Florida Fungi Farm Chronicles: Vol 5
Ivan Herenchak-JonesWowza. What a ride.
We apologize for the radio silence! It has been far too long since our last chronicle was composed, and thus, without further ado…
We left off after the Georgia Mushroom Festival where we learned a lot and made great connections. When we got home we upgraded our clean air system to be able to handle the workflow a little better. Since then, it has been a veritable roller coaster of entrepreneurship! We’ve experienced some of the highs and lows of this urban cultivation enterprise.
Shortly after our last chronicle we really found a home for our farmstand on Sundays at Safety Harbor’s Market on Main. We were received with so much hospitality and interest that we immediately arranged to remain at that market for the foreseeable future. It was definitely a high point for us and it strengthened our will to continue growing and learning about mushrooms and subsequently using what we learn to educate others about fungi.
We added a second weekly market shortly thereafter in the Dunedin Downtown Market. We attend on alternating Fridays and Saturdays. We also had a great experience attending this market and are very thankful for the opportunity to get out in our community and share what we do and what we are all about. If you have ever seen us at a market, you know we love to tell you all about how you can grow your own mushrooms right at home and how easy it is.
Doubling our market attendance presented some unique logistical challenges to an operation of our size that definitely tested our mettle, however we were and are up to the challenge and are thrilled to announce that we will be expanding our facility in 2024, adding more markets, vendors, and restaurants to the Florida Fungi Farm family. We will be working hard toward making fresh, locally-grown mushrooms and fungi products more accessible and available to our community.
We’ve gotten this underway already and are happy to share that TerraNova Garden Center carries our Ready-to-Fruit mushroom bags, so if ever you can’t catch us at a market, you can grab one of our bags from their lush garden center in Largo, FL. TerraNova has been picking up our spent mushroom substrate for some time now and are using it around their grounds in mulch and compost and I must say, it feels like a magical food forest over there. Oyster mushrooms are fruiting all over their grounds and it is wonderful to see. We don’t like waste and are committed to minimizing it. Check out the great things TerraNova is doing with permaculture principles over at their garden center, they have tons of cool events to attend!
Lastly, the cherry on top. A couple weeks back I got an email out of the blue from Mike Hughes, a local journalist. He expressed interest in shooting a segment about Florida Fungi Farm and telling our story. Well, Mike did a fantastic job and we are thrilled with how it came out:
(https://www.fox13news.com/news/pinellas-county-man-grows-gourmet-and-medicinal-mushrooms)
As we finish out 2023 together, we here at Florida Fungi Farm just want to thank everyone who has engaged with us from the bottom of our hearts. We are grateful for the reception we’ve had by our community in the short time we have been operating. We feel the love and we love you all too. Thank you again and we’ll see you guys at the market!