First Time Visiting a Mushroom Farm! | In Paul Stament’s Hometown

Although I was already excited – Skokomish Ridge Mushrooms Growers Cooperative more than exceeded my expectations! Last week, on a gorgeous winter afternoon, I pulled into the Sanderson Field Airport Business Center to visit a mushroom farm. While the sun beamed, without a cloud in the sky, hip-hop beats boomed from inside Skokomish Ridge Mushrooms’ large warehouse. The owner, Rebecca Minna, greeted me with a big smile and invited me into a labyrinth of organic mushroom cultivation, taking me to an entirely new world.

Alta Vista Botanical Gardens | Vista, California

Alta Vista Botanical Garden (AVBG) is an interactive living classroom designed to ‘bring together people, nature, and art.’ It is atop the heart of Brengle Terrace Park in Vista. A volunteer board has run the property for about 20 years. They pay $1 a year for it and raise all the money for the 14 acres to pay the monthly $4,000 water bill. Most of everything is on drip systems because they want to conserve water here in Southern California.

The Future of Sustainable Living | i3x

I would say i3x is a service-based company. That means solutions and responses. It’s not just a solution-based company that comes in and dissects what your company could do better, then you’re on your own. Instead, we come in and communicate with entire countries, kingdoms, sovereign nations, tribal lands, whoever is interested in exploring what we could all enhance performance-wise, to make sure that we all make it as long as we’re supposed to keep the Earth is clean but supposed to be. Like I said, to simplify a very extensive matter. We are a service-based company that offers global solutions. 

Who’s Your Pal in Portland, Oregon?

Pals Mushrooms is having to pivot in order to keep the business afloat. They had been farming for years, invested a couple hundred thousand, but ran into costly operational issues. Jeremiah McCoy, the farm manager, is working with the team to get the operation on track. They are stepping away from gourmet mushrooms and stepping into medicinal psilocybin mushrooms.

Hunters Foraging PNW Wild Mushrooms | Vancouver, Washington

Fortunately, Dena and Charlie of PNW Wild Mushrooms had a bit of time to share with me today. They usually work steady seven days a week to provide foraged fungi and plants across the United States. In fact, not only was I able to meet these incredible foraging fungi legends, but they also sent me home with a large sample bag of treasures from the Pacific Northwest forest. 

Skagit Gourmet Mushrooms are All About that Substrate

I was already interested in another type of farming called aquaponics. And I went to a farmers’ market. There was a mushroom table at the farmers’ market. I had a bunch of questions about it because mushrooms are cool. And people are kind of drawn to them and interested in how to grow them, how to eat them. I had general questions for them, and they actually didn’t have any answers for me

Ozark Forest Mushroom Company | St. Louis, Missouri

Today I made it to downtown St Louis and met with Henry (son) and Nicola (mother) Macpherson, the owners of Ozar Forest Mushroom Farm. It was a super quick visit crammed-packed with information. I squeezed through the hustle and bustle as they unloaded inoculated substrate bags from the bed of a cargo van into a temporary greenhouse. He explained that a typical week for them is packed full of deliveries to restaurants Monday through Friday, from 8 am till 4 pm. 

African Naturals | St. Louis, Missouri

Visiting with Nuke Anue, owner of Africa Naturals, was inspiring. This store is a family-run business that offers local price matching, and they have been in business for four years. A portion of the proceeds “helps to provide healthcare and empower families in Africa.” The shelves are lined with hundreds of natural, organic specialty health products from Africa and the United States.

Stropharia Mushroom Farm’s Jor’ El and Sheth Schustrin | Two Jersey Brothers Fight the Good Fight in Naples, Florida

Today I’m here in Naples, Florida, with brothers Jor’ El and Sheth Schustrin in Stropharia Mushroom Farm. Jor’ El originally began farming Lion’s Mane to help his stepfather combat Parkinson’s disease. At the time, he was working on a cook’s wages, supplying his father with mushroom supplements. “I began dosing him with Lion’s Mane capsules, and approximately how much on the capsules I was doing. I started with two a day, and then it worked up to six a day. I want to say there were 500-milligrams” After doing research online, he found its way more cost-efficient to grow the mushrooms himself.

Pastor Buddy Walker Jr Nurtures Hundreds in ‘Nature’s Hometown’, Umatilla, Florida

Deep in the backroads of Umatilla, Florida, an old citrus-growing town, I met with Pastor Bob (Buddy) Walker Jr about his urban garden, Empower School and Farm. Can I say OMG!!?? Yes, I completely lucked out on spending the afternoon with only the coolest Theologist and Director of this glorious cultivation program. What a perfect place in the ideal State to cultivate food out of love for the community, and what an incredible story Buddy had to share!

West Palm Beach, Florida Just Keeps Getting Better with Joseph and Tawna Chammas Saving Lives at Gratitude Garden Farm

It’s a busy day at the Gratitude Garden Farm, and we are here with owner Joseph Chammas to squeeze me in for an interview. As we weaved our way amongst the hustle, Joseph explained how he stepped into agriculture, “I bought this farm because I got really sick around 12 to 13 years ago. So I started growing my own food. Originally, I turned my whole backyard, my front yard, the side of my house into raised beds and grew my own food. And then it just kind of catapulted from there.

Master Chef, Mushroom Farmer, Hollywood Attraction

According to Food and Wine, “there are only 66 current Certified Master Chefs in the USA. Those who take the exam train for months if not years, working not only to hone their culinary skills but also to ensure they are in peak physical condition; it’s that taxing.” This man is one of them! I was in LA hoping to interview him at a farmers’ market, but he was swamped. So, I am lucky to catch him today!