BUSINESS FEATURE
BY KAYLI THOMPSON
MAKING MUSHROOMS
Mushrooms at the Lone Star Mushrooms farm start out as spores in petri dishes that develop into mycelium roots.
The mycelium roots are combined with wood pellets to take over the pellets and create grain spawn that is sterilized with a steam bath.
Once the spawn has nished its steam bath, they are moved to a temperature-controlled room that allows the mushrooms to fruit and mature.
PHOTOS BY KAYLI THOMPSON COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Lone Star Mushrooms Tomball mushroom farm continues outgrowing space T hree years ago, Michael Fred- erick, co-owner of Lone Star Mushrooms, said he hated
looking for a mushroom vendor. Frederick said he involved his two brothers, Ben and John, and at their rst Tomball Farmers Market, they sold eight pounds of mushrooms in the rst 30 minutes. Now, the broth- ers produce about 1,400 pounds of mushrooms a week and sell to restaurants, to wholesalers, online and at four farmers markets. “I love every aspect of it, from the process of how they grow, how fast they grow, the di erent varieties, the avor they bring, the cool things you can cook with them,” Frederick said. Lone Star Mushrooms grows nine di erent mushroom varieties and sells mushroom grow kits, mush- room extract, jerky and co ee.
With so much production, Freder- ick said the business has outgrown its facilities four times since summer 2019. Lone Star Mushrooms began in the brothers’ garage. In January 2020, the business moved into a warehouse on Hufsmith-Kohrville Road, which doubled in size in April 2021. Mushroom production maxed out again this April. Frederick said they are looking to move within six months and want to nd space to build a 5,000-square-foot warehouse. “Without a doubt, I love it,” Fred- erick said. “I wasn’t gazing out of a window when I was a kid dreaming of the day I’d be a mushroom farmer, but I’m glad I’m here.”
Co-owner Michael Frederick started Lone Star Mushrooms with his brothers in summer 2019.
mushrooms so much he would get upset if there was one on his pizza. Now, Frederick is a mushroom farmer in Tomball, launching his business in 2019. “At that time it was just straight up a business opportunity, a way to get out of the rat race. … [I] literally knew nothing about mushrooms,” he said. Frederick said he is originally from Pennsylvania and a family of farmers. In 2019, he wanted to sell hydroponic lettuce at the Tomball Farmers Market and was told there was an abundance of vendors selling greens, but the market was
Lone Star Mushrooms 17225 Hufsmith-Kohrville Road, Tomball 713-364-3332
www.lonestarmushrooms.com Hours: Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-3 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-2 p.m., closed Sat.
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HUFSMITH KOHRVILLE RD.
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