Meet Victoria Halligan | Gourmet Mushroom Farm Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Victoria Halligan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Victoria, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My partner Justin and I had always dreamed of running a small farm together and providing healthy food to our community. We’ve grown large gardens, and had been growing gourmet mushrooms like oysters and lions mane that we would give to our friends and family. Our souls truly felt nourished by being able to provide people with food that was grown with love and our own hands. We had both worked in different fields in the agricultural and sustainability fields, as were avid foragers for mushrooms and wild food. When we started Leafcutter Farms in Durango, we had the goal of growing high quality food that would nourish our community and respect our planet. We love growing gourmet mushrooms because not only they are delicious and incredible for your health, they are a very sustainable crop to grow with low water usage and small spatial footprint.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Leafcutter Farms is named in honor of the original mushroom farmers, the Leafcutter Ant; a fascinating insect that cultivates its fungal food on leaves. We are a gourmet mushroom farm located in Durango, Colorado. We grow a variety of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms including: oysters (blue,pink,white, phoenix), lions mane, reishi, turkey tail, king trumpet, black pearl king, etc. We are currently wholesaling to local Durango restaurants and grocery stores, and are a vendor at the Durango Farmers Market.

At Leafcutter Farms we believe that everyone deserve access to high quality food that is grown with the earth in mind. Mushrooms are incredible for your health and are one of the most sustainable crops to grow with their low water usage and small spatial footprint. While we do grow produce on the farm, our main focus is mushroom production. We grow mushrooms indoors, inside a climate controlled grow room we built to fit our grow parameters. We do not use chemical herbicides or fertilizers of any kind. We grow mushrooms vertically on shelves, improving both energy efficiency and footprint while maximizing production. While we grow mushrooms indoors on “blocks,” after harvesting we reuse the spent growing media by making mushroom compost to amend the soil around our farm, and for other farms and gardens in our region. We have found our mushroom compost helps with water retention, reduces weed pressure, and improves soil fertility!
Living in the arid southwest we strive to make our farm as water efficient as possible. Mushroom love mild temperatures and humidity, and in our climate it can be difficult to achieve their ideal growing conditions. To grow quality mushrooms we custom-built a humidification/cooling system that uses 3-5 gallons of water daily to maintain adequate humidity levels in our growing space.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Durango is a beautiful mountain town with incredible views and endless outdoor adventures. When visiting Durango in the summer, you have to swing by the Durango Farmers Market on Saturday mornings (downtown in the TBK bank parking lot). The market is filled with produce from local farmers and talented artisans! When it comes to eating delicious food in Durango I always recommend Primi Pasta & Wine Bar. They make their pasta, sauce, and bread fresh everyday in house and source a lot of their ingredients from local farmers. It can’t get much better than incredible wine and fresh local italian food!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Land access is one of the biggest hurdles for young farmers, and my mother welcomed us and our business to lease and become caretakers of her rural property in Durango at a affordable price. We are incredibly grateful that she believed in us and for her generosity to let us farm on her land. We would be amiss if we also didn’t recognize all of our friends and family that have come to our farm to help with us everyday farm chores, infrastructure builds, and helping us recognize that even when things seem overwhelming and hopeless- there are always solutions!

Website: www.leafcutterfarms.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/leafcutterfarms

Facebook: Leafcutter Farms Mushrooms