It’s us! We’re here just checking in and keeping you updated with all our fungi-functions. Check it out.Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ 

Hey, it’s us again, your favorite mushroom farmers. We hope you had a safe and fun 4th of July. What else do you have panned this month? We have a couple ideas. Read more ⬇️
 

What we’re up to:

Farmer’s Markets

Get stocked up on your favorite mushrooms directly from us at these THREE different markets this month. We will have Blue Oysters, Italian Oysters, Pink Oysters, Lion's Mane, Comb Tooth, Chestnut, Pioppino, Shiitake, and Eggs.

Hyde Park Farmers Market every Sunday from 9:30 am - 1 pm @ Hyde Park Square

Findlay Market Farmers Market Saturday from 8am - 2pm on July 1, 15, and 29th @1801 Race St., Cincinnati, OH 45202

O.F.F. Market Saturday, July 8th @ Summit Park in Blue Ash *We will be bringing all the Rich Life merch - tank-tops, long-sleeves, tote bags, even mini tote bags! You know you want one…
 

Maitake Success!

β€œHere at Rich life farm, we like to pursue progress over perfection. We say that our only competition is with the people we were yesterday, and we work to be better people, friends, family members, and mushroom cultivators everyday. Recently, this work culminated in our first successful cultivation of Maitake aka hen of the woods mushrooms. This mushroom has proven to be a formidable foe to many a cultivator, and we are no different. It has a complex lifecycle and doesn't like to coexist with other fruiting fungi. I won't pretend that we understand all the nuances to its cultivation, but after countless attempts we finally had a batch we felt comfortable selling. If you purchased any Maitake from us in June, we truly hope that you enjoyed the unique flavor and texture. The support that we receive from our customers helps us continue to grow not only new and exciting mushrooms, but also ourselves. If we continue to have success, then we will have more maitake to offer later this summer and eventually hope to have it in regular rotation.”

-Pete
 

Freeze-dryer acquired!

Emalee pitched for & was awarded grant funding to purchase a freeze-dryer from Main Street Ventures. Go Em! Mushrooms that are freeze-dried will hold their flavor, retain nearly all their nutrients, and can last 25 years in storage! Now anyone anywhere in the future could enjoy some Rich Life Farm’s fungi. Plus, this will reduce food waste and be a new channel for creating medicinal mushroom products. Thank you Main Street Ventures for the opportunity.
 

Special Guests at the Farm

School is in session! We had the honor of hosting a class for Cincinnati State’s Fruit and Nut Production course. After a tour of our facility, we demonstrated and practiced some different ways to cultivate mushrooms at home. Here’s a low tech method to try out:

Create spawn. All you need is a slice of mushroom and cardboard. Yes, it’s that easy.

Soak cardboard in water (pic 2). Then layer soaked cardboard pieces with mushroom pieces and roll up like a sushi roll. Put it in a plastic baggie and set it somewhere to colonize.

In a week, you’ll have some white, fuzzy cardboard. It’s mushroom spawn! Finally, you can disperse it in your garden or concentrate the grow with substrate and mushroom grow bags (pic 3).

Picture one demonstrates students taking fresh mushroom cultures onto Petri dishes.

Want to know more? Stay tuned for classes open to the public later this year. Right now, October 14th and 28th we have a course focused on foraging with the Cincinnati Nature Center.
 

Know where your food comes from. That is exactly what the team at St. Francis Apizza wanted to figure out. They visited the farm to learn about our facility and specifically, the journey of Blue Oyster mushrooms. They purchase Blue Oysters fresh every week to serve on their New Richmond Pizza. We highly recommend trying this β€˜za out. Thanks for a great time, St Francis Apizza crew!
 

Mushroom of the Month: Italian Oyster

Italian oyster, Pleurotus pulmonarius, is another summer variety mushroom making it’s first appearance this year. We bring them back every summer, so what’s so special about them?

First, the flavor. Italian oyster mushrooms are a bit on the sweeter side and bring that rich umami punch. The caps are thin, but not too delicate, so they cook down to a pleasant texture. These are great on top of pasta, incorporated into stir-fry, chopped into vegan pulled pork, breaded and deep fried, or as a side to compliment another protein.

You could forage for Italian oysters, looking in the same spots as other oysters - checking dead or decaying hardwood trees. Look for the tightly stacked, grayish caps and a lilac spore print.

Italian oysters, like many other fungi, are saprotrophic fungi. Saprotrophic fungi get their nutrients from breaking down and consuming dead woods. Their mycelium invades the trees and creates β€œwhite rot”. Saprotrophic fungi, or saprobes, are vital to the ecosystem because they decompose this forest debris to unleash nutrients for the soil, microbes, insects and plants.

Medicinally, Italian Oysters have beta-glucans that can increase immune defense and protect our bodies from carcinogens. Oyster mushrooms are a low-calorie, fat-free, fiber-rich food high in several vitamins and minerals such as phosphorus, copper, and niacin.

Thanks for nerding out about Italian oysters with us. Grab a box from us at a market and let us know your favorite way to enjoy them.

 

Recipe: Rigatoni with Mushroom Bolognese

We’ve been hearing a lot of folks talk about making a mushroom bolognese. And we have to say, what a good idea! Here is a recipe we’ve really come to love.

What you need:

  • 1 large Italian Oyster box from Rich Life Farm

  • 1/2 cup olive oil

  • 1 cup white diced onion

  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic

  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • 2 leafy thyme sprigs

  • 1/2 cup dry white wine

  • 2 cups peeled, seeded tomato puree

  • 8 large whole basil leaves

  • 1 pound rigatoni

  • 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

How to:

  1. In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and pinch of salt. Cook for a few minutes, stir frequently.

  2. Add the onions, garlic, thyme, turn the heat down to medium. Cook until the onions are golden brown, about 8 minutes. Stir frequently.

  3. Deglaze the pan with wine and black pepper to taste and cook until the wine has mostly reduced, about 5 minutes.

  4. Add the tomato puree and basil, then lower the heat to medium - low and simmer, stirring often, until the sauce thickens and becomes aromatic, about 8 minutes.

  5. Remove thyme sprigs and check the seasoning.

  6. For the Pasta: Bring a large stockpot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 12 minutes.

  7. Removed from heat, add a drizzle of olive oil and toss until the pasta is covered.

  8. Coat the pasta with the sauce. Garnish with parsley.

You can find all these ingredients at the Hyde Park Farmer’s market or at Findlay Market.
 

Partner Spotlight: Mita’s

Have you heard of Mita’s? This restaurant is another of Chef Jose Salazar and was nominated for a James Beard Award last month. They have amazing food, and heart. The name of the restaurant was inspired by his Colombian grandmother, his β€œMita.”

At Mita’s, you will find an eclectic, farm-inspired menu focused on both traditional and modern foods of Spain and Latin America – with tapas, ceviches, cured hams, cheeses and large plates. They have drinks too, including a wine program that emphasizes Spain and the Old World.

The talent of the Chef, his team, and the culinary creativity makes for a dining experience that will not disappoint. You can make reservations or walk-in to the lounge Monday - Saturday. Happy eating.
 Where to find Rich Life Mushrooms 
 

That’s all for now, folks!

Pictured above, our rooster, Pierre. He attacked his first victim this week, Pete. Luckily, no injuries to show for it. We get it Pierre, you’re mucho macho, now cut it out.

Anyways, thanks for tuning in y’all! We hope to see you at a market soon. Cheers.

Instagram: @richlifefarm

Facebook: Rich Life Farm and Fungi

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Rich Life Farm and Fungi

Rich Life Farm & Fungi, info@richlifefarm.com, 1144 Ten Mile Rd, New Richmond, United States

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