Why Mushrooms
We are the Hearty Mushroom Company,
a trio of young farmers devoted to spreading the wonder of organic, locally grown mushrooms. Each of us cares distinctly about the importance of health and mental acuity. Meghan is a runner and microbiologist who has pivoted her research and personal diet toward the foods our minds and guts desire most: clean, locally grown produce. James is an entrepreneur who requires daily attention and creativity, brought to him by medicinal mushrooms. Ellie is a Ph.D. student who has gone through a health journey from obesity to marathon training, thanks to simple but delicious eating.
Unfortunately, the coronavirus hit us with unexpected difficulty. Our tenant was forced to move away for his family, leaving us with a large section of our home unoccupied and a monthly drain on our budgets. We decided to use the room for a business that would bring health, creativity, and nourishment to as many people as possible -- the Hearty Mushroom Company was born.
We grow organic, hearty mushrooms from our home farm, and we design mushroom grow kits that spread the joy of mushroom cultivation around the world. We make it simple for you to nourish yourself - you just need a bit of space and access to water. With only 2 minutes of work per day, you become a mushroom farmer! Keep reading to learn how we grow mushrooms, why mushrooms are the most deserving of your calories, and how to cook them up.
How We Grow Mushrooms
We begin by ensuring our grow room is fully sterile - pasteurizing organic hardwood pellets, adding water, and mixing to create sawdust. After that...
The above video explains the broad strokes of our mushroom-growing process. There are more details, like how we change the climate for different phases of growth, how we stagger our batches, and how we sterilize the air in our farm. We will explain all of those things in our newsletter, where we give our backers a deep dive into the growing process, the benefits of mushrooms, and the best ways to cook them.
Why Mushrooms?
Close your eyes and think of a mushroom. If you haven’t been influenced by the hearty shrooms in the above photos, you are probably thinking of a white button mushroom, the mushrooms shrink-wrapped at box grocery stores. These little white guys taste fine - they grill up okay and add something to salads. But mushrooms have much more to offer than a bit of garnish.
At this point, we grow oyster, shiitake, and lion’s mane mushrooms. Each of these provides a hearty amount of vitamins, antioxidants, and protein - in addition to their great texture and fantastic taste. The three varieties are low calorie and high in iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, and folic acid, vitamin B, vitamin C, and vitamin D. They lower cholesterol, provide anti-oxidants, and fight breast and colon cancer. Lion’s Mane mushrooms even promote neurogenesis - the growing of connections in your brain. For this reason, they are currently being tested to treat dementia and anxiety. Don’t believe us? Read about it here and here.
Cooking Mushrooms
When it comes to cooking mushrooms, we have your back. We hand-mix spices tailored to our mushroom varieties. The spices even include dried mushroom to up the umami magic. Plus, each of our grow-kits comes with a recipe booklet. Mushrooms are the perfect dumpling filling, broth base, and saute star. If you’d like to eat them alone, they cook quicker than meat and provide the same amount of protein per dry weight, without the damaging saturated fats. If you’re keen to add them to your favorite meaty dish, they absorb those flavors, amping up their taste. No need to wonder what you’d do with your home-grown shrooms - we’re ready to open up a whole new part of your palate.
We'd love to hear from you at ellie@heartymushroom.com