Mushroom Farm Tour & Interview - Hearty Growers with Terry Vaz | Mushroom Farming | GroCycle
Today we’re chatting with Terry Vaz from Hearty Growers, an Urban Mushroom Farm that started up during the height of the Covid pandemic. Based in the heart of Belfast, the team at Hearty Growers have enjoyed a lot of success in a remarkably short space of time, supplying restaurants and gourmet food retailers across Northern Ireland.
Join us as Terry shows us round his farm and we discuss the challenges that the Hearty Growers team have faced, and the top tips that Terry has for start-up mushroom growers…
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:57 Tour of Hearty Growers Mushroom Farm
3:07 Terry Vaz from Hearty Growers
3:41 Where in the world are you? Urban or Rural?
4:16 How big is your space?
5:25 What inspired you to grow mushrooms?
8:20 What initial steps did you take to get you going?
10:32 What are the benefits of signing up to a Mushroom Growing Course?
11:04 Tell us about your initial farm setup
13:43 How did you first start selling to restaurants?
15:03 Tell me about some of your initial success
16:31 What prompted you to move to larger premises?
17:41 How did you choose to layout your farm at the new premises?
19:00 Were there any ways of reducing costs in your initial setup?
19:33 Did you enjoy getting stuck in and building the farm yourself?
19:51 Tell me how your growing methods evolved once you moved premises
21:18 How many production runs do you currently do each week?
22:52 What space do you have on your farm that is used other than for mushroom growing?
24:06 Tell me about the other mushroom products that you sell in your shop
25:17 How many people are employed on the farm? Do you have any volunteer help?
27:09 How many farm tours are you doing at the minute?
28:41 How is your revenue stream split across the different areas of the business?
29:35 What species of mushrooms are you growing at Hearty Growers?
30:29 Do you enjoy the challenge of growing new types of mushroom?
31:33 Have you experimented with any unusual substrates?
32:33 Have you experimented with coffee grounds as a substrate?
33:54 What were the biggest challenges that you faced as a startup?
35:38 Have you managed to keep a good work-life balance?
36:38 What has been the most rewarding part in setting up your urban mushroom farm?
37:15 What advice would you give to someone starting out? How do you think the Low Tech Mushroom Farming Course & Community have helped you in your journey?
38:36 Do you have any plans to change aspects of your farm? Visions for the future?
40:08 How can I have a look at Hearty Growers?
Pop along to Hearty Growers’ website and have a look for yourself!
- www.heartygrowers.com
- / heartygrowers
- / heartygrowers
Want to learn more? Join us for a FREE workshop: How to Grow Mushrooms The Low Tech Way
- grocycle.com/workshop/
Want to join our online course & community made up of small scale mushrooms growers from around the world?
- grocycle.com/go
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Music: Don't You Think That I by J.Lang (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. dig.ccmixter.org/files/djlang5... Ft: Mykleanthony
Пікірлер: 30
Thank you for the interview opportunity, Adam. Loved it! Can wait to come to visit you guys.
I lived in East Belfast for a very long time, have left now for 20 years, lovely to see a place I hold close to my heart growing the way it deserves to be, keep up the great work
@terence0vaz
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much, do give us visit if you are ever around. We’re opp Cons Club - PortView Trade Centre
Such a cool story on so many levels! Congrats Terry Vaz! And thanks for sharing all this inspiring info....I just might be your next mushroom grower convert :) !!!!
Wow this is very inspiring😊, I wish I can learn and put it down here in South Africa.
@GroCycleTV
2 жыл бұрын
Hi Winnie Mathebula - glad you found it inspirational! Check out our courses at grocycle.com/go, we have course members all around the world who have signed up and gone on to be successful mushroom growers - we'd love to see you as part of our course community!
I am finally able to get back to my mushroom farming after having to focus on caring for a family member. Binge watching this playlist and other playlists on your channel ❤. I also finally get to finishing up tweeking and testing my plastic free, resuable grow cages I designed. 😊
Pure inspiration ! You start and then let things happen with a solid knowhow from your course as a fundament. The best thing is the experimentation and feeling this certain attraction to certain mushroom species. Terry's enthusiasm is contagious. Thank you !
@heartygrowers
2 жыл бұрын
Wow! Thank you 🙏 🍄🥰 -Terry
Im going to come and have a look around soon. Maybe buy a few bits. Very inspirational.
Brilliant insite thank you ❤
Fantastic sharing💯💯👍👍
@heartygrowers
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you 🙏
Really lovely interview, you show such enthusiasm and such a quick success story. My contamination has caused me a few issues (I grow in Oxford) but am making good headway. I'd love to know anything that the chef told you, in terms of how to pitch mark ups and any other useful titbits. I am currently selling to grocers but I think restaurants may pay more. Can you share any thoughts?
@terence0vaz
2 жыл бұрын
The chef basically gave us an insight into how ‘trade’ pricing works as far as Belfast goes.. If you’re already supplying to greengrocers than you can pop into your local high end restaurant that are likely to use gournet mushrooms - make sure you’ve got your produce, contact details to exchange - straight ask for the head chef, or the owner/manager. You can ask them upfront simple q’s like how much do they currently pay, are they local, European or Asian produce - as prices differ. Most importantly.. do business with people who see value in what you do, as you will add value to what they do.
If you don’t have hard wood pellets to grow lions mane what is the next best substrate?
@heartygrowers
2 жыл бұрын
We’re currently experimenting with 50/50 pine softwood pellets and soy hull for Lions Mane
@BattleScar09
2 жыл бұрын
Where do they come from… 😃😃😃 spamming good vids.
@theartsypixie2771
3 ай бұрын
@heartygrowers did that work? I played with oak pellets around the time I had to step away and it wasn't successful but then again the grow area wasn't built right since I let my husband do it while I was away.
Can you tell me what makes mushrooms non organic , is it the substrate that is non organic or chemicals used in production 👍
@terence0vaz
2 жыл бұрын
We are currently looking into the Irish Organic Certification. And it seems that at least one component I.e spawn or substrate needs to be organic - which is labeled accordingly on the packaging. Best to contact Organic Association authorities directly or their website for accurate info
Hello, I am a Cambodian, I want to grow mushrooms ចេះ to know now I have a mushroom factory ប៉ុន្តែ but mushrooms 🍄 I have a lot of worms, insects, I do not know what to do? Please teach me how to make mushrooms
@Elizabeth-gu8hx
Жыл бұрын
came across tI was having this constant, unbearable anxiety because of university stress. Not until I came across dr.chris345, a very intelligent mycologist.He saved my life honestly.
How did that shelve get pushed
@Enochulate88
2 жыл бұрын
I think it was a ghost
@Enochulate88
2 жыл бұрын
Around 14 min
@heartygrowers
2 жыл бұрын
hahaha nice one! well spotted!!
@heartygrowers
2 жыл бұрын
@@Enochulate88 probably was :D
ᴘʀᴏᴍᴏsᴍ 😝
I’m sorry…, why is he paying money for all this space and using 15% of it? Is this just some rich guy showing off what he can afford?