Rob: Oklahoma's Ag industry is moving forward, thanks to
something called value added.
Essentially taking a lower value raw commodity, and turning it into a higher
dollar processed food.
Here with more details, is our Alisa Hines.
Alisa: A mushroom from Japan is growing in popularity in Oklahoma;
and unlike its native cousin, it's increasingly easy to find, thanks to
the work of Lost Creek Mushroom Farm in Perkins, Oklahoma.
They are adding value to their mushrooms while giving others a chance to
try mushroom farming first hand, just on a smaller scale.
Doug Williams: Dry mushrooms are a very good thing to have around.
Alisa: Doug Williams began hunting mushrooms just for a hobby, but after a while
things changed.
Williams: At one point I decided, well, let's see what we can do as far as
making a living with mushrooms.
Alisa: Which he and his wife, Sandra, did.
But for Sandra, it has to be more than just a business.
Sandra Williams: I have been in this sort of love-hate relationship
saying, I like to help people, I don't want to be doing this just for money,
we're not helping people.
And originally when we started growing, we said, well this is a healthy
food product.
It's high in protein.
It has lots and lots of health benefits.
It stimulates the immune system.
We're helping people by providing a healthy food option.
Alisa: To make their shiitake mushrooms beneficial,
they grow them on logs.
Doug: When they're growing on logs, they're just completely organic and
completely natural.
And when you grow them on logs, then you're going
to get them for several years.
Alisa: And at the Lost Creek Mushroom Farm, they add value to their
products by selling more than just mushrooms.
Sandra: We had a very difficult time finding a market in Oklahoma,
when we started.
People didn't know what the mushrooms are, and it's a foreign word,
Shiitake.
And of course, now, that's changed, and many, many people know what that is.
But at the time, we didn't have mushroom sales, and a friend of ours said, well,
hey, sell the logs.
Alisa: The rest was history.
Each fall, they begin the process by inoculating small, diameter-cut logs
to sell as a grow-your-own product.
Doug: We drill holes into the wood, and we put the inoculum, which is the
mushroom seed, into the log, and then we seal it with cheese wax.
And then I let them, from that point to about a year, year-and-a-half to
two years, it's kind of water management.
They get water about every two weeks.
Alisa: Now they not only sell their inoculated log kits, but they also sell
the stuff that goes good with mushrooms.
Doug: We have soups and dips, and gift baskets that have a small little
shroomie log in there, and dried mushrooms and recipe books.
Alisa: A product that not only adds value, but gives others a chance to
experience agriculture in the comfort of their own homes.
Alisa: Now, Sandra's generosity is also going international.
This past summer, she and Doug went to Africa with the Farmer-to-Farmer
Program to help farmers there raise shiitake mushrooms, which have a
longer shelf life and are higher in protein than African native mushrooms.