ST. MARYS — An Elk County man with a growing fascination for mushrooms is sharing that passion with the community through his new mushroom farm, Hometown Cap and Spore, in St. Marys.
Hometown Cap and Spore is a small mushroom farm that specializes in growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms that was started in spring/summer of 2023, said founder Joe Kreckel.
Mushrooms are for sale at local farmers markets, Pfaff’s Market in St. Marys, Elk County Foods in Ridgway and Johnsonburg, as well as Big Maple Farms on Long Lovel Road in Ridgway.
“I have an obsession for growing the highest quality mushrooms that I can possibly produce. The mushrooms teach me something new every day. It is extremely important that my customers receive the freshest, highest quality product possible. Mushrooms are picked, immediately packaged, and delivered to my customers on the same day.”
This love for mushrooms started several years ago for Kreckel when he saw a video on the internet about growing one’s own mushrooms from home.
“I find mushrooms incredibly fascinating – the way they grow, how they reproduce and communicate – their role in the ecosystem, etc.,” he said.
One of his favorite parts of growing mushrooms indoor, versus wild foraging, is not having to compete with the bugs in the forest, Kreckel said.
“They love mushrooms as much as I do.”
Kreckel’s passion and fascination with mushrooms is naturally what fuels the interest in starting a mushroom-based business, but there are also more driving factors.
“After my first year of talking to people at farmers markets, I’ve found a huge need in my community,” he said. “People want to cook and experiment with all these cool mushrooms I’m growing… Maybe they’ve seen them on their favorite cooking show, or seen them inside a Whole Foods grocery store in a big city somewhere. I’ve also found that some folks have only ever experienced the common button, or even worse, canned mushrooms their entire lives.”
No offense to the button and canned mushroom lovers, Kreckel says, but when it comes to flavor and nutritional value, he feels that they “fall way short.”
“Regarding flavor and overall nutrition, the fresh specialty mushrooms I’m producing like Lions Mane, Shiitake, Enoki and Maitake are in a league of their own,” he said.
Mushrooms are known to provide many health benefits, such as supporting a healthy immune system and healthier gut, providing a great source of vitamins, promoting lower cholesterol, lowering blood pressure and more.
The way of the future is sustainable farming, Kreckel continued.
“I can grow an incredible amount of high quality/nutrient rich mushrooms in a surprisingly small space, using a minimal amount of energy. I don’t need tractors, fuel, or have acres of fields to maintain – minimal equipment needed compared to traditional farming.”
Kreckel is very active on the Hometown Cap and Spore Facebook page, and there is a vast amount of helpful information about mushrooms that can be found online for those who are interested.
“Reach out about anything mushroom related, and I can steer you in the right direction,” he says.
Some future plans, said Kreckel, include dehydrated/freezing dried mushrooms, as well as medicinal mushroom tincture extracts, and a PA wild foraged mushroom product line.
According to www.foragehyperfoods.com, a mushroom tincture, “a concentrated liquid extract made by soaking fresh or dried mushrooms in a solvent,” is a process that unlocks the active ingredient in the mushrooms.
Kreckel says he has recently decided to cut down on the variety of mushrooms that he’s offering and growing, “shifting gears towards Shiitake mushrooms production only.”
“I’ll mix in some Lions Mane during the summer months,” he said. “I’ve found that those are the two mushrooms that are in the highest demand in the area.”
In Kreckel’s plans are mushroom forays and grow workshops. He is currently juggling a family and full-time job, on top of learning to balance the new mushroom business.
“Once I get more established, events like these will be a frequent occurrence,” Kreckel said.
In addition, he hopes to begin building partnerships with local chefs.
“It would be really cool to have my mushrooms offered in local restaurants. Mushrooms have so many culinary applications –it would be fun to see a few creative local chefs catch onto my mushrooms and run with them,” he said.
Another main objective, said Kreckel, is education –showing customers how to work with the products he offers, such as with mushroom recipes, cooking techniques/applications, health benefits, storage, etc., and how to support local farming.
In the long term, Kreckel’s biggest focus is to help people in rural communities get excited about mushrooms and all they have to offer, “eating, foraging, growing, finding relief, and talking about mushrooms,” he said. “I want to let our community know they have options.”
