Before the heat settles over Ho Chi Minh City, Sr. Agathe Tran Thi Mong Huyen steps quietly into a small mushroom-growing house behind her convent, plastic sandals brushing the damp concrete floor.
Inside the 328-square-foot structure, some 4,000 mushroom-growing bags line iron shelves arranged in neat rows. Fine mist hangs in the air. Next to Huyen, Sr. Marie Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa checks humidity gauges and the date labels tied to each shelf. Each day, both St. Paul de Chartres nuns spend about three hours tending to the mushrooms, watering them four to five times during hot weather and less when the days are cooler or rainy.
"It's become part of our daily rhythm," Huyen said. "We watch the weather closely. The mushrooms respond immediately."
The sisters began mushroom cultivation in August after a benefactor introduced them to a local company supplying organic mushroom-growing bags. The company provides both materials and technical training.
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