There's something decomposing in a dark, formerly vacant office in Hampden — and it's not what you might think. At 3000 Chestnut Ave., bags of wet sawdust, sorghum and soybean hulls sit in rows, fermenting under low light. Inside the grain-filled substrate, sprawling, spine-like mycelium fades from brown to white. It stretches, strangling every kernel of nutrients until white caps and thick stems begin to sprout above the surface, resembling tiny bowling pins.
"It's kind of like a sourdough starter," said Falls Road Mushroom Company owner Jonathan Manekin, who has set up tents, fans and spinning machines to control every stage of the operation.
Manekin, who left behind a 20-year career at his family's real estate firm to start up his farm, now leads a team of impassioned fungi enthusiasts and foragers who churn out pounds of the mushrooms in species ranging from lion's mane to grapefruit-sized king oysters.
You might recognize some of the wares. Like the tendrils beneath his mushrooms, Manekin's network of buyers is spreading, connecting the menus of social clubs from Green Spring Valley Hunt Club in Owings Mills to Baltimore's Mount Vernon and Maryland clubs, and restaurants like The Corner Pantry and the Tavern at Woodberry Kitchen.
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