TETONIA, Idaho — Nestled in the beautiful Teton Valley is a cottage business on the cusp of expansion. Morning Dew Mushrooms and Micros will soon increase its weekly mushroom production from 50 pounds to 3,000 pounds.

The business is owned and operated by Patrick and Sarah McDonnell, who started growing mushrooms as a hobby in a 10-by-10-foot grow tent in their garage in 2017. In 2018, they formed a limited liability company.

Patrick had worked on vegetable farms in Georgia, and Sarah had worked on vegetable farms in Colorado.

The two were into farming, but their first attempt in Idaho’s cold climes didn’t go so well. So they looked into indoor farming, and Patrick went to El Paso, Texas, for a hands-on four-day class from Eric Myers of Myers Mushrooms.

“I learned quite a bit, then it was trial-and-error,” he said.

There wasn’t a lot of information on mushroom production when the McDonnells started growing, and he appreciated being able to bounce ideas off Myers.

Market opportunity

The McDonnells started the business by selling gourmet mushrooms to two or three restaurants.

“Once we found out there was a market there, we slowly expanded piece by piece,” he said.

They started buying bigger pieces of equipment and added production rooms and a laboratory.

“We make all of our substrates,” he said.

That’s the medium the mushrooms grow on, and they use mostly sawdust and soybean hulls. They put them in a big batch mixer and add 60% water to make a soil mixture. They sterilize that material in a steamer.

They buy their mushroom spores because they don’t have a culture lab — but that’s in the works, he said.

Ready to grow

The McDonnells have been building a new grow facility for three years and just moved in. It’s 4,500 square feet, which will allow them to grow the business.

Along the way, they’ve added microgreens, such as salad mixes, that are custom grown for restaurants. They now grow about 15 varieties of gourmet mushrooms and about 25 varieties of microgreens. They are exploring more varieties of microgreens this spring, as well as edible flowers.

All of their production is organic but not USDA certified.

The microgreens are a quick grow, taking 7-30 days start to finish. Mushrooms are all over the board, taking 30 to 35 days for some and 90 to 100 days for others, he said.

Local food

The McDonnells currently market to about 45 restaurants in Jackson, Wyo., and the Teton Valley, but they’ll be looking for more markets to sell their expanded production.

They’ve always sold all their production direct wholesale to restaurants. With the new grow facility, they’ll be looking for many more markets, he said.

They are working on third-party certification through USDA’s Harmonized Gap audit program, which will allow them to sell to local distributors and get shelf space in retail grocery outlets. They also plan to expand into the Boise and Sun Valley areas.

“The past couple of years have been kind of a whirlwind for us,” he said.

He and Sarah are striving to make Morning Dew Idaho’s largest and leading mushroom farm, he said.

Trail West

Patrick is from north Georgia. He ended up out West after spending a few winters as a ski lift operator at Grand Targhee Resort, near the border of Idaho and Wyoming and northwest of Jackson, Wyo.

Sarah is from Annapolis, Md., and came out West to study at Colorado State University Boulder.

The two met in 2015 when Sarah was visiting in Jackson, wanting to stay and looking for a place to rent.

They met at a Bruce Hornsby concert at Grand Targhee Resort on a Saturday and she moved in with Patrick and his roommates on Monday.

Western Innovator

Morning Dew Mushrooms and Micros

Owners: Patrick and Sarah McDonnell

Ages: Both are in their early 30s

Location: Teton Valley, Idaho

Production: Mushrooms and microgreens

Children: Son, Holden, born in 2020; daughter Hazel, born in 2022

Interesting tidbit: Patrick and Sarah are Deadheads, which influenced the name of their company. Morning Dew — a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Bonnie Dobson — became part of the Grateful Dead’s repertoire.