Sunderland urban farmer Brett Larkin on how he grows Lion's Mane at his home mushroom farm

Sunderland Echo

Transcript

00:00So Brett, we're down here at Urban Harvest Mushrooms.

00:03Can you talk us through how you got interested in mushrooms

00:05and then how you started growing them yourself?

00:08Yeah, I mean, initially I was taking the same Lion's Mint supplements

00:12that I guess a lot of people are familiar with and stuff.

00:14But eventually I realized you couldn't actually get them in a fresh variety

00:18or anything like that, or anything close to home

00:20where it would have to be shipped for a long period of time.

00:22And I had a background in the first degree that I studied in biomedical science

00:25and then I did horticulture and applied plant science later on

00:27that I thought would be a really good thing to move on to

00:30and make it more accessible for the local community.

00:32And people can buy your mushrooms at shops in Sunderland and markets, is that right?

00:38Yeah, so I currently supply two businesses.

00:40I supply the Goodable Cuff, which is a vegan vegetarian restaurant,

00:43which is a really good place to go to, as well as Sunshine Cooperative

00:47to be able to buy the fresh packs that I make.

00:49But I'm also going to be moving on to markets like the Sunnyside Market

00:52and other markets that I can get onto.

00:54There's going to be another one in Harrington as well

00:56that I'll be going to this month too.

00:58And at the markets, you obviously talk people through the process

01:00and how you grow these mushrooms.

01:02And it is a really interesting process, isn't it?

01:04Yeah, so I do spend a lot more of the time talking about

01:07and providing more education on lion's mane mushroom

01:09and how it grows and the different health benefits

01:11that people can get from it, which a lot of people may be familiar with.

01:13But I try to really push on the fact that it's a really good gourmet mushroom

01:16because a lot of people use it as a meat replacement

01:18as the way that it grows as a fruiting body for like chicken

01:22and stuff like that.

01:23It mimics the same sort of texture that it would with meat

01:25and it can soak up any of the flavoring and stock

01:28that you would cook it with.

01:28So it's a very versatile mushroom for a culinary aspect.

01:32And it is an interesting mushroom, this one, isn't it?

01:35Like you say, there's the gourmet aspect,

01:37but also it's got some great medicinal benefits as well.

01:39Yeah, I mean, it's got a whole range of medicinal benefits

01:42for whether it can help with low mood and mood regulation and stuff like that.

01:45But it's got loads of health for cognitive factors in terms of nerve growth

01:49as well as clearing memory fog.

01:51It helps benefit your immune system

01:54and it can help offset a lot of effects and other things like that.

01:58I've got a whole list of things that would benefit on the website

02:01for about lion's mane for a lot of people to be able to check out.

02:04Although a lot of people are familiar with that

02:06because that's one of the reasons that they take the supplements for.

02:08But it's just a good thing to help promote

02:10for the type of mushroom that it is

02:11and the ways that it can help benefit.

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