New mushroom business grows in former Woodville bowling house

Rene Dix
Updated ·3 min read

WOODVILLE ― After several changes in direction, a one-time bowling house in Woodville is now home to a growing mushroom business.

“We just went from construction to production about two weeks ago,” said Thomas Lodge, co-founder of MidAm Mushrooms, 512 Lime St. Construction included adding garage doors to the front of the building to allow for easier loading of shipments.

When the former Tri-County Bowling Lanes sold in early 2020, the new owners began working to transform the building into a large capacity rental hall. The COVID-19 pandemic derailed those plans.

Co-founder Thomas Lodge in front of the lab at MidAm Mushrooms at 512 Lime St. in Woodville.
Co-founder Thomas Lodge in front of the lab at MidAm Mushrooms at 512 Lime St. in Woodville.

Former bowling house revamped for mushroom business

The building was sold again this past summer, and although there were plenty of guesses on what type of business was moving in, many people were surprised to learn the new occupant would grow mushrooms.

Lodge grew up in Toledo and attended Bowling Green State University. He later moved to California and studied at California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt, where he earned a degree in mycology, the study of fungi, which includes mushrooms and yeasts. Lodge’s studies took him to jungles in Guyana and caves in Southeast Asia in search of new species of mushrooms.

After 10 years in California, Lodge moved to Michigan, where he started an organic vegetable farm and grew mushrooms on a small scale in a very small room. About five years ago, he met Pemberville mushroom farmer Zach Zientak at a Toledo Farmers Market. That was the beginning of their mission to bring edible mushrooms to the Toledo area.

Lodge’s uncle bought the former bowling house in Woodville in June and offered the space to Lodge to expand his growing mushroom business. The move allows Lodge to upgrade the technology needed to produce mushrooms at greater scale.

Racks of mushroom substrate at MidAm Mushrooms in Woodville.
Racks of mushroom substrate at MidAm Mushrooms in Woodville.

MidAm Mushrooms to sell to farmers

The building houses a state-of-the-art mycelium lab where agricultural by-products consisting of various types of grain are recycled into mushroom-producing substrate. According to their website, MidAm Mushrooms offers “fresh spawn and ready-to-fruit blocks to mushroom farmers big and small.” Spawn is substrate that contains mycelium, the fungi root system that produces mushrooms. Racks upon racks of plastic bags containing the substrate now occupy the area of the building where bowling lanes once existed. The substrate will be sold to mushroom farmers in Ohio and nearby states.

MidAm offers a variety of mushrooms including king blue oysters, lion’s mane, king trumpet and maitake. Lodge plans to add more including chicken of the woods, a wild mushroom that is popular among foragers. Some of the varieties that Lodge is working with are clones of wild mushrooms he has found at local parks.

Lodge said his interest in fungi began after “foraging and camping with my dad when I was a kid. And it's amazing to see how fast mushrooms can grow in just three days."

Lodge estimates it will take another month to complete set-up of the new facility and move into troubleshooting mode. Expanding the website is also on his to-do list.

Lodge and Zientak are building their customer base and for now will focus on wholesale. They are partnering to sell their products on Amazon and will eventually ship directly by mail.

Chicken of the woods mushrooms are found in Woodville Township.
Chicken of the woods mushrooms are found in Woodville Township.

“We are not selling retail here,” Lodge said, “but we are partnering with local garden centers, and we will be at some local farmers markets.”

Lodge plans to host an open house in February, which will include a dinner featuring mushrooms grown at the facility. Within the next few months, they will begin offering tours.

Learn more about mushrooms

For those interested in learning more about mushrooms, the Harris-Elmore and Woodville Public libraries are teaming up to offer a new club called Fungi Fanatics. Mushroom enthusiasts of all ages are invited to join discussions about hunting, identifying, photographing and cooking with wild mushrooms. The first meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Feb 21 at the Woodville Library, 101 E. Main St.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: MidAm Mushroom business grows in former Woodville OH bowling house