Leesburg family's new-age health business is mushrooming

Tara Fletcher, The Albany Herald, Ga.
·2 min read

LEESBURG — As a registered nurse and the wife of a Marine Corps veteran with PTSD, Heather Smith had more than her share of frustration ... with the medical community, insurance companies, veterans services and Big Pharma.

It was that frustration, the feeling of helplessness she felt while watching her husband, Peyton, suffer from anxiety and depression and repeatedly receive inadequate care, that made Heather decide to take control of her family's health.

She began to research mushrooms, and that checked a lot of boxes on her list of health benefits, including brain health, cardiovascular health and boosting immunity. From there, she learned to make the substrate, collect and colonize the mycelium and grow mushrooms. In fact, Heather became so successful at growing mushrooms, she was growing enough for her immediate family and extended family and friends. Then friends of friends were interested in buying, and not only did oyster mushrooms (pink, blue, Italian, golden, pearl and princess), lion's mane, reishi, shitake, maitake and enoki grow, so did a business, Thunder and Lightning Mushroom Farm LLC .

The Smith's have recently taken the business to the next level. In addition to edible fresh and dried mushrooms, custom powder capsules and tinctures are available. And for those who want to grow mushrooms at home, fruiting blocks start at $15 and inoculated logs start at $25. The future of the business includes educational classes and foraging, teaching people to identify edible mushrooms and how to pick them without destroying the environment around them, ensuring future growth, and how to prepare the mushrooms.

Heather does every step in the growing process organically, and all of the company's packaging is sustainable and made from biodegradable material.

Heather's dream now is to become a business that provides for her family, including her adult children, who already help with social media, marketing and cultivation.

Thunder and Lightning Mushroom Farm LLC is located in Leesburg. The name comes, in part, from a private joke between Peyton and Heather but also from Japanese folklore that says if there's thunder and lighting while your mushrooms are growing, your harvest will double.

So Heather and her family say bring on the storms because with support from Herald readers and others in the region, hopefully the Smith's will need to double their yield. To reach Heather, call (229) 343-1918, or message Thunder and Lightning Farm on Facebook.