St. Francisville - A mushroom farm is drawing a fungi following, supplying mushrooms to restaurants and homes throughout the capital area.

Maggie Long and Cyrus Lester are the wife and husband duo who have owned and operated Mushroom Maggie's Farm since 2018.

"We wanted to do farming, but we didn't have any money, we didn't have any land," Long said. "We didn't come from farming, so what do we do, you know? So, we looked at stuff to do indoors, we saw that no one was doing mushrooms at the time. It's become more than just a passion, it's become our lives now."

Every Monday, the crew at Mushroom Maggie's Farm packs blocks of a material made of ground sawdust and flakes of soybean hulls. Lester said they make over 600 blocks each week. The blocks are then injected with mushroom spawn and left to rest anywhere from 10 days to two months.

Once the mushrooms fruit, the different varieties are separated, sliced and sorted, ready to go to restaurants, the Red Stick Farmers Market and select grocery stores. 1,200 pounds of fresh mushrooms go out every week into the hands of mushroom enthusiasts.

"They're so incredible, not just for the food supply, but for health reasons too!" Long said.

Anything leftover, Long and Lester said, goes into a compost pile, which will eventually be sold off, too. The two added that they are excited to share their love of mushrooms with the community.

"We've been talking with the parish about doing a mushroom festival one day and having it in this region here out of St. Francisville. That will be exciting," Long said.

Lester said the mushroom farm's reach extends through St. Francisville, New Roads, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and the Northshore.