How's it Growin'? Mercer Mushrooms, Bombay

_{"HOW'S IT GROWIN'?" WITH MERCER MUSHROOMS}

At Wonky Box, we love any chance to catch up with our grower partners across Aotearoa to see, well... "How's it Growin'?"

In this series, we're shining the 'crop' light on the New Zealand growers behind your favorite fruit and veg that make their way into your Wonky Box deliveries.

In our latest adventure, Co-Founder Angus ventured to the Bombay Hills to visit our mushroom-growing partners at Mercer Mushrooms.

After a brief hiatus to upgrade their facilities, Mercer Mushrooms is back, multiplying mushrooms daily for fungi fans nationwide. Their modernized growing rooms now feature automated humidification, watering, and airflow control technology for top notch growing conditions.

This was followed by the creation of a fully enclosed composting facility - necessary for odour control. While the budding mushrooms love this compost…the surrounding neighbours did not! 

Producing their own compost is just one of the ways Mercer leave a sustainable footprint as they create their mushroom magic. They make the compost using waste materials from other industries, such as chicken manure from NZ poultry farms and straw from neighbouring farmers. But it doesn’t end there.

Once the mushrooms have been harvested, the compost, now enriched further with nutrients from the mushroom-growing process, is returned to local farmers as a natural soil improver. This enriched compost boosts soil health, reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers, and supports the growth of new crops. Some of it even finds its way into planting mixes sold at your local garden center, completing the cycle from farm to fork—and back to the farm again.

With every Wonky Box order, you’re supporting growers like Mercer Mushrooms who are proving that great produce and great growing practices go hand in hand.

Watch two ‘fun-guys’ Dave Hyland and Rinke van der Meer show us around their incredible facilities and share the surprisingly scientific secrets of mushroom growing here in New Zealand:

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What else did we learn?

• Mushrooms don’t follow traditional growing seasons! No matter the time of year you’ll always find enough mushrooms to go around. And luckily the varieties coming in your Wonky Boxes are just as delicious in a light summer salad as a hearty winter stew!

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• Before our joint partnership began, Mercer’s imperfect mushrooms were used as animal feed - despite being perfectly good to eat! Now these misshapen mushies get their chance to be enjoyed, which is a win for everyone.

So whether in a salad, stir-fry, or part of your breakfast grill-up, enjoy making the most of those Mercer mushrooms in your Wonky Boxes.