SKORDO EMPOWERING THE HOME COOK PORTLAND • FREEPORT SKORDO.com Hungry Eye 70 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine retail online sales of shiitake, oyster, and li- on’s mane blocks for home growers. READY TO SHIP “We have a unique situation with mush- room farming in Maine,” says Aron Gon- salves of Mousam Valley Mushrooms in Springvale. His wife, Emily Sharood, and her family started the company in 2012. “We have strong relationships with the other farmers. North Shore in Westbrook makes the spawn. Cap ’n’ Stem makes the [bricks] and sells them to us, and we fruit them out.” Or, to complete the tomato analogy, Mousam Valley sells tomatoes. “We’re shipping about 5,000 pounds of mushrooms a week,” says Gonsalves, “And we expect it’ll be up to 10,000 pounds or more by the end of this year” as the company implements some new pro- duction innovations. Mousam Valley presently employs 15 people and has a fleet of delivery vehicles. “Our biggest business is with grocery stores, from Rosemont Markets to Hannaford.” n