Beyond the button: Exotic mushroom growing takes off in Australian sheds and suburbs
Richard Cornish
Photo: Richard Cornish
Out back of Ballarat in Central Victoria, on a hill scarred by gold mines, sits a brand new shed. Small, clean and clinical like a Bond villain lair, the shed is home to exotic fungi farm The Mushroom Connection.
Owner Jason Crosbie was a fungus enthusiast, working in IT, until last year when his vision to make a living off mushrooms became a reality. On his Ballarat hill, Crosbie grows a range of mushrooms such as blue oysters, king brown, shiitake, enoki, and lion's mane, harvesting about 80 kilograms per week for restaurants and food stores.