What started as a family farm with pasture-raised hens has turned into a regenerative farm, with mushrooms, vegetables, honey and eggs on offer to the public and cafes and businesses across the Highlands and Sydney.
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The completely off-grid Mussett Holdings Farm in Colo Vale relies solely on solar, bore water and rainwater.
Farm owners Connie and Will Mussett began their journey in 2016 with pasture-raised hens and then slowly expanded their regenerative enterprise.
In 2020, the couple decided to diversify their produced and turned to mushrooms.
"We started to grow mushrooms last June," Connie explained.
"We always wanted to grow multiple things because eggs are seasonal and we wanted something to compliment that but also if something goes wrong with the chickens.
"The mushrooms have been growing and growing and we have been supplying Sydney cafes and restaurants.
"COVID had been challenging because they were shut.
"We turned more to home delivery because we couldn't wholesale to restaurants anymore because there was no demand.
"We just adjusted, and it allowed us to build our facilities in that time."
Since last year, the Mussett family has constructed three sheds to grow mushrooms.
In one shed, the Mussett family grow Black Pearl mushrooms and Lion's Mane mushrooms, while in another shed are oyster mushrooms.
"Lion's Mane mushroom has really good properties for brain function and dementia," she said.
"We are one of the very few fresh retailers of Lion's Mane mushrooms in NSW."
"Normally we grow 60 to 100 kilos of mushroom a week.
"We started with 20 kilos and it wasn't enough, then 40 kilos and now it's between 60 and 100 kilos."
Connie explained that different mushrooms have different conditions that they like to grow in. Currently, the mushrooms are grown from a mixture of sawdust and grass in small bags.
"They like different amounts of fresh air, different humidity," she said.
"When the little bags of mushrooms are finished, we put them into cardboard boxes and give them another go to see what they can produce because there's still life in those bags.
"Mushrooms will fruit once with the biggest amount. Then it will get less and less. We found that if you put 20 of those little bags in the boxes, they will produce much bigger mushrooms."
With so many mushrooms, Connie said several cafes and restaurants have begun ordering from the farm.
"At the moment, Glass Cafe in Mittagong is a regular customer for mushrooms.
"It's more the eggs that cafes and restaurants use in the Highlands.
"What we don't sell locally we sell at Paddington Markets in Sydney.
"We also deliver between Bargo and Moss Vale at the moment. We're looking to expand that to Bundanoon if we can get enough demand that way, people can also pick up at the farm gate or one of the cafes in the Highlands.
"The Boston in Mittagong sell our honey, Glass Cafe have our honey. There are a few different places in the Highlands."
On top of the eggs, fresh honey and mushrooms, Connie and Will have also started growing several vegetables.
"At the moment, we are selling them through home delivery on our website. We want to share it with people in the Highlands and keep it local," she said.
"We've got garlic, spring onions, garden mix, and asparagus at the moment and more to come."
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