Rising Stars: Meet Hunter and Rachel Dorton of La Vergne

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter and Rachel Dorton.

Hi Hunter and Rachel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
It all started when I (Hunter) was working on a farm. At that farm, they were looking for various ways to create new income streams, allowing me to start brainstorming about what to do and what could be done. I took the idea of Hemp to the farm I was working on, but they also needed something to make a consistent income because Hemp takes a long time to grow, and it takes a long time to see a return on that investment. On my family’s farm in East Tennessee, we started growing Hemp to try and take advantage of the surging market potential in Tennessee.

One day while working on the farm, we had the opportunity to meet a mushroom grower who was retiring and getting out of the business. He had some equipment he was willing to sell to the farm for cheap, so the farm bought it, but we had no idea what to do next. That farm then paid for my wife and me to go to a two-day intensive campout class on how to incorporate Mushrooms into the garden. The idea behind sending me to the class was to learn as much as possible and bring that knowledge to the farm and start incorporating those ideas into the mix, which is exactly what happened.

The mushroom class was so enthralling and captivating that I had been colonized by this itch to grow mushrooms and see how they could do. A gift we received from that class was a mushroom fruiting kit we had made outdoors in a not-so-clean working environment. It was mind-blowing that we used such simple tools to inoculate a substrate with mushrooms. I took that fruiting kit home and tried to make it fruit a mushroom as best as I could. Over several weeks I watched the straw in the bag turn all white, and eventually, a few little mushrooms came popping out of the bag. From then on, I was hooked on growing these awesome little fungi.

After the initial experiment, I used some scrap materials from around the farm I was working on to DIY a mushroom fruiting chamber. After a few variations, everything was dialed in nicely, and we were growing mushrooms to take to the farmer’s market. It was a rewarding experience building something up from scratch and watching growth happen. After considerable time spent growing mushrooms for the farm I was working on, I slowly started bringing these projects home and had mushrooms growing at my own home as well. My wife, at the time, was not a mushroom lover at all. Like most people from the United States, she had grown up only ever trying White button mushrooms, Portobellos, or canned mushrooms. These mushrooms are accompanied by certain textures that can be unpleasant. One event, however, turned my wife from a mushroom hater into a mushroom lover and grower.

While walking the woods with our kids, one day, we came across this massive flush of oyster mushrooms. They were fresh, and they looked meaty and huge. We took a fair share home, cleaned a bunch of them up, and started looking for recipes online; We came across a “chicken” and waffles recipe but with fried oyster mushrooms instead of chicken. We went through the whole batter and fry process, topped our homemade waffles with fried “chicken,” and added maple syrup. After just one bite, my wife was hooked. The meaty texture, no slimy-ness, no grit, and savory flavors were what she was looking for in a mushroom.

After growing Hemp and Mushrooms for another farm one day, we finally decided we would take the leap and try and do this on our own. My parents have always supported my endeavors, and this was no exception. They bought me a building, and my dad and I tricked it out to be able to grow mushrooms in. After more trial and error, I dialed it in, and we started setting up at the farmers market with our mushrooms and small batch Hemp (CBD) products. One night my wife and I were trying to figure out what to call our business, and we came up with Hempin Shrooms because that’s what we do, Hemp and Mushrooms. Now we do three farmers’ markets, and we are super grateful to be our bosses and spend time with our children. We have been blessed to have been doing this three years strong, and we strive to continue to get better, and one of our favorite things to do is educate people on the health benefits of these items we sell and teach people some things that they didn’t know.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Overall the road has been fairly smooth when it comes to selling these things we are passionate about to other people. However, it can be a bit bumpy at times on the growing end of things. Sometimes the mushrooms contaminate, and we have to compost them, or any other plants like Hemp or any herb are susceptible to all sorts of different outcomes, and they die or don’t grow the way they should. Each of our failures is a learning experience; we adapt to new outcomes and strive forward again and again. Growing anything can be hard, and the trial and error can be frustrating momentarily, but it’s met with such great reward when successes are made.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are known for selling small batch artisanal Hemp products and Gourmet and Medicinal mushrooms. We specialize in education about various aspects of farming and knowledge about foraging and mushrooms. We are most proud of our children. They are growing into such wonderful human beings, and we can’t wait to see how they influence the world. We think what sets us apart from others is our giving nature. We generally love helping people, giving stuff away, and giving people extra insight and knowledge. We are open books that openly share what we know, and we encourage more people to grow their food, and we will help them learn to do that.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We are incredibly thankful that God brought Rachel and me together and set us on our path. We get to do what we love and share knowledge and insight about nature and how people can use it to help themselves. We educate people on the various toxic chemicals prevalent everywhere in society, and we offer ways to combat these issues using all-natural means. We are just truly humbled and grateful to be who we are doing what we are doing together.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.HempinShrooms.com
• Instagram: HempinShrooms
• Facebook: HempinShrooms

Image Credits
All taken by us so we own them 🙂