The Mushroom Farm is a 754-acre regeneration project on the California coast.
Research & Demonstration
We’re applying techniques for ecosystem restoration and remediation through our Rhize program. We aim to serve as a hub for research and demonstration in the region. As we seek to help to define the Future of Agriculture and Regenerative Movements, we realize our intrinsic connectedness - of the land that we tend, our local watersheds, and the nearby ocean. Situated at the headwaters of one of the most pristine watersheds in California, and the furthest south the Coho Salmon run, we realize the value of our riparian corridors more than ever. We see ourselves as stewards of this watershed, and know the importance of caring for, conserving, and restoring the thriving of our local ecosystems.
In partnership with Core Remediation, State Parks, Resource Conservation District (RCD), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Cal Fire and UCSC, we hope to create a comprehensive report for the use of mycoremediation for the removal of heavy metals and toxins after a fire event.
Current Projects:
Fire Restoration
Following a fire on the land in 2019, our teams applied side by side techniques for erosion control and restoration, allowing us to compare the efficacy for regenerating land the most efficiently. We look forward to providing a report this winter, in an effort to explicate our findings one year later.
We will create informative, educational content to share, offering ranchers and homeowners the ability to harness a solution for how they can have a positive impact on their land and communities - both before and after fires.
Our farm is blessed to be home to what we call “Compost Mountain” - a hillside of 17,0000 yards of black compost. However, inheriting the many incredible gifts that are the Mushroom Farm also comes with some challenges.
Our Compost Mountain is plagued with the side effects of the less-than-ideal practices of waste management left behind from Campbell’s Soup.This rich black soil is, unfortunately, full of built up trash and heavy metals.
We are utilizing hemp to bio accumulate heavy metals from nutrient rich spent compost substrate. The hemp will then be rhetted in the field, processed, and made into mushroom grow bags on site. We’ll use the substrate to cultivate oyster mushrooms.
We will test the heavy metal accumulation in the hemp through all aerial parts of the plant, and in the mycelium fruiting bodies of the mushrooms.
The remaining product will be formed into molds for potential packaging solutions and utilized for building materials.
Stacking functions, this synergistic solution provides incredible implications for remediating soil, while also creating amazingly useful commodities through the process.
Regenerative Agriculture
We’re utilizing regenerative agriculture practices in an experiment to demonstrate the quickest, most effective way to draw down carbon and build up organic matter. We’re comparing our no-till garden to cover cropping, and also to tilled organic agriculture.
We know the foundational importance of microbes, so we’ve set out to understand what the best practices to amplify conditions for microbial thriving are on our land.
We will explore the use of biochar, EM, vermiculture, and composting - all as solutions to see depleted soil regenerated to its life-giving potential.
Analogue and Agroforestry
Merging forestry with agriculture allows for increased biodiversity. We improve succession, all while adding food to the edges of the farm.
Vegetation Management Projects
In partnership with Cal Fire and the RCD, we aim to find ways to eradicate invasive species and control the out-of-balance, advancing conifers on our precious coastal prairies.
We will be deploying a variety of disciplines - founded in indegenous wisdom for forestry management, controlled burns, and mechanical removal. The VMP work we do will expand habitat for endemic species, and also create new agricultural opportunities for the farm.
