Tatrina White
Tatrina White was born in Norwalk, Connecticut but headed south for her education. After getting married to a southerner and starting a family, Tatrina settled in the Columbia area. She became a certified property appraiser and real estate broker and was living her life until she decided she needed to change her diet. Not wanting to become a vegan but wanting to reduce her meat consumption, Tatrina began looking into healthy meat replacements. Then she discovered Blue Oyster Mushrooms, at least the idea of them.
No local grocery stores had heard of these things, much less offered them for sale. So after a lengthy and unsuccessful search she became more determined to find Blue Oyster Mushrooms. “Once you can’t find something it becomes more important to you,” she says.
Then one day her cursor landed on Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, sometimes referred to as the Mushroom Capital of the World. Kennett Square is known for large-scale mushroom production, with more than 60 percent of the U.S. mushrooms grown in and around the area.
The town’s history in mushroom farming dates back over a century, and it’s now a major center for the industry. To celebrate this heritage, Kennett Square holds an annual mushroom festival where the town and its businesses hold a parade, mushroom farm tours, and sell food and other goods.
Tatrina was lucky enough to talk to a gentleman with some knowledge of mushrooms named Allen, who cautioned her on the expense involved in importing expensive mushrooms to Columbia to adjust her diet. He suggested she start growing her own mushrooms. She liked that idea so Allen sent her a mushroom growing kit.
After tearing the kit apart and discovering she could easily do this, Tatrina ordered more kits and began regularly growing her own. She discovered growing mushrooms was not only easy for her but enjoyable—and the results were delicious.
The White family soon had plenty of mushrooms with enough left over for relatives and friends. At some point, one of her mushroom weary besties told her not to bring her anymore but suggested she try to sell them.
She’d been to some vending events before and liked her friend’s suggestion. She loaded up a chair and a small box of mushrooms to “see how it would go” and headed to Mary’s Mobile Market in Irmo.
Part of her commitment to the Mary’s event was to remain onsite for the entirety of the event. When she sold all her mushrooms to the first person who spoke with her, Tatrina said, “It was good news and bad news. I found I could sell them but had to sit there for several hours.” Tatrina used the time to develop a game plan for future visits, which has worked well for her. “My next visit I was a lot more ready,” she said.
At this point, Tatrina knew she could grow mushrooms but didn’t know how to troubleshoot. She had to back up a little bit. She invested in some classes and learned how to cultivate mushrooms. After learning that, everything took off.
Tatrina began The Purple Mushroom in 2018. Tatrina soon outgrew her house but found the current property location on Prescott Road. Her husband has been involved in the Purple Mushroom on a “voluntary basis,” and her 16-year-old son has been helping out there for some time but now wants to work with his friends.
So for the most part, Tatrina runs the operation herself, with the help of volunteers. She does all the growing, makes decisions about what to offer customers, troubleshoots problems, and does the marketing. While she only deals with one thing, mushrooms, there are several different versions of that one thing.
The Purple Mushroom sells fresh, locally grown gourmet mushrooms in controlled environmental agriculture, as well as mushroom coffee, mushroom honey, and mushroom extract. She sells mushroom grow kits for anyone interested in learning to grow their own mushrooms and offers Sip ’N’ Spore classes and online support for those not yet informed enough to attempt it. You can even get mushroom jerky and mushroom cornbread mix.
But the main thing Tatrina and the Purple Mushroom sells is an idea. Adding high quality food to meals not only improves one’s diet, but it also improves the process America has for obtaining food.
Tatrina considers the Urban Farming Movement the most important information in her story. Growing food where one lives, especially in places without quality resources, can bridge the gap for people sometimes unable to obtain nutritious food close by.
“It lowers the footprint and brings us closer to our market. Just to let people know we are here. It’s wonderful to have fresh produce straight from the harvest to your table,” she says.
Whether growing your own or buying from local producers, having access to fresh nutritious food is important for everyone. Tatrina wants people to understand that you can use what you have to grow what you can. She says, “It doesn’t have to be pretty. It doesn’t have to look a certain way. Just learn how to feed yourself. I can’t believe we don’t know how to feed ourselves.”
There are other local organizations involved with urban farming. Information is available at the Purple Mushroom as well as other locations.
Tatrina will be looking for you during the AG+Art Tour June 7-8.
For more information, visit thepurplemushroom.com or www.agandarttour.com/richland. The Purple Mushroom is also on Facebook and Instagram.
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