Q. Is it true that psychedelic mushrooms grew on the farm land where Mayfaire was built? That site used to be known as the Hardy Parker farm.
A. “I don’t know whether the old Hardy Parker farm was used for mushroom production or not. If it was, I doubt it was ever a commercial venture,” said Al Hight, director of the New Hanover County Cooperative Extension.
Hight said there are several types of mushrooms indigenous to the area “that will cause hallucinations if consumed.”
“We don’t have commercial production of edible mushrooms like Shiitake and Portobello outside here because there is no way to prevent contamination of the growing media, usually logs or wood chips, with naturally-occurring mushroom spores. The climate in the mountains of North Carolina is much better,” Hight said.
“So, the short answer about growing mushrooms around here is that it’s not a great place to do it. But, I’m sure someone will disagree with that,” he said.
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Date posted: July 17, 2012
User-contributed question by:
Andy H
The man that owned the property did not grow mushrooms.
The psychedelic mushrooms grew there though all the same and quite a number of people got busted by the police for collecting them.
The mushrooms weren’t grown there intentionally, but because there were cows on the farm, they did grow on the land. In March of 1994, someone who was high jumped the fence and killed a cow on the land that is where Michael’s is today. We drove by as the police were dealing with it. I’ll never forget it.
They grew wild on the property.