Oct
MICROGREENS & MUSHROOMS GOURMET
A lot of people have been shouting about microgreens and mushrooms over the last couple of years. At first we didn’t even think anything of it but after a while the curiosity grew.
We had heard about vertical farming and the current rise of vertical farms popping up around the world after stumbling across some videos on YouTube, you can check out the post we wrote about our findings here
We first came across Nottingham Vertical Farm one Saturday in the early summer if 2022 at Sneinton Market, Nottingham when Will had decided to trade with us.
It wasn’t long until we were trying out some their lions mane, grey oysters and elm oysters too.
Micro Greens and Mushrooms have lots of health benefits. Studies have suggested that adaptogenic mushrooms such as lion’s mane can help to reduce brain fog, increase focus and boost the immune system. You can find out more about the benefits HERE by healthline.
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We were amazed by what we had found out about these foods that were very rarely spoken about in other media sources.
The more we spoke to Will about what he was doing the more intrigued we were about what exactly you needed to grow microgreens and we were definitely interested in finding out more about the mushrooms. We had started to hear a lot about people trying out mushrooms to better then health and wellbeing.
It wasn’t long until I found myself exploring Nottingham Vertical Farm in person!
Will was kind enough to give us a tour and a short interview so that we could learn more about himself and the business.
We are so grateful for the opportunity to take a closer look at where the new food we were consuming was coming from and the process it all goes through before it reaches its customers.
I am going to be straight up, the whole story and how Will and Nik have managed to create a system that works incredibly well, at the time blew me away.
Seeing Wills vertical farm showed me that it doesn’t even need to be as expensive to set up either. With the right knowledge and tools, you could save yourself a lot of money!
Nottingham Vertical Farm trade often with other business owners and individuals. We used to buy our mushrooms already grown and harvested by Will from Nottingham Vertical Farm but they had added a new product to their line.
Grow your own mushroom kits!
We obviously gave those a try and they were pretty impressive. We no longer buy our mushrooms from the local supermarket or anywhere else at that matter.
Watching the mushrooms grow daily is a very fascinating experience, prepping it’s home, misting it daily and waiting patiently to see what happens. The most fun part is harvest time!
That’s not just at home with the grow your own mushroom kit, that is also when we had our tour.
After leaving Will at Nottingham Vertical Farm, as days went by, questions after questions started to flood our minds, so we sent some of the questions we had over to Will.
Here is what I asked and Wills response…
1.What made you set up Nottingham Vertical Farm?
During lockdown by business partner, Nik, approached me with some space in a warehouse and asked if I’d be interested in growing Micro Greens. I suggested we grow mushrooms too and it grew from there!
Recently we’ve taken on the second floor of the warehouse, so we doubled our growing space overnight.
2. Has anyone helped you on your journey? Who? How?
We’ve been lucky to have some good friends that have helped us out, but we’ve done a lot of the work ourselves.
3. What are everyone’s background? What were you doing before this business?
I’ve had various different sales roles over the past 15 years, with the last one managing 3D printers for a Nottingham-based distribution company. It was great fun, but ultimately I wanted to do something that’s more inline with my hobbies – growing food! Nik has had more experience running businesses – he’s owned a corner shop, a café and managed several properties before setting up Nottingham Vertical Farm.
4. What are the benefits of Micro Greens and Mushrooms?
There’s loads! They’ve got a range of health benefits depending on what you consume. For example, Oyster Mushrooms are known to be an immune system booster, and Micro Greens are densely packed with nutrients – significantly more than the fully mature counterparts – and they’re really tasty too!
5. What is your mission?
To produce quality, healthy food for Nottingham residents, that hasn’t been flown halfway around the world.
6. Where do you see the business in 5 years where are you currently trading – markets etc?
We’d like to be running at full capacity In the warehouse we’re in now, with the aim to possibly upscale if the opportunity arises.
At the moment we trade weekly at markets, as well as having several weekly customers that get deliveries from us.
(If you’d like to join the list of weekly customers please email info@nottinghamverticalfarm.co.uk)
We also supply local restaurants and cafe’s, and we also have a website with a webshop so customers can purchase directly from there.
7. What businesses have you previously supplied and who do you currently supply – restaurants etc?
We’ve supplied lots of places like Everyday People, Secret Pizza, Langar Hall and Bar Sans Patrie, to name a few.
Our last and most important question to Will was…
What would you say to anyone that hasn’t tried Micro Green or Gourmet Mushrooms yet?
Try Some! You Will Be Surprised!!
Will @ Nottingham Vertical Farm
You can follow Nottingham Vertical Farm on Instagram HERE to stay up to date and see what goes on behind the scenes.
We are very grateful to of had the opportunity to learn more about Will, his business partner and the whole Micro Green and Gourmet Mushroom industry. We have learnt so much and look forward to seeing Nottingham Vertical Farm grow over the next few years.
We also hope to do a video interview with Will some time in the near future, so remember to keep checking this post for updates or you can join our mailing list below.
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