Florida Foodie: Nearby Naturals

Central Florida is home to plenty of agriculture, but you might not expect to find it inside a warehouse in downtown Orlando.
One couple recently took their at-home fungus farm into the urban setting to provide gourmet mushrooms to the masses.
Nearby Naturals is the brain child of Soraya Fernandez-Hazoury and her fiance. Their fascination with fungus has grown into a full-time job over the past year and half.
Fernandez-Hazoury spoke with us about how they got started, why they wanted to grow in the city and what's next for their business.
Be sure to follow Candace Campos on Facebook and Twitter.

[@montanawrestler93]

Ordered a Lions Mane kit and it already started pinning! Super excited to eat these things! Solid communication and customer service from the Nearby Naturals team also.

[@stephaniem.855]

My brother and his gf sent me three kits from Nearby Naturals and they ARE SO EASY! I have hardly done anything for them and they are thriving in my apartment. It was such a cool gift for someone who loves mushrooms and enjoys growing their own food 🙃

[@wavescapes]

I've ordered almost all of the mushrooms this company sells without complaint and shipped all the way to Oregon. Not sure what's up with the negative commenter, sounds like they just like complaining. Nearby Naturals are a two person crew, and they do answer almost every question and customer inquiry as soon as possible. I've chatted with them plenty about mushrooms and shared pictures through their FB page and direct email. They are very friendly and knowldegable about the products they sell and produce. The inventory changes so keep an eye out. Most of their live mushroom blocks also produces multiple flushes, or harvests unlike most competitors. Mushrooms are fun to grow, cool company.

[@captainron1960]

Just ordered the blue oyster kit, can't wait

[@Coopdog1911]

Doing the precolonized bags seems to be rather unique from what I have seen. I can't wait to get mine

[@vonkitty9]

Ordered some mushrooms a week ago, and I am super excited to get them!!

[@burntwic1]

How'd they turn out?

[@acow4618]

7:15 the “friend” is him

[@digitalnukes]

I love it...

[@cynthiaflynn2941]

These were sent to me, I never ordered them, cannot get ahold of them to return them.

[@Coopdog1911]

Grow those things!

[@andrewlittlefield3425]

I’m in😁👍🏻

[@beverlyhorning116]

Ordered dec 11th. Today is the 23 and still not even shipped and no answer to emails. I ordered in plenty of time for Christmas.

[@montanawrestler93]

They are completely open about the whole process. They sent me email updates about checking my kit for viability and putting it to sleep in a cooling chamber for a couple days, text updates, shipping updates, etc.