How To Find Local Mushrooms

What Is CSA?

CSA is the acronym for community supported agriculture. It’s a model of farming whereby members of the local community invest their money in advance of the growing season.

This helps farmers plan their crops and purchase the right amount of seeds and supplies. Then, when the crops are ready for harvest, the original community investors can pick up weekly bundles of fresh produce as a return on their investment.

This link from the USDA Local Food Directory can help you find farms near you with mushrooms.

CSAs are a great way to support local food systems. They can also be a cheap way to access fresh produce that you don’t have the time to grow yourself or can’t find in the grocery store. Many of these farms are beginning to offer mushrooms in addition to the more traditional fruit, vegetable, and grain crops. 

Help Your Local Farmers!

Now that it’s foraging season, mushrooms are beginning to appear in farm shares and on the menu at local restaurants across the country.

On Instagram, Fantastic Fungi readers all shared their favorite local purveyors of mushrooms.

Sno-Valley Mushrooms: “Transmogrifying wood to food! We are Seattle and King County WA’s mushroom farm!” (added by reader gravityliftgoff)

Northbeach Mushrooms: “Locally Grown Gourmet Mushrooms in Orcas Island, Washington.” (added by reader jessseca)

Hamakua Mushrooms : “Our Mushrooms are Exotic & Delicious:: Grown on the Hamakua Coast on Hawaii Island.” (Added by reader officialwhiteravencreations)

Turkey Tail Farm: Producers of gourmet mushrooms, cut flowers, pasture-raised, organically fed poultry and fowl, naturally raised pork, grass-fed lamb. Butte CA (added by reader cheetovski)

Sundown Mushrooms: “A gourmet mushroom farm & maker of mushroom things in the heart of the Las Vegas valley. Green advocate of regenerative micro-industries.” (Added by reader saras_jeans)

Chef Sebastian Carosi: “Cooking with and advocating full spectrum clean cannabis consumption through food since the early nineties.” (added by cjasquith)

Mycoterra Farm “Gourmet mushrooms, grown and sold locally in Western Mass.” (Added by reader bennys_traveldaze)

Ash Tree Farms:  “We are a small mushroom farm in Vancouver, WA. We are dedicated to growing beautiful and delicious gourmet mushrooms.” (added by chef_sebastian_carosi)

1000 Stone Farm: “Organic vegetables, eggs, fruit, & mushroom farm in Central Vermont, find us through our CSA, on Farmstore, wholesale, & Burlington Farmers Market.” (Added by exuberanceinmotion)

Autumn Harvest: “We sell a variety of fresh mushrooms and dried mushroom products on farmersmarket and mushrooms (added by reader vorvrestaurant)

Local Mushrooms Are the Best

Reach out to your local farms on this database and ask if they offer mushrooms. Some of them even offer guided excursions to discover your own mushrooms hidden in the farm’s landscape. However, many farms grow mushrooms in logs and well-ordered sheds in order to control and predict their inventory.

It’s important to support local agriculture so that we don’t fall victim to a monoculture. Every region of the country has unique flora and fauna that contribute to a specific flavor palette. When you only purchase food from large producers at big box grocery stores, you’re taking money away from local farmers who may be investing in heritage seeds and sustainable farming practices.

Mushrooms have a long history of secrecy among foragers, who tend to keep their favorite locations hidden from laypeople. If you’d like to support local agriculture but didn’t hop on the bandwagon in time for a produce basket, call up your local farm today and ask about mushrooms. This is your chance to get your mushrooms at a CSA.

 

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