Meet Donald Snavely | Mushroom Farmer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Donald Snavely and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Donald, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
All of the most memorable events in our lives are surrounded by food. The Two Lucky Dogs Farm motto is

“Helping you make wonderful memories…one meal at a time”

I love it when customers come back and tell me how they prepared my mushrooms and the amazing meal it helped created for them.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Two Lucky Dogs Farm (TLDF) is owned and operated by me, Donald G. Snavely. Prior to establishing the business, I was an Army Signals and Communications Officer, and after 5 deployments, I retired in 2022.

While in the military, I learned several valuable skills, which gave me the necessary skills to operate and manage my gourmet mushrooms farm. TLDF is now the number one mushroom farm in the Central Savannah River Area.

I now have a warehouse growing facility nestled conveniently in Augusta’s old downtown area. This location gives me access to several restaurants, the Golden Harvest Food Bank and several community markets, which give mushroom lovers from all walks of life access to fresh mushrooms. The facility consists of two warehouse units: one is the hot chamber and the other is the cold chamber, which provides one location for production and the other for growing.

The warehouse is capable of producing more than 12 variety of mushrooms due to the automated environmental controlled systems. The varieties include: Lion’s Mane, Shiitake, Chestnuts, Grey Oyster, Blue Dolphin Oyster, King Trumpet, Golden Oyster, Pink Oyster, Reishi, and PoHu. The facility has a small laboratory area that provides the capability of cloning, making liquid cultures, and grain spawn.

Starting a business looks easy, but it is one of the most challenging endeavors that I have undertaken. There are so many variables that cannot be anticipated. I have experienced so many set backs and moments of learning.

The most challenging issue is the South Carolina summer weather and how it has tested and strained my environmental system, which in some instances has contributed to a total crop failure. After selecting some choice comments for Mother Nature, I found myself back at the drawing board to redesign the system.

To bolster my knowledge, I went to a mushroom facility in Tennessee and did a one week mentorship, which really helped me get past some of my learning curves. When something goes wrong, I like to focus on the fact that many great inventors and innovators had many failures in their journey. As someone said to me, “if you want to be a successful mushroom farmer, you have to embrace the learning curve. If you don’t, you are really setting yourself up for failure”. He was right.

When I look back on my adventure, I see how far I have come with my knowledge and even the growth of my business. Now when I walk into my grow facility, and see many gorgeous mushrooms growing, I know they are the product of my hard work, patience and passion. I would say to every small business that is starting, There is always a solution to every problem, you just cannot give up if you want to succeed.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am a fan of history and love to walk the Augusta River Trail. There is a lot of information and history regarding the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) and how this area was instrumental in growing both South Carolina and Georgia.

For a fun get-away, a drive down to Charleston SC is a must do. This town is beautiful with the old majestic oaks and Spanish moss hanging down. Swing by and see Fort Sumter, take a horse drawn carriage through the old cobble streets, with colonial style buildings. Have lunch at one of the extraordinary restaurants and sample some of the southern cuisine. I enjoy reading menus and seeing how different restaurants use mushrooms. And then as the sun is setting, finish the day with a drink by the ocean and ponder life.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My two lucky dogs came to live with me on my six acre farm 2015. I rescued both of them from horrible lives. Now they never had to live under those terrible or abusive conditions again. They had the life that most dogs dream about with a lot of love and adventure everyday. Wendy is a Black Mouth Cur and Max is a German Shepherd.

While deployed to Kuwait in 2020, Max passed over the rainbow bridge due to a heart attack; however, when it happened he was outside living his dream and barking at critters. It was the kind of life he loved and it made him happy.

Wendy had severe anxiety issues and it took her years to over come most of them. She follows me everywhere and when we are outside working she will take the role of “lookout”, especial to warn me of her nemeses, the FEDEX and UPS trucks.

Both of them are such an important part of my daily life that I memorialized them into the name of my farm and business, so they will never be forgotten.

Website: https://www.twoluckydogsfarm.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/two_lucky_dogs_farm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TwoLuckyDogsFarm/