The entrance to one of the four bunkers where mushrooms are grown.
Bunkers as an inclusive workplace On Saturday morning we visited “Arbe- itstagesstätte In der Lehmkuhl” near Markgrafenheide. This site is home to a 30 hectare complex of concrete bun- kers, first used during the Nazi regime, and later by the East German marines to store munitions. After the collapse of the Wall, the site was used for semi-commercial mushroom growing in the bunkers, with a workforce that comprised a number of people with psychiatric disorders. The system failed to work properly, and the company ceased operating in 1998. In 2014 grow- ing was started again on a small scale. There are now three staff who coordi- nate the activities and around 24 em- ployees who suffer from psychiatric disorders who can spend their days in
Team leader Rainer Leidholdt from ‘In der Lehmkuhl’ with the shiitake logs.
usefully in a suitable environment. The project is funded by the state and the Rostock region. The priority is not on speed and yields explained team leader Rainer Leidholdt, who gave the guided tour. “At the moment we grow mushrooms in four bunkers, using trays from Walkro Wallhausen that are al- ready pinheaded. We use a four week cycle with four flushes. In this way we produce around 1200 kg of mushrooms a week, which we sell to supermarkets, local shops and on site. The people who work here experience how useful their work is, and can see when someone buys their mushrooms. We also have some logs for shiitake, and do some gardening. It´s all about giving our cli- ents a good day´s work, free of any stress to perform.”
“Consumers
are prepared to pay more for
locally-grown produce”
Bunker one hold trays with a total growing surface area of 100 square metres.
Ñ MUSHROOM BUSINESS 15
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