Fresh Produce Out of a box

Inspired by Patrick’s recent termite solution, I decided myself to try stubleupon to see if I could find any out of the box ideas to promote sustainable eating. After clicking through numerous pages of junk I finally “stubleupon” an interesting yet intriguing way to grow your own produce. Two green entrepreneurs have come up with a surprisingly easy kit to grow your own fresh sustainable mushrooms at home. Granted it is only one to grow one specific vegetable. Anything can help right?

            Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora came up with the idea of growing your own mushrooms during their final semester at UC Berkeley and have now turned into a full-fledged sustainable business. Using the recycled coffee grounds from Peet’s Coffee and Tea houses around the San Francisco bay area as a growing medium, they came up with a full circle pearl oyster mushroom growing kit. Providing a way to grow your own fresh produce in the home while utilizing a waste product, they further complete the circle by selling their mushroom/coffee ground compost ‘waste product’ as a premium soil amendment.

The Grow-Your-Own Mushroom Garden kits are sold in Whole Food Markets nationwide, or can be purchased directly on their website for $19.95 and produce up to 1.5 pounds of fresh pearl oyster mushrooms right in the box. Additionally, if you post a picture with your kit fully grown on their Facebook page, they will donate a kit to an elementary classroom of your choice to support youth sustainability education.

            I thought this was so cool! The mushroom kit also sparked another idea, what if we took this one step further and tired to grow a variety of produce ourselves and continue to use the premium soil in our own gardens? People are doing little things around the country everyday to support sustainable living we just need to open our eyes and take action.

To read more about Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Aroar and buy your own mushroom kit click here! http://backtotheroots.com/