Maker SHED

Inspired by the idea of producing local, fresh food from what was an urban waste stream, Back to the Roots has since grown to create the Grow-Your-Own Mushroom Garden which lets anyone, anywhere, grow their own gourmet mushrooms at home, at any time of the year! This remarkable kit lets you grow up to 1 1/2 lbs of tasty, gourmet oyster mushrooms right from the box it arrived in. Just place this mushroom kit in front of a window and spray it twice a day with the included mister. Soon you'll have little mushroom sprouts that quickly grow big enough to harvest in as little as 10 days. Each kit can yield up to 4 crops of mushrooms and when the crops are exhausted just put the soil in a garden or use it for other plants. The packaging is 100% recyclable making this product as good for the environment as it is for your cooking!

Back to the Roots was founded by Alejandro Velez & Nikhil Arora during their last semester at UC Berkeley in 2009. Two months away from graduation, and heading into the corporate world of investment banking & consulting, they came across the idea during a class lecture of being able to potentially grow gourmet mushrooms entirely on recycled coffee grounds. Inspired by the idea of turning waste into wages & fresh, local food, they experimented in Alex's fraternity kitchen, ultimately growing one test bucket of tasty oyster mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds. With that one bucket, some initial interest from Whole Foods & Chez Panisse and a $5,000 grant from the UC Berkeley Chancellor for social innovation, they decided to forget the corporate route, and instead, become full-time urban mushroom farmers!  

Inspired by the idea of producing local, fresh food from what was an urban waste stream, Back to the Roots has since grown to create the Grow-Your-Own Mushroom Garden which lets anyone, across the country, grow their own gourmet mushrooms at home as well!