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Ohio veteran tackles mushroom cultivation
By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

ALEXANDRIA, Ohio – Sara Coakley grew up on a small farm northeast of Columbus, Ohio. There were many cows, horses, goats and sheep. Like so many youngsters her age, being around countless animals each day led to her ambition of becoming a veterinarian.
Upon graduation from high school, Coakley still had visions of becoming a veterinarian. She started out at Columbus State Community College, but the thought of eight years of student loans didn’t sit well with her.
While attending college she met a U.S. Army recruiter who told her how the Army could pay for her college. Indeed, she did join, thinking it was her ticket to attending vet school.
Coakley dedicated eight years to the Army, working as a medical laboratory specialist dealing with blood tests, cultures and other blood-related duties. She credits some of the skills she learned in the Army for developing discipline and moving on when things don’t go as planned. Little did she know then, the Army experience developed discipline she would need to run a small business.
Coakley never made it to vet school. She did, however, marry, have three children and start her own mushroom business. Established in 2022, her business (Buckeye Shroomery) now produces roughly 100 pounds a week of mushroom varieties such as chestnut, king trumpet and lion’s mane.
“My journey with mushrooms began with a single Netflix documentary called ‘Fantastic Fungi’,” she said. “It was a revelation, uncovering the profound health benefits hidden within these humble organisms. And for me it was deeply personal. Cancer has woven its way through my life, claiming my parents and touching many others I hold dear. Learning about the potential anti-tumor properties of mushrooms sparked a yearning within me, a wish that I had known sooner.
“It was all about mushrooms, and it sparked my interest. I’ve never really had anything to do with them before, but it turns out mycology is very similar to microbiology. There’s a lot of lab work involved with mushroom cultivation.”
As an Army veteran, all her products are labeled with the Homegrown by Heroes logo offered by the national Farmer Veteran Coalition, which strives to support veteran producers. Last November, Coakley was elected vice president of the Farmer Veteran Coalition Ohio chapter.
“With a background in microbiology and a veteran’s strength forged in Iraq, the transition into mycology felt like a natural progression,” she said. “What began as a hobby soon evolved into something more. With unwavering support from my partner, I took a leap of faith and founded Buckeye Shroomery.”
Coakley started searching for Facebook mushroom groups and watched hours of YouTube videos on mushrooms.
“I did a lot of research, talked with farmers, along with a lot of trial and error as well,” she said.
She took a commercial cultivation class put on by another mushroom farmer and learned day by day. In September 2022, she founded Buckeye Shroomery. And it was her time in the military that helped her in running her business.
“As a medical laboratory specialist in the Army, a big part of that role involved sterile technique, attention to detail and following precise procedures, all of which directly apply to mushroom cultivation,” she said. “Growing mushrooms is essentially a controlled biological process and the skills learned in the lab setting transferred perfectly into creating clean, efficient growing environments.”
She and her husband converted a portion of their basement into a lab and their attached garage as a grow room to house all the specialized equipment needed.
Marketing is key to her mushroom business and she began by taking sample boxes to restaurants. Some are regular customers today. Farmers markets and the Ohio Can program became sales opportunities. She also uses Yellow Bird Food Shed, an online grocery store that delivers to customers.
Through the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Food Summit, she participated in a trade show for local producers to connect with larger retailers like Kroger and Giant Eagle, as well as many school districts.
According to Coakley, oyster mushrooms are in high demand. So, too, are lion’s mane.
“It’s like gold for some people,” Coakley said about lion’s mane, adding that they’re desired for therapeutic reasons and mind clarity.
Coakley started making lion’s mane coffee, teaming up with a local coffee company to get whole beans. She dries her lion’s mane, turns it into powder, and then mixes it with the coffee.
She diversified even further, creating mushroom jerky. If she over-produces the mushrooms she simply dries them and turns them into jerky or coffee.
Her mushroom business hasn’t been without many setbacks. A little more than a year ago, an electrical fire broke out in the growing area where a broiler is used to steam-pasteurize substrate bags. The area had to be completely gutted, shutting them down for four months.
After the fire she received a letter from her insurance company saying her coverage had been dropped because of the fire. She found new coverage, but it’s costing them $3,000 more a year.
Despite a few headaches along the way, they plan to expand the business into a barn they have on their five acres, and even add a few cows. Eventually, they’d like to erect a building specifically for growing mushrooms, along with a storefront.
As a payback to the community that has supported them to this point, the Coakleys offer their spent mushroom substrate for free. The substrate is a great soil amendment.
“The road to building Buckeye Shroomery has been anything but smooth,” Coakley said. “Balancing the demands of caring for our children while launching a business meant countless late nights spent tending to mushroom cultivation. In the midst of our journey, we faced unexpected setbacks. Each obstacle has been a lesson in perseverance, pushing us to innovate and grow stronger as a business and as individuals.”
7/7/2025