MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – Mushrooms have turned out to be the financial salvation of a Roman Catholic abbey five years after its brothers were criticized by a well-known animal rights group.

Mepkin Abbey has moved to raising an uncommon type of the fungi – oyster mushrooms – and now makes almost as much as it did when its Trappist monks ran an egg farm. But, it hasn’t been easy or without frustration.

“It’s been very much of a journey with a very long learning curve, and we didn’t know exactly how it would all turn out,” said Brother John Corrigan, who oversees the mushroom operation at Mepkin Abbey. “There were a lot of failures in the beginning – one after the other. It almost made you want to give up.”

Although the abbey, which is home to 18 monks, did not release sales numbers, Corrigan said that 400 pounds of oyster mushrooms and 200 pounds of shitake mushrooms are produced each week. All of the production is sold either to restaurants in nearby Charleston or to Piggly Wiggly stores or by the abbey through
its website,
mepkinabbey.org.

It was about five years ago that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals complained that the monks were operating a factory farm. PETA publicized what it said was undercover video of the egg operation, called for a boycott and complained to federal and state agencies.

The abbey denied there was anything wrong in the way it produced eggs and said that its farm met industry standards. State and federal officials took no enforcement actions.

But the publicity distracted from the quiet life of the monks. Their abbey, founded in 1949, sits on a bluff overlooking the Cooper River, which winds its way toward Charleston about 35 miles south. The abbey is just outside of Moncks Corner, named for Thomas Monck, who founded the community in 1728.

The monks, who in the past also have made bread and sold milk to support the abbey, considered almost 40 new ways to support themselves, including making wine and gathering honey, before settling on growing oyster mushrooms.

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The nearest place you can get fresh oyster mushrooms is Pennsylvania, so it seemed like a good fit.

“But oyster mushrooms are the most difficult type to grow. All the experts will tell you that, but we didn’t quite know what that meant,” Corrigan said.

The mushrooms are grown in hanging black bags containing a medium of pasteurized straw, wheat bran and cotton seed hulls. One problem is the mushrooms are susceptible to airborne pollutants while they are growing. That’s a difficult thing to control in South Carolina in the spring and fall.

“We had to deal with an invisible enemy. We couldn’t even see the pollutants, and no matter what, the mushrooms would not grow,” he said. “There were many frustrating times asking, ‘Where do we go from here?’ and ‘What do we do next?’”

Brother Anthony-Maria recently was raking out straw and covering it with wheat bran to prepare one of the black bags, which are called a columns, for the oyster mushrooms. Once the mushroom spores are added, the mushrooms grow in about 20 days. Each bag can produce about five harvests of mushrooms.

“My understanding is oyster mushrooms will grow in practically anything,” he said as he laughed. “People have used coffee grounds and all kinds of stuff. One person even told me you could use motor oil, but I have never seen that.”

A problem in expanding the abbey’s market much beyond Charleston is that oyster mushrooms have a short shelf life.

“They are truly fragile. It’s like having a florist dealing with flowers,” said Corrigan, who added he had no previous experience with mushrooms.

“I liked the idea. It was close to the earth and I thought it would work reasonably well for us,” he said. “It’s been quite an ordeal for us. But thanks to the Lord and good help, we were able to overcome.”