Mushroom hunting season is coming to an end, but this woman-
owned sustainable mushroom farm will keep you stocked all year round.
When Robin Moore left her cushy lab job as a chemist to become a mushroom farmer, she didn’t know just how successful her new venture would be. She started her mushroom farm, MyCo Planet, in 2021 in a North KC warehouse. Now, it’s struggling to keep up with the demand. Lion’s mane, blue oyster, maitake and other gourmet mushroom varieties are flying off the shelves.
Moore uses the sterile techniques of her previous lab work in her vertical farming practice. She replicates the natural environment that mushrooms would grow in, but indoors. This allows MyCo (Latin for fungi) to grow year-round fresh produce for KC in a controlled, sustainable way.
“Everything we use is organic-certified material,” Moore says. “[The mushrooms] grow on an agricultural byproduct, so it’s waste material that the mushrooms grow on. When we’re done, we give our mushroom compost to local farmers and they spread it on their fields. It’s a full circle.”
The most popular shroom? The lion’s mane, beloved for not only its culinary purposes but also its medicinal qualities. MyCo makes lion’s mane powder, tincture and, most recently, coffee in collaboration with the local Rochester Roasting Company.
You can visit MyCo’s storefront (1534 Burlington St., KCMO) or find MyCo mushrooms at the Brookside and City Market farmers markets.
