Back to the Roots

We have our own garden, we try to buy local, but growing any plants indoors has not always gone well for me. I tend to overwater my outdoor garden and underwater whatever I have planted indoors. Ooops!

I read about Back to the Roots while looking for a cool way to grow something indoors that my daughter could do with me. She is three, and she loves having something to take care of. Back to the Roots was founded by Alejandro Velez & Nikhil Arora during their last semester at UC Berkeley in 2009. They were inspired by the idea of turning waste into fresh local food, so they grew oyster mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds. The created the Grow-Your-Own Mushroom Garden. By the end of 2011 they hope to collect, divert and reuse 1 million lbs of coffee grounds from Peet's Coffee & Tea. They have sustained 10 urban school & community gardens by donating BTTRs premium soil amendment.

The Grow-Your-Own Mushroom Garden is literally one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The kit comes with packed coffee ground soil and you simply pop open one side of the box, cut-away the packing and spritz with the included mister two times a day. We had mushrooms (pictured above) in 7 days! My daughter was thrilled to bits, and she loved that she could help (she was in charge of misting it). Even better, you can get 2-4 crops from one package, and they sell refills! The mushrooms were super tasty with some garlic and olive oil. Finally, a plant that survived our home.

These kits are so perfect for children because they are 100% safe and sustainable. I plan on buying some for my daughter's school to use in the fall. We are crazy for this fabulous company!