On a busy week in Millstone, New Jersey, K.C. Sullivan cultivates thousands of pounds of USDA Organic specialty mushrooms—and about 65 high school students. The seniors will graduate. The 'shrooms go to chefs in over 100 restaurants in New Jersey and New York, local CSAs, farmers markets and gourmet grocery stores that can't seem to get enough of the Lion's Mane, Pioppino, Maitake, Chestnut and other specialty mushrooms Sullivan's team grows at Two River Gourmet Mushrooms.
A little over 10 years ago, Sullivan taught himself how to coax shiitake mushrooms out of logs underneath his apartment. Today, Two River Gourmet Mushrooms grows and sells up to 3,000 pounds of organic specialty mushrooms a week during the busy season. It is the only USDA Organic Mushroom farm in New Jersey that grows many of these beloved strains.
The farm is across the state line from the mushroom mecca of Chester County, Pennsylvania, the "Mushroom Capital of the World," that grows 67% of all mushrooms produced in the U.S, according to the USDA. Many of those farms are multigenerational farms passed down to children, nephews, nieces and cousins in third, fourth and even fifth generations. Two River Gourmet Mushroom is a different story. Although Sullivan credits his mother for launching his love for growing—she was the president of the local garden club—it was a lack, rather than a legacy, that launched the efforts that would become Two River Gourmet Mushroom.
Read more at OPN
