushrooms are 90 percent water, that’s one reason we have really good mushrooms,” Shaw said.

A mushroom harvest takes about six weeks from start to finish. The rooms get no fresh air for the first few weeks of the mushrooms’ growth, then are pumped with fresh air in a process called “air thinning.” This allows each bed in each room to produce multiple harvests — usually four or five.

Since Shaw and Thall grow organically, they use salt as their only weapon against disease.

“Salt is a great natural fungicide,” Thall said. “Growing mushrooms organically means fostering an environment where competing molds and fungi thrive. Keeping them at bay organically requires salt applications on ‘funky spots’ of the beds.”

Between the eight rooms, there are mushrooms ready for harvesting every day. A few hours can make a difference between harvesting a perfect mushroom and one that’s past its prime; along with scaling, the “umbrella” under the cap begins to disintegrate.

Shaw and Thall, plus their five full-time employees, closely monitor every bed. The mushrooms are picked and packed immediately, and deliveries to restaurants, grocery stores and co-ops are made three times a week.

“It’s pretty intense,” Shaw said. “We can’t really take a day off.”

In addition to its mushroom business, Hood River Organic is itself a Community Supported Agriculture co-op. Together with several other local farms, they deliver weekly boxes of fresh mushrooms and other seasonal produce to CSA members.

Shaw and Thall have started growing strawberries as well as some other vegetables to supplement their CSA produce boxes. They also sell organic compost and help other local organic farms get produce to market by piggybacking on to their thrice-weekly delivery schedule.

“It’s how small farms survive,” Shaw said of their multifaceted business.

But it’s Hood River Organic’s meticulously grown mushrooms that are its mainstay. Most people in the Hood River Valley have probably bought them at local grocery stores and eaten them in local restaurants, even if they didn’t know it. Demand for their mushrooms only seems to grow.

“It’s amazing,” Shaw said. “I’m blown away by how everyone wants what we’re producing.”

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