SHROOMS!

As I told you in the last post, one of the projects I will be concentrating on at work is a women's mushroom co-op.  This project is very much in it's beginning stages so I have been able to help with all aspects of the initiative from logistics to their marketing and finances. The cooperative consists of five farmwomen from the Rawsonville area (about 45 minutes north-east of Stellenbosch) and one mushroom growing container (looks like one of the big dumpsters you can rent when you gut a kitchen or something).  They are doing an excellent job at producing a large volume of shiitake mushrooms but finding a market to sell to and the logistics of actually delivering the product without any mode of transportation have been a bit of a challenge.  Right now Women on Farms is providing a considerable amount of help both financially and physically but the ultimate goal is for them to be sustainable on their own. So far I have gotten to make a label for their mushroom containers and have gotten to go with them to restaurants and wine estates to market the product.  We have had more interest in the mushrooms than we estimated and the women are actually nervous they won't be able to fill all of the orders!

  

the product - and the label I designed.

Three of the women in Franshoek to market the mushrooms to restaurants.