Rot's Bounty Newsletter

 2024-25 has been a big year for Rots Bounty thanks to your support! 

Here's something of our journey to bring locally grown gourmet mushrooms to Iowa City.

I began this process in 2013, after years of being a hobby mushroom grower, when I converted a grain elevator into what would have been a medium scale regional mushroom farm, in partnershipwith a local business owner. However long commutes to the facility, family responsibilities ( it was the year our daughter was born) abd other factors forced me to abandon the project. I then met Ty Allchin who was growing mushrooms in Columbus Junction and worked with him for a few years to supply retail and restaurants in Iowa City. He acted as a mentor in the long learning curve of commercial cultivation, and in 2018 I decided that i was going to try again to start my own farm closer to home in Iowa City, using what was at my disposal, avoiding any debt. 

I converted our 20 x16 garage into a climate controlled growroom, and a good freind of mine Zach and his family gave access to a large basement by the woods on the north side of town, and I converted that into a facility for producing 1000s of lbs of mushroom substrate every week. 

Mushrooms are a crop that have a rapid growth cycle and therefore if farmed vertically ( which we do) can require only a small footprint to grow alot, and out of this we produce 100- 300 lbs of fresh mushrooms every week. 

We were fortunate to find Dontae and Emerson, a young couple with an interest in local food and they helped keep weekly production and sales going while I worked full time caring for adults with disabilities for last 17 years ( a career which i loved ), up until September of 2024 when I finally took the plunge to fulfill my dream of working the farm full time. 

I was very worried about not being able to make ends meet from sales of fresh mushrooms! Producing any crop is expensive, and margins are not as high as one might think, however YOU have all made this possible! 

Sales this winter increased by an additional 100lbs a week. Home delivery accounted for a substantial portion on this! 

 Restaurant sales really took off. To name a few Harry's, Big Grove, Pullman, The Webster, Leaf, the Plated Table, the Paper Crane, Cobble Hill, The Full Bowl, St. Burch, Walker Homestead and many others sustained us with substantial weekly orders this winter.

New Pioneer Co-op has been a huge addition to our retail, and although we lost Waterfront HyVEE to an out of state factory farm, we picked up Coralville and North Liberty Hy-Vees, along with existing stores on North Dodge and 1st Avenue, and continued a partnership with Feild to Family for wholesale and online farmer's market.

Looking forward to the Iowa City Farmer's Market starting this Saturday! 

Just wanted to have the opportunity to say a big thank you to you for supporting our local mushroom farm!