We are asking for some financial support after an accident that totaled our delivery van and injured Jeremy.

The week before Christmas Jeremy headed out on an errand and lost control of our delivery van on an icy road. The van slid into oncoming traffic and another vehicle crashed into our van. Both Jeremy and the other driver were injured. Jeremy sustained broken and bruised ribs and several chipped vertebrae. We don't know the condition of the other driver, but he seemed to have similar injuries.

In our small family mushroom farm, Jeremy does most of the work - from sales to deliveries, and a lot of the mushroom production and processing in between! His recovery has been good, but some things were impossible to do that first week and he needed help with other things for some time. We had to miss two holiday Farmers Markets - two of our best markets of the year. We had to miss one delivery day and all of the sales we would have made there - all those mushrooms had to be either dried or composted.

We were able to find a delivery van to use temporarily, but Jeremy needed help for several weeks to do those deliveries (as he wasn't able to lift much), so that was an additional cost to us.

This is also the time of year when Jeremy starts logging for mushroom logs - trekking out into the woods with a chainsaw, cutting trees down, hauling logs around. This task must be done in the winter, we can't wait, so this has also required additional staff.

Obviously our refrigerated van will need to be replaced as well. Our temporary van is not refrigerated so we have had some very cold, unheated trips to the city in order to make sure the mushrooms stay cool. The weather will warm up (eventually!) and we'll need a new van with refrigeration! Older vans of this sort are very difficult to find. We may need to opt for a much more expensive van.

We know that insurance will cover Jeremy's medical expenses and everything that was in the van during the accident (some shelving, some carts, various equipment, etc). Insurance should cover some of the van replacement, but we're still not sure of the total amount (and what we've seen so far isn't promising). Insurance does not cover those lost sales from the first week after the accident, spoiled product, or the additional costs to pay for help during Jeremy's recovery.

There has been an outpouring of support in our community of sustainable farmers, grocery co-ops, and Quakers - in the form of well wishes, gifts, and online orders (www.northwoodmushrooms.com), and we are so grateful! But a month after this accident, the longer term difficulties are making themselves felt - with fewer mushroom sales this last month, more costs in payroll, and the looming cost of a new van.

We are all too aware of the weight of other concerns and the immense need in the world right now, which make our difficulties seem insignificant. But we would be grateful if you're able to contribute to our fundraiser to help with our little corner of it!

Fundraiser update (24-feb-26)

Thank you everyone for your support! We are making progress here. Jeremy was finally able to sleep on his side without pain a couple days ago. What a relief!

We got some really good help for logging so Jeremy has gotten all the mushroom logs he needs for the upcoming season. We are really happy we found someone to help with that big job.

Now for the big update: we found a van! We found a new-to-us van to replace the one lost in the accident. It's a 2021 so the newest vehicle we've ever purchased. It's in California and has a few things that need to be fixed up before getting shipped here. We are getting a pretty good deal on it at $21,800. Unfortunately, we only got $10,000 for our totaled van from insurance. We're hoping we can get a little more help to make up the difference.

Thanks again everyone for your help and your love.