Our Farm: Where the Journey Began
Our farm, which we refer to as Ohau Gourmet Mushrooms, is where our values become everyday practice. It’s where we grow mushrooms, steward the land, and continually learn from fungi. This knowledge informs everything we do.
From sustainable farming practices to our approach to medicinal mushroom products and research.
Regenerative growing
Growing mushrooms while caring for the wider ecosystem.
Using agricultural waste streams, circular systems, and regenerative land stewardship to produce food responsibly.Continual learning
Our farm is a place of ongoing learning.
Working with fungi every day deepens our understanding of their biology, ecology, and potential.Food with provenance
Knowing where food comes from matters.
We grow mushrooms locally for fresh food, grow kits, and products that connect people to the source of their food.
A SMALL FARM, GROWN Deliberately
Our farm is located in Ōhau, just south of Levin. It’s a small, working landscape where food production sits alongside learning, experimentation, and care for the wider ecosystem.
Here, we grow fresh mushrooms for local markets, food products, and grow-at-home kits. Alongside this, we manage a three-hectare block using principles drawn from permaculture and regenerative land stewardship.
We don’t see ourselves as owners of this land. We’re caretakers — working with it, responding to it, and adapting our practices as we learn. When the land is looked after, it looks after us in return.
Working directly with mushrooms every day gives us an intimate understanding of their life cycles, ecology and behaviour — knowledge that continues to shape both our farming practices and our work with medicinal mushrooms through Mycobio.
PRINCIPLES OVER PERFECTION
Rather than chasing perfection or labels, we focus on making thoughtful, transparent decisions that respect natural systems and acknowledge real-world trade-offs.
We haven’t formally studied permaculture design. Instead, we’ve learned by doing, observing what works, what doesn’t, and adjusting as we go. Our approach is practical and adaptive, grounded in the belief that resilience comes from diversity, balance, and responsiveness.
We’re not certified organic, but we avoid synthetic chemicals and rely on biological systems wherever possible. This includes encouraging beneficial insects and birds, building soil health, and designing growing spaces that work with natural cycles rather than against them.
This way of farming is slower and more hands-on, but it’s one we believe in.
This experimental approach has also shaped how we explore medicinal fungi. Observing how mushrooms grow, compete and adapt in real environments provides insights that go far beyond laboratory theory.
MUSHROOMS & CIRCULAR SYSTEMS
Mushrooms are uniquely suited to circular growing systems, and that’s something we actively lean into on the farm.
We grow mushrooms using agricultural by-products that would otherwise go to waste. Through cultivation, these materials are transformed into nutritious food — and once they’ve done their job, they’re returned to the soil as compost to support future growing.
This closed-loop approach shapes much of how we operate. Waste from one process becomes the input for another, reducing reliance on external resources and keeping materials in use for as long as possible.
It’s a practical approach, grounded in biology rather than theory — and one that allows us to grow food while working within natural limits.
ENERGY, WATER & SCALE
We design our systems around the scale we can responsibly manage - rather than pushing for growth at any cost.
Our infrastructure is modest by design. Energy use is kept low, water is carefully managed, and systems are built for reliability rather than maximum output.
Being small allows us to pay attention — to crops, to land, and to the impacts of our decisions. It also gives us the flexibility to experiment, improve, and change course when needed.
We believe that good food doesn’t need to come from large or extractive systems. Sometimes, smaller really is better.
COMMUNITY & SHARED LEARNING
For us, farming has always been about more than production. It’s about connection — to place, to people, and to shared learning.
Our farm supports local markets, educational visits, and hands-on experiences that invite people into the growing process. These moments — conversations at a stall, questions from visitors, shared meals — are just as important to us as the harvest itself.
We’ve hosted volunteers and learners from diverse backgrounds, exchanging time and effort for skills, knowledge, and perspective. Teaching and learning move in both directions here.
Food has a unique way of bringing people together — and we see our role as facilitators of that connection.
ONE PART OF A BIGGER SYSTEM
Our farm supports our fresh food, grow kits, and hands-on experiences. It is not a large-scale production facility, and it’s not where our medicinal mushroom extracts are made. Those extracts come from carefully sourced, traditional growing regions overseas - while the farm remains focused on local food, education, and circular growing practices. Being clear about this distinction matters to us. Transparency builds trust.
This farm is a living system — shaped by seasons, mistakes, learning, and care. It continues to evolve as we do.
If you’d like to explore more about our approach, you can dive deeper into our sustainability work, learn about growing mushrooms at home, or visit us in person.
Growing mushrooms raises deeper questions
Years of working closely with fungi leads you somewhere unexpected. Into their biology, their compounds, and a centuries-old tradition of medicinal use. This is where that curiosity took us.
As seen on TVNZ Country Calendar
Country Calendar visited our farm to explore how mushrooms fit into a regenerative food system — from compost and growing methods through to the foods we make.
It’s a simple, honest look at how we work, and why we do it this way.
The episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at:
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How we close loops through sustainable growing and food-making practices
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Yacon being grown and harvested, and Yuzu picked at the orchard
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New season planting and the slow making of black garlic
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The making of our Oyster Mushroom Risotto
👉 Watch the Ōhau Gourmet Mushrooms episode on TVNZ Country Calendar