Golden Oak Produce co-owner Tom O'Connor said his family's interest in mushrooms created an opportunity to improve the local availability of a wide range of gourmet mushroom varieties whilst building a strong family farming business at the same time.
"We had a lot to learn about growing mushrooms, but we committed to mastering them and haven't looked back," Tom said. A special feature of the business is its monthly farm gate sale day, which allows the general public to visit the mushroom farm to buy freshly harvested mushrooms on the first Sunday of every month.
"We love meeting our customers, and we offer all of our fresh mushrooms, mushroom compost, and 'Mushroom Grow Blocks' if you'd like to have a crack at growing them yourself," he said. Tom says it is very common to find mushrooms grown on imported substrates with unknown contents and treatments. "We grow all of our mushrooms chemical-free and from hardwood from our local mills," he said.
"We like people to know exactly where their mushrooms have come from and to know the people who grow them." Golden Oak Produce is transforming the biological waste of other businesses into food while simultaneously integrating the waste from their food-growing process into another food production system.
"We took over the farm and, starting from a low base, we have doubled production each year," Tom said. "We now send out a few hundred kilograms each week across the Tablelands and to the coast.
Read the entire article at The Express