Flat Aggie visits J-M Mushroom Farm

            I got to visit J-M Mushroom Farm in Miami, OK.   J-M Farms is the only commercial mushroom farm in Oklahoma. They are family owned and have been in business since 1979.  J-M has a large central facility where packing, shipping, composting and the beginning stages of growing occur.  There are also five satellite farms where most of the harvesting occurs.  They supply mushrooms to 8 states.  J-M Farms grows white button mushrooms, crimini or baby brown mushrooms, and portabella or large brown mushrooms.  They grow about 27 million pounds per year.

           

            When I arrived at J-M Farms, I had to be signed in as a visitor.  I received my visitor’s badge, hairnet, gloves, rain suit, and smock that I would need for my visit.  They are very serious about food safety here!   

           

            Growers, Lisa, Susan, and Beth, showed me around the farm and taught me about growing mushrooms. I didn’t realize how much time went into growing mushrooms.  From the time the compost or the “food” starts being made to when they put the spawn or “seed” in takes about 32 days.  Then after the “seed” goes into the compost it takes about 28 days to get a mushroom.

            The first process in growing mushrooms is making the compost or mushroom food.  This takes place outside, whether hot or cold.  The day I was out there it was 32 degrees.  The basic ingredient of compost is wheat straw.  It also contains gypsum, chicken litter, and cotton seed meal.   

 

These ingredients are mixed together, watered, flipped, and set in a pile to break down.  They do this with front end loaders and specialized compost turners.  This process utilizes naturally occurring microbes, or bacteria, to convert these raw ingredients into mushroom food.  The composting process takes 24 days.  After the 24 days, the compost is placed on the fill line and put into trays and moved into the building for the next phase.

             

            The next step is eight days long.  It involves the compost being pasteurized.  During pasteurization, the air and compost is heated to 140 degrees to kill any bacteria that will make mushrooms or people sick.           

After the 8 days, the next step is adding the mushroom spawn or seed.   

The compost is dumped out of the trays on a line that mixes it and adds the “seed”.  It is then put back in the trays and pressed. 

Then it goes into a spawn room where the compost temperature and air temperature will be monitored so that the mushroom seed can grow.  It is in this room for 13 days.

             The trays are then pulled out of the spawn room and put on another line where the casing layer is applied to the surface of the trays.  Casing layer is made of black peat, blonde peat, lime, and CI (casing inoculate).  The CI is added to the layer to help the mushroom grow.  This layer looks like a layer of dirt on top of the trays.  This is what the mushroom will grow out of and be picked from.  The trays are then placed in a setback room where the compost temperature and air temperature are monitored and water is applied.  They are in this room for 11 days.

            On day 12, the trays are then transferred to the picking hall or a satellite farm to be harvested or picked. 

            In the picking room, the compost temperature and air temperature are monitored and more water is applied.  On day 16 or 17 after casing, the mushrooms will be ready to be picked.  The harvesters pick the mushrooms by hand into the containers that have been ordered by J-M Farms’ customers. 

            Then the mushrooms go to the CPM (Crop Production Measurement) department to be weighed and scanned. 

            The sales department gets orders from customers and gives them to the packing and shipping department.

Then they are transferred to the packing department to be packaged.

 They also slice mushrooms in the packing department.

The packing department then transfers the packages to the shipping department.

Then they will be shipped out to stores and restaurants in the 8 states that J-M supplies.

 

       

                             Check your local stores for any J-M products.

Thank you so much to the staff at J-M Farms.  I really had no idea what went into mushroom farming when I asked if Flat Aggie could have tour.  -A Kansas Farm Mom

Wordless Wednesday at Woolaroc

How about a gift idea that doesn't cost a lot and would give the family lots of time to spend together?  My kids love to go to Woolaroc in Northeast Oklahoma!  Enjoy this Wordless Wednesday and consider giving the gift of a day of learning. 

What are your favorite places to take the kids or grandkids?  What were your favorite things to do as a family together when you were growing up?

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Flat Aggie Visit the Texas Panhandle!

A big Texas howdy to Mrs. Piatt’s class from Follett, TX! Today, I’m going to tell you about my visit to the Rafter F Ranches with my friends Adam and Katie.

Adam and his family have ranches in Oklahoma and Texas where they have about 500-1000 cows and calves depending on the time of year. They also grow wheat and milo. The Ferrell's have been in the cattle business in this area for over 100 years. The reason this area of Texas is called the panhandle is because it sticks out from the rest of the state and looks like a handle! Let’s see where my adventures took me!

My day started out bright and early at 5:45 a.m. as Katie drove out to the ranch. It was so early that the moon was still out and it was too dark for me to even see the camera!

First stop for the day was at what Adam and Katie call the “Catesby Ranch” located in Catesby, Ok right near the Oklahoma/Texas line. It’s important to check cattle each day, no matter rain or shine, to make sure that they are all there and haven’t gone to visit the neighbors, and that they are happy and healthy. During the spring, it’s extra important to check for new calves that might have been recently born to make sure that their mommas are taking good care of them. Adam honks the horn and that’s their signal that it’s breakfast time.

Wait, are they all running towards me? I must be popular!

 Look, it’s a baby calf! He’s a cutie.

Usually the cows eat mostly grass in the pasture for their meals, but about three days a week, Adam puts out “cake” for the cows. No, this isn’t the kind of birthday cake you are thinking about – cake is a pellet full of extra nutrients for the cattle to help them grow big and strong. For 60 head of cattle, Adam has to set out 14 bags of cake!

Cows also eat lots of hay, especially during the winter.  It makes it easier to find their food.  There's usually lots of snow on the ground covering up their grass. We didn’t set out any hay during this trip, but we stopped by the bales just so I could see how big they are. One bale weighs about 1,500 pounds!

My next job was to help Adam check to make sure all of the cattle had lots of water. A cow drinks about 15 gallons of water a day. How many total gallons of water do the 60 head of cattle at the Catsby Ranch drink a day?

The way that cattle get their water is from windmills. Windmills pump water from underground using wind power up to tanks on the surface where cattle can drink it. Good thing I wasn’t scared of heights!

Next, it was time to head to Rafter F’s next ranch in Follett, TX, which is about 5 miles away. Unlike the Catesby Ranch, the cattle at the Follett Ranch graze on wheat from November – May.  The cattle start grazing on the wheat from when they are about 8 months old until they go to the feed yard.

The reason why the wheat is so green is because Adam irrigates this pasture. Their irrigation sprinklers pump about 700 gallons of water per minute to help it grow. It takes about 9 months for the wheat to fully grow.

While Adam was out at the fields, it was important that we checked the soil profile of the pasture. I took a long stick called a soil probe and stuck it into the ground. Good thing I have big muscles!

Once we pulled it back up, there was dirt stick in the tube. If the dirt in the tube sticks together and is wet, that means the pasture has enough water to help the wheat grow. If the dirt crumbles, that means it’s dry and needs more irrigation. This dirt had a good amount of moisture – thumbs up!

Now for the best part of the day – time to drive the big red tractor! I was a little intimidated at first since it was SO BIG, but I loved it.

I got to help Adam disk another pasture on the ranch to help prepare for spring wheat to be planted. Adam uses the disk to help break up the soil to make it softer.

I sat on Katie’s lap most of the time, but Adam let me drive for a little bit! I felt like a pro.

It was a long day, but I sure had fun touring the plains of Oklahoma and Texas learning all about cattle and wheat. I can’t wait to come back again soon! Think Adam will let me drive the tractor by myself next time?

For more adventures around Rafter F Ranches, check out Adam on Twitter at @awferrell83 or Katie at @katie_vaz . If you have any questions, let Mrs. Piatt know and Katie & Adam would love to answer them and give you lots of other fun facts!