All of my effort, all of my profits are poured directly back into this little business. Every single cent and every drop of sweat. That's the only way to get up and running as a independent mushroom farm without a loan from the bank or wiping out a 401k, without a Kickstarter campaign that creates a huge tax debt, and without a GoFundMe campaign where you're competing for dollars against hard luck folks who frankly need it more.

Sure, I thought about an online pitch for investment dollars - but after serious thought I decided it wasn't for me. I'm a one-person operation, doing the work that I love on evenings and weekends, growing mushrooms and helping others to do the same.

I work full-time and over-time in corporate technical support, and I'm a stress athlete - I work furiously to maintain my position and pull down a paycheck, like so many others.  When I come home at the end of the day, there is nothing I like better than to work my garden with my wife, or nurture mushrooms growing in my fruiting chamber downstairs. Last year, I turned the labors of my hobby into an online shop, named the Mushroom Man of Peotone.

These mushroom kits that I produce in my workshop - they do more than produce beautiful, amazing mushrooms. They're paying for the next step down the road for my family... the next phase of this work. 100% of my profits are reinvested in equipment and supplies needed for a small mushroom farm homestead operation.

"They say" that you should do what you love... If everyone did what they love, would there still be hospital laundry facilities, garbage dumps, and prison guards? The world keeps moving by hard work. Life is tough sometimes, and you have to toughen up to pull right through it. Making a paycheck at the work that you LOVE is a rare and special opportunity.

That's why I work so hard to get this all right, every time. I am constantly improving the recipe and the method for making my mushroom kits. I am continually reading books, articles, and published research papers on mushroom cultivation. Every single day I challenge myself to make at least one solid improvement or investment in this little operation, whether it's updating the instructions that accompany my morel kits from successful grow techniques recently published, tweaking the mushroom kit recipe, making my shipping area more efficient, or trying something completely new with an equal risk of failure and success. 

I don't know where it's all going to lead. I've been building my skills as a hobby mushroom grower for about 5 years now, starting very small and building up skills in my spare time. 2017 was about establishing the Mushroom Man of Peotone business on Etsy and social media for the first time, and solidifying my operations into an efficient process. In 2018 so far I've opened storefronts on Amazon and EBay as well. This summer, my goal is to get out to the local farmer's market and sell a load of fresh mushrooms. My long-term goal is to be able to continue to be productive and profitable well into retirement, doing work that I love - work that is the result of my own labor, in a business that is all me.

Working at the day job, I have performance expectations and deadlines to follow, I'm there by someone else's decision, and all I can do is the best I can - sometimes, never knowing if the best I can give will be good enough. Working as the Mushroom Man of Peotone - I work from my home workshop/lab, I have no overhead costs, I have no payroll and no staff, it's just me and the mushrooms. I am doing the work that I love, I am doing it to the best of my efforts with every single mushroom kit I produce, and I will continue to work at this until I am dead or can no longer continue. These are the labors of love.

And that is why my mushroom kits are the biggest and the best available anywhere in America.

Thanks for your interest in the Mushroom Man of Peotone, an idea that is and will always be under construction. If you're ready to get started on your grow, hit me up for a mushroom kit, the biggest and best mushroom kit that I know of anywhere. I promise you that you can grow mushrooms successfully, it's pretty easy if you just keep at it. And it's way more fun than your day job.*

* statement may not be equally valid for wealthy individuals, celebrities, or happily retired individuals. Also, if you love your work - good for you.  ;)