December 13, 2025 • 46 mins
In this hour of "in the Garden with Ron Wilson", Ron chats with Pete Richmond, co-owner of Rich Life Farm, about the fascinating world of mushroom farming. From Pete's early days of growing oyster mushrooms in his laundry room to the success of his farm, they dive into the process of cultivating these delicious and nutritious fungi. They discuss the unique conditions required for mushroom growth, the importance of natural habitats, and the variety of species Pete's farm offers. With a focus on sustainability and locally sourced products, this conversation is a must-listen for anyone interested in the world of agriculture and food systems.
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Speaker 1 (00:38):
Our toll free number eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. Good morning. I'm I'm Ron Wilson, your
personally yard boy talking about yard Nick. Don't forget our website,
Ron Wilson online dot com, Facebook page in the Garden
with Ron Wilson. Two recipes for you from Rita that's
on here this week. Plann of the week is Christmas
fern and all kinds of Oh yeah. Then the centennial
(00:59):
uh pas from Burpie a link to go see that
check it out as well. But again it's run Wilson
online dot com. Coming up in this half hour as
a matter of fact, after the break, we're going to
talk with Pete Richmond. And Pete and his wife Emily
own rich Life Farm and Fungi and their website is
(01:22):
Richlifefarm dot com if you want to check it out.
But my wife and I were at a farmer's market
a couple of weeks ago and purchased some of their
mushrooms and they are phenomenal and I got the reading
about their story, great story, how they got started. Now
they're doing this and can we do that? Well, we're
gonna find out. Pete's gonna join us here, coming up
in a little while, so stay tuned for that. In
the meantime, you and me talking, you already get eight
(01:44):
hundred eight two three eight two five five. Also want
to remind you we were talking about the last hour
new vegetables. If you're looking for your local independent garden
center or nursery greenhouse to grow those, let them know
your list, let us know what you've had good success
with as well. And also so if you are looking
to do raised bed gardening and maybe expand your raised beds.
(02:06):
If you're looking to expand your gardening the time you
garden during the season, extend the gardening seasons. I have
two books for you that been around for quite some time.
Highly recommend them. I talk about and I know both
of these young ladies that wrote these books. They do
an outstanding job. The raised bed one is called Raised
Bed Revolution, Build It, Fill It, Planet Garden Anywhere by
(02:30):
Tara Nolan and absolutely outstanding. Just highly recommend this book
for anybody that's interested in raised beds, Raised Bed Evolution.
Tara Nolan. The other and she's also very big at
raised beds, but likes to extend the gardening season, is
Nicki Jabor. Nicky's been on her show. She's up in
the Nova Scotia area, if I remember correctly, but it's
(02:53):
growing undercover, so she talks about how to grow undercover,
to extend your gardening seasons early and late, and those
cool crops during the summer, et cetera, instead of using covers.
Two really good books that go together nicely raise bed Revolution,
Growing Undercover, and I do highly recommend those great Christmas
(03:13):
gifts as well for yourself to learn more about that.
Great good reading, great illustrations, great pictures. The whole nine
yards to Tennessee We go.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Jeremiah, good morning, Good morning, thanks for taking my call.
I spoke with you last week when we spoke about
their clothes. Yes, sir, well, I wanted to call this
morning about blue jays. There's a lot of people have
no clue their carnivores, and they're extremely aggressive. They rob
(03:43):
all other birds nests and they'll kill and eat baby birds.
I saved the baby out from one one time. But
probably the only positive aspect of blue jay is everyone
that has seen them know is what their screaming sound like.
If you hear and see a cluster of blue jays
(04:07):
that are screaming, you're just raising cane in one I
guarantee you there's a snake on the ground below.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Oh really, the.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Best of Yeah, they're the best alongs for snakes. When
they see one, they just over over them and just
make a crazy noise. And so if you experience that,
be careful somewhere belong as a snake. The other thing
I wanted to I.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Was gonna say the blue jays. They really are bullies
out there when you know, especially you got a bird
feeder up. Man, They're all over the other birds. They're
fun to watch and they're beautiful birds.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, but they're mean. But they're mean nivorous, they eat
other they eat baby birds. That's primarily what their diet is,
baby birds.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
But the other thing I wanted to talk to you
about last year, I don't remember what program I heard
about them on, and I haven't had I had any
luck trying to find any was the German orange tomato.
They say they're real sweet and they're just as orange
as it can be. But I haven't had any luck
(05:14):
finding anything else out about him. If you have an
opportunity to research it, and maybe on your next program
talk to us a little bit about the German orange tomato.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
All right, I will, and we grow a couple German tomatoes.
I think one at our nursery, and I think one
of them maybe orange. I will check double We grow
so many varieties, I can't remember them all, but I'll
double check Jeremiah, and we'll talk about it next week.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Thank you, brother. I hope you have a good week.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
All right, Jeremiah, good talking with you. Stay stay safe.
I don't know if they're going to get any that
snowfall or not, but stay safe. I love watching blue
jays and they have that distinct call blue jays. Crows
obviously have a distinct call quayle. Obviously, doves you can
always tell the doves, uh. And red wing blackbirds. When
you hear one, you know that it's a red one
(06:00):
being blackbird. But yeah, those blue jays can be real bullies,
no doubt about it. But we were talking about crows last week,
and I still that's one of my favorite birds. Talk
about smart, Oh my gosh, they are so smart, kind
of scary sometimes talking your yarding at eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five and were one of
the points there was that if you've got a tomato
or a vegetable whatever that you've had good success with,
(06:23):
let us know, and we'd like to share that with us,
and then share that with your local garden center to
see if they can grow them for you as well.
Also saw this week that the National Garden Bureau and
kind of working with pinterest and their predictions for twenty
twenty six and their prediction for twenty twenty six speaking
of vegetable garden, is that there's going to be a
(06:45):
cabbage crush and they're calling it a cabbage crush, and
they're they're saying that there's a renewed interest in cabbage
and the cabbage not only for eating, but for decorations
like plates and things like that is the new the
new vegetable for twenty twenty six, Live laugh leaf. In
(07:07):
the year ahead, it says that the Boomers and Gen
X will say goodbye to their cauliflower obsession and crown cabbage,
the new kitchen MVP, kim cheek cocktails, crispy or taco wraps,
blistered edge steaks, It's crunch time, baby. It is all
(07:28):
about cabbage. So twenty twenty six, we'll see the cabbage crush. Now,
does that throw Brussels sprouts in there too. I mean
you see in Brussels sprouts use a lot more. That's
I would think that would go in that category. Two
fermented cabbage, the demand is up thirty five percent, sautate
bockchoi up thirty five percent, cabbage alfredo up forty five percent.
(07:49):
This is searching for recipes for these. The cabbage soups
ninety percent, cabbage dumplings one hundred ten percent, cabbage rolls
up one hundred percent. So it looks like look for
different varieties of cabbage to be growing. And remember they're
cool season crops. They love that cooler season, so you
want to grow those earlier in the spring, or you
can grow them in the fall as well. And there
(08:12):
are many varieties that are out there now for you
that are many cabbage heads. Don't get as big, stay
a little bit smaller. For your smaller gardens, your raised beds,
container gardening, you can grow cabbage in those as well.
So the prediction for twenty twenty six, the cabbage crush
is on. The focus will be now off of cauliflower
head on to cabbage quick break. We come back. I
(08:35):
cannot wait. We're gonna talk to Pete Richmond. He's the
owner co owner with his wife Emily Richmond, and they're
name of the farm is rich Life Farm and fun guy.
We're gonna talk about growing mushrooms here in the garden
with Ron Wilson, Green.
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Speaker 1 (11:33):
Welcome back here in the garden with Ron Wilson. Every
thinking about growing mushrooms? You know, you see those kids
all the time are becoming more and more popular out there.
You ever tried one? Well, I'll tell you what I
have got the man that knows more about growing mushrooms
than I think anybody out there. And I have experienced
their mushrooms. They are outstanding. They are gorgeous, they are
(11:54):
good looking. His wife Emily probably should get all the
credit for it, but we'll give him a lot of
credit as well. He is a co owner of their
farm called rich Life Farm. Go to their website Richlifefarm
dot com. And I know you're tired of hearing this,
Pete Richmond, but I understand you're a really fun guy
at the parties.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
Ah, Yes, I am and thank you for having me
this morning. And yes, you're right, Ron, my wife Emily
is definitely the one behind this operation. I like to
say I grow the mushrooms, but Emily is the one
that makes this whole business operation.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So she made that clear at the beginning when I
was getting in touch with you guys to get you
on here this morning. Yeah, she, you know, pretty much
took care of everything. Hey, no, I just can't Yes,
what a great story and the reason. First of all,
I'll say right up front here the reason I found
out about you guys. I have read stories about you
and the Inquiry and a couple of the books as well,
but we experienced your mushrooms firsthand from a produce market
(12:52):
last week at Mattrie and absolutely outstanding. They're probably the
most gorgeous, much gourmet mushrooms I have ever seen, and
the flavor was absolutely outstanding. And just absolutely loved him.
So I said, give me a card. I would love
to get you guys on and talk about this because
what an interesting thing. So let's start out with you,
first of all, how you got involved with this? Because
(13:15):
I love reading it and I have to ask you.
It says at an early age, you became fascinated with
the natural world. What does that mean?
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Yeah, definitely. I mean growing up, I always, you know,
wanted to spend my free time outside playing in the
creeks and the woods, you know, turning over logs and rocks,
just seeing what's out there. And yeah, just you know,
all the things that were surrounded by here in the
natural world. And I grew up in Cincinnati, and there's
(13:45):
so many cool parks and woods and places to go
to explore. So definitely found that passion very early in.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Life, so it stuck with you. And so when you
get out of high school, you said, I'm going to
continue on. So you ed it out to North Carolina.
You got your degree in a Bachelor of Science and
Natural Resource Conservation and Management at Western Carolina University, and
then that's where you met the love of two loves
of your life, Emily and fun Guy.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Yes, that's correct. Yeah, very fortunate to get to go
to school in such a beautiful place and then to
meet my beautiful wife down there. And so yeah, I
studied natural resource conservation and management, so similar to a
forestry degree. But quickly after graduating college, I realized I
didn't want to spend the rest of my life cutting
(14:35):
down trees or fighting wildfires, and I've always enjoyed growing
food and this was something that I could experiment with
in a small place. So yeah, mushroom farming kind of
started as a hobby and in a small greenhouse. I
was growing some oyster mushrooms on straw in our laundry room,
(14:56):
and from there it just quickly took over the house.
I had a built out in our spare bedroom, had
a bigger greenhouse on our back porch where I was
fruiting mushrooms, and then I think one day Emily decided
that that was a little much, so we bought a
shed and stuck everything in there to have a dedicated
(15:18):
growth space for me to experiment and work on this
hobby of mine.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Unbelievable. I'm assuming that while you were growing in these
different mushrooms, friends and family and whatever were like, these
things are great, can you grow some for me? Then
the next thing you know, you're supplying everybody in the
neighborhood and it just continues on.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Yeah, so it definitely started out. People were a little
inquisitive as to what we were doing, a little cautious,
just really unsure of it, and then eventually, yeah, friends
and families started asking us for certain varieties or if
you know, we could supply them for special events and
(15:59):
things like that. And then I think one day we
realized that this could actually be a business. And at
the time we were both kind of pursuing our own
careers but kind of giving the best eight hours of
our day to somebody else in their dream. So we
wanted to invest in ourselves and realize that growing mushrooms
(16:21):
could be a potential business and career for both of us.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Talking with Pete Richmond, he is a co owner of
rich Life Farm. Go to their website richlifefarm dot com
and learn more about him, and of course you can
sign up for the newsletter, you can order musher. You
did all nine yards, but to go to their website
learn more about him. So at that point you said, Okay,
let's give this thing a shot. So you convinced Emily
to move back to Cincinnati. And she's not from Cincinnati.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Right, she's not. She grew up just south of Asheville,
North Carolina and Hendersonville, and that's where we were living
at the time, and it's a really beautiful place. But
the housing market was, you know, it was such a
booming economy that we really couldn't afford land down there
(17:11):
to start a farm. So whenever we would come up
to visit my family in Cincinnati, I would bring boxes
of mushrooms. I would talk to friends who were in
the restaurant industry. I would knock on the back of
restaurant doors whenever we'd be in town, drop off samples,
and just kind of, you know, assess if there was
(17:33):
a market for fresh mushrooms in Cincinnati, and it turned
out there was. So in March of twenty twenty, we
listed our house for sale in North Carolina and moved
up here and bought our farm in May of twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Wow. And then it's taken it from there, and again
you're a new Richmond and area. And then of course
growing not only you do mushrooms, but you have other
things you have on the rich Life Farm as well.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Right, Yeah, so we do have chickens as well. I
will say that they are definitely more of pets than
you know, production farm animals. I always like to say
we kind of have an old hen's home. Most of
our chickens are, you know, past their productive laying years,
but we still keep them around because they're pets and
(18:22):
it's fun to have them around. So yeah, we do
sell eggs at some of our farmers' markets, and then
we've got a big garden that we grow every summer.
This year Emily devoted most of that space to growing flowers,
and she actually set up a little roadside stand down
at the end of our driveway to sell her flowers.
(18:44):
So yeah, there's always something new and exciting going on here.
But most of our business, actually nearly all of our
business is fresh mushrooms delivered to restaurants and then at
a few farmers' markets and specialty markets around the.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
City and the like I said, we and we were
able to buy some last weekend. And I tell you what,
absolutely outstanding what and it just beautiful. I mean, you've
got this, you got you got this one going. I
mean it was the best I've ever seen. I love
your description in here by the way, and I bet
Emily wrote this. It says when Pete is not working,
you can probably find him working or sleeping.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
I we had to. We were in charge of writing
our own biography website a few years ago, and I
think it was at a time when I felt like
most of my energy was dedicated to just growing mushrooms
and helping to get this business off the ground. So
at the time, I definitely felt that way, But since then,
(19:45):
I've been able to kind of separate a little more
from the day to day business operations and yeah, take
more time for.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Myself at least, and described him if he was a mushroom,
he'd be the King Oyster pump in tolerant of heat
and pale white in color. The ore their website rich
to learn more about him.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Uh and uh.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Well during the break richlifefarm dot Com. We'll take a break.
We come back more with Pete Richmond here in the
garden growing mushrooms with Ron Wilson.
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Speaker 1 (22:09):
Welcome back talking with Pete Richmond. He's the co owner
of rich Life Farm and fun guy out in New Richmond, Ohio.
Check out their website. It's Richlifefarm dot com. Growing mushrooms
and they do an outstanding and I'm talking outstanding jobs.
So you know you obviously now are a mushroom or
a fun guy expert at growing is this? Is it
(22:29):
kind of a trial and error that got you to
where you are today? I mean, are there classes or
things you take or how'd you get so good at
what you're doing?
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Definitely a lot of trial and error. We took some
classes along the way. I spent a week up on
a mushroom farm in Canada kind of learning the ins
and outs of the operation. And then we've done some
mentorship programs with other successful mushroom farmers around the country,
(22:58):
and both of those things, you know, we're instrumental in
us successfully launching this business. But for the production side
of things, it was definitely a lot of trial and error.
And fortunately it was a hobby for a few years
before it was a business, so I was able to
(23:19):
work out a lot of those kinks. But even so,
we're learning something new every day. We're always trying to
improve our processes and you know, just get better as
we keep continue moving forward.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Well, you know what I think in our local area
and the history here in Cincinnati, way back when was
Fred mushroom compost up in the Lebanon the Lebanon area,
of course he did all can they can all kind
of mushrooms and stuff, but they grew in a mushroom
compost and landscapers ate that stuff up. I mean that
was great at soil amendment, top dressing or whatever with
you though, as I'm watching the videos and seeing what
(23:54):
you grow in, that's not really a That's not a compost,
is it.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
So we grow everything on an oak sawdust based substrate,
whereas those canned mushrooms and things are grown on a
composted and the dower based substrate. So everything that we
grow in its natural habitat would be growing on dead
or dyeing trees. Basically, we amend that substrate, that oak
(24:21):
sawdust with different things. Most of our varieties get amended
with soybean halls. It's the byproduct of processing soybeans and
pressing them for oil. And in Ohio we grow a
lot of soybeans, so it's pretty readily available agricultural byproduct
to amend that sawdust with, and that kind of acts
(24:43):
as a nitrogen source and that helps the mushrooms really
take off and provide the yield that we need to
maintain the commercial production that we have here.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
You know, I had no idea until I I watched
a couple of videos that the folks are shot when
they were visiting you and doing stories about you. The
process is really cool. I mean, that's very interesting with
the plastic bags and then the medium that you use
there and then putting the hole in the top and
then they grow out to I was sat there just like, wow,
(25:18):
I had no idea. When you're growing these what do
they all require? Like the same humidity, the same temperature.
Is everything different grown in a different situation or pretty
much all the same.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
For the most part, everything that we grow grows in
the same conditions. There are a few varieties that we
grow at a smaller scale that requires some different conditions.
But yeah, basically what we're doing is trying to mimic
all the things that occur naturally that cause mushrooms to grow,
(25:55):
and do that indoors in a controlled environment so that
we can harvest fresh mushrooms every day of the year.
So we are, you know, doing temperature changes to mimic
natural occurrences in nature. We're adding humidity to help the
fungi and mushrooms thrive and all just kind of mimicking
(26:15):
the natural processes.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Talking with Pete Richmond, he's the co owner of Rich
Life Farm and fung Guy. Check out their website richlifefarm
dot com and learn more about what they do and
of course where you can find their mushrooms as well.
Are there are there? You know, when you're growing vegetables
and things like that, there's always insects or disease or
other issues that can come up. Are mushrooms affected by
things like that as well?
Speaker 5 (26:40):
So mushrooms, you know, when they're growing outdoors, they are
attracting insects basically to help spread their spores, their genetic material.
So there are definitely pests, but since we are indoors,
we're able to mitigate a lot of that. There are
things that are like pleasing fungus beetles that will go
(27:03):
in and eat the flesh of the mushrooms when they're
growing outdoors. There are fungus gnats that are attracted to
the CO two that mushrooms put off. But in an
indoor controlled environment, we're really able to kind of get
one step ahead of that and prevent any infestations or
things like that from happening.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So are are mushrooms then grown? Can they are they
considered organically grown?
Speaker 5 (27:27):
So we're not certified organic, but we use organic practices
in our operation. We don't treat our mushrooms with anything.
We say, the only chemical they come in contact with
is water. But then when we you know, when we're
preparing the growing medium, when we're harvesting packing mushrooms, we
wear gloves to keep them clean and just have a
(27:51):
clean product that's ready for our customers to use.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Well. Talking with Pete Richmond again, check out their website
richlifefarm dot com. Now, course, obviously the pictures the lights
are on so we can see what's going on in
all but are mushrooms growing in the dark are not necessarily.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
So, like a white button mushroom is grown in the dark,
and then a crimini mushroom is actually the same type
of mushroom that's grown in light. So mushrooms have melanin
and there's the same way that humans have melanin in
our skin, and thus they are reactive to that light.
They're also phototropics, so they will grow towards light, but
(28:32):
without light, they just won't get that melanin, that pigmentation
to help develop all those really cool colors, everything from
pinks and yellows to blues and deep grays. So, yeah,
there's a lot of color at play with these mushrooms
we grow as well.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Now, do you have grow lights inside these buildings that
are special special lights spectrum for them or not necessarily?
Speaker 5 (28:57):
So in our grow rooms we run daylight spectrum LEDs
and we run those I think like sixteen hours a
day in our growing rooms and that's really all they need.
They don't need, you know, they're not using the same
kind of spectrums as plants because they're not photosynthesizing, so
(29:18):
they're just using that as a kind of a beacon
to grow towards, but also as a source to produce
that melanin pee.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
You know, we see a lot of these kits that
are out there today for folks that are you know,
you can buy the log it comes with the spores
already on it, you know, put in the closet or whatever,
and grow those. I've never done one before, you know,
is that something that folks can get into doing on
their own as well? I mean, is it something that
you know you can do on it small? Well, I
mean obviously that's how you got started, But do you
(29:47):
advise people if they're looking to do this on their own?
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Yeah, that's definitely a great way to get into it.
A lot of the kits that are like commercially available
on the shelf have been kind of augmented a little
bit to allow them to stay viable on a shelf
for an extended period of time. But we're actually offering
some grow your own kits for the holidays this year.
(30:13):
We're just doing some blue Oyster mushrooms right now because
it's a really easy mushroom to for first time growers
to have success with. But we've got a newsletter going
out later this morning that will have all the details
for that and those will be available to pick up
at a couple of our farmers' markets before the end
(30:34):
of the year.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Talking with Pete rich Richmond again, it's richlifefarm dot com.
Sign up for their newsletter and of course when you
go there you'll see all the varieties. You'll see where
they're going to be at at as far as markets
that you can buy them, the recipes they have recipes
on there for you as well. You can learn more
about Emily and I can't leave out Kelly Coleman as well,
an integral part of your team there as far as
(30:57):
producing these mushrooms. Let's take a quick break. We come
back one more segment with Pete. I appreciate you spending
time with us this morning. We'll talk about the different
varieties they grow, uh and how do you store those
once you get them on? What's the best way to
do it and what's the best way to cook them?
We'll find out from Pete Richmond again. Their website is
Richlifefarm dot com. Here in the Garden with Ron Wilson.
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Speaker 6 (33:02):
Suppose suppose suppose spouse spouse spouse, suppose suppose spouse sup?
(33:43):
Supose S supose spouse Suppose the spouse SU spose S
(34:10):
supose S suppose super spouse sin suppose the spouse the
(34:33):
suppose spouting spouse, spouse suppose the spouse sup.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Welcome back here in the Garden with Ron Wilson. Special
guest this morning is mister Pete Richmond. He's a Code
of Rich Life, farm and fun guy. They grow a
great selection of gourmet mushrooms. Their website is outstanding. They
have a newsletter. I have the November newsletter in front
of me. They're gonna they were releasing the December one today,
so sign up for it. Go to their website. It's
again richlifefarm dot com. Can we can, folks, obviously, for
(36:20):
us local our local listeners, we can find you at
some of the markets and all, and that's listed on
your website. Can folks order those that have them shipped
as well?
Speaker 5 (36:31):
So we do not ship any fresh mushrooms.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
Mushrooms are just really hyper perishable and kind of require
some specific storage to really get the best shelf life
out of them, and that's kind of our competitive advantage
within this market. Our mushrooms are grown here and delivered
fresh to our restaurant customers and markets every week, so
(36:58):
it's really all our best interest is to keep that
product local. We do, however, have some pinctures available on
our website, and those are just extracts of the fresh
mushrooms we grow and their use as a medicinal product.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
All Right, Pete, which is your favorite of all the
mushrooms that you grow that you enjoy the most eating.
Speaker 5 (37:22):
If I'm gonna grab some mushrooms to cook at our house,
I'm probably gonna go with the blue oyster mushrooms. They're
just so mild and versatile. Anything that I'm cooking, I
know that I can throw them in and really help
create a meal around them. They were the first variety
of mushrooms I ever grew, and just super easy to
(37:43):
cook with. We kind of call those like our gateway
mushroom from your typical grocery store varieties, So just really
familiar and easy to work with, a good way to
kind of get your foot into it.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And for folks that are curious, you have quite an
array of mushrooms that you grow.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
Yeah, at any point in the year, we grow probably
between five and ten different varieties. There is some seasonality
to our production. Despite the fact that we're indoors. There
are mushrooms that have adapted to grow pretty much in
every non permanently frozen environment on Earth, So there is
(38:23):
just a lot of temperature tolerance variation and things like that.
So in the summertime we'll grow more warm weather varieties,
and then in the wintertime we'll grow more cold weather varieties.
And actually usually in the winter time we have more
variety and more variation among the species that we're able
(38:44):
to grow. But yeah, everything pretty much wants to grow
around fifty to sixty degrees, so it's a little bit
easier this time of year than in the middle of
the summer here in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Blue oyster, queen oyster, cone tooth as means to me,
I think are your more people asking where you find lions?
Maine seems to be very popular. I don't know how
to pronounce the other than pino.
Speaker 5 (39:11):
Italian variety. They grow on piopo or poplar trees in Italy,
so that's where that game came from.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
And chestnut are some of the varieties that they will
that you will find them growing. We we bought the collection,
the large collection of all those I wanted to just
spram with with you know, a preservative and just use
that hanging up on the wall.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
Yeah, they're definitely very beautiful. We've used them as a
centerpiece and our Thanksgiving table during some years, and yeah,
the mix is usually our best seller. I think just
all the varieties kind of piled up there and the
little boats that we have them in at the Farmer's
Market are just really eye catching and give you a
(39:53):
little taste of everything there.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
And it's amazing the difference flavor of the flavors that
you will get in course text here as well, you know,
when you're cooking all of those, And as far as
I'm concerned, I still think the best way it's just
sauteed and butter.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Yeah, definitely, you can't beat that. You know, there's a
lot of people that say they don't like the texture
of mushrooms, So our best tip for that is to
throw them in a dry skillet to sautee them. At first.
Mushrooms are like ninety percent water, so oil and water
don't mix and it just kind of locks all that
moisture up in the mushrooms. That can not be the
(40:30):
greatest texture to some people. So throw them in a
dry skillet, sweat some of that moisture out of there,
and then add your fat, your butter oil and helps
get them a little crispy, gets some color on them
a little bit, and just I think makes a texture
a little bit better overall. But yeah, you really can't
go wrong roasted saute thrown on the grill. They're very versatile.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
So now you can't use that as an excuse if
you don't like the texture of mushrooms, that's not an
excuse anymore. Peaches thrown that out the window, So there
you go. I can't use everything. Excuse talking again with
Peach Richmond. Go to their website richlifefarm dot com. The
varieties that you choose to grow? Are those? Do those
seem to be the most popular that are used in
(41:12):
restaurants and all? Do you do anything specific for a
specific chef or whatever that's out of your list of mushrooms?
Speaker 5 (41:21):
Not really, We've kind of narrowed down our production. We're
just we're very limited on space. We've grown about two
thousand square feet and right now we're growing probably between
six and eight hundred pounds of fresh mushrooms a week,
and we're really probably over one hundred percent capacity. But
we've kind of had to refine our production down over
(41:45):
the years to just really match the demand. And there
have been things we've grown over the years that didn't
yield as well or weren't producing as consistently that we've
had to cut out. So we've kind of refined things
over time, and the kind of the roster that we've
got right now seems to yeah, really fip the demand
(42:06):
and what customers want.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
The best.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
You got to cover, there's no doubt about it. One
thing I forgot to ask you when I was watching you,
uh fill up the bags with your with the the
uh sawdust and all that you got your folks use
the yolk and all of that, and then putting the
spores in and all. Do you reuse that? Or is
once once you harvest from the mushrooms from that, is
that then done?
Speaker 5 (42:29):
So that sawdust substrate will continue to fruit out mushrooms.
But the limiting factor for the mushrooms is going to
be moistured. So really we try to uh get that
oak sawdust substrate as high of a moisture content as
possible without oversaturating it, so that we get really big
(42:50):
first yields, and then each successive flush of mushrooms off
of that will decrease in weight, sometimes by you know,
fifty per but sometimes even more like eighty to ninety percent.
So if we're getting two to three pounds off the
first flush, we might get a half a pound off
the second flush. So, since we're constrained by space, we
(43:13):
typically fruit everything once. There are a couple of varieties
that will do a second time, but then we bring
fresh material in so that we can continue getting those
yields that we need to remain productive and yeah, viable business.
But then we take that spent substrate that we have
and we compost it on our farm, We use it
(43:34):
in our own garden, and we offer it to a
few community gardens and people around the area. Eventually, we'd
like to set up the infrastructure to compost that at
scale and have that as a kind of secondary or
you know, third type of product that we could offer
our customers, but right now it's we don't have the
(43:58):
infrastructure for that line. Definitely.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
I'm sure you will work that. I'll tell you this.
The whole thing is fascinating. And again it all started
by just seeing your your mushrooms and I realized that
I had read about you in the past. What you
guys have been doing. It's fascinating, It's unbelievable. Go to
their website, learn more about it and you will love
it again. It's richlifefarm dot com. If you are local,
of course, then you get to partake. And they're wonderful
(44:23):
mushrooms that they grow. They're absolutely outstanding. Trust me, I've
tasted them all. They are outstanding. To do such a
great job, Pete, I can't thank you enough for spending
time with us this morning, and again I just encourage
folks to get in touch richlifefarm dot com, sign up
for their newsletter. I get that as well, and you'll
find out where you can also find their mushrooms at
(44:44):
the local markets and things like that. Appreciate you spending
time with us this morning. Stay warm, keep those mushrooms warm.
We get this cold dip here, keep them going. We
really appreciate what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (44:54):
Thank you so much for having me Ron, I really
appreciate it. And have great rest of your day.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
All right, you two rich Pete Richmond and again the
rich rich Man and it's a they're out in Richmond, Ohio,
a new Richmond, Ohio. Again. In the website is richlifefarm
dot com. Richlifefarm dot com. By the way, I think
the best way to store those motions I forgot to
ask him. We found out was in a paper bag.
(45:18):
So there you go. All right, quick break, we come back.
Our special guest coming up next. We're gonna talk to
Anthony ned He's from Flawns. You remember Anthony talking about
flowering lawns. Well, he's got a new concept using bird
seeds and creating flowering lawns as well. We'll tell you
all about it after the break. Here in the garden
with Ron.
Speaker 4 (45:39):
Wilson, help for the do it yourself gardener at one
(46:06):
eight hundred eight two three talk. You're in the garden
with Ron Wilson.
Our toll free number eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. Good morning. I'm I'm Ron Wilson, your
personally yard boy talking about yard Nick. Don't forget our website,
Ron Wilson online dot com, Facebook page in the Garden
with Ron Wilson. Two recipes for you from Rita that's
on here this week. Plann of the week is Christmas
fern and all kinds of Oh yeah. Then the centennial
(00:59):
uh pas from Burpie a link to go see that
check it out as well. But again it's run Wilson
online dot com. Coming up in this half hour as
a matter of fact, after the break, we're going to
talk with Pete Richmond. And Pete and his wife Emily
own rich Life Farm and Fungi and their website is
(01:22):
Richlifefarm dot com if you want to check it out.
But my wife and I were at a farmer's market
a couple of weeks ago and purchased some of their
mushrooms and they are phenomenal and I got the reading
about their story, great story, how they got started. Now
they're doing this and can we do that? Well, we're
gonna find out. Pete's gonna join us here, coming up
in a little while, so stay tuned for that. In
the meantime, you and me talking, you already get eight
(01:44):
hundred eight two three eight two five five. Also want
to remind you we were talking about the last hour
new vegetables. If you're looking for your local independent garden
center or nursery greenhouse to grow those, let them know
your list, let us know what you've had good success
with as well. And also so if you are looking
to do raised bed gardening and maybe expand your raised beds.
(02:06):
If you're looking to expand your gardening the time you
garden during the season, extend the gardening seasons. I have
two books for you that been around for quite some time.
Highly recommend them. I talk about and I know both
of these young ladies that wrote these books. They do
an outstanding job. The raised bed one is called Raised
Bed Revolution, Build It, Fill It, Planet Garden Anywhere by
(02:30):
Tara Nolan and absolutely outstanding. Just highly recommend this book
for anybody that's interested in raised beds, Raised Bed Evolution.
Tara Nolan. The other and she's also very big at
raised beds, but likes to extend the gardening season, is
Nicki Jabor. Nicky's been on her show. She's up in
the Nova Scotia area, if I remember correctly, but it's
(02:53):
growing undercover, so she talks about how to grow undercover,
to extend your gardening seasons early and late, and those
cool crops during the summer, et cetera, instead of using covers.
Two really good books that go together nicely raise bed Revolution,
Growing Undercover, and I do highly recommend those great Christmas
(03:13):
gifts as well for yourself to learn more about that.
Great good reading, great illustrations, great pictures. The whole nine
yards to Tennessee We go.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Jeremiah, good morning, Good morning, thanks for taking my call.
I spoke with you last week when we spoke about
their clothes. Yes, sir, well, I wanted to call this
morning about blue jays. There's a lot of people have
no clue their carnivores, and they're extremely aggressive. They rob
(03:43):
all other birds nests and they'll kill and eat baby birds.
I saved the baby out from one one time. But
probably the only positive aspect of blue jay is everyone
that has seen them know is what their screaming sound like.
If you hear and see a cluster of blue jays
(04:07):
that are screaming, you're just raising cane in one I
guarantee you there's a snake on the ground below.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Oh really, the.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Best of Yeah, they're the best alongs for snakes. When
they see one, they just over over them and just
make a crazy noise. And so if you experience that,
be careful somewhere belong as a snake. The other thing
I wanted to I.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Was gonna say the blue jays. They really are bullies
out there when you know, especially you got a bird
feeder up. Man, They're all over the other birds. They're
fun to watch and they're beautiful birds.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, but they're mean. But they're mean nivorous, they eat
other they eat baby birds. That's primarily what their diet is,
baby birds.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
But the other thing I wanted to talk to you
about last year, I don't remember what program I heard
about them on, and I haven't had I had any
luck trying to find any was the German orange tomato.
They say they're real sweet and they're just as orange
as it can be. But I haven't had any luck
(05:14):
finding anything else out about him. If you have an
opportunity to research it, and maybe on your next program
talk to us a little bit about the German orange tomato.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
All right, I will, and we grow a couple German tomatoes.
I think one at our nursery, and I think one
of them maybe orange. I will check double We grow
so many varieties, I can't remember them all, but I'll
double check Jeremiah, and we'll talk about it next week.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Thank you, brother. I hope you have a good week.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
All right, Jeremiah, good talking with you. Stay stay safe.
I don't know if they're going to get any that
snowfall or not, but stay safe. I love watching blue
jays and they have that distinct call blue jays. Crows
obviously have a distinct call quayle. Obviously, doves you can
always tell the doves, uh. And red wing blackbirds. When
you hear one, you know that it's a red one
(06:00):
being blackbird. But yeah, those blue jays can be real bullies,
no doubt about it. But we were talking about crows last week,
and I still that's one of my favorite birds. Talk
about smart, Oh my gosh, they are so smart, kind
of scary sometimes talking your yarding at eight hundred eight
two three eight two five five and were one of
the points there was that if you've got a tomato
or a vegetable whatever that you've had good success with,
(06:23):
let us know, and we'd like to share that with us,
and then share that with your local garden center to
see if they can grow them for you as well.
Also saw this week that the National Garden Bureau and
kind of working with pinterest and their predictions for twenty
twenty six and their prediction for twenty twenty six speaking
of vegetable garden, is that there's going to be a
(06:45):
cabbage crush and they're calling it a cabbage crush, and
they're they're saying that there's a renewed interest in cabbage
and the cabbage not only for eating, but for decorations
like plates and things like that is the new the
new vegetable for twenty twenty six, Live laugh leaf. In
(07:07):
the year ahead, it says that the Boomers and Gen
X will say goodbye to their cauliflower obsession and crown cabbage,
the new kitchen MVP, kim cheek cocktails, crispy or taco wraps,
blistered edge steaks, It's crunch time, baby. It is all
(07:28):
about cabbage. So twenty twenty six, we'll see the cabbage crush. Now,
does that throw Brussels sprouts in there too. I mean
you see in Brussels sprouts use a lot more. That's
I would think that would go in that category. Two
fermented cabbage, the demand is up thirty five percent, sautate
bockchoi up thirty five percent, cabbage alfredo up forty five percent.
(07:49):
This is searching for recipes for these. The cabbage soups
ninety percent, cabbage dumplings one hundred ten percent, cabbage rolls
up one hundred percent. So it looks like look for
different varieties of cabbage to be growing. And remember they're
cool season crops. They love that cooler season, so you
want to grow those earlier in the spring, or you
can grow them in the fall as well. And there
(08:12):
are many varieties that are out there now for you
that are many cabbage heads. Don't get as big, stay
a little bit smaller. For your smaller gardens, your raised beds,
container gardening, you can grow cabbage in those as well.
So the prediction for twenty twenty six, the cabbage crush
is on. The focus will be now off of cauliflower
head on to cabbage quick break. We come back. I
(08:35):
cannot wait. We're gonna talk to Pete Richmond. He's the
owner co owner with his wife Emily Richmond, and they're
name of the farm is rich Life Farm and fun guy.
We're gonna talk about growing mushrooms here in the garden
with Ron Wilson, Green.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
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talk They says in the Garden with Ron Wilson.
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Speaker 1 (11:33):
Welcome back here in the garden with Ron Wilson. Every
thinking about growing mushrooms? You know, you see those kids
all the time are becoming more and more popular out there.
You ever tried one? Well, I'll tell you what I
have got the man that knows more about growing mushrooms
than I think anybody out there. And I have experienced
their mushrooms. They are outstanding. They are gorgeous, they are
(11:54):
good looking. His wife Emily probably should get all the
credit for it, but we'll give him a lot of
credit as well. He is a co owner of their
farm called rich Life Farm. Go to their website Richlifefarm
dot com. And I know you're tired of hearing this,
Pete Richmond, but I understand you're a really fun guy
at the parties.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
Ah, Yes, I am and thank you for having me
this morning. And yes, you're right, Ron, my wife Emily
is definitely the one behind this operation. I like to
say I grow the mushrooms, but Emily is the one
that makes this whole business operation.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So she made that clear at the beginning when I
was getting in touch with you guys to get you
on here this morning. Yeah, she, you know, pretty much
took care of everything. Hey, no, I just can't Yes,
what a great story and the reason. First of all,
I'll say right up front here the reason I found
out about you guys. I have read stories about you
and the Inquiry and a couple of the books as well,
but we experienced your mushrooms firsthand from a produce market
(12:52):
last week at Mattrie and absolutely outstanding. They're probably the
most gorgeous, much gourmet mushrooms I have ever seen, and
the flavor was absolutely outstanding. And just absolutely loved him.
So I said, give me a card. I would love
to get you guys on and talk about this because
what an interesting thing. So let's start out with you,
first of all, how you got involved with this? Because
(13:15):
I love reading it and I have to ask you.
It says at an early age, you became fascinated with
the natural world. What does that mean?
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Yeah, definitely. I mean growing up, I always, you know,
wanted to spend my free time outside playing in the
creeks and the woods, you know, turning over logs and rocks,
just seeing what's out there. And yeah, just you know,
all the things that were surrounded by here in the
natural world. And I grew up in Cincinnati, and there's
(13:45):
so many cool parks and woods and places to go
to explore. So definitely found that passion very early in.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Life, so it stuck with you. And so when you
get out of high school, you said, I'm going to
continue on. So you ed it out to North Carolina.
You got your degree in a Bachelor of Science and
Natural Resource Conservation and Management at Western Carolina University, and
then that's where you met the love of two loves
of your life, Emily and fun Guy.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Yes, that's correct. Yeah, very fortunate to get to go
to school in such a beautiful place and then to
meet my beautiful wife down there. And so yeah, I
studied natural resource conservation and management, so similar to a
forestry degree. But quickly after graduating college, I realized I
didn't want to spend the rest of my life cutting
(14:35):
down trees or fighting wildfires, and I've always enjoyed growing
food and this was something that I could experiment with
in a small place. So yeah, mushroom farming kind of
started as a hobby and in a small greenhouse. I
was growing some oyster mushrooms on straw in our laundry room,
(14:56):
and from there it just quickly took over the house.
I had a built out in our spare bedroom, had
a bigger greenhouse on our back porch where I was
fruiting mushrooms, and then I think one day Emily decided
that that was a little much, so we bought a
shed and stuck everything in there to have a dedicated
(15:18):
growth space for me to experiment and work on this
hobby of mine.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Unbelievable. I'm assuming that while you were growing in these
different mushrooms, friends and family and whatever were like, these
things are great, can you grow some for me? Then
the next thing you know, you're supplying everybody in the
neighborhood and it just continues on.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Yeah, so it definitely started out. People were a little
inquisitive as to what we were doing, a little cautious,
just really unsure of it, and then eventually, yeah, friends
and families started asking us for certain varieties or if
you know, we could supply them for special events and
(15:59):
things like that. And then I think one day we
realized that this could actually be a business. And at
the time we were both kind of pursuing our own
careers but kind of giving the best eight hours of
our day to somebody else in their dream. So we
wanted to invest in ourselves and realize that growing mushrooms
(16:21):
could be a potential business and career for both of us.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Talking with Pete Richmond, he is a co owner of
rich Life Farm. Go to their website richlifefarm dot com
and learn more about him, and of course you can
sign up for the newsletter, you can order musher. You
did all nine yards, but to go to their website
learn more about him. So at that point you said, Okay,
let's give this thing a shot. So you convinced Emily
to move back to Cincinnati. And she's not from Cincinnati.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Right, she's not. She grew up just south of Asheville,
North Carolina and Hendersonville, and that's where we were living
at the time, and it's a really beautiful place. But
the housing market was, you know, it was such a
booming economy that we really couldn't afford land down there
(17:11):
to start a farm. So whenever we would come up
to visit my family in Cincinnati, I would bring boxes
of mushrooms. I would talk to friends who were in
the restaurant industry. I would knock on the back of
restaurant doors whenever we'd be in town, drop off samples,
and just kind of, you know, assess if there was
(17:33):
a market for fresh mushrooms in Cincinnati, and it turned
out there was. So in March of twenty twenty, we
listed our house for sale in North Carolina and moved
up here and bought our farm in May of twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Wow. And then it's taken it from there, and again
you're a new Richmond and area. And then of course
growing not only you do mushrooms, but you have other
things you have on the rich Life Farm as well.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Right, Yeah, so we do have chickens as well. I
will say that they are definitely more of pets than
you know, production farm animals. I always like to say
we kind of have an old hen's home. Most of
our chickens are, you know, past their productive laying years,
but we still keep them around because they're pets and
(18:22):
it's fun to have them around. So yeah, we do
sell eggs at some of our farmers' markets, and then
we've got a big garden that we grow every summer.
This year Emily devoted most of that space to growing flowers,
and she actually set up a little roadside stand down
at the end of our driveway to sell her flowers.
(18:44):
So yeah, there's always something new and exciting going on here.
But most of our business, actually nearly all of our
business is fresh mushrooms delivered to restaurants and then at
a few farmers' markets and specialty markets around the.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
City and the like I said, we and we were
able to buy some last weekend. And I tell you what,
absolutely outstanding what and it just beautiful. I mean, you've
got this, you got you got this one going. I
mean it was the best I've ever seen. I love
your description in here by the way, and I bet
Emily wrote this. It says when Pete is not working,
you can probably find him working or sleeping.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
I we had to. We were in charge of writing
our own biography website a few years ago, and I
think it was at a time when I felt like
most of my energy was dedicated to just growing mushrooms
and helping to get this business off the ground. So
at the time, I definitely felt that way, But since then,
(19:45):
I've been able to kind of separate a little more
from the day to day business operations and yeah, take
more time for.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Myself at least, and described him if he was a mushroom,
he'd be the King Oyster pump in tolerant of heat
and pale white in color. The ore their website rich
to learn more about him.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Uh and uh.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Well during the break richlifefarm dot Com. We'll take a break.
We come back more with Pete Richmond here in the
garden growing mushrooms with Ron Wilson.
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Speaker 1 (22:09):
Welcome back talking with Pete Richmond. He's the co owner
of rich Life Farm and fun guy out in New Richmond, Ohio.
Check out their website. It's Richlifefarm dot com. Growing mushrooms
and they do an outstanding and I'm talking outstanding jobs.
So you know you obviously now are a mushroom or
a fun guy expert at growing is this? Is it
(22:29):
kind of a trial and error that got you to
where you are today? I mean, are there classes or
things you take or how'd you get so good at
what you're doing?
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Definitely a lot of trial and error. We took some
classes along the way. I spent a week up on
a mushroom farm in Canada kind of learning the ins
and outs of the operation. And then we've done some
mentorship programs with other successful mushroom farmers around the country,
(22:58):
and both of those things, you know, we're instrumental in
us successfully launching this business. But for the production side
of things, it was definitely a lot of trial and error.
And fortunately it was a hobby for a few years
before it was a business, so I was able to
(23:19):
work out a lot of those kinks. But even so,
we're learning something new every day. We're always trying to
improve our processes and you know, just get better as
we keep continue moving forward.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Well, you know what I think in our local area
and the history here in Cincinnati, way back when was
Fred mushroom compost up in the Lebanon the Lebanon area,
of course he did all can they can all kind
of mushrooms and stuff, but they grew in a mushroom
compost and landscapers ate that stuff up. I mean that
was great at soil amendment, top dressing or whatever with
you though, as I'm watching the videos and seeing what
(23:54):
you grow in, that's not really a That's not a compost,
is it.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
So we grow everything on an oak sawdust based substrate,
whereas those canned mushrooms and things are grown on a
composted and the dower based substrate. So everything that we
grow in its natural habitat would be growing on dead
or dyeing trees. Basically, we amend that substrate, that oak
(24:21):
sawdust with different things. Most of our varieties get amended
with soybean halls. It's the byproduct of processing soybeans and
pressing them for oil. And in Ohio we grow a
lot of soybeans, so it's pretty readily available agricultural byproduct
to amend that sawdust with, and that kind of acts
(24:43):
as a nitrogen source and that helps the mushrooms really
take off and provide the yield that we need to
maintain the commercial production that we have here.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
You know, I had no idea until I I watched
a couple of videos that the folks are shot when
they were visiting you and doing stories about you. The
process is really cool. I mean, that's very interesting with
the plastic bags and then the medium that you use
there and then putting the hole in the top and
then they grow out to I was sat there just like, wow,
(25:18):
I had no idea. When you're growing these what do
they all require? Like the same humidity, the same temperature.
Is everything different grown in a different situation or pretty
much all the same.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
For the most part, everything that we grow grows in
the same conditions. There are a few varieties that we
grow at a smaller scale that requires some different conditions.
But yeah, basically what we're doing is trying to mimic
all the things that occur naturally that cause mushrooms to grow,
(25:55):
and do that indoors in a controlled environment so that
we can harvest fresh mushrooms every day of the year.
So we are, you know, doing temperature changes to mimic
natural occurrences in nature. We're adding humidity to help the
fungi and mushrooms thrive and all just kind of mimicking
(26:15):
the natural processes.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Talking with Pete Richmond, he's the co owner of Rich
Life Farm and fung Guy. Check out their website richlifefarm
dot com and learn more about what they do and
of course where you can find their mushrooms as well.
Are there are there? You know, when you're growing vegetables
and things like that, there's always insects or disease or
other issues that can come up. Are mushrooms affected by
things like that as well?
Speaker 5 (26:40):
So mushrooms, you know, when they're growing outdoors, they are
attracting insects basically to help spread their spores, their genetic material.
So there are definitely pests, but since we are indoors,
we're able to mitigate a lot of that. There are
things that are like pleasing fungus beetles that will go
(27:03):
in and eat the flesh of the mushrooms when they're
growing outdoors. There are fungus gnats that are attracted to
the CO two that mushrooms put off. But in an
indoor controlled environment, we're really able to kind of get
one step ahead of that and prevent any infestations or
things like that from happening.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So are are mushrooms then grown? Can they are they
considered organically grown?
Speaker 5 (27:27):
So we're not certified organic, but we use organic practices
in our operation. We don't treat our mushrooms with anything.
We say, the only chemical they come in contact with
is water. But then when we you know, when we're
preparing the growing medium, when we're harvesting packing mushrooms, we
wear gloves to keep them clean and just have a
(27:51):
clean product that's ready for our customers to use.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Well. Talking with Pete Richmond again, check out their website
richlifefarm dot com. Now, course, obviously the pictures the lights
are on so we can see what's going on in
all but are mushrooms growing in the dark are not necessarily.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
So, like a white button mushroom is grown in the dark,
and then a crimini mushroom is actually the same type
of mushroom that's grown in light. So mushrooms have melanin
and there's the same way that humans have melanin in
our skin, and thus they are reactive to that light.
They're also phototropics, so they will grow towards light, but
(28:32):
without light, they just won't get that melanin, that pigmentation
to help develop all those really cool colors, everything from
pinks and yellows to blues and deep grays. So, yeah,
there's a lot of color at play with these mushrooms
we grow as well.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Now, do you have grow lights inside these buildings that
are special special lights spectrum for them or not necessarily?
Speaker 5 (28:57):
So in our grow rooms we run daylight spectrum LEDs
and we run those I think like sixteen hours a
day in our growing rooms and that's really all they need.
They don't need, you know, they're not using the same
kind of spectrums as plants because they're not photosynthesizing, so
(29:18):
they're just using that as a kind of a beacon
to grow towards, but also as a source to produce
that melanin pee.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
You know, we see a lot of these kits that
are out there today for folks that are you know,
you can buy the log it comes with the spores
already on it, you know, put in the closet or whatever,
and grow those. I've never done one before, you know,
is that something that folks can get into doing on
their own as well? I mean, is it something that
you know you can do on it small? Well, I
mean obviously that's how you got started, But do you
(29:47):
advise people if they're looking to do this on their own?
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Yeah, that's definitely a great way to get into it.
A lot of the kits that are like commercially available
on the shelf have been kind of augmented a little
bit to allow them to stay viable on a shelf
for an extended period of time. But we're actually offering
some grow your own kits for the holidays this year.
(30:13):
We're just doing some blue Oyster mushrooms right now because
it's a really easy mushroom to for first time growers
to have success with. But we've got a newsletter going
out later this morning that will have all the details
for that and those will be available to pick up
at a couple of our farmers' markets before the end
(30:34):
of the year.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Talking with Pete rich Richmond again, it's richlifefarm dot com.
Sign up for their newsletter and of course when you
go there you'll see all the varieties. You'll see where
they're going to be at at as far as markets
that you can buy them, the recipes they have recipes
on there for you as well. You can learn more
about Emily and I can't leave out Kelly Coleman as well,
an integral part of your team there as far as
(30:57):
producing these mushrooms. Let's take a quick break. We come
back one more segment with Pete. I appreciate you spending
time with us this morning. We'll talk about the different
varieties they grow, uh and how do you store those
once you get them on? What's the best way to
do it and what's the best way to cook them?
We'll find out from Pete Richmond again. Their website is
Richlifefarm dot com. Here in the Garden with Ron Wilson.
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Speaker 6 (33:02):
Suppose suppose suppose spouse spouse spouse, suppose suppose spouse sup?
(33:43):
Supose S supose spouse Suppose the spouse SU spose S
(34:10):
supose S suppose super spouse sin suppose the spouse the
(34:33):
suppose spouting spouse, spouse suppose the spouse sup.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Welcome back here in the Garden with Ron Wilson. Special
guest this morning is mister Pete Richmond. He's a Code
of Rich Life, farm and fun guy. They grow a
great selection of gourmet mushrooms. Their website is outstanding. They
have a newsletter. I have the November newsletter in front
of me. They're gonna they were releasing the December one today,
so sign up for it. Go to their website. It's
again richlifefarm dot com. Can we can, folks, obviously, for
(36:20):
us local our local listeners, we can find you at
some of the markets and all, and that's listed on
your website. Can folks order those that have them shipped
as well?
Speaker 5 (36:31):
So we do not ship any fresh mushrooms.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
Mushrooms are just really hyper perishable and kind of require
some specific storage to really get the best shelf life
out of them, and that's kind of our competitive advantage
within this market. Our mushrooms are grown here and delivered
fresh to our restaurant customers and markets every week, so
(36:58):
it's really all our best interest is to keep that
product local. We do, however, have some pinctures available on
our website, and those are just extracts of the fresh
mushrooms we grow and their use as a medicinal product.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
All Right, Pete, which is your favorite of all the
mushrooms that you grow that you enjoy the most eating.
Speaker 5 (37:22):
If I'm gonna grab some mushrooms to cook at our house,
I'm probably gonna go with the blue oyster mushrooms. They're
just so mild and versatile. Anything that I'm cooking, I
know that I can throw them in and really help
create a meal around them. They were the first variety
of mushrooms I ever grew, and just super easy to
(37:43):
cook with. We kind of call those like our gateway
mushroom from your typical grocery store varieties, So just really
familiar and easy to work with, a good way to
kind of get your foot into it.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And for folks that are curious, you have quite an
array of mushrooms that you grow.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
Yeah, at any point in the year, we grow probably
between five and ten different varieties. There is some seasonality
to our production. Despite the fact that we're indoors. There
are mushrooms that have adapted to grow pretty much in
every non permanently frozen environment on Earth, So there is
(38:23):
just a lot of temperature tolerance variation and things like that.
So in the summertime we'll grow more warm weather varieties,
and then in the wintertime we'll grow more cold weather varieties.
And actually usually in the winter time we have more
variety and more variation among the species that we're able
(38:44):
to grow. But yeah, everything pretty much wants to grow
around fifty to sixty degrees, so it's a little bit
easier this time of year than in the middle of
the summer here in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Blue oyster, queen oyster, cone tooth as means to me,
I think are your more people asking where you find lions?
Maine seems to be very popular. I don't know how
to pronounce the other than pino.
Speaker 5 (39:11):
Italian variety. They grow on piopo or poplar trees in Italy,
so that's where that game came from.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
And chestnut are some of the varieties that they will
that you will find them growing. We we bought the collection,
the large collection of all those I wanted to just
spram with with you know, a preservative and just use
that hanging up on the wall.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
Yeah, they're definitely very beautiful. We've used them as a
centerpiece and our Thanksgiving table during some years, and yeah,
the mix is usually our best seller. I think just
all the varieties kind of piled up there and the
little boats that we have them in at the Farmer's
Market are just really eye catching and give you a
(39:53):
little taste of everything there.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
And it's amazing the difference flavor of the flavors that
you will get in course text here as well, you know,
when you're cooking all of those, And as far as
I'm concerned, I still think the best way it's just
sauteed and butter.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Yeah, definitely, you can't beat that. You know, there's a
lot of people that say they don't like the texture
of mushrooms, So our best tip for that is to
throw them in a dry skillet to sautee them. At first.
Mushrooms are like ninety percent water, so oil and water
don't mix and it just kind of locks all that
moisture up in the mushrooms. That can not be the
(40:30):
greatest texture to some people. So throw them in a
dry skillet, sweat some of that moisture out of there,
and then add your fat, your butter oil and helps
get them a little crispy, gets some color on them
a little bit, and just I think makes a texture
a little bit better overall. But yeah, you really can't
go wrong roasted saute thrown on the grill. They're very versatile.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
So now you can't use that as an excuse if
you don't like the texture of mushrooms, that's not an
excuse anymore. Peaches thrown that out the window, So there
you go. I can't use everything. Excuse talking again with
Peach Richmond. Go to their website richlifefarm dot com. The
varieties that you choose to grow? Are those? Do those
seem to be the most popular that are used in
(41:12):
restaurants and all? Do you do anything specific for a
specific chef or whatever that's out of your list of mushrooms?
Speaker 5 (41:21):
Not really, We've kind of narrowed down our production. We're
just we're very limited on space. We've grown about two
thousand square feet and right now we're growing probably between
six and eight hundred pounds of fresh mushrooms a week,
and we're really probably over one hundred percent capacity. But
we've kind of had to refine our production down over
(41:45):
the years to just really match the demand. And there
have been things we've grown over the years that didn't
yield as well or weren't producing as consistently that we've
had to cut out. So we've kind of refined things
over time, and the kind of the roster that we've
got right now seems to yeah, really fip the demand
(42:06):
and what customers want.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
The best.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
You got to cover, there's no doubt about it. One
thing I forgot to ask you when I was watching you,
uh fill up the bags with your with the the
uh sawdust and all that you got your folks use
the yolk and all of that, and then putting the
spores in and all. Do you reuse that? Or is
once once you harvest from the mushrooms from that, is
that then done?
Speaker 5 (42:29):
So that sawdust substrate will continue to fruit out mushrooms.
But the limiting factor for the mushrooms is going to
be moistured. So really we try to uh get that
oak sawdust substrate as high of a moisture content as
possible without oversaturating it, so that we get really big
(42:50):
first yields, and then each successive flush of mushrooms off
of that will decrease in weight, sometimes by you know,
fifty per but sometimes even more like eighty to ninety percent.
So if we're getting two to three pounds off the
first flush, we might get a half a pound off
the second flush. So, since we're constrained by space, we
(43:13):
typically fruit everything once. There are a couple of varieties
that will do a second time, but then we bring
fresh material in so that we can continue getting those
yields that we need to remain productive and yeah, viable business.
But then we take that spent substrate that we have
and we compost it on our farm, We use it
(43:34):
in our own garden, and we offer it to a
few community gardens and people around the area. Eventually, we'd
like to set up the infrastructure to compost that at
scale and have that as a kind of secondary or
you know, third type of product that we could offer
our customers, but right now it's we don't have the
(43:58):
infrastructure for that line. Definitely.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
I'm sure you will work that. I'll tell you this.
The whole thing is fascinating. And again it all started
by just seeing your your mushrooms and I realized that
I had read about you in the past. What you
guys have been doing. It's fascinating, It's unbelievable. Go to
their website, learn more about it and you will love
it again. It's richlifefarm dot com. If you are local,
of course, then you get to partake. And they're wonderful
(44:23):
mushrooms that they grow. They're absolutely outstanding. Trust me, I've
tasted them all. They are outstanding. To do such a
great job, Pete, I can't thank you enough for spending
time with us this morning, and again I just encourage
folks to get in touch richlifefarm dot com, sign up
for their newsletter. I get that as well, and you'll
find out where you can also find their mushrooms at
(44:44):
the local markets and things like that. Appreciate you spending
time with us this morning. Stay warm, keep those mushrooms warm.
We get this cold dip here, keep them going. We
really appreciate what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (44:54):
Thank you so much for having me Ron, I really
appreciate it. And have great rest of your day.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
All right, you two rich Pete Richmond and again the
rich rich Man and it's a they're out in Richmond, Ohio,
a new Richmond, Ohio. Again. In the website is richlifefarm
dot com. Richlifefarm dot com. By the way, I think
the best way to store those motions I forgot to
ask him. We found out was in a paper bag.
(45:18):
So there you go. All right, quick break, we come back.
Our special guest coming up next. We're gonna talk to
Anthony ned He's from Flawns. You remember Anthony talking about
flowering lawns. Well, he's got a new concept using bird
seeds and creating flowering lawns as well. We'll tell you
all about it after the break. Here in the garden
with Ron.
Speaker 4 (45:39):
Wilson, help for the do it yourself gardener at one
(46:06):
eight hundred eight two three talk. You're in the garden
with Ron Wilson.
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