Possum Bottom Farms

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Possum Bottom Farms

Who are you guys? John is an Electrical Engineer who grew up on a farm northeast Georgia and has been growing his own organic produce for over 45 years. Susan is a Sales Professional and Merchandiser hailing from New Martinsville, West Virginia, where she developed a love of nature as a child. Both have had life-long passions for agriculture, nature and healthy eating. Susan and John are both licensed pilots, avid kayakers, and Susan is very involved in the local cycling community. Possum Bottom Farm began in March of 2002 with the purchase of the 70 acre farm property from Art and Betty Matthews. Art, a retired Eastern Airlines Captain, and Betty, a retired Eastern Airlines Flight Attendant decided the upkeep of the property was becoming too much for them to handle as they entered their retirement years. They were ready to sell in early 2001. At the time Susan and I were looking for a piece of property where we could grow our own food, fly airplanes, raise Labradors and live a simple, more relaxed country life. By 2008 we had added raised beds, the first greenhouse, a chicken coop, fruit trees, berry bushes and grape vines. By 2010 we were growing most of our own produce, eggs, and fruit. Susan and I really wanted to leave the corporate rat race behind and take our farming passion to the next level, but we needed a unique crop. An old friend and former business partner began growing mushrooms for restaurants and farmers markets in the Charleston, SC, area in 2013. It immediately sparked our interest. As we watched him expand his mushroom operation and seeing his success (and failures) we began studying mushroom cultivation in earnest in early 2014. We read everything we could find about mushrooms and how to grow them. We watched dozens of Youtube videos. We quickly discovered there are a lot of myths floating around about mushroom cultivation. So, we went to study under expert Mycologist Peter McCoy, along with internship on Whitemarsh Farm in Wadmalaw, SC. The learning curve was steep. In the beginning the failures were numerous. It became very apparent why there aren’t more people farming mushrooms. It’s hard. Really, really hard, but we like a challenge! Today, we cultivate over forty different fungi including 11 strains of shiitake, 12 strains of oyster, along with multiple strains of chestnut, pioppino, enoki, nameko, maitake, mukitake, stropharia, lion’s mane, combtooth, and the medicinal varieties reishi, cordyceps, and turkey tail. We grow our own seed spawn right here on the farm from commercial grade cultures maintained in our onsite lab, ensuring absolute quality control of our products. All of our mushrooms are farmed. We do not offer wild foraged mushrooms. Every mushroom we offer is picked fresh at the peak of flavor the day of the market, and is available to you from the farmer’s own hands just a couple of hours later! Most strains are available every week, year round. This provides you with the freshest mushrooms available anywhere, bar none! We currently produce approximately 500 lbs/week of fresh mushrooms. As of February 2019 we wrapped up a significant expansion of our operation. We now offer farm fresh blue, elm, golden, Italian, and King oyster mushrooms, shiitake, chestnut, and lion’s mane mushrooms every week, year round, along with several seasonal varieties. Other culinary species listed above are grown to order and are available upon request. In addition to our fresh mushrooms we also offer fresh ground shiitake, oyster, golden oyster, chestnut and lions mane mushroom powder. Made weekly in small batches from mushrooms grown here on our farm, our powders are terrific as a flavor-packed, gluten-free sauce/stew thickener, on grilled meats, with eggs, on popcorn, with rice or noodles, or any time you want mushroom flavor, but not necessarily mushroom texture. If you’d like to try your hand at growing mushrooms at home we offer oyster mushroom home fruiting kits, along with pre-inoculated shiitake, oyster, mukitake and maitake logs and totems that can be used to create or enhance “edible landscaping”. Are you searching for mushrooms for research, or producing extracts and tinctures? We can help! We have dozens of different strains in our library, many not listed here. Give us a shout! If we can grow it we’d love to be your farmer! Are you organic? Yes! While we are not certified organic, our processes are 100% organic from start to finish. Mushrooms will have it no other way! Because we are an indoor farm we control farm pests, such as insects, molds, yeasts, opportunistic fungi and bacteria with temperature. No pesticides are ever used. We call our process “full circle farming”. Here’s how it works: We take locally obtained agricultural and wood waste products, such as logs, sawdust, and wood chips, introduce the appropriate fungi, and grow delicious, nutritious gourmet mushrooms. After the mushrooms have been harvested we introduce Vermiculture (worms) to complete the decomposition of the material into rich, worm casting filled compost that is then used in our raised beds, greenhouses and high tunnels to grow premium produce, thus completing the circle. Our powders are produced from any excess mushrooms we grow that aren’t sold within 12 hours of harvest. These extra mushrooms are immediately air dried to preserve flavor and nutritional content, powdered, sifted to the consistency of flour, bottled and sealed for freshness. Nothing is wasted, ever. So, where can you find our mushrooms and other products? Our mushrooms can be enjoyed at the Hummingbird Pastaria in Signal Mountain, TN and at Knox Mason in Knoxville. Our fresh mushrooms, mushroom powders, and pre-inoculated mushroom logs can be purchased year round at the Franklin Farmers Market in Franklin, TN, every Saturday from 8:00am-12:00pm. You will find us in the parking lot under the green tent, space #53. Starting May 2nd our products will be available every Saturday 9:00am ‘til 1:00pm through December at the Nourish Knoxville Farmers Market at Mary Costa Plaza in downtown Knoxville. Starting May 7th you will find our mushrooms and other products at the Greene Street Farmers Market in Huntsville every Thursday afternoon through October!

Taste the difference fresh makes!