RV Students Give a Shiitake About Mushrooms
RV PREP Science Teacher Michael Green Runs A Unique Science Program
Readers: I met Michael Green when he was delivering mushrooms grown by his RV students. He was delivering to the Grateful Gourmet, but I learned in an article that he delivers mushrooms to multiple local restaurants. I meant to write a similar article about his science program at RV, but the Philadelphia Inquirer beat me to the punch. Below, I republish a Press Release about the RV program by Laura Bishop Communications. The full article can be found at the Main Street news feed, which was republishing the Philadelphia Inquirer article [see Main Street link below]. Or become a subscriber to the Inquirer to get that article and lots of other great content.
https://mainstreetmountholly.org/south-jersey-students-learn-mushroom-cultivation-while-getting-a-lesson-in-civics/
Rancocas Valley Students Give a Shiitake About Mushrooms
School’s mushroom operation supplying local restaurants
Mount Holly, N.J.--Students at Rancocas Valley Regional High School (RVRHS) in Mount Holly, N.J. are putting a different spin on the farm-to-table food movement. You might call it classroom-to-table, with a large serving of mushrooms.
What started on a whim with some secondhand mushroom blocks (spent substrate) is now a supply channel for local restaurants. Selling edible fungi has supplemented the school’s coffers with a $7,000 profit, which is being reinvested in the environmental science and biology programs, according to RV PREP science teacher Michael Green.
“I knew these guys from Mycopolitan Mushroom Company in Philadelphia and they had mushroom blocks they were getting rid of,” Green said. “They needed partners who could pick up the blocks regularly. I picked up a truckload of blocks for the school and three weeks later, we had 20 to 30 pounds of mushrooms.”
That was nearly three years ago. Last year, the school cultivated 1,000 pounds of mushrooms, which kept Robin’s Nest restaurant in Mount Holly and the Vincentown Diner in Southampton Township well stocked with mushroom varieties such as lion’s mane, blue oyster, chestnut, black pearl oyster, comb tooth and shiitake.
“They can’t get enough of them, to be honest with you,” Green said. “They’re really stoked to be able to get some from us so early in the season.”
The RVRHS mushroom “farmers” include students in the RV’s Environmental Club and in Green’s biology and environmental science classes at RV PREP (Personalized Readiness and Education Program), a program designed to address the needs of students are not meeting with success in the traditional learning environment. The students gain hands-on experience cultivating mushrooms while learning about genetics, cell division, the growth process and the role mushrooms play in the ecosystem.
Green said the operation has very low overhead, mostly just money for gas to pick up the spent substrate from Philadelphia every couple of weeks. The profit is invested in the mushroom operation and the school’s greenhouse and garden, which grows other produce.
Robin Winzinger, who runs the family-owned Robin’s Nest Restaurant that’s been part of the community for nearly 40 years, didn’t hesitate when Green stopped by the restaurant with some sample mushrooms a couple of years ago.
“I jumped at the opportunity,” Winzinger said. “I love supporting local and the fact that he was teaching kids about cultivating mushrooms is great. We didn’t have opportunities like that when I was that age.”
You can find the Rancocas Valley mushrooms – usually two or three different kinds -- on the menu in the popular mushroom soup or the wild mushroom risotto, a favorite of the fall season. Robin’s Nest is also cooking up a marsala sauce (with mushrooms) over chicken cutlets.
“It was a pretty cool setup. I was impressed,” Winzinger said of a recent visit to the school to speak to students. “The kids seem like they really like it.”