202. Brian Thomas on Starting a Thriving Mushroom Business

Have you ever considered how all of your life experiences have led you to the point where you are at this very moment? For Brian Thomas, those experiences led to a thriving mushroom business. In this podcast, we are joined by mushroom farmer and mycologist Brian Thomas of MYCA Farms, located in Fort Langley, British Columbia. MYCA Farms is a Gourmet Mushroom Farm located in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. You can find them at the Fort Langley farmers markets year round.  In this episode, Brian talks about his life experiences leading up to the decision to start a mushroom business and what has made them so successful so quickly.  Join us to hear all about how Brian and the MYCA team run their thriving fungal farm! You’ll hear: How Brian got started with mushroom farming 2:27 How MYCA goes about the mushroom process 8:50 What Brian has learned in the last couple of months participating in farmers markets 11:34 What the business side of the farm currently looks like 23:21 Brian’s advice for someone just getting started in mushroom farming 47:00 Brian’s favorite farming tool 56:29 What made Brian decide to clean up his act and fly straight 1:05:58 About the Guest: Brian is a retired mental health and addictions therapist from Vancouver BC who changed careers to grow gourmet mushrooms to feed the community. He is passionate about permaculture and farm-to-table with little to no waste.  Resources: Website: https://www.mycafarms.ca/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myca.farms  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mycafarms/?hl=en  The Thriving Farmer Podcast Team would like to thank our amazing sponsor! At AgriGro, we know that in today’s modern agriculture, our efforts can deplete life or add life. When you look for ways to add life, it’s sustainable and makes everything work better. The result is enhanced plant and soil health for crops, gardens, and turf, as well as improved animal health and environment for livestock and wildlife. Our products are all-natural, easy to use, and friendly to the soil, the plant, as well as the grower. AgriGro’s® formulations deliver essential plant nutrition along with an advanced prebiotic concentrate, which significantly increases the multitude of beneficial native microbial species already residing in the production environment. Through these environmentally sound technologies, we’re adding life to crop production, livestock, home, turf, and wildlife markets. You don’t have to be dependent on crop production efforts that deplete life… Just Add Life with AgriGro®.