santa cruz fungus fair

Vendors

Please thank our 2012 Fungus Fair Vendors!

Select Vendor Information

Ian Garrone/Far West Fungi


Ian, Kyle, John and Toby Garrone

Far West Fungi is a family-run farm certified organic by CCOF. John and Toby Garrone with the help of their four boys have been bringing cultivated exotic mushrooms to local farmers’ markets for 23 years. In 2004 the Garrones opened a mushroom shop in the Ferry Building Market Place. This is a seven-day a week shop featuring cultivated mushrooms, fresh and dried wild mushrooms, and fresh truffles and truffle products.

The Far West Fungi farm is located in Moss Landing situated on a bluff above the Pajaro River overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The cool ocean breeze contributes to the Garrone’s ability to grow mushrooms all year round. Though John is always experimenting with different mushroom varieties, they mainly grow Shiitake, Tree Oyster, King Trumpets, Lions Mane, Maitake and Reishi. These varieties are cultivated on pure natural hardwood sawdust enriched with organic rice bran nutrients.

Lucy Martin

Lucy Martin drawing

Lucy Martin lives and paints in Felton, California, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The mixed forests of redwood, fir, pines, bay laurel, madrone and manzanita are the setting for her work. There is great diversity here, many different environments and microclimates. The forests are full of surprising and delightful discoveries: moss, lichen, fallen leaves, bark, ferns, and especially mushrooms.

Lucy Martin's beautiful chanterelle drawing was the design the official FFSC teeshirt in 2010. She will display her paintings at the fair. Visit her website to learn more: http://www.lucymartinart.com/

Curt Haney/Just Mushroom Stuff

Just Mushroom Stuff

Just Mushroom Stuff, launched in 2008, is the one stop shopping site for mushroom-related gifts and accessories. We offer items ranging from mass-producd utilitarian products to whimsical, one-of-a kind treasures and collectibles. In keeping with the global market, we purchase mushroom-related stuff worldwide, including the USA.

My wife Carol Reed, an accomplished jeweler, goldsmith, and silversmith in San Francisco (she created the mushroom earrings we sell), and my daughter Dana and son Joshua have been instrumental in assisting and supporting me in sales and marketing of Just Mushroom Stuff. Check out Curt's stuff at: www.JustMushroomStuff.com.

Don Simoni/Mushroom Adventures

Don Simoni

Mushroom Adventures was started in 1996 in San Francisco in a basement garage. Founder Donald Simoni had been growing mushrooms for over five years when he needed more equipment: a pressure cooker that cost over $400.00. This seemed a lot of money at the time to spend on a hobby, so Don made a few mushroom kits to sell at the local mushroom fair. This went very well and Don earned half the money for the pressure cooker. Shortly after the San Francisco fair another mushroom fair in Santa Cruz was coming up so Don attended and sold more mushroom kits and his business began.

By 1998, the first mushroom kit boxes were printed. In 1999 he began wholesaling his first mushroom kits. In 2000 we out grew our basement operation and moved the production portion of our operation to Petaluma, California. There we had more room and we were closer to our raw materials.

The product line has increased by adding new mushroom kits and removing some that proved difficult to maintain. Don has been going through growing pains as the company sales have increased which has continuously forced him to find better ways to handle higher volume and to make a better product. Mushroom Adventures moved to Marysville in 2006.


Jeannine Calcagno Niehaus/Stoneware Pottery

Niehaus pottery

Jeannine Niehaus is a valued fixture at the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair. She has been a producing studio potter for over 35 years and still loves it. It is a tradition the can be traced throughout history and gives her a connection to the cultures of the world. And since Niehaus has a compulsion to make things, what better way than with clay? Her work is sold almost exclusively at juried Fine Arts shows throughout central California and also directly from her studio. She really enjoys meeting the people who buy and use her pieces.

Every new offering of her mushroom stoneware pottery is more amazing than the previous year. Visit her website to see examples of her work: http://jcniehauspottery.com/

The True Olive Connection

Olive Connection

Enjoy a complimentary tasting of as many oils as you would like; the staff of The True Olive Connection is ready to help you make your own blend or choose one of our favorites. This fun spot also offers a wide variety of salts, spices, rubs, handmade pastas, jarred olives, sauces, and mustards.

Located in downtown Santa Cruz, this unique family-owned and operated tasting room and retail boutique specializes in the freshest, highest-quality boutique extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar from around the world. Experience a broad selection of estate-produced and award-winning olive oils, as well as naturally flavored and fused olive oils and traditionally aged and naturally flavored balsamic vinegars, all at an affordable price.