Finally Growing Mushrooms!

Finally I can grow mushrooms and add them to my 100-km diet! I've had my eye on growing mushrooms for a few months and I've been waiting patiently to purchase a kit from Back to the Roots.

Photo provided by the Back to the Roots website.

Unfortunately they don't ship to Canada. However they recently struck up a deal with Loblaws to stock the kits in-store (which I learned by messaging the company on Facebook). You can also buy them online via other sources, but the shipping is fairly pricey. Back to the Roots is a unique company with a great back-story, if you have the time, check out their bio, its actually quite amazing. They started off as an idea on kickstarter and from there they've emerged as a very interesting green company. The mushrooms are organic and are grown in recycled coffee grounds.

A month or so back, I saw the large format kits at my local "Loblaws" brand supermarket. They were $19.99, unmarked sitting sadly at the end of the potato isle in the produce section. They had maybe eight units left and I couldn't find one that wasn't damaged, already growing mushroom or missing the misting bottle packaged at the top. I went over to the customer service desk and asked if they would discount the damaged packages for me, if I bought them all. They said no, and the haggler in me was disappointed, they said I could buy them full price, otherwise they could simply send them back to the producer and have new replaced units sent back at no charge. I think this is great for Back to the Roots to do, but irritating that I couldn't take a discounted product home that day.

Several weeks later I returned, juts before Christmas and I found a big stack of mushroom kits, still from Back to the Roots, but in new packaging. "Organic Mushroom Mini Farm by Back to the Roots". Not much smaller then the original product and retailed for $13.99. I'm not sure if this is a Loblaws formatted package, exclusively for it's stores, or a new introduction from Back to the Roots.

I started my kit the other day (December 28th). It was super easy to start up and now all I have o do is wait and water and wait some more. So far I'm very pleased with the product and I can't wait to review it. I recommend trying this in classrooms and even the most challenged of gardeners can do this. I also think that $13.99 is a more reasonable price for this product. Check back in for updates soon!