Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (00:00):
Hello, and thanks for joining the podcast. My guest today is Dr. Sara Skinner. She's the owner of Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms. And with Veterans Day on Friday, it just seemed appropriate to share her journey to becoming a mushroom farmer because it's directly connected the time that she spent in the Army. And she may have left the Army 12 years ago, but she's never really stopped advocating for veterans. She's now a professor of social work at the University of Georgia. She's even designed courses that help other clinicians working with veterans and military families. And as you're about to hear, while she has no desire to be the mushroom queen, farming itself has really become an important part of her healing process because of the hope that's found in growing things and investing in the future.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (00:46):
Welcome to More Than a Mile, a local food podcast from Market Wagon focused on connecting you to local food through farmer stories from across America. I'm Nick Carter, your host, a farmer and CEO and co-founder of Market Wagon. We are your online farmer's market with a mission to enable food producers to thrive in their local and regional markets. Food is so much more than just nutrients and calories. It's actually the fabric that holds us together. Thanks for joining me for this episode of More Than a Mile, and thank you for buying local food. It's one critical step in making an investment in food for future generations. Well, my guest today is Sara. Sara, thanks for joining us.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (01:28):
Yeah, no problem.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (01:29):
I love your story. At time of recording, we are coming up on Veterans Day. So it's a time of year everybody acknowledges, you know, the sacrifices veterans have made throughout the generations in our country. Seems like every day's Veteran's Day for you though, right? This is a lived reality.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (01:48):
That is true.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (01:49):
So we're gonna talk about your service and how that's brought us around to growing mushrooms. I just want to start at the beginning and first of all, say thank you for serving our country to you and your husband.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (02:02):
Thank you for your support.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (02:04):
Of course. How did you get, you know, today you're a mushroom farmer. You started in the Army. How did you get, how did you decide to join the army right out of high school?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (02:14):
. So I didn't actually, So I grew up as a military brat. My dad was a, um, lifelong Army soldier. Growing up I was very adamant of like, I'm never gonna go in the army. No way. Then after high school, I did one semester in college and it didn't go very great . Uh, and so I was like, Hm, Army's not looking so bad now. So, yeah, after I did one semester of college and then I joined the Army mostly to kind of help me get back to college, but it turns out I loved it. And, uh, I really had a wonderful experience.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (02:55):
I really love that because I grew up son of a farmer and swore I'm never going to be a farmer. Then I dropped out of college and now I farm. So we have a lot of things in common except I didn't join the military. So you grew up in a military family. You met your husband in the military, right?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (03:15):
That's correct, Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (03:17):
At West Point?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (03:18):
That's right. Yeah. So after I was in the Army for a couple years, so I enlisted originally, and so I was enlisted for a couple of years. And then I was given the opportunity to apply to West Point and I was accepted. And so while I was there, I did meet my husband and we've been married for 20 years now. We just did our 20th reunion this past weekend.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (03:44):
Congratulations.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (03:45):
Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (03:46):
And your husband also was in the Army?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (03:48):
Yep. Yep. It's a requirement after graduating. So we both graduated and our senior year was when 9/11 happened. So our senior year of college was 2001-2002. We graduated 2002 and pretty much we were both, you know, immediately deployed to Iraq.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (04:08):
So you're newlyweds on deployment. Is that hard?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (04:13):
Um, the hard part was most, most of the time we were separated. Yeah. But there was a brief point where we were both deployed to Baghdad at the same time. So I was on one side of the river, he was on the other side of the river. And so there were a few times we were able to actually visit. I have this distinct memory of like, you know, sitting on top of a security point with my husband at night watching the tracers, , you know, in the sky overhead. And, and it's something that we kind of go back to in our marriage, you know, when things are going rough or the kids were crazy or whatever, we say, Well, nobody's shooting at us. We're okay.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (04:53):
Yeah. It could be worse. Could be worse. A lot of people say that and you guys really have lived it.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (04:58):
Yeah, yeah. Like literally nobody's shooting at us. We're okay.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (05:02):
Yeah. Wow. So I want to talk about how this military journey brings you into providing food for your local community. So speaking of things being difficult, you, you also gardened while in the Army?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (05:19):
Yes.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (05:21):
Now I have family in the Army. And you even talked about being a military brat, which indicates, you know, you moved around a lot. Mm-hmm. gardens are usually like, literally putting down roots. Is is that hard to do?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (05:34):
Um, yes. Yeah. But it was, it was a very important part of my upbringing. So yes, I was a military brat. I grew up moving around. But even so both sets of my grandparents were farmers in Michigan. And so every summer I would go and stay with them and help them on the farm, you know, hoeing beans or whatever else, you know, we had to do. And so my mother, when we were growing up, wherever we were stationed, she would always make sure she had a garden. And so I'd help her plant. And so it was a natural thing wherever I was, if it was a house plant was all I could manage. I would do that. If I had some space I would, you know, plant some flowers or some tomatoes or whatever. So I've, I've been doing that forever wherever I went.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (06:25):
Uh, so on, on bases all across the US there's a, a garden in the backyard of some housing unit there that you started. Do you think people kept it up after you left?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (06:36):
Germany... I don't wanna know. .
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (06:39):
You don't wanna know.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (06:40):
That's the one thing about moving. I've gone back before, you know, to a place I lived and seen that the new tenants have razed my garden and it makes me very sad. So I'd rather just not know and believe that they're enjoying what I left. But yeah. Yeah. So not just the United States. Also in Germany. Even on my first deployment, my mom sent me flower seeds while I was in Iraq. They didn't take, and that was probably a good thing, .
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (07:12):
Yeah, there's, yeah, there's a large body of literature about not sending seeds across to different continents. .
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (07:18):
Yeah. That was probably not a good idea, but it was just such a natural thing for her to do. Oh, sure. Um, yeah. So I appreciated the thought,
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (07:27):
. So when did you decide to leave the Army and how did that take place?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (07:32):
So I left the Army in 2007. I did two deployments to Iraq. I was injured on my second deployment, so we made a decision as a family after that to get out of the military.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (07:50):
So in 2007, you make the decision as a family to get out of the military. Did you have kids at that, did you say as a family? So did you have kids?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (07:58):
Yes. Yeah. So I just had my oldest son. He was eight months old when we got out, so he was a baby. And my husband and I made a decision at that point because, you know, like I said, I did two deployments. He did two deployments. So our first five years of marriage, we had only been together in the same place for four months consecutively.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (08:25):
Wait, cumulatively?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (08:27):
No, consecutive. Four months consecutive.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (08:28):
The longest consecutive time together
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (08:31):
Exactly was four months. And so we knew that if we stayed in, we were going to be separated again. And now we had a baby in the mix. So we decided on top of everything else that we were gonna try our hand at civilian life.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (08:48):
Okay. So you said your first semester at college didn't go all that well, then you became a West Point graduate mm-hmm. . And now, um, is it Dr. Sara Skinner?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (08:58):
It is Dr. Sara Skinner. Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (09:00):
So tell me about your doctorate work, how you, you went back for a PhD.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (09:04):
Yeah. Well after I got out of the Army in 2007, I was doing a lot of volunteer work for an organization called Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). And it was through that work that I learned that there was a shortage of mental health workers nationwide. Because that was one of the things we were advocating for is more mental health services for veterans. So at that point I was like, 'Well, why not me?' So I decided to go back and get my masters in social work. So I did that in 2009. And then after a couple of years I decided to get my PhD. and so I came to the University of Georgia here in Athens and got my PhD. in social work.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (09:53):
And does a lot of the social work that you focus on, is it focused on military, military veterans?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (10:01):
It is. So that is something that I've enjoyed researching and a program that I brought to University of Georgia. I developed a course on military social work for the University of Georgia. And it's a graduate and undergraduate level. I also put together a military social work certificate program that we're hopefully going to be implementing soon in order to certify mental health workers in the state of Georgia to work more competently with the military population.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (10:35):
Yeah. That's awesome. And does gardening and growing food intersect with that work?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (10:42):
Maybe not that particularly, but I will say that it was a very important part of my healing after serving in Iraq and after getting out of the military. I have this distinct memory of when I was flying out of the desert for the last time and I was flying into Germany, looking out the window of the airplane, and I could just see the deep rich browns and greens of Germany in contrast to having been in the desert. It just sticks in my mind of all that life that's in vegetation and the soil as being kind of, you know, being home, and being surrounded by living and nurturing myself. So I threw myself into really gardening and growing things and it was very meaningful for me, very healing. I know the same is true for a lot of veterans. There are a lot of programs nationwide that combine veterans and agriculture because it turns out it's actually a really good fit for a lot of veterans working in agriculture.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (12:04):
Not only professionally. I mean, they probably have the experience of hard work, they can do what it takes to run a farm. But it sounds like at a little bit more of a deeper level it's meaningful and impactful work.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (12:19):
Yes, exactly. We know that farming is hard work, right? And there's a lot of uncertainty. And so veterans are uniquely able to handle the stress of it. But I feel like there's hope inherent in the act of planting something, right? So it's kind of a bet on the future every time you put a seed in the ground or in my case inoculate some, you know, wood with mushroom mycelium. It's the same kind of thing that you're vesting in the future.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (12:54):
Yeah and able to bring about creation and flourishing and not destruction.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (13:00):
Exactly. Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (13:01):
Yeah. Wow. So let's talk about mushrooms then.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (13:05):
Yeah, so like I said, I've always gardened and grew food and that sort of thing. And then when we moved into, not where I'm living right now, but I was putting together my garden and there was parts of my yard or land where it was very shady mm-hmm. . I used up every like square foot of sunlight that there was available. And so I was like, 'Well, what can I do now?. So then I started investigating mushrooms. So I started growing mushrooms probably around 13 years ago, I think now. Wow. I started with the way a lot of people do, like inoculating logs and that sort of thing. It was fun and I enjoyed it and grew some mushrooms for my family. But really once the pandemic hit and I found myself with all this time, that's when I really got serious about it. I did a lot more investigating into indoor mushroom cultivation. It turns out I just really loved it because it is so quick compared to traditional gardening. I can inoculate with oyster mushroom mycelium and from the time of inoculation to the time of harvesting can be four to six weeks. Really? Yeah. Which is really fast.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (14:30):
And so in produce gardening, we have this term called cut and come back. A lot of lettuces are cut and come back. Are mushrooms the same way where you can harvest and then it'll regrow just like lettuce will regrow its own leaves?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (14:43):
Yes, to a certain extent. They will regrow until they consume basically all the nutrients that are in whatever substrate they're growing in. So I can usually get two or three flushes from one of my blocks. Now if I'm talking about logs, you know, those can produce for years.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (15:04):
Got it. What are the nutrients that these mushrooms need? Because I'm thinking entirely in terms of, you know, I raise produce. Yeah. You probably don't need a lot of nitrogen, right?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (15:17):
No, no. A little bit is good, but it's mostly carbon based and carbon and lignin and I feel like I need to go get out one of my mushroom books so that I'm really accurate. But, yeah, mostly if you think of like out the woods or whatever, mushrooms are, for the most part, are denser forest, right? So they're growing on dead or decaying things that are part of the process of breaking down material.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (15:46):
Yeah. They're a primary decomposer.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (15:48):
Exactly. There you go. That's basically what they need is something to grow on. And it's usually sawdust, wood, almost everything I grow grows on hardwood of some type.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (16:03):
And they don't require the same sunlight requirements that I need in order to get a produce crop so you can grow 'em in a shade. They actually prefer that?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (16:11):
Yes, but not total shade. I think that's a misunderstanding a lot of folks have. There are some mushrooms that can grow or prefer a darkness. I think most of the grocery store mushrooms that you think of, those do grow best in a shade, total shade. But most of the mushrooms that I grow, lions main oysters, those are mushrooms that you would find growing in the forest. So you think, you know, dappled sunlight. And so that's basically what all I need. Not as much as you would need like in a greenhouse or whatever, but yeah, I do have to have light for eight to 12 hours a day.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (16:52):
But nothing that you're selling is foraged, right? This is all cultivated mushrooms.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (16:57):
Yes. I don't do any foraging. So I'm not sure about other places, but in Georgia you have to have a foraging license.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (17:05):
Indiana is the same. And we have a mushroom here. I don't know if it grows in Georgia, the morels?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (17:10):
Oh yes. Yeah. I get,
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (17:12):
Yeah. Yeah. Do you actually forage some that you don't for your own enjoyment?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (17:18):
I try. Okay. Yeah. I do try to forage. So every time I'm out on a hike, I'm constantly looking for mushrooms and drive my family crazy. Cause they're like, you know, 'could you speed up?' I'm trying to look at under logs and everything. But I'm not really great at foraging. And so I tell that to my customers all the time.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (17:43):
And side note for our listeners, don't eat just any mushroom that you happen to find in the forest. I think most people know that but I really don't want to get sued as the host of More Than A Mile here, .
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (17:53):
Thank you. Well then you can cut this out, but I always say, 'you know, you can try any mushroom at least once.'
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (17:59):
, we can say that as long as everyone knows it's a punchline. You may not be able to try anything after you've tried that mushroom.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (18:06):
Yeah. But that's an advantage for me of growing my mushrooms cuz I know exactly what I'm growing and what I'm getting. And also I don't have to fight with the bugs because I get to harvest them exactly when they're ready. So I don't have to worry about them being past prime or any of that.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (18:23):
Of course. So do you grow any indoors or is it all outdoors?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (18:28):
No, actually most of the stuff I grow is indoors. So my lions mane and my oyster mushrooms are all grown indoors. Most of my shiitake, though I do have some shiitake outside. I only have a couple types of mushrooms that I have outdoor beds for, and that is reishi mushrooms. I like to grow those ones outside and they do well here in Georgia cause it's hot. I also do wine caps, which is also known as garden giant or the garden wander. It's a wonderful mushroom that likes to grow in mulch. And maitake is another one that I'm kind of experimenting with out in the garden.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (19:13):
Okay. Yeah. Which one's easier growing indoors or outdoors?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (19:17):
Indoors, absolutely. Because I can control the humidity levels. I can control the temperature. I love growing outdoors, but it's sometimes it's a surprise.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (19:29):
You're at the mercy of Mother Nature, right?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (19:32):
A hundred percent. So if you get a dry spell, you're just, you know. Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (19:37):
What should we picture? Everybody has an idea of what a garden looks like and maybe even what a greenhouse looks like for indoor growing. But can you help our listeners understand what does it look like? Is it a plank of wood that you keep wet all the time? Or what's it gonna look like if we saw your indoor growing?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (19:54):
So no. It's actually it looks like I have a couple grow rooms and those are just rooms that I have shelves in those. And on the shelves are bags and the bags contain sawdust and the mushroom mycelium. And so the mushrooms actually grow out of those bags. And so, yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (20:19):
So you use sawdust instead of logs primarily?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (20:22):
Yes. Primarily I use sawdust. Like I said, some of my outdoor stuff, I definitely use logs, but the indoor stuff is all grown on sawdust and I enriched the sawdust with a little wheat bran or like shredded beet hulls, beet pulp.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (20:39):
Got it. Yeah. What's your favorite?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (20:41):
It changes with the seasons. I'll say in the warm weather, I really love golden oysters. They're kind of sweet, a little nutty, but after the long summer that we've had in Georgia, I'm over the golden oysters. And so I'm starting to get some of the cold weather mushrooms. And so this time of year I love black pearl oysters. It's a hybrid mushroom. It's combination of like a oyster and a king trumpet. Okay. And it's really meaty, very dense. It's got kind of a peppery smokey flavor. It's just amazing this time of year.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:21):
Now I'm hungry for fried mushrooms. Do you fry it? Yeah,
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (21:25):
I, yes. If you name it, I will make mushrooms that way. But I always tell everybody if they don't know what to do with the mushroom, then just go ahead and saute it, right? Mm-hmm. . So that's the best way to kinda try to eat a mushroom.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:37):
You can't go wrong with maybe a little bit of breading and fry it in butter. I don't think you can do anything wrong that way.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (21:43):
That's true for just about anything i think.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:45):
That's true for anything that's edible. Right?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (21:47):
Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:47):
How do I cook these Pop Tarts? Well, listen, just fry them in butter, you're going to be fine.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (21:51):
There you go.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:52):
. So, you started growing mushrooms just last year 2021?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (22:00):
Well I started growing mushrooms, like I said, it's been probably about 13 or 14 years, but I started Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms a little over a year ago.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (22:09):
You turned this passion into a business a little over a year ago, Classic City Gourmet Mushroom.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (22:15):
That's correct. Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (22:16):
Where do you go when you want to sell mushrooms, you say, I'm gonna grow a large volume of mushrooms, how do you find a market for that? Is it a lot of chefs? Was it farmers markets? What did that look like?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (22:31):
I started with farmers markets. I've sold at a couple farmers markets locally, so we're fortunate in our area. We have a lot of large and small farmers markets and so that was a great way to get a feel for the demand. Fortunately the demand was really good. People love mushrooms and they wanted lots of it. I have sold to a couple restaurants locally, um, a couple farm stores. Then of course I sell through Market Wagon, which is my favorite online farmers market.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (23:10):
Thank you. That's great. We love to know that there's a vibrant market for what people produce. We know that Market Wagon is one way that consumers get food delivered to their door. But farmers markets are fantastic. They're a fantastic experience. Great way to meet customers face to face and then to know that there's some chefs and restaurants that support is really important. Where do you want to see this going in the future?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (23:37):
I do feel like I will be expanding within the next few years. But I really desire to keep it very local. I think that's where my heart is.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (23:49):
You don't want to be the mushroom queen of America?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (23:51):
No, I definitely don't. I have zero desire to do that. But I really love the community that I get by being a farmer and being part of a farming community in my area. So when I'm at the farmers markets, it really does feel like being part of a community because I know my other vendors, I know my customers, I see them face to face. I have regulars who come every week. Same on Market Wagon. I have regulars who subscribe to my mushrooms and they communicate with me regularly about what they're doing with them. So that feels really nice. It feels good to have those kind of relationships. I think that's very important to me. I love living here in Athens and in this part of Georgia. And so yeah. I'm very much embedded here.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (24:46):
What about your boys? Are they involved in the mushroom growing?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (24:49):
Yes. Whether they like it or not. ? No, they're, they're wonderful. They've learned every part of the mushroom growing operation. And they've been really helpful at the markets, so they love the opportunity to earn a little bit of extra money. And they're really helpful at setting up and taking down and they know all about the mushrooms and can talk about 'em with customers too, So yeah, it's a family operation.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (25:17):
That's really neat. That's really neat. If our listeners wanted to connect with you more, follow you online, where are they gonna find you?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (25:23):
We're on Facebook and Instagram and you could of course check out my website, which is ClassicCityGourmetMushroom.com.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (25:33):
Well, Dr. Sara Skinner, it has been awesome hearing your story.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (25:36):
Awesome. It was good to meet you, Nick
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (25:38):
You as well. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for listening to this episode of More Than a Mile. Be sure to sign up for Market Wagon at MarketWagon.com or after downloading the Market Wagon app for iOS or Android. Follow us @MarketWagon on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook for stories, recipes, special announcements, news, and just digital handshakes from our friendly farming community. If you enjoyed More Than A Mile, please rate the podcast and write a review on iTunes, castbox, podchaser or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Thank you for continuing to support local food.
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By Nick CarterNick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (00:00):
Hello, and thanks for joining the podcast. My guest today is Dr. Sara Skinner. She's the owner of Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms. And with Veterans Day on Friday, it just seemed appropriate to share her journey to becoming a mushroom farmer because it's directly connected the time that she spent in the Army. And she may have left the Army 12 years ago, but she's never really stopped advocating for veterans. She's now a professor of social work at the University of Georgia. She's even designed courses that help other clinicians working with veterans and military families. And as you're about to hear, while she has no desire to be the mushroom queen, farming itself has really become an important part of her healing process because of the hope that's found in growing things and investing in the future.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (00:46):
Welcome to More Than a Mile, a local food podcast from Market Wagon focused on connecting you to local food through farmer stories from across America. I'm Nick Carter, your host, a farmer and CEO and co-founder of Market Wagon. We are your online farmer's market with a mission to enable food producers to thrive in their local and regional markets. Food is so much more than just nutrients and calories. It's actually the fabric that holds us together. Thanks for joining me for this episode of More Than a Mile, and thank you for buying local food. It's one critical step in making an investment in food for future generations. Well, my guest today is Sara. Sara, thanks for joining us.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (01:28):
Yeah, no problem.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (01:29):
I love your story. At time of recording, we are coming up on Veterans Day. So it's a time of year everybody acknowledges, you know, the sacrifices veterans have made throughout the generations in our country. Seems like every day's Veteran's Day for you though, right? This is a lived reality.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (01:48):
That is true.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (01:49):
So we're gonna talk about your service and how that's brought us around to growing mushrooms. I just want to start at the beginning and first of all, say thank you for serving our country to you and your husband.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (02:02):
Thank you for your support.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (02:04):
Of course. How did you get, you know, today you're a mushroom farmer. You started in the Army. How did you get, how did you decide to join the army right out of high school?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (02:14):
. So I didn't actually, So I grew up as a military brat. My dad was a, um, lifelong Army soldier. Growing up I was very adamant of like, I'm never gonna go in the army. No way. Then after high school, I did one semester in college and it didn't go very great . Uh, and so I was like, Hm, Army's not looking so bad now. So, yeah, after I did one semester of college and then I joined the Army mostly to kind of help me get back to college, but it turns out I loved it. And, uh, I really had a wonderful experience.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (02:55):
I really love that because I grew up son of a farmer and swore I'm never going to be a farmer. Then I dropped out of college and now I farm. So we have a lot of things in common except I didn't join the military. So you grew up in a military family. You met your husband in the military, right?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (03:15):
That's correct, Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (03:17):
At West Point?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (03:18):
That's right. Yeah. So after I was in the Army for a couple years, so I enlisted originally, and so I was enlisted for a couple of years. And then I was given the opportunity to apply to West Point and I was accepted. And so while I was there, I did meet my husband and we've been married for 20 years now. We just did our 20th reunion this past weekend.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (03:44):
Congratulations.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (03:45):
Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (03:46):
And your husband also was in the Army?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (03:48):
Yep. Yep. It's a requirement after graduating. So we both graduated and our senior year was when 9/11 happened. So our senior year of college was 2001-2002. We graduated 2002 and pretty much we were both, you know, immediately deployed to Iraq.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (04:08):
So you're newlyweds on deployment. Is that hard?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (04:13):
Um, the hard part was most, most of the time we were separated. Yeah. But there was a brief point where we were both deployed to Baghdad at the same time. So I was on one side of the river, he was on the other side of the river. And so there were a few times we were able to actually visit. I have this distinct memory of like, you know, sitting on top of a security point with my husband at night watching the tracers, , you know, in the sky overhead. And, and it's something that we kind of go back to in our marriage, you know, when things are going rough or the kids were crazy or whatever, we say, Well, nobody's shooting at us. We're okay.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (04:53):
Yeah. It could be worse. Could be worse. A lot of people say that and you guys really have lived it.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (04:58):
Yeah, yeah. Like literally nobody's shooting at us. We're okay.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (05:02):
Yeah. Wow. So I want to talk about how this military journey brings you into providing food for your local community. So speaking of things being difficult, you, you also gardened while in the Army?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (05:19):
Yes.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (05:21):
Now I have family in the Army. And you even talked about being a military brat, which indicates, you know, you moved around a lot. Mm-hmm. gardens are usually like, literally putting down roots. Is is that hard to do?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (05:34):
Um, yes. Yeah. But it was, it was a very important part of my upbringing. So yes, I was a military brat. I grew up moving around. But even so both sets of my grandparents were farmers in Michigan. And so every summer I would go and stay with them and help them on the farm, you know, hoeing beans or whatever else, you know, we had to do. And so my mother, when we were growing up, wherever we were stationed, she would always make sure she had a garden. And so I'd help her plant. And so it was a natural thing wherever I was, if it was a house plant was all I could manage. I would do that. If I had some space I would, you know, plant some flowers or some tomatoes or whatever. So I've, I've been doing that forever wherever I went.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (06:25):
Uh, so on, on bases all across the US there's a, a garden in the backyard of some housing unit there that you started. Do you think people kept it up after you left?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (06:36):
Germany... I don't wanna know. .
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (06:39):
You don't wanna know.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (06:40):
That's the one thing about moving. I've gone back before, you know, to a place I lived and seen that the new tenants have razed my garden and it makes me very sad. So I'd rather just not know and believe that they're enjoying what I left. But yeah. Yeah. So not just the United States. Also in Germany. Even on my first deployment, my mom sent me flower seeds while I was in Iraq. They didn't take, and that was probably a good thing, .
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (07:12):
Yeah, there's, yeah, there's a large body of literature about not sending seeds across to different continents. .
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (07:18):
Yeah. That was probably not a good idea, but it was just such a natural thing for her to do. Oh, sure. Um, yeah. So I appreciated the thought,
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (07:27):
. So when did you decide to leave the Army and how did that take place?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (07:32):
So I left the Army in 2007. I did two deployments to Iraq. I was injured on my second deployment, so we made a decision as a family after that to get out of the military.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (07:50):
So in 2007, you make the decision as a family to get out of the military. Did you have kids at that, did you say as a family? So did you have kids?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (07:58):
Yes. Yeah. So I just had my oldest son. He was eight months old when we got out, so he was a baby. And my husband and I made a decision at that point because, you know, like I said, I did two deployments. He did two deployments. So our first five years of marriage, we had only been together in the same place for four months consecutively.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (08:25):
Wait, cumulatively?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (08:27):
No, consecutive. Four months consecutive.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (08:28):
The longest consecutive time together
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (08:31):
Exactly was four months. And so we knew that if we stayed in, we were going to be separated again. And now we had a baby in the mix. So we decided on top of everything else that we were gonna try our hand at civilian life.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (08:48):
Okay. So you said your first semester at college didn't go all that well, then you became a West Point graduate mm-hmm. . And now, um, is it Dr. Sara Skinner?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (08:58):
It is Dr. Sara Skinner. Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (09:00):
So tell me about your doctorate work, how you, you went back for a PhD.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (09:04):
Yeah. Well after I got out of the Army in 2007, I was doing a lot of volunteer work for an organization called Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). And it was through that work that I learned that there was a shortage of mental health workers nationwide. Because that was one of the things we were advocating for is more mental health services for veterans. So at that point I was like, 'Well, why not me?' So I decided to go back and get my masters in social work. So I did that in 2009. And then after a couple of years I decided to get my PhD. and so I came to the University of Georgia here in Athens and got my PhD. in social work.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (09:53):
And does a lot of the social work that you focus on, is it focused on military, military veterans?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (10:01):
It is. So that is something that I've enjoyed researching and a program that I brought to University of Georgia. I developed a course on military social work for the University of Georgia. And it's a graduate and undergraduate level. I also put together a military social work certificate program that we're hopefully going to be implementing soon in order to certify mental health workers in the state of Georgia to work more competently with the military population.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (10:35):
Yeah. That's awesome. And does gardening and growing food intersect with that work?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (10:42):
Maybe not that particularly, but I will say that it was a very important part of my healing after serving in Iraq and after getting out of the military. I have this distinct memory of when I was flying out of the desert for the last time and I was flying into Germany, looking out the window of the airplane, and I could just see the deep rich browns and greens of Germany in contrast to having been in the desert. It just sticks in my mind of all that life that's in vegetation and the soil as being kind of, you know, being home, and being surrounded by living and nurturing myself. So I threw myself into really gardening and growing things and it was very meaningful for me, very healing. I know the same is true for a lot of veterans. There are a lot of programs nationwide that combine veterans and agriculture because it turns out it's actually a really good fit for a lot of veterans working in agriculture.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (12:04):
Not only professionally. I mean, they probably have the experience of hard work, they can do what it takes to run a farm. But it sounds like at a little bit more of a deeper level it's meaningful and impactful work.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (12:19):
Yes, exactly. We know that farming is hard work, right? And there's a lot of uncertainty. And so veterans are uniquely able to handle the stress of it. But I feel like there's hope inherent in the act of planting something, right? So it's kind of a bet on the future every time you put a seed in the ground or in my case inoculate some, you know, wood with mushroom mycelium. It's the same kind of thing that you're vesting in the future.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (12:54):
Yeah and able to bring about creation and flourishing and not destruction.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (13:00):
Exactly. Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (13:01):
Yeah. Wow. So let's talk about mushrooms then.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (13:05):
Yeah, so like I said, I've always gardened and grew food and that sort of thing. And then when we moved into, not where I'm living right now, but I was putting together my garden and there was parts of my yard or land where it was very shady mm-hmm. . I used up every like square foot of sunlight that there was available. And so I was like, 'Well, what can I do now?. So then I started investigating mushrooms. So I started growing mushrooms probably around 13 years ago, I think now. Wow. I started with the way a lot of people do, like inoculating logs and that sort of thing. It was fun and I enjoyed it and grew some mushrooms for my family. But really once the pandemic hit and I found myself with all this time, that's when I really got serious about it. I did a lot more investigating into indoor mushroom cultivation. It turns out I just really loved it because it is so quick compared to traditional gardening. I can inoculate with oyster mushroom mycelium and from the time of inoculation to the time of harvesting can be four to six weeks. Really? Yeah. Which is really fast.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (14:30):
And so in produce gardening, we have this term called cut and come back. A lot of lettuces are cut and come back. Are mushrooms the same way where you can harvest and then it'll regrow just like lettuce will regrow its own leaves?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (14:43):
Yes, to a certain extent. They will regrow until they consume basically all the nutrients that are in whatever substrate they're growing in. So I can usually get two or three flushes from one of my blocks. Now if I'm talking about logs, you know, those can produce for years.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (15:04):
Got it. What are the nutrients that these mushrooms need? Because I'm thinking entirely in terms of, you know, I raise produce. Yeah. You probably don't need a lot of nitrogen, right?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (15:17):
No, no. A little bit is good, but it's mostly carbon based and carbon and lignin and I feel like I need to go get out one of my mushroom books so that I'm really accurate. But, yeah, mostly if you think of like out the woods or whatever, mushrooms are, for the most part, are denser forest, right? So they're growing on dead or decaying things that are part of the process of breaking down material.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (15:46):
Yeah. They're a primary decomposer.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (15:48):
Exactly. There you go. That's basically what they need is something to grow on. And it's usually sawdust, wood, almost everything I grow grows on hardwood of some type.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (16:03):
And they don't require the same sunlight requirements that I need in order to get a produce crop so you can grow 'em in a shade. They actually prefer that?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (16:11):
Yes, but not total shade. I think that's a misunderstanding a lot of folks have. There are some mushrooms that can grow or prefer a darkness. I think most of the grocery store mushrooms that you think of, those do grow best in a shade, total shade. But most of the mushrooms that I grow, lions main oysters, those are mushrooms that you would find growing in the forest. So you think, you know, dappled sunlight. And so that's basically what all I need. Not as much as you would need like in a greenhouse or whatever, but yeah, I do have to have light for eight to 12 hours a day.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (16:52):
But nothing that you're selling is foraged, right? This is all cultivated mushrooms.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (16:57):
Yes. I don't do any foraging. So I'm not sure about other places, but in Georgia you have to have a foraging license.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (17:05):
Indiana is the same. And we have a mushroom here. I don't know if it grows in Georgia, the morels?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (17:10):
Oh yes. Yeah. I get,
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (17:12):
Yeah. Yeah. Do you actually forage some that you don't for your own enjoyment?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (17:18):
I try. Okay. Yeah. I do try to forage. So every time I'm out on a hike, I'm constantly looking for mushrooms and drive my family crazy. Cause they're like, you know, 'could you speed up?' I'm trying to look at under logs and everything. But I'm not really great at foraging. And so I tell that to my customers all the time.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (17:43):
And side note for our listeners, don't eat just any mushroom that you happen to find in the forest. I think most people know that but I really don't want to get sued as the host of More Than A Mile here, .
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (17:53):
Thank you. Well then you can cut this out, but I always say, 'you know, you can try any mushroom at least once.'
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (17:59):
, we can say that as long as everyone knows it's a punchline. You may not be able to try anything after you've tried that mushroom.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (18:06):
Yeah. But that's an advantage for me of growing my mushrooms cuz I know exactly what I'm growing and what I'm getting. And also I don't have to fight with the bugs because I get to harvest them exactly when they're ready. So I don't have to worry about them being past prime or any of that.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (18:23):
Of course. So do you grow any indoors or is it all outdoors?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (18:28):
No, actually most of the stuff I grow is indoors. So my lions mane and my oyster mushrooms are all grown indoors. Most of my shiitake, though I do have some shiitake outside. I only have a couple types of mushrooms that I have outdoor beds for, and that is reishi mushrooms. I like to grow those ones outside and they do well here in Georgia cause it's hot. I also do wine caps, which is also known as garden giant or the garden wander. It's a wonderful mushroom that likes to grow in mulch. And maitake is another one that I'm kind of experimenting with out in the garden.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (19:13):
Okay. Yeah. Which one's easier growing indoors or outdoors?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (19:17):
Indoors, absolutely. Because I can control the humidity levels. I can control the temperature. I love growing outdoors, but it's sometimes it's a surprise.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (19:29):
You're at the mercy of Mother Nature, right?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (19:32):
A hundred percent. So if you get a dry spell, you're just, you know. Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (19:37):
What should we picture? Everybody has an idea of what a garden looks like and maybe even what a greenhouse looks like for indoor growing. But can you help our listeners understand what does it look like? Is it a plank of wood that you keep wet all the time? Or what's it gonna look like if we saw your indoor growing?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (19:54):
So no. It's actually it looks like I have a couple grow rooms and those are just rooms that I have shelves in those. And on the shelves are bags and the bags contain sawdust and the mushroom mycelium. And so the mushrooms actually grow out of those bags. And so, yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (20:19):
So you use sawdust instead of logs primarily?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (20:22):
Yes. Primarily I use sawdust. Like I said, some of my outdoor stuff, I definitely use logs, but the indoor stuff is all grown on sawdust and I enriched the sawdust with a little wheat bran or like shredded beet hulls, beet pulp.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (20:39):
Got it. Yeah. What's your favorite?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (20:41):
It changes with the seasons. I'll say in the warm weather, I really love golden oysters. They're kind of sweet, a little nutty, but after the long summer that we've had in Georgia, I'm over the golden oysters. And so I'm starting to get some of the cold weather mushrooms. And so this time of year I love black pearl oysters. It's a hybrid mushroom. It's combination of like a oyster and a king trumpet. Okay. And it's really meaty, very dense. It's got kind of a peppery smokey flavor. It's just amazing this time of year.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:21):
Now I'm hungry for fried mushrooms. Do you fry it? Yeah,
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (21:25):
I, yes. If you name it, I will make mushrooms that way. But I always tell everybody if they don't know what to do with the mushroom, then just go ahead and saute it, right? Mm-hmm. . So that's the best way to kinda try to eat a mushroom.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:37):
You can't go wrong with maybe a little bit of breading and fry it in butter. I don't think you can do anything wrong that way.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (21:43):
That's true for just about anything i think.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:45):
That's true for anything that's edible. Right?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (21:47):
Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:47):
How do I cook these Pop Tarts? Well, listen, just fry them in butter, you're going to be fine.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (21:51):
There you go.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (21:52):
. So, you started growing mushrooms just last year 2021?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (22:00):
Well I started growing mushrooms, like I said, it's been probably about 13 or 14 years, but I started Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms a little over a year ago.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (22:09):
You turned this passion into a business a little over a year ago, Classic City Gourmet Mushroom.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (22:15):
That's correct. Yeah.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (22:16):
Where do you go when you want to sell mushrooms, you say, I'm gonna grow a large volume of mushrooms, how do you find a market for that? Is it a lot of chefs? Was it farmers markets? What did that look like?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (22:31):
I started with farmers markets. I've sold at a couple farmers markets locally, so we're fortunate in our area. We have a lot of large and small farmers markets and so that was a great way to get a feel for the demand. Fortunately the demand was really good. People love mushrooms and they wanted lots of it. I have sold to a couple restaurants locally, um, a couple farm stores. Then of course I sell through Market Wagon, which is my favorite online farmers market.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (23:10):
Thank you. That's great. We love to know that there's a vibrant market for what people produce. We know that Market Wagon is one way that consumers get food delivered to their door. But farmers markets are fantastic. They're a fantastic experience. Great way to meet customers face to face and then to know that there's some chefs and restaurants that support is really important. Where do you want to see this going in the future?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (23:37):
I do feel like I will be expanding within the next few years. But I really desire to keep it very local. I think that's where my heart is.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (23:49):
You don't want to be the mushroom queen of America?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (23:51):
No, I definitely don't. I have zero desire to do that. But I really love the community that I get by being a farmer and being part of a farming community in my area. So when I'm at the farmers markets, it really does feel like being part of a community because I know my other vendors, I know my customers, I see them face to face. I have regulars who come every week. Same on Market Wagon. I have regulars who subscribe to my mushrooms and they communicate with me regularly about what they're doing with them. So that feels really nice. It feels good to have those kind of relationships. I think that's very important to me. I love living here in Athens and in this part of Georgia. And so yeah. I'm very much embedded here.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (24:46):
What about your boys? Are they involved in the mushroom growing?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (24:49):
Yes. Whether they like it or not. ? No, they're, they're wonderful. They've learned every part of the mushroom growing operation. And they've been really helpful at the markets, so they love the opportunity to earn a little bit of extra money. And they're really helpful at setting up and taking down and they know all about the mushrooms and can talk about 'em with customers too, So yeah, it's a family operation.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (25:17):
That's really neat. That's really neat. If our listeners wanted to connect with you more, follow you online, where are they gonna find you?
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (25:23):
We're on Facebook and Instagram and you could of course check out my website, which is ClassicCityGourmetMushroom.com.
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (25:33):
Well, Dr. Sara Skinner, it has been awesome hearing your story.
Dr. Sara Skinner (Classic City Gourmet Mushrooms) (25:36):
Awesome. It was good to meet you, Nick
Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO) (25:38):
You as well. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for listening to this episode of More Than a Mile. Be sure to sign up for Market Wagon at MarketWagon.com or after downloading the Market Wagon app for iOS or Android. Follow us @MarketWagon on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook for stories, recipes, special announcements, news, and just digital handshakes from our friendly farming community. If you enjoyed More Than A Mile, please rate the podcast and write a review on iTunes, castbox, podchaser or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Thank you for continuing to support local food.