Help local farmer feed the community
Donation protected
Hello, I am Buttons a local Alphington Mushroom farmer. I supply Melbourne's restaurants and community with unique mushrooms that I grow in reusable plastic buckets to avoid needless waste. I am on a voyage to find the most sustainable way to grow mushrooms and help localise the food system. I hope that The Mushroomery will be a wonderful education space as well as a commercial farm.
I started my farming journey in my backyard in Brunswick. I couldn’t meet the demand for these little tasty morsels in my micro backyard farm. So I decided to upscale to meet demand.
At the beginning of the year, I was just settling into my new farm when COVID hit. I hadn’t quite finished building up the new farm but was already pumping out beautiful mushrooms. I had invested my life savings into the set up of the new farm and borrowed $20,000 in the hope that I would begin to recoup some of the debt this year.
The mushrooms were supplied to our beautiful restaurant scene. As soon as COVID hit I lost all of my customers.
At the beginning of the year, I was lucky enough to win an agricultural grant of $15,000 to obtain a Coolroom, Shed and an Autoclave. However to receive the grant money I must match it with my own money. I had hoped by this stage I may have made the money to pay off my debt and meet the grant but due to COVID this is just not the case. I fear I will lose this wonderful opportunity as I do not wish to go any further into debt.
I’m asking the community to donate what you can to equip this new local farm with a Coolroom, Shed and an Autoclave. All your donations will be matched with the grant I have received.
I understand that these are unprecedented hard times we all find ourselves in. So I understand that some will be unable to help.
Donations over $35 will receive a 250g box of seasonal mix of fresh oyster mushrooms for pick up (Brunswick or Alphington) or a bundle of mushroom mulch for your garden.
Donations over $100 will receive a tour of the farm in Alphington when it is legal and safe to do so and a box of 250g of mushrooms.
P.S. In the past couple of months I have been working on redirecting my sales to retail and a subscription CSA model. You can sign up to my CSA for a regular supply of mushrooms.
https://www.themushroomery.com.au/csa
I started my farming journey in my backyard in Brunswick. I couldn’t meet the demand for these little tasty morsels in my micro backyard farm. So I decided to upscale to meet demand.
At the beginning of the year, I was just settling into my new farm when COVID hit. I hadn’t quite finished building up the new farm but was already pumping out beautiful mushrooms. I had invested my life savings into the set up of the new farm and borrowed $20,000 in the hope that I would begin to recoup some of the debt this year.
The mushrooms were supplied to our beautiful restaurant scene. As soon as COVID hit I lost all of my customers.
At the beginning of the year, I was lucky enough to win an agricultural grant of $15,000 to obtain a Coolroom, Shed and an Autoclave. However to receive the grant money I must match it with my own money. I had hoped by this stage I may have made the money to pay off my debt and meet the grant but due to COVID this is just not the case. I fear I will lose this wonderful opportunity as I do not wish to go any further into debt.
I’m asking the community to donate what you can to equip this new local farm with a Coolroom, Shed and an Autoclave. All your donations will be matched with the grant I have received.
I understand that these are unprecedented hard times we all find ourselves in. So I understand that some will be unable to help.
Donations over $35 will receive a 250g box of seasonal mix of fresh oyster mushrooms for pick up (Brunswick or Alphington) or a bundle of mushroom mulch for your garden.
Donations over $100 will receive a tour of the farm in Alphington when it is legal and safe to do so and a box of 250g of mushrooms.
P.S. In the past couple of months I have been working on redirecting my sales to retail and a subscription CSA model. You can sign up to my CSA for a regular supply of mushrooms.
https://www.themushroomery.com.au/csa
Organizer
Buttons Dear
Organizer
Fairfield VIC
