Six Months With Mushrooms: Neja's internship experience

"I am doing a masters in ecology and biodiversity, and for me this is my last year as a student. I wanted to take a chance to do an internship at rotterzwam, because I didn’t have any more exams and lectures. I wanted to try something that was connected to my studies, but not completely the same. And I thought the mushroom farm sounded really cool.

I didn’t really know what I expected at first, to be honest. Because I’d never been to a mushroom farm before, and I didn’t know much about how to grow mushrooms. I had only harvested a few mushrooms in the forest, but that's another thing, haha. The main thing that I expected to learn is how to make the substrate for mushrooms, and learn all about the circumstances in which they grow.

Looking back, I did learn all about that. I especially liked all the things we did with Lion's Mane, because I could see the differences in how the Lion's Mane grows. We changed the water of the substrates, and we found some other conditions that worked better for the growth. I liked these experiments the most! The rest of the work is very physical, because in the end it's a mushroom farm. So don’t wear your best clothes because you are going to get dirty!

For me, regular farm work did get a little repetitive at some point. But I get bored easily, and I’ve been here a long time: six months! Most interns are here at rotterzwam for a short period of time. I was alone during the final weeks of my internship, but for the biggest part I worked here together with another intern, which was super nice. You could split the work into whoever likes which job better, and it was fun to talk while doing tasks like harvesting the mushrooms. 

The team is great and the atmosphere here is fun. Often we make lunch together and eat it outside, when the weather allows it. The hours at rotterzwam were pretty flexible, so that I could also get a job at a restaurant on the side, which was nice to get some extra income. 

An internship at rotterzwam is for anyone who is interested in growing mushrooms in general, but maybe even more for people who don’t have a biological education. You can learn so much while you are actually practicing what you are learning. I think if you do a master’s in microbiology it might be a little too easy. Still interesting nonetheless, but maybe for two months as a break from your studies. I would recommend everyone to just try an internship if you have the opportunity to do so!"

- Neja (30 years, from Slovenia)

Interested in doing an internship at rotterzwam? Read more about the different positions here: https://www.rotterzwam.nl/pages/werken-bij