A Source of All Things Mushroom
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Did you know that there’s a lot of benefits attached to mushrooms (What wine goes well with mushrooms?)? Mushrooms are proven to be beneficial to humans, animals, and the environment alike!
Staying true to this, Fallen Oak Mycology specializes in the cultivation of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms. It also strives to cultivate a positive impact on the environment through ethical and innovative business practices such as “bin swapping” with restaurants to reduce the number of single-use containers.
Fallen Oak Mycology promotes health, vitality, and a high level of both awareness and productivity through the use of powerful mushrooms, their wonderful flavors, and health benefits.
The Inspiration Behind
Josh Googins, the owner, wanted to build a company and a brand to provide the raw materials for compostable textiles, mycoremediation of soil and water, and research while providing a much-needed source of sustainably grown protein — not to mention that mushrooms are awesome in general!
Fallen Oak Mycology (his second mushroom company) focuses on mushrooms, cultivation, and use. His first mushroom company, Maui Mushroom, was established in 2013 on the island of Maui in Hawaii.
Five years later, he formed Fallen Oak Mycology by putting together his knowledge into documents and presenting them to people who expressed their interest to invest. After successfully having done so, he set out in building the start-up facility by converting a shipping container into a lab and grow room.
Nothing Compares
Josh Googins’ experiences not only as a mushroom cultivator and enthusiast but also as a visionary of where the whole industry should go set him and the entire business apart from competitors.
According to him, a lot of people understand that the general idea behind the business holds a lot of potentials — but not a lot of people will be willing to plunge their entire life into considerable debt and risk to actualize it:
It’s part stupidity, part confidence, and a larger part of hard work fueled by passion.
The success of my business is not just success for me; it’s a success for the entire industry and environment as a whole. I’m just not afraid to ask the universe for what I want even if it seems impossibly large.
Sourcing Raw Materials
Fallen Oak Mycology sources their sawdust from local mills, as well as their spawn — particularly if it’s of an uncommon species. If you’re wondering what spawn exactly is, it’s similar to that of seeds in the “plant world”.
For those uncommon species or a specific type of species they particularly like, the Fallen Oak Mycology makes their own spawn.
Mushroom Products
The first products they ever sold were fresh Oyster and Lion’s Mane mushrooms to the following businesses:
The Beer Plant in West Austin;
Vista Brewing in Driftwood; and
The Brewer’s Table on East Cesar Chavez.
Fun fact: The Brewer’s Table made an awesome Japanese-style mushroom beer called Omikase with them. And nope, it doesn’t taste as weird as you may expect!
The Bestsellers
An organic, fair-trade medium to dark roasted coffee infused with wild foraged Chaga from Maine and organic Cordyceps mushrooms has been their best sellers during this pandemic. It’s generally delicious and it gives the subtle presence of a mushroom earthiness blended well with the toffee roast of the coffee. Make sure to try this out for yourself!
Their roster of best-sellers includes fresh mushrooms, specifically Oyster and Shiitake mushrooms. You may purchase these from Fallen Oak Mycology’s farmer’s market stand and CSAs.
Where to Get Fallen Oak Mycology Products
Unfortunately, there are no fresh mushrooms available at the moment because of the pandemic. Fallen Oak Mycology is taking this time to pivot its business into the direction of larger volume and this will definitely take some time.
On the brighter side, customers can still purchase the Cordyceps and Chaga Mushroom Coffee on Amazon Prime, through their website, or directly at Thom’s Market - Barton Springs.
Insider tip: Fallen Oak Mycology is currently in the process of working on releasing several more premium products like mushroom-infused MCT and CBD products!
Looking Ahead
Fallen Oak Mycology is planning to develop its product lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The issue has always been that they cannot seem to grow enough to satisfy the market or themselves, so they’re also looking at expanding their mushroom farm with larger equipment to have considerably higher output.
The waste of the larger farm into mycoremediation and research of the like under Googins Biotech LLC will also be implemented, as the business is very interested in the growing wave of psilocybin mushroom research. They also have been speaking with other cultivators around the country and in Canada about getting the legal licenses to embark on that incredibly important research.
On opening a new place for their mushrooms, the possibility of opening a cafe kind of shop that focuses on local products including those of Fallen Oak Mycology is relatively high. Classes and events may also be available if this idea pushes through.
The best thing about this? The orientation is not only about edible mushrooms. Psychedelics and the culture involving all kinds of things from outdoor activities (climbing, camping, hiking) to performance sports and music will also be touched on. It would be a cultural hub of sorts!
The Texan market feels like fairly wide-open for the Fallen Oak Mycology to take on. But, actually, they’re starting to fill this year with their expansion plans in place!
