The Farm Turns 40
In 1977, Gourmet Mushrooms began as a side hustle in vertical farming. Neither "side hustle" nor "vertical farming" were part of common parlance in the seventies, but then again, the farm has always been ahead of its time.
As the farm began to gain momentum, Malcolm, and then David upgraded the farm from side hustle to full-time vocation. Over the next four decades, Gourmet Mushrooms grew from a humble converted chicken farm to a three-facility operation known for producing top-quality, organic forest mushrooms that are still "no longer wild, but far from tame."
We opened the doors of our Sonoma County farm to our friends and extended farm family this spring to celebrate our fortieth anniversary. Thank you for being here with us as we embark on the next forty years of this adventure!
Try your hand at the dishes we served
- Mushroom Pâté: Sonoma Creamery served this easy vegetarian spread with their cheese crisps
- Paul's Blackened Trumpet Royale: Trumpet Royale is a wonderfully versatile mushroom that's great for grilling.
- Vegan Scallops: Trumpet Royale also makes a great vegan "scallop"! We enjoyed wildbrine sriracha on Trumpet medallions. Try out this recipe from Rican Vegan.
- Barbecued Maitake Frondosa: Grillmaster Paul somehow kept up with the demand for these wonderfully textured, flavorful mushrooms.
- Maitaklava: Ashley's savory-sweet dessert tantalized taste buds. Shout out to Karen Aguiar for developing the recipe!
Meet our local partners who made this event one to remember
- Ceres Community Project has been a longtime partner and served up a delicious mushroom soup. They do incredible work, mobilizing teen volunteers to prepare and deliver fresh, organic meals to our critically ill neighbors in our community.
- CJ's Sweet and Savory Cobblers is a small batch bakery in Rohnert Park. Our favorite treat, of course, is the savory mushroom cobbler, which CJ had on hand for all our guests.
- Dutton-Goldfield and Red Car Wine have tasting rooms just down the road. They made sure everybody's wine glasses stayed full, while we stayed hydrated and refreshed with Guayaki Yerba Mate and Revive Kombucha.
- Living Earth Structures kept their cob oven churning out mushroom pizza all afternoon, with pizza sauce generously donated by our friends at Sonoma Gourmet.
- Sonoma Creamery served our mushroom pâté on their cheese crisp crackers. Miyoko's Kitchen made sure we had vegan cheese on hand as well, which we loaded onto sourdough baguettes from Sebastopol favorite Village Bakery.
- Sriracha sauces made by wildbrine were served on medallions of our trumpet royale mushrooms. Also packing a lot of flavor were marinated mushrooms from Geyserville Gourmet.
- The Sonoma County Mycological Association (SOMA) answered many questions about mycology. Among many other wonderful events, they lead wild mushroom forays every year that are a great way to learn about the wild mushrooms in our area.
- The art you enjoyed seeing displayed is the work of Dom Chi Designs. Check out his shop the next time you pass through Sebastopol!
A big thank you to all our partners, neighbors, and friends who have supported us throughout the years. We can't wait for next year's celebration!
Keep on Towing: Co-founders David Law and Malcolm Clark with their first successfully cultivated shiitake mushroom in 1977
