Meet Jason & LeAnne Westvang | Gourmet Mushrooom Farmers

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason & LeAnne Westvang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason & LeAnne, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
When we first started our mushroom endeavor, we did not understand the sheer magnitude of what mushrooms bring to humans and the planet at large. And we aren’t the only ones! Americans, on average, tend to be more anti-mushroom than other parts of the world. In places like China and Japan, mushrooms have been an intregal part of their diet and medicine for thousands of years. Slowly, but surely, we are starting to see a shift in attitudes towards fungi in this part of the world because people are finally being educated on what mushrooms can do for them.

That’s where we step in. Our goal is to educate the public on the power of mushrooms. For instance, did you know that mushrooms are the only produce that produce vitamin D? We find not many people know this. With more and more people turning to plant based diets, mushrooms are becoming central to many of our vegan customers’ diets. Gourmet mushrooms, like the ones we grow, can be difficult to locate, and when you do, they’re often coming from different parts of the country. We are able to provide the community with something they can’t easily find in their local supermarket.

Every market or event we go to is another chance to talk to a new customer who doesn’t yet know the power of mushrooms. We get to introduce people to a variety of mushrooms they’ve never even seen before let alone tasted. Most people we come across have limited experience with mushrooms like buttons or portabellas and have never even seen the different types of gourmet mushrooms we grow. The taste and textures are different than the mushrooms they grew up eating out of a can or hidden in pizzas. We have met so many customers that have gone from skeptics to full on mushroom lovers who stop by every week at farmers markets to stock up.
These people in turn are singing the praises of their new found love of mushrooms, turning more and more people on to the mushroom revolution.

We also make our own line of mushroom tinctures for those interested in the health benefits of our mushrooms. There are numerous studies that show mushrooms can be anti-inflammatories, anti-bacterial, antibacterial, used to treat cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s, and a whole list of other benefits. We offer lion’s mane, reishi and turkey tail tinctures to customers looking to improve different aspects of their health, and they are in turn spreading that news to friends and family with specific health needs that mushrooms can help. As more money is put into researching the benefits of mushrooms, we will only discover more ways they can benefit not only our community but the world at large. Mushrooms are marvelous!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a family run business born out of an equal combination of necessity and interest in mushrooms. Previously, we owned an archery company, making traditional and recurve bows for customers all over the world. Jason started building bows as a teenager, so it was something he had been doing his entire adult life. Going from bows to mushrooms was taking a HARD left life turn. We were starting from scratch.

During quarantine, like so many others, we were bored and looking for something to do. A stroll around Lake Weatherford and the discovery of some pearl oyster mushrooms growing on a fallen elm tree sparked Jason’s interest in learning more about where to find mushrooms. We discovered they were pretty hard to find growing in this part of Texas (it’s too hot and dry most of the year), so he started looking into how to grow his own. Thanks to the University of Youtube for teaching us most of what we know! What we thought would be a fun experiment kept growing. Eventually, we had enough fresh mushrooms growing to offer them for purchase. Being that there are not many other mushroom farmers in the DFW area, we were welcomed with open arms at several local farmer’s markets.

It has not been an easy journey at all, and we are constantly learning, growing, and correcting. We didn’t realize going into it how very different it would be from growing vegetables in our garden. It’s a completely different branch of science for a reason. We have gone through a lot of growing pains learning how to do something so outside the box from everything we knew about growing plants. Because they aren’t plants! I know that sounds so obvious, but most folks haven’t the first idea about how mushrooms grow.

While no part of growing Dryad Grove has been easy, it’s been entirely worth it to share the power of mushrooms with our community and the world. Our goal is to share continue to educate people on mushrooms and what they can do for not just us but our planet as well.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
To be honest, we spend most of our time working on the farm (that’s the life of a farmer!). I would likely take them to some of our favorite farmers markets like Clearfork Farmers Market, Benbrook Artisans and Farmers Market, Lola’s Farmers Market, Granbury’s Farmers Market, and I know I am leaving our lots of great places. We live in Weatherford, so a lot of the restaurants, people and places would be central to Parker County.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Paul Stamets and Merlin Sheldrake, two mycologists (the first an amatuer and the latter being formally educated), turned us on to the power of the mushroom. Paul Stamets was featured heavily in the documentary Fantastic Fungi, which you can currently catch on Netflix. We highly recommend you check it out if you want to learn more about mushrooms! We would also like to thank our “family” at the Clearfork Farmer’s Market in Fort Worth. We have met so many amazing people who are on the same or similiar journey of health and wellness.

Website: www.dryadgrove.farm

Instagram: www.instagram.come/dryadgrove

Twitter: www.twitter.com/dryadgrovetx

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dryadgrove

Image Credits
Stina