Need a Lift?!

At The Mushroom Factory we’re alway seeking ways to innovate creatively and collaborate meaningfully. One of the collaborations we’re most proud of is our partnership with other Detroit-based farms and businesses. We grow our mushrooms on their waste materials—sawdust, cardboard, brewers grain. Then we give our own spent mushroom blocks to other farmers as compost to improve their soil quality.

We like extending the useful life of these bulk materials, and the positive response to our farm’s system has been overwhelming. We want to do even more, but these spent materials are heavy, and currently we’re limited by what our arms can lift and carry. A forklift will allow us to dramatically increase the amount of these materials we process and move them more efficiently. It will help us do our job much better.

• Saturday, May 26, 2018 - Forklift Safe Operator Training at Detroit Training Center
• June 2018 - Purchase forklift! Start lifting, hauling, and giving new life to more than 1 ton of spent materials every week!

Our work at The Mushroom Factory is guided by a simple phrase: OPEN SOURCE, CLOSED LOOP. This is is how we sum up our approach to farming, food, and business. We’re transparent about our methods and mindful about our use of resources. The Mushroom Factory blends traditional mushroom cultivation practices with modern technology in an effort to be as efficient and sustainable as possible.

Our dedication to creative reuse goes beyond growing our mushrooms on spent materials. We've located our farm in a formerly vacant warehouse and are working to clean up and cultivate the surrounding vacant lots. We're proud to live and work in Detroit, and are striving to make The Mushroom Factory into a place where farmers, gardeners, students, and citizen scientists can gather to collaborate, learn and grow. Thank you for helping us increase our capacity and achieve our goals.