The Helsieni mushroom farm
Our mushroom farm consists of two insulated shipping containers, where we grow delicious mushrooms, and a greenhouse built on them. The oyster mushrooms love to grow in our substrate of straw and used coffee grounds. Just next to the farm there is our office where all the Starter Kits and Growkits are prepared for you to grow your own mushrooms on your morning coffee grounds at home.
Mushroom farming innovation
The Helsieni farm in Karjaa is a pioneer of urban modular mushroom farming in Finland. For us modularity means flexible production than can be scaled up or down, unlike big factories, as demand fluctuates. We are developing and using low-tech solutions for growing food in the cities. We try to incorporate circular economy principles in all elements of our business. Our farm is continuously developed based on the research we make in these areas.
Our publications
We believe in open source and sharing knowledge. Below you will find our publications.
Pilot for a circular urban mushroom farm
Metropolia Urban Food Ecosystem – Helsieni
Spent-brewers-grain as a supplement for oyster mushroom production
Circular economy
In the natural world there is no concept of “waste”, everything is food for something. In our organization we intend to maximise the use of organic materials for mushroom production. We use for example coffee ground waste from restaurants, offices and cafés as a part of the substrate for the mycelium. After producing mushrooms at the farm our spent substrate is used in outdoor mushroom growing – like in mushroom beds – or in garden work or composted. So in the end all the organic material returns to the soil.
Our environmental impact can be reduced if we treat non-organic materials as precious and try to reduce, reuse, repair them. We want to grow mushrooms using as little plastic as possible and using commonly available tools and equipment instead of high cost specialized mushroom equipment.
We want our farm to use as little energy as possible. We are developing methods that avoid needing energy and we are designing our systems so that they can switch to renewable energy if needed.
Consulting
Helsieni offers consulting around building and setting up a low-tech oyster mushroom farm, with minimal capital investments. Although we have most experience in the Finnish context a lot of the knowledge applies no matter where you are. Whether you need technical assistance and are thinking about how to design your humidity or air-flow systems, or want to know more about substrate production and farm layout, we are happy to help. We can do a virtual / phone session or host you at our farm in Karjaa. Just send us a message and we’ll be in touch!
Incubated substrate
We also provide 12 kg substrate bags with pre-grown mycelium. They are ready to fruit and give a large harvest of sporeless oyster mushrooms, for example for small-scale sales. Contact info@helsieni.fi and we can discuss in more detail!
Tours & workshops
We organise tours and workshops for private groups, schools or associations. Come and learn about the fascinating life of fungi, mushroom farming or get your hands dirty and grow them at home!