Mushroom sales for Connor from adventure in Canada

The passion for fungi led the 29 year-old Bangor man to set up a novel urban farm near the sea shore at Ballywalter, Co Down.

Sporeshore, the small company he formed last year, is now selling many varieties on mushrooms and mushroom extract at the iconic St George’s Food Market in Belfast, at Bangor Saturday market and at others here. He’s currently on the lookout for other opportunities to sell the natural produce from his farm.

Connor, an Ulster University law graduate, didn’t fancy a career as a solicitor or a lawyer. A bit of wanderer at heart, Connor decided instead “to see a bit of the world” and decided to take a year out to travel before settling down to pursue a career.

“While it is great to have achieved a law degree, I wasn’t really keen on more n a solicitor’s office,” Connor explains.

So, he packed his bags and booked flights that would see him landing in South America: “I have always been fascinated by countries there especially Argentina, Brazil and Chile. I wasn’t at all worried about my lack of fluency in Spanish. I was just excited by the prospect of seeing South America and experiencing the various cultures there. I was keen to learn as much as possible,” he adds.

Connor decided the best way to experience and enjoy the cultures and meet people was on a bicycle. He bought his wheels in Rio de Janeiro and set out on a journey of adventure that would take him to Patagonia on the southern tip and then north through Argentina, Chile and Peru.

“It was a fascinating trip in which I covered upwards of 3,000 miles on the bike,” Connor continues. “I met many friendly and helpful people who made my adventure a really interesting experience. And I learned a great deal from farmers and others living off the land about foraging for natural food.” He worked on farms and even a cattle ranch, “dreaming of one day running his own small holding”.

Connor’s next stop was Canada’s British Columbia for a stay with friends: “I was encouraged to travel there by a former girlfriend and to learn more about foraging for edible herbs and other natural foods.”

The foraging took the intrepid adventurer -and his trusty bicycle - to chilly Alaska and the frozen lands of the Yukon.

Armed with a wealth of experience and knowledge gained foraging for mushrooms in particular, Connor decided to give his bike a rest and caught a flight from Vancouver to London and then home to Northern Ireland.

“I arrived back in Bangor in 2017 with no clear idea about what I wanted to do to earn a living,” he remembers. “I was keen to put my knowledge of mushrooms to good use by starting to grow my own and was fortunate enough to find a patch of suitable land near the shore at Ballywalter. And Sporeshore was born.

“The reluctance of public bodies to support my idea meant I had to use my own limited funds to develop the site and to launch the growing programme for a vast range of mushrooms, many varieties of which were not then readily available here. I made up for the lack of funding support by depending on my own enterprise, ingenuity and sheer hard work,” explains Connor.

He set up a small laboratory on the farm for the initial cultivation of mushroom spores and the varieties of edible fungi.

“There are upwards of 10,000 different types of mushrooms around the world,” he continues. “Mushrooms are healthy in that they are low in calories, low in fat, low in sodium, and help reduce cholesterol. They are also full of fibre, vitamins and minerals. Among the popular varieties are Portobello, Cremini, Maitake, Button, Hedgehog, Morel, Shiitake, Porcini, Lobster, Enoki, Chanterelle, Clamshell, Chaga, and Lion’s Mane.”

In addition to a variety of fresh mushrooms picked on the small farm, Connor has created products with oil extracted from Chaga and Lion’s Mane mushrooms which are also reported to be both nutritious and healthy. Chaga extract, for example, has been described as a “nutrient-dense superfood” that slows the aging process, lowers cholesterol, helps fight cancer, supports the immune system, lowers blood sugar and fights inflammation.

“Families in Siberia and Russia have been depending on Chaga and Lion’s Mane mushrooms for generations as a medical support,” he adds.

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