Mushrooms

The Mushroom Co
Products:
A range of exotic mushrooms and mushroom kits
Township/suburb:
Ringwood
Municipality:
Maroondah
Notes (in their own words):

The Mushroom Company grows shiitake, shimeji, brown oyster, enoki, king oyster and black fungi mushrooms and sell them at farmers’ markets. In winter, they grow chestnut mushrooms and nameko as well, and they are the only company in Australia to grow nameko. The mushrooms are grown as spawns in test tubes, then transferred to jugs with cooked grains, then transferred to mushroom bags. No chemicals are used. They also sell growing kits if you like to experiment with growing your own. The only thing they spray on their mushrooms is clean water. If you visit them at a farmers’ market, Wendy will introduce all of the mushrooms to you, as well as some recipes for you to enjoy them.

The Mushroom Shed
Products:
Mushrooms, mushroom kits. Also herb and veggie seedlings.
Local outlets:
Bundoora Park Farmers’ Market
Township/suburb:
Montmorency
Municipality:
Banyule
Notes (in their own words):

The Mushroom Shed is a local grower of swiss brown and white mushrooms and also provide ‘grow your own’ kits for people who want to grow their own mushrooms at home. They also do a wide range of herb and veggie seedlings, in pots/punnets – concentrating on heritage and unusual varieties, with over 40 varieties of heritage tomato seedlings available in Spring. You can see Mark and Helen at farmers’ markets both locally and in other Melbourne suburbs. As a small producer, they sell only direct to the customer via farmers’ markets (no wholesale), giving the customer ultimate freshness and an opportunity to talk directly with the grower.

The Mushroomery
Category:
Products:
A range of mushrooms and mushroom kits
Local outlets:
Township/suburb:
Alphington
Municipality:
Darebin
Notes (in their own words):

The Mushroomery is a little urban mushroom farm which offers a variety of mushrooms to both the local community and restaurants, including oysters, lions mane and swordbelts. You can buy the mushrooms either as once-off purchases or via an ongoing subscription/arrangement. They also sell mushroom kits, mushroom pickles, mushroom mulch and mushroom garum. Plus, at markets, mushroom toasties.

They grow their mushroom in reusable buckets, rather than single use plastic bags, thus reducing waste.

As well as selling mushroom, Buttons, who is the owner of The Mushroomery, also wants to spread the knowledge of how mushrooms grow and what benefits they can have for both your and the environment’s health. She feels that those of us in the urban bubble are losing connection and understanding of the food systems that support us. She hopes that her urban farm will be a visible place where people can learn more and that she can contribute to bridging the gap between rural and urban areas.