Chickens moseyed around the yard of Karen and Brian Wiseman's Worcester house on a warm May afternoon. But the free-range flock is only one piece of the couple's homestead just down the road from the town center. The focal point of their business, Peaceful Harvest, instead sits inside a humid, metal-lined room in the barn out back: medicinal mushrooms.
The Wisemans grow and process seven species of mushrooms — none of them psychedelic — to turn them into an array of products: powders, tinctures, baggies of dried strips. Some products are blends of species. All of them, the Wisemans say, can boost immune systems, improve memory and energy and spur a range of other healthy body functions. They're closing in on a decade in business, and their products line the shelves of over 30 co-ops and wellness stores across Vermont — and appear in shops in 10 other states.
"We just want to help and serve others and just help people with their health and their wellness," said Karen.
She and her husband belong to a wave of mushroom-minded businesses that have opened nationwide in the last decade, part of what's been termed the Shroom Boom. You can see it in Vermont too, where over a dozen outfits grow and sell mushrooms.
Read more at vtdigger.org