Mushroom Compadres was born from friendship, music, and a shared desire to cultivate something meaningful. Rooted in regenerative agriculture and community, they grow exotic mushrooms as part of a broader vision for land stewardship, food sovereignty, and experiential culture.
Can you tell us your story so far?
I met Skeets (my partner) outside our kids’ school. A bit of small talk led us to jam some music at my place. After long chats about life, vision, and the state of affairs, it made sense to start working together.
Coming from a musical background and without a non-essential job, I had left Barcelona during the lockdowns looking for fresh air. Skeets had moved from Texas to Portugal and had already begun building a circular farming initiative with a small greenhouse of microgreens. I’d been growing mushrooms as a hobby but had decided it was what I truly wanted to do if it wasn’t music.
At the beginning of 2021, we started with small tests in a tiny apartment before moving into a 300 m² facility. After years of scaling successes and failures—beautiful harvests followed by contamination, learning and adjusting—we now run an expanding exotic mushroom production and polyculture farm, part of a bigger vision for community, land regeneration, and food sovereignty.
Next steps?
We keep moving. Storytelling, education, events, collaborations. Improving our ecosystem, strengthening the team. Always tweaking. The goal is to build a replicable model - not as a franchise but as a sustainable system. One where output becomes truly beneficial for its surroundings. We are also preparing to expand operations in other places across the world. Slowly but surely.
Best spot in Portugal?
I have to say Aljezur, so many beautiful spots and people around here. Though recently Rogil is Home. Where the mushrooms grow, where my children go to school, where neighbours say hello. We are grateful to live a simple life in a small village.
What does style mean to you?
I’d say a really distinctive style only becomes so when choices are truly rooted and inevitable. When that coherence is sustained with conviction and for long enough it then solidifies into identity.
What motivated you to get started with your business?
I would say the use of Mushrooms themselves, and their embedded knowledge. Underground culture, DIY mindset, Fungi as teachers. Constant reminders of natures intelligence and awareness, structural to biosphere stability. Decomposing, connecting, transforming. We’re focused in supporting the larger system: life itself. And fungi are good doing that, so we just help them :)
What's the Band, Music Style or Music Artist that inspires you?
That is not an easy one. I love everything from calypso to acid breaks, from city pop to skate punk. But if you want recommendations - Sam Prekop (from The Sea and Cake) consistently inspires me. His latest album with Ryan J Raffa - only came to say goodbye - it’s a nice listen. MADMADMAD has also been on heavy rotation lately. Also, the art of cartoonist Jim Woodring (specifically his comic Frank) - symbolism, mysticism, it can jump from horror to humor, beautiful and eerie yet familiar. All of it feeds the same current…
Any guilty pleasures worth mentioning?
Morgan Saint’s album Out of The Blue - I claim it’s my 4yo daughter’s favourite music (which it is!) to get away with playing it. Tennage Pop but nicely done. Also playing online chess. And Raving.
