We were lucky to catch up with Hunter & Rachel Dorton recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Hunter & Rachel, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
With the name of our business being Hempin Shrooms we definitely get some interesting looks and some customers that immediately think that our business is something that it’s not. During the Hemp “Green Rush” in 2018 in Tennessee we, like thousands of other farmers in the state, thought we could make a little extra income growing a crop of hemp to sell to a buyer. We had no idea that during the same year thousands of other growers would flood the scene and make it very difficult to find a buyer. We were forced into a situation where we had to figure out some way to recoup some of our expenses from that grow season so we decided to make some products with the hemp and try and give things away to family and friends. Little by little we had return customers that wanted more product so we formed a business for the hemp and started to try and sell it directly to customers.
Around this same time period we fell into mushroom cultivation and really began to explore the possibilities of having a business with both Mushrooms and Hemp products. Late one night, as a joke, Rachel joked about naming the business “Hempin Shrooms” because we grow Hemp and Mushrooms and sell products made with both. We laughed at the idea but then after some moments thought it just seemed to fit perfectly. It lets customers know right away what we sell while also being a fun play on words.
We had no idea we would be asked on a weekly basis if we sell magic mushrooms, but it tends to be a good ice breaker and we love that all walks of life can have their curiosity sparked.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
For us it all started with the unfortunate passing of too many family members in a very short period of time. We lost a large portion of our immediate family within just a couple years time and one of the common themes in each one of their stories was that they didn’t take their own health and wellbeing as seriously as they probably should have. After deciding that we should take our health and wellness seriously we began a deep dive into nutrition, farming, gardening, biology, mycology, and natural medicines. It was during this initial journey that we were blessed with the opportunity to grow Hemp for its Cannabidiol (CBD) properties and get to use this plant in various ways to make products that could help with one thing or another. As we continued to learn and expand our knowledge we came across the fascinating world if mycology and the chief decomposers of the world around us.
We found it interesting that many documentaries and even various nutritional books seemed to neglect mushrooms and the ones they did mention were the common store bought mushrooms. It took reading some more advanced mycology books to really understand the value mushrooms can hold for health and wellness. The eastern world has used them for millennia and we are just beginning to become aware of their potential, and to us that was an exciting unknown frontier. We began to soak up more and more information about growing mushrooms on our own and just incorporating them into our home garden. We got the opportunity to attend a workshop class that was a two day hands on mushroom class that was all about growing mushrooms very low cost, and growing mushrooms for a business sense. This class was a huge catalyst to get off the ground and start trying to grow mushrooms on our own.
Rachel had always grown up not being too much of a fan of mushrooms. She’s like a lot of the customers we “convert” into mushrooms lovers, she had only ever had button or portobello mushrooms before, and these mushrooms have certain textures and flavors that can be intense to an unexperienced pallet. One day while hiking in the woods with our children we came across a massive flush of oyster mushrooms. We harvested about 10 pounds of them and brought them home and washed them off. We decided that we were going to make some Chicken and Waffles and the oyster mushrooms would be our chicken texture. We dredged, breaded, and fried the oyster mushrooms in big pieces and made some homemade waffles and topped them both with maple syrup. The first bite was absolutely amazing. The texture of the oyster mushrooms was similar to chicken thighs and the combo of the maple syrup with the waffle and crispy breading made for such a familiar chicken and waffles dish that Rachels eyes lit up and from then on she has been hooked on mushrooms.
Once Hunter had the itch to grow mushrooms it never really went away. What started as a grow bag here and there, turned into a little plastic tent inside our spare room with multiple fans and a fogger unit and many different types of mushrooms all growing at the same time. It got to the point where Rachel didn’t want anymore growing mushrooms in the house so we decided to move the mushroom operation outside. Our family helped us get a building and we began making it suitable to grow mushrooms all year long.
After realizing that we didn’t know much we began to read more and soak up all the mushroom information that we could. We realized that there is a massive swath of the population in the United States that are extremely turned off by mushrooms and we decided that we needed to change that. At the moment we offer various forms of Hemp and Mushroom products, as well as, providing answers to questions and giving information away for free. We have fresh mushrooms for all their various culinary purposes, we offer dried mushrooms and powders, and we also make some health supplements with the mushrooms called Tinctures. We educate about the various details of our products and provide insight on the industry as a whole. We offer alternatives to problems in regards to health and wellness and what sets us apart is our giving nature and willingness to give a different perspective for our customers and clients.
As we grow our business we will be providing educational workshops and classes for individuals and groups to attend to learn about specific nuances within the mycological realm. In these classes we can over come the largest hurdle of all and that is the unknown with general mushroom cultivation. Most people know that plants grow from seed, but not everyone can explain how a mushroom grows and what it would take to grow one on your own. That is where we would come in.
We are most proud of the fact that we have made an actual impact on so many peoples lives and that plant and fungi medicines are the real deal and they are here to help. We not only can teach you how to live cleaner and more healthy, but also teach how to garden, how to preserve food, ferment food, make extracts and tinctures, and grow mushrooms all at the same time. We are going to be leaving a lasting impact for our children and hopefully the community around us to be involved in and we look forward to getting to share the message every chance we get.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
March of 2020 was the month we decided that we could make the leap and try and go full time into selling the Hemp and Mushroom products and becoming officially the business of Hempin Shrooms. We had some capital saved up and could last a couple months without any additional help if need be. We were getting the final projects completed for the mushroom grow and everything seemed to be falling into place nicely for us to hit the ground running with our new business.
Then Covid Happened. Everything started to look shaky. Was there going to be a farmers market season? What would this mean for our business? How would we get the supplies we needed to keep operating? These were just a fraction of the questions streaming through our heads, but we had to find a way because we had no other choice. We found a small store in Nolensville that let us set up a table and sell what we could bring. At first we just had a few products, but over time we have grown and expanded into something that will leave a lasting impression on the community around us. Despite the pandemic trying to shit us down, we just showed up, everyday, and tried our best to offer genuinely made products that have a benefit for your health and well being. As things have opened up and become more regular again it’s nice to reflect back on those hard times and humble ourselves at how much easier it is now to sell our products. We are very blessed and thaknful things happened the way that they did.
How’d you meet your business partner?
My business partner is also my partner in life, my wife, Rachel. We were fortunate enough to meet in a very unique way. During the shooting of the television show “Nashville” we got the opportunity to be used on the set of the show as extras. We met for the first time at Nissan stadium and spent the entire next couple of days shooting scenes on the General Jackson Showboat. It was such a fun and memorable experience that we will both never forget. What started as a friendship bloomed into getting married and having four children together and now we have this amazing business and we get to show our children what it means to be entrepreneurial. We are truly blessed.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.HempinShroom.com
- Instagram: @hempinshrooms
- Facebook: Facebook.com/hempinshrooms