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Mainly sunny. High 94F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Clear skies. Low around 55F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

Generally sunny. High 97F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Oyster City Mushroom Farm's Jeremiah Attebury injects a test tube with the raw material needed to start a mushroom culture Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2021. Attebury entered this planned mushroom growing operation into the 2021 Sheridan Start-Up Challenge.

Oyster City Mushroom Farm's Jeremiah Attebury will use these two syringes to grow Pathfinder's Oyster mushrooms and Lion's Pride mushrooms. With Start-Up Challenge seed funding, Attebury said, he will be able to thoroughly upgrade his growing equipment.

The raw genetic material needed to cultivate mushrooms can be seen as specks in the vial of Lion's Pride at Oyster City Mushroom Farm Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2021. Jeremiah Attebury hopes his participation in the start-up challenge will offer him the capital necessary to expand his mushroom growing operation.

Oyster City Mushroom Farm's Jeremiah Attebury injects a test tube with the raw material needed to start a mushroom culture Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2021. Attebury entered this planned mushroom growing operation into the 2021 Sheridan Start-Up Challenge.

Oyster City Mushroom Farm's Jeremiah Attebury will use these two syringes to grow Pathfinder's Oyster mushrooms and Lion's Pride mushrooms. With Start-Up Challenge seed funding, Attebury said, he will be able to thoroughly upgrade his growing equipment.

The raw genetic material needed to cultivate mushrooms can be seen as specks in the vial of Lion's Pride at Oyster City Mushroom Farm Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2021. Jeremiah Attebury hopes his participation in the start-up challenge will offer him the capital necessary to expand his mushroom growing operation.

RANCHESTER — Sometime soon, Jeremiah Attebury hopes a greenhouse will occupy much of his Ranchester commercial building. Its walls will be lined with shelves, its temperature and humidity carefully controlled, wavering around 70 degrees with 60 to 80% humidity. Mushrooms, Attebury said, will sprout from the greenhouse’s shelves, growing into tiered, fibrous heaps. 

Attebury entered this planned mushroom growing operation into the 2021 Sheridan Start-up Challenge. With challenge seed funding, Attebury said, he would be able to thoroughly upgrade his growing equipment and transform the operation into a more efficient farm-to-table mushroom business. 

The Start-Up Challenge is run by IMPACT 307, a statewide business incubator operated through the University of Wyoming. Sheridan’s branch of the organization — called IMPACT Sheridan — started the local Start-Up Challenge in 2015, Director Scot Rendall said. This year, judges selected six challenge finalists, including Attebury’s Oyster City Mushrooms, from 40 applications. 

The challenge’s three winners, which will be selected at the WYO Performing Arts and Education Center on Pitch Night next week, will split $100,000 seed capital based on the financial needs of their businesses. 

This year’s Start-Up Challenge, Rendall said, is particularly competitive. 

“All of [the start-up finalists] have a very, very good chance to become functioning businesses quickly,” Rendall said. He anticipated each of the finalists could expect revenue within one year of Pitch Night. 

Attebury hopes his participation in the Start-Up Challenge will offer him the  capital necessary to expand his mushroom-growing operation. 

He started researching alternative agricultural jobs about five years ago, seeking to put his bachelor’s degree in ecology to good use. Growing mushrooms, Attebury said, stood out as a good option for a small-town farmer because it requires square feet, rather than square acres. Meanwhile, mushrooms’ status as a gourmet product ensures a high return despite the small space. 

Attebury’s greenhouse includes two types of mushrooms: oyster mushrooms and lion’s mane mushrooms. Attebury’s oyster mushrooms — for which Oyster City is named — are a highly sought-after, luxury mushroom known for their delicate, savory taste and best prepared fried or sauteed. Lion’s mane mushrooms, a primarily medicinal but still palatable mushroom, look like cotton balls sprouting white tendrils and are believed to enhance nerve and brain function. According to findings published in 2013 by Malaysian researchers in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, lion’s mane mushrooms may trigger neuron growth and the regeneration of damaged nerves. 

Based on his market research, Attebury said there are about 40 appropriate outlets for these types of mushrooms in Sheridan County, including restaurants, food trucks and other vendors. Attebury said his operation would be viable servicing just five to 10 of these customers. 

Both oyster and lion’s mane mushrooms would accomplish Attebury’s goal of receiving substantial revenue from his small growing operation. According to Ventured, a market research publication, oyster mushrooms range from $5 to $15 per pound while lion’s mane fetch between $8 and $36 per pound. 

Rendall said he was pleased Attebury’s mushroom farm, as well as two other Start-Up Challenge contestants, are in the “sustainable agriculture sector,” which is a target industry for diversification in Wyoming. Because mushrooms are perishable, Rendall added, Attebury’s mushroom-growing operations will allow Sheridan residents to consume fresh, locally-sourced mushrooms, even in Sheridan’s somewhat isolated location. 

If Attebury wins the Start-Up Challenge, he explained he would use grant funds to immediately update his operation. His current equipment — the under-construction greenhouse, the shelves, the humidity and temperature controls — is all hand-built. An upgrade to industrial tools, Attebury said, would make his work much less labor intensive. Within three years, Attebury said, he hopes to expand across the state. 

The winner of the Sheridan Start-up Challenge will be chosen at a public Pitch Night event, hosted by the WYO, Nov. 10 at 5:30 p.m.

Margaret O'Hara is a reporter at The Sheridan Press.

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