What's wood got to do with mushrooms? Everything.
Keith Anderson is a self-proclaimed "wood guy." He's been cutting wood since he was 14, built a mahogany water ski boat at the age of 20, and for decades specialized in wooden fireplace mantels and hardwood floors (including on private yachts)... and owned and operated a wood shop doing commercial office interiors in Manhattan, with twelve employees.
But then came a diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma, and everything changed.
Keith took a deep dive into the research on nutrition as treatment and prevention of disease, and made deliberate changes to his diet. As he puts it, "They said chemo, I said carrot juice. That was twelve years ago and all is well now."
Keith's research led him to the health benefits of mushrooms. He says that because they grow on oak trees, they absorb the nutrients out of the oak which in turn benefit you when you eat the mushrooms. Early on, Lion's Mane and Blue Oyster mushrooms particularly piqued his interest, after eating them and realizing to his amazement that their purported health benefits proved true for him.
From there, Keith met a mushroom grower who introduced him to the concept of growing mushrooms year-round on a farm, emulating those that grow on oak trees in the wild... and then he did a spectacularly educational week-long mentorship at a mushroom farm in Tennessee. These experiences ushered him into the wonderful world of mushrooms, and the rest is history.
Now in good health and living on his self-built Tom's River, New Jersey mushroom farm, Keith Anderson has a full-time mushroom business, selling to stores, restaurants, and other mushroom growers who don't have enough to fill their orders.
He is a strong believer in the medicinal value of mushrooms. Truly, his passion and career in wood working has come full circle, now helping to sustain his health and well-being. And he wants to spread his love of mushrooms to others. As Keith says, "If people only knew just how incredible mushrooms are for our health... overall I just want to see people eat more mushrooms."
