When we started Myqo, our goal was simple: to share the incredible world of mushrooms with as many people as possible. Mushroom grow kits are an easy, fun, and affordable way to grow the freshest, most delicious oyster mushrooms at home. But we also wanted to make sure our kits were well-designed and our process was sustainable. Mushrooms are beautiful, and they can teach us important lessons about ecological balance and sustainability. Our kits reflect that, and it's core to our mission at Myqo.
Low-Tech for the Win
Large-scale commercial mushroom farms use high-tech processes to reduce costs and maintain tight control over their operation, and the mushrooms on your table can travel thousands of miles before they end up in your supermarket. But mushrooms don't actually require the high-tech, intensive processes to grow; they do just fine on their own! In preparing our kits, we specialize in low-tech methods. That means our kits use far less water and electricity than other brands. We've put in a ton of work to make sure our methods produce the best crops of mushrooms at home, and we've done it using simple, traditional methods that have a very low environmental footprint. Unlike other companies, we don't need large, electricity- and water-intensive autoclaves, complicated ventilation systems, or lots of space; we mix, bag, and pack all of our kits by hand in our small studio right down the block from the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY.
Mushrooms Made from Coffee
Well, sort of. As part of our commitment to sustainability, we also use low-impact materials to make our kits. Oyster mushrooms love to break down lignin, which is the tough stuff in hardwood trees, but they also love nitrogen-rich materials that help grow big, full flushes of mushrooms. We use recycled coffee grounds from local cafes as mushroom food in our kits, along with agricultural byproducts like 100% pure hardwood sawdust, straw, and soybean hulls. These are materials that often have little other use, so they might otherwise end up in a landfill. It's one of the coolest things about growing mushrooms that you can take stuff that might get thrown away and transform it into healthy, delicious food.
Carbon-Neutral Shipping & Giving Back
We love sharing our passion for mushrooms and sending our kits all around the country, but we also know that the next-day free-shipping culture is counter-productive to our sustainability goals. So Myqo offsets the carbon footprint of every shipment, and we are very proud to offer 100% free carbon-neutral shipping with every kit. We also believe in paying it forward and giving back, so we donate a portion of every sale to highly effective organizations like the Good Food Institute which is working to make our food supply more sustainable and humane.