That Mushroom Guy Says Grow Your Own – just not under the sink

Meet the Shoalhaven’s most passionate fungi fanatic, and keep reading to find an exclusive 15% discount code for our readers so you can start your own mushroom-growing journey

He was never a fan of mushrooms growing up as a kid unless they were hidden in his food.

“I only really remember having mushrooms in a lasagne or if they were in a sauce” says Brett Mather aka That Mushroom Guy, but has certainly changed his ways now. He doesn’t have a favourite mushroom meal but has his perfect way to eat mushrooms of any variety. “Just sautéed in olive oil, browned with butter with a little bit of garlic, soy sauce and thyme.”

Brett continues, “Cooked this way, it doesn’t matter how I serve them, as part of a big breakfast or even on toast, I just love them!” The only thing that makes this method of cooking better is the fact he has grown the mushrooms himself.

Brett Mather aka That Mushroom Guy is passionate about small-batch exotic mushroom kits direct to you. Photo: supplied

Brett takes his mushrooms very seriously, having built a “lab” in his shed where he cultivates his mushroom spawn in order to grow in his kits. Currently he offers six types of mushrooms including pink oyster, blue pearly oyster, winter white, black king oyster and chestnut. His sixth variety and the one he is most passionate about is Lion’s Mane.

Born and raised in Nowra, Brett has spent all of his life here except for a brief stint in Western Australia whilst his Navy father was located there. Brett has tried his hand at a number of jobs including as a diesel mechanic for a few years then into the army as a combat engineer. ‘Whilst in the army I developed compartment syndrome in my legs’. This is a common injury in athletes from over training, and as a result Brett was medically discharged from the Army. Surgery can fix compartment syndrome in many cases but wasn’t successful for Brett. He expressed a deep disappointment with his injury and discharge, ‘I was really upset, the Army can be a lot of fun’. Brett has always been seen as the fit guy in his friends and family circle, his identity as he described it. An injury of this nature has to provide a certain amount of slow down and self-care.

Brett somewhat stumbled into the mushroom game as a result of his partners attempt to grow mushrooms. When they moved in together, Melanie had a small walk-in freezer she purchased and was attempting to grow mushrooms in her backyard. She herself has an excellent grounding in science, teaching the subject at Shoalhaven High School. Brett attributes his obsession and business to Melanie and her first attempts at growing mushrooms. He is very humble but an open book of knowledge and passion. ‘Everything I have learnt has come from reading books, watching YouTube clips and reading threads on Reddit’ he continues ‘But I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am without Melanie and her passion’.

Beautiful and delish, Brett recommends simple preparation to enjoy the flavours of home grown mushrooms. Photo: supplied

The more Brett researched about Lion’s Mane the more outraged he became about the falsities that surround it. There are believed to be many health benefits that surround the Lion’s Mane variety of mushroom and Brett says a lot of his customers buy this kit for those benefits. Often the variety gets confused and often mislabelled as ‘Coral Tooth Mushroom’ and marketed as ‘Australian Lion’s Mane’. He has many informative articles on his website that allow you to get a deeper understanding including this post about the Lion’s Mane.

His passion is the most important and exciting part of this venture. Originally Brett started at Berry Markets selling his mushroom varieties until the dreaded 2022 year of rain curtailed his market opportunities. Melanie always the thinker suggested they try mushroom kits. Further research from Brett saw him realise that he could in fact provide kits for home growth. He says that his focus is on making a kit that promotes yield of mushroom over shelf life of the kit.

“Most of my competitors or the kits you would buy from [a garden centre/hardware store] have a small quantity of soy hull in them which gives shelf life,” Brett explains.

Brett provides a 2.5kg grow kit that can yield over one kilogram of these exotic mushrooms. Each growth of mushrooms is known as a ‘flush’ – if you’ve seen Season 3 of Clarkson’s Farm you will know this term! In fact, Brett says he learnt a few things watching the mushroom growing from Clarkson’s Farm. You never know where you will be inspired or push your knowledge!

So why buy a mushroom kit from Brett? There are many reasons that this writer can think of,  the biggest one being the after-market support. Brett is an email away from giving you help to ensure the best yield for your mushroom growing project. He is very careful and particular about what he does to ensure the best product. Each week he releases one or two varieties of mushrooms for his kits, as he isn’t looking for long shelf life to sell in a chain-store, but direct to consumer. This ensures a premium product sourced locally and he can control the quality of his master cultures that are used to grow mushrooms.

I asked Brett for the top tips for growing mushrooms. He quashed some of the misconceptions I had particularly about growing in the dark.

“A lot of people who buy my kits put them in a box or under the sink because mushrooms like the dark, this is sort of a half truth,” Brett explains.

“They do like dark environments, humid but by restricting their oxygen it means they grow longer stems as they seek out more oxygen.” So the most important tip is to put the kit somewhere with adequate air flow.

A spectacular example of a Lion’s Mane mushroom growing out of a kit. Photo: supplied

The second tip is, a little bit of light is good for mushrooms, not direct sunlight but ambient light. Brett says: ‘If you can see, then this is enough light for mushrooms.” Tip 3 is to not to overspray the mushroom growing block. Misting the correct amount according to the instructions will ensure you get a good flush (yield).

Brett has big plans for his business, his eye to the future is to have more varieties of mushrooms. For now his focus is on small batch creation with quality front of mind as it is with all he does.

That Mushroom Guy is offering a special 15% off discount to readers of Jervis Bay Weekend Magazine until 8 July using the code JBW at checkout.

Grow-your-own muchroom kits from That Mushroom Guy come in six exotic varieties. Photo: supplied

You can find Brett and his kits for sale online (pick up or postage available) or follow him on his social media, Facebook or Instagram.

Jervis Bay and the Shoalhaven as a whole have so many hidden gems. There are exceptional people doing even more exceptional things, sometimes you just need to do a bit of a deep dive and you’ll find them. Brett is another of these exceptional people offering something unique.