They’re otherworldly, colorful, perhaps a touch eerie to some — coming to a plate near you. 

The Easterday Mushroom Company’s mushrooms aren’t only transforming perceptions of edible fungi, but contributing to the local food movement by providing many regional restaurants and home chefs with fresh mushrooms cultivated just a few minutes away from their doorsteps.

“You have local chefs and people cooking with our mushrooms and making art with them,” says Justin Easterday, one of the company’s founders. “It feels like we’re the guys making the paints for your favorite artists. It’s cool to contribute in some meaningful way.”

The family-run business, officially founded in May 2024, is overseen by husband and wife Justin and Dima Easterday and Justin’s brother Steffen, all of them self-taught mushroom farmers. Meaty black pearl kings, stringy lion’s mane and earthy chestnuts are just a sample of the varieties grown in their 1,300-square-foot Sandston facility. “All the ones we grow aren’t really found in most supermarkets,” says Justin. Available varieties fluctuate based on season.

Their champignons have sparked a culinary frenzy of sorts in Richmond, especially in area restaurants like The Roosevelt. The Church Hill mainstay has been incorporating their mushrooms since October 2024 after executive chef Leah Branch came across them at Birdhouse Farmers Market. “We got connected,” says Branch. “They have beautiful mushrooms and we work with them a lot.”

A mushroom medley weighing 3 to 10 pounds is usually delivered weekly. Enoki mushrooms were recently featured in a seared scallops and Billi Bi dish. “Whatever is available we use,” says Branch, who was recently named a James Beard Awards 2026 semifinalist Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. “Anything new we’ll definitely try it.”

Amuse at the VMFA is another customer. At the moment, they use about 15-20 pounds of lion’s mane for their lion’s mane steak entrée, served alongside butternut squash polenta, roasted parsnips and Brussels sprouts and an apple cider reduction. The restaurant also roasts their oyster, chestnut and golden enoki mushrooms to enhance its Parisian gnocchi dish.

Richmond’s home chefs have also gotten creative. One customer surprised the Easterdays when describing how they used black pearls to craft vegan ground beef for tacos.

But before these mushrooms make it to the kitchen, they undergo intensive watch in that small Sandston “farm.” The Easterdays analyze, observe and experiment to concoct the perfect mushroom environment. They meticulously watch the humidity and temperature and often grow their mushrooms in special substrate blocks of 50% oak and 50% soy hull — much of which is sourced locally.

They’ve also discovered there’s a sweet spot for picking mushrooms, with a few clues to look for, like perfectly rolled over caps. Once this happens, there’s only about a three-hour harvesting interval; after being picked, they’re at optimum quality for about five days.

New frontiers

“You want that [harvesting] window to be as consistent as possible to increase the shelf life of mushrooms,” says Steffen.

It’s this peak freshness and attention to detail that’s turning heads in the city. Some chefs have decided to turn away from wholesale and now opt for Easterday’s fresh mushrooms instead. In fact, it’s how Amuse’s relationship with them began. Executive chef Will Burgess, who had previously met the Easterdays at a local farmers market, remembered them during one hectic day.

“Our Summer Supper Somm wine dinner last August was approaching [and] I had ordered lion’s mane mushrooms from a wholesaler to use as a vegetarian steak option; but when they arrived they were all spoiled,” says Burgess. “I remembered that Easterday carried lion’s mane and reached out. They were able to fill our order very quickly and saved the day. As of that day, I decided that I would work with them for all of our mushroom needs.”

For the Easterdays, there’s also an educational aspect to their business. The trio strives to share the wonders of mycological farming, happily imparting words of wisdom and advice, including from their mentor Dave Boso of the former Rappahannock Mushroom Company. There’s the hope that the more people become acquainted with mushrooms, the more they might be encouraged to step outside their comfort zone to try seemingly quirky ones, like pink oysters.

“Some people might like the look but are intimidated by the color,” says Justin. “There’s a lot of great things you can do with pink oysters … it’s very meaty you can put it on the grill. It’s a great mushroom but a lot of people are afraid to try it.” 6