Cultivation
How a controlled-environment farm works
Cultivation launches soon, starting with Cordyceps and Lion's Mane. It is being set up in controlled environments — filtered air, measured light, sterile substrate, documented conditions — because consistency is what turns a traditional material into a reliable one.
Grown in the dark
Mushrooms and fungi are grown from a pure culture on a sterilised substrate, in rooms where air, temperature and humidity are set rather than left to the weather.
Culture
Every crop begins with a pure culture kept in the laboratory. Working in filtered air, the team transfers it onto sterilised grain to build up healthy mycelium.
Substrate
Hardwood sawdust, grain or agricultural by-products are mixed, bagged and heat-sterilised, so that the chosen fungus is the only thing that grows.
Incubation
The inoculated bags rest in darkness at a steady temperature while the mycelium colonises the substrate — a few weeks, depending on the species.
Fruiting
In the fruiting room the blocks are given fresh air, high humidity and light cues. Each species has its own conditions, and they are measured, not guessed.
Harvest and record
The crop is harvested by hand and used fresh, dried or milled. The conditions of every batch are written down, and material is tested before it goes anywhere.
Grown in light
Algae need light rather than darkness, so they are grown in photobioreactors and illuminated systems in place of incubation rooms.
Starter culture
A pure culture of each organism is kept in the laboratory and scaled up step by step, from flask to vessel.
Photobioreactor
Clear, closed tubes or panels give the culture measured light, carbon dioxide, nutrients and temperature.
Harvest
The biomass is separated from the water and concentrated.
Drying and record
It is dried gently into a powder or ingredient, and every batch is recorded.
First cultivation
Cultivation in the Himalayan foothills launches soon, starting with these two species. The rest of the library is in research and development.