When I first heard about Back To The Roots & their product, I was a little skeptical. I thought “You’re telling me that you buy a box & spritz it with water twice a day & it’ll grow mushrooms in as little as 10 days?” But, I started reading more & more about the company & I really liked what I read! First, the company was started by Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora, when they were still in college! They were 2 months away from graduation, headed to the world of investment banking & consulting, when they heard about this idea of growing mushrooms using recycled coffee grounds. After some testing & a $5,000 grant from the UC Berkeley Chancellor for social innovation, they decided to become urban mushroom farmers, instead of heading into the corporate world.
So, how does a box grow mushrooms? Well, inside the box there is 100% recycled coffee grounds, which is safe & sustainable. Each box can grow up to 1 1/2 lbs of tasty pearl oyster mushrooms. When you receive the box, you pull off the front panel, cut an X in the front plastic of the box and then take the plastic bag out of the box. Soak the plastic bag (which has the soil & all the mushroom seeds already in it) in water for 12 hours and place it back in the box it came in. It comes with a little spray bottle so all you do is spritz it with water twice a day. In as little as 10 days, mushrooms will start growing! After they are fully grown & you harvest them, you can turn the box around, follow the same directions as above & more mushrooms will grow on the other side! Many people get 3+ harvests of mushrooms from one single box!
Head on over Back To The Roots and buy your own kit! Your kids will love waking up every morning & spritzing the kit, waiting on the mushrooms to grow! If you buy 2 kits, you will also get free shipping! Check out their Home Aquaphonics Garden, too! I really want to get one! You can also find Back to the Roots on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube & Pinterest.
Kelly R says
This is a great idea. The kids would have fun with this.
Heather Bryant says
Ohhh I love mushrooms and this is a neat product!
Amber Edwards says
Ok, that is pretty cool. My husband would really love to have those! He loves mushrooms and it would be fun for him to grow his own.
Mandee says
Ok, now that is really cool! I love the tagline in your blog header too! 🙂
aspectacledowl says
Thank you, Mandee! I really appreciate that 🙂
Diane @ Philzendia says
Very neat! This is a great idea and I love mushrooms. It’s also great to do with kids.
Motherhood on the rocks says
I’m not fond of mushrooms but my husband would love this!
Saki Shimizu says
Hello Tara! I am Saki Shimizu, Back to the Roots’ intern from Japan. I just want to take a quick moment to thank you for writing about us and sharing our mushroom garden and Home Aquaponics Garden! We really appreciate your support! Our community is what keeps us growing!
Please feel free to reach out to our Communications Maestra, Megan Yarnall at: [email protected]!! Again, thanks so much for all of your support!
aspectacledowl says
Hi Saki! Thank you so much for stopping by! I love what you guys are doing! I plan to buy more because we had a lot of fun!
Saki Shimizu says
I am really glad to hear that! Again, thank you very much for your support!!!