A modest sign above a doorway on a quiet residential street near the Expiatorio church in Guadalajara is all that hints of the activity inside.
“Eco-Casa Madero,” brainchild of biologist Iñaki Oyarvide, houses a handful of well-educated, 30-ish entrepreneurs engaged in cultivating three varieties of mushrooms — including the renowned, Japanese reishi and shiitake varieties — for medicinal and culinary use.
Oyarvide doesn’t know if mushrooms are going to change the world, but he is taking a stab at it by combining his idealism with lifelong experience.
“This isn’t exactly a business,” he explained during our interview, as several people knocked on the door to purchase “Grow-bags” and discuss mushroom lore, greeted by three dogs who, though imposing, were friendly enough.
“It’s more of a community education project. We offer workshops and we’re open to ideas from other people.”
Oyarvide’s father, Manolo, raised mushrooms in Michoacan and now works in his son’s enterprise, although the younger Oyarvide said he learned about cultivating mushrooms from studying biology at the University of Guadalajara.“I was drawn to them because they’re beautiful and they grow relatively easily,” he said.
An UdG professor’s research about the medicinal properties of mushrooms sparked Oyarvide’s interest in reishi and shiitake, he explained, handing me a plate with a taco prepared by his father with delicately seasoned seta (oyster) mushrooms and red, bell pepper. Oyarvide and crew sell these and similar delicacies, such as seta hamburgers, at the weekend market after 6 p.m. at the Expiatorio plaza (Enrique Diaz de Leon near Vallarta), at the Eco-tianguis, which operates afternoons some Sundays near the Ex-Convento del Carmen (Juarez near Federalismo), and an ecological market at Cafe Benito (Juarez and Ocampo).
“The mushrooms are basically raised organically,” Oyarvide said, noting that one ecological aspect of the cultivation is that he uses oak sawdust, corn husks, cacao shells and other agricultural castoffs to prepare his substrate or growing medium.
Organic cultivation is especially important for one of Eco-Casa Madero’s principal products — a liquid reishi concentrate that the enterprise bottles and sells as a medicinal supplement.
“I take a capful every other day,” explains Nancy Flores, “and now I never get colds, although I used to. My mother takes it and it helps her sleep. Another customer had surgery for breast tumors but they came back. Then she started taking reishi concentrate and didn’t have any more recurrences.”
“A lot of what I have learned here has come from experience,” added Oyarvide. “Our clients tell us the results, and I know from studying them that they basically stabilize your organism, especially the vascular and nervous systems.”
Oyarvide founded Eco-Casa Madero four years ago and now finds himself in a period of increased interest and business.
“We give private or group workshops in cultivating mushrooms and in organic, urban agriculture,” he said, noting that the cost includes many materials, that he sometimes arranges exchanges in lieu of cash payment and that he likes to work on projects that originate with his clients.
“Right now, for example, I’m pursuing locating seeds for a pink, oyster mushroom.”
Eco-Casa Madero, Madero 1036 (between Argentina and Robles Gil about 2 blocks west of the Expiatorio church). Open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Please knock.) Cel: 044-33-1020-2776. To see various Web pages, google “Eco-Casa Madero.”