About Manna Mushrooms

I’m Karin Garten your local mushroom farmer and owner of Manna Mushrooms. My mushroom farm is located in the hills above Riverside, in a rural community called Gavilan Hills where many people enjoy riding horses, raise chickens, cattle and goats. 

I love healthy and fresh food, and I especially love to eat mushrooms. Mushrooms are one of the healthiest natural foods, and more and more people are finding out that they are not only highly nutritious, but can also be medicinal. 

Supermarkets have limited mushroom varieties available, and most are imported from Pennsylvania – the USA’s #1 mushroom producer. That is why I decided to open a mushroom farm and provide Riverside and the IE with a real variety of fresh, locally grown specialty mushrooms. 

I produce a wide variety of Oyster mushrooms, and will be adding many others such as Chestnut, Maitake and many more in the near future. 

Thank you for supporting local farmers!

See you at the Farmer's Market!

Mushrooms are prepackaged for your safety. 

The Food Safety Modernization Act, passed by Congress in 2011, marks an important advance in preventing food-borne illnesses.

Growers who attend the Produce Safety Training course learn about the different ways produce could become contaminated before, during or after harvest, and the steps growers should take to keep produce contaminant-free. 

I am passionate about food safety. 

Completing the Produce Safety Training course was an important step in my ongoing quest for food safety. 

My mushrooms are grown indoors, with filtered water and filtered air. They are only handled with gloves and mask. 

 All of my mushrooms are grown using agricultural and forestry byproducts. I do not use imported Shiitake logs from China, instead my  mushrooms are grown on U.S. sourced Oak sawdust and Organic Soy hulls, and the entire cultivation process - from mycellium to mushroom - takes place at my farm in Riverside County. 

Articles about imported Chinese Shiitake logs and the economic and potentially environmental effects they could have:

https://www.thepacker.com/article/us-shiitake-mushroom-growers-question-chinese-imports

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/01/30/china-poisoning-mushroom-market/

https://unicornbags.com/shiitake-logs-from-china/

https://www.inquirer.com/business/kennet-square-mushroom-farm-bankruptcy-chinese-imports-shiitake-20190128.html