Regenerative Mushroom Farming: How Our Farm Comes Full Circle
At Volcano Farm & Apothecary, our regenerative mushroom farming system connects mushroom cultivation, healthy soil, and farm-grown botanicals. What began as a small mushroom-growing operation on the slopes of Mauna Loa has gradually developed into a farm where one growing process helps support another.
Over the years, we've worked toward making better use of the materials available to us, reducing waste, and building healthier soil. One of the most rewarding parts has been finding ways to connect our mushroom cultivation with the herbs and botanicals we grow.
How Our Regenerative Mushroom Farming System Works
Mushrooms need a growing medium, known as a substrate, that provides the nutrients they need to develop. On our farm, we make our mushroom substrates using locally sourced agricultural byproducts, including macadamia husks and coffee parchment. These materials come from other farms here on Hawaiʻi Island. By putting these agricultural byproducts to use, we're able to grow our mushrooms while making use of resources that are already available in our local farming community.
Growing Our Mushrooms
We cultivate our mushrooms in carefully prepared substrates, giving them the conditions they need to grow and develop healthy fruiting bodies. Once the mushrooms are ready, we harvest them for our fresh mushroom products and extracts. But the growing process doesn't end with the mushroom harvest.
Giving the Spent Substrate a New Purpose
After the mushrooms have been harvested, we're left with the growing material they developed in. This is called spent mushroom substrate. Rather than treating it as waste, we return this material to the farm, where it contributes organic matter to our soil. Our farm sits on the volcanic slopes of Mauna Loa, where building and maintaining good soil is an ongoing part of growing healthy plants. The used mushroom substrate is one of the materials that helps us do that.
Growing Our Botanicals
The soil we're building supports the herbs and botanicals we grow for our tinctures, herbal preparations, and skincare products. From ginger and turmeric to rosemary, tulsi, and other botanicals, much of our work begins with plants growing right here on the farm. We cultivate, harvest, and process these plants in small batches, paying close attention to their quality from the time they're growing in the soil to the finished extracts. It's satisfying to know that materials originally used to grow our mushrooms can eventually help support another part of the farm.
A Growing System That Makes Sense to Us
We don't claim to have a perfect system, and like most small farms, we're always learning and making improvements. But we believe that good farming includes making thoughtful use of what you have, taking care of the soil, and finding practical ways to reduce waste.
For us, regenerative farming isn't just a philosophy. It's something we work at every day, whether we're preparing mushroom substrate, tending our botanical gardens, or returning organic materials to the land.
What began with growing mushrooms has become a connected growing system that continues to evolve.
And that's one of the things we enjoy most about farming here on Hawaiʻi Island.
Ben & Julie
Volcano Farm & Apothecary
Hawaiʻi Island
