For the first time since its opening, the Otzarot HaYa'ar (Forest Treasures) mushroom farm in Betzet in the western Galilee has closed down. The farm’s owner and caretaker, Shaked Ben Shitrit Barnea, and her daughter, who evacuated to Tiberias since the beginning of the war in Gaza, couldn’t believe the day would come when they would have to let their boutique mushrooms, which they have been growing for many years, wither away slowly.
"I'm the only one who knows how to care for the mushrooms on the farm, and when my husband was called up for reserve duty and we were asked to evacuate, I had to close everything down. Everything is gone now," she says.
The mushroom farm was established eight years ago by Uri and Miriam Ben Shitrit. It began as an organic farm and later became a boutique mushroom farm, producing varieties like Shiitake, Maitake, Hericium, and special forest mushrooms.
Ben Shitrit Barnea inherited her knowledge of mushroom cultivation from her father, Uri, who was killed in a work accident five years ago when a wall at the farm collapsed on top of him. Since then, she has been the driving force behind the family business and its main caretaker and has also been selected as one of the 40 pioneering farmers in Israel. Her mother, Miriam, is now the farm’s owner.
The mushrooms require intensive care: they grow in rooms with controlled humidity and need daily treatment, just like in growing livestock.
On the morning of October 7, Shaked Ben Shitrit Barnea's husband was immediately drafted into reserve duty, and the next day, Betzet was evacuated under a government order. She moved to Tiberias with her mother and two children, where they have been residing since.
The farm has experienced many tough times, primarily the painful death of its founder, Uri. Then came the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, rising prices and the war.
"This is the first time we've closed the farm," she said, "During the pandemic, which was a challenging period, we gradually closed all the (growing) rooms, but we never shut down completely. Now, we opened all of the doors and allowed the mushrooms to die."
How long will it take for you to recover and reopen?
"It will take a long time because we not only need to restore the farm but also rebuild our customer base. Fortunately, our customers have found other solutions because there are other mushroom farms, and I'm not the only one in the country. The recovery of the farm itself first requires cleaning and disinfecting everything thoroughly because growing mushrooms is a very serious job, and one of the dangerous things about growing them is infections.”
“We’ll also need to import raw materials and start things over again. I don't know what damage has been caused because the cooling systems have been off for so long; I just hope there’s no significant damage. I estimate it will take us at least a year to fully recover,” she added.
Her husband is still serving in the reserves. "He was in the Paratroopers' Brigade and returned two months ago to enlist in the community’s alert squad. It’s practically the same as reserve service since these squads belong to the military and protect communities. They told us to take a suitcase with clothes for a week, and it's been seven months already."
How are you doing these days?
"Mom is sad, and it's also very frustrating because we don't know when we'll be back, there's no estimate. We don't know how to organize our lives; it's unbearable, and it's nerve-wracking. It can drive people out of their minds; it's an existential dread, even for the children. For a child, home is the safest place in the world, and a hotel is not home."