Chris and Lauren have been farming this land since before the USDA Organic program existed. Carolina Cordys is what 30 years of agricultural enterprise and a lot of hard-won innovation looks like.
Chris and Lauren fell in love on the farm that is now Carolina Cordys — with land in western North Carolina that has been Certified Organic since 1997, before the federal certification program existed. When they decided to grow Cordyceps militaris there, they put the ingredient through the full USDA Certified Organic process — because the integrity of the land had to carry through to what it produced.
Chris started by growing herbs, lettuce, and tomatoes — selling to French Broad Food Coop, Earth Fare, Fresh Market, and Whole Foods. NAFTA hit the business hard. He pivoted to ornamentals and built a retail garden center that ran for 13 years. Then came Colorado, and hemp — Chris was one of the first licensed hemp producers in the US, in 2015. Lauren spearheaded Fountain of Health CBD, which, at its peak, reached the shelves of more than 200 health food stores across the country.
When they came back to WNC, they saw the same problem playing out in cordyceps that they'd seen everywhere else: an industry dominated by Chinese imports, low quality, no traceability, and organic claims nobody was verifying. Through years of production innovation — maximizing efficiencies and passing that savings on to the wholesale buyer — Carolina Cordys now delivers USDA Organic cordyceps militaris from western North Carolina at the lowest wholesale, domestic price in the market.
"We're just getting started." — Chris
Cordyceps militaris is grown in a climate-controlled environment on organic substrate. No synthetic inputs, from day one.
Fruiting bodies are hand-harvested at peak maturity, when the compound profile of the mushroom is at its fullest.
Dried immediately at low temperature on the farm. No delay, no storage in wet form, potency is locked in at harvest.
Packaged and shipped directly from North Carolina. No warehouses, no third-party distributors, direct from the farm.
Chris spent time in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania — the mushroom capital of the world. He saw what the industry wastes. Dumpsters overflowing with polypropylene bags, hundreds a week, because they're not recyclable and the standard operation doesn't bother trying.
At Carolina Cordys, every bag is reused until it can no longer be used. Our entire weekly business waste stream — the full operation — fits in one garbage bag. We're actively developing a production method that eliminates bags entirely.
"Nothing helps with sleep more than some good ol' peace of mind." — Chris
Polypropylene bags aren't recyclable. We reuse every one until it's done — instead of sending hundreds a week to landfill the way standard operations do.
That's the full weekly waste output of this operation. Where others fill dumpsters, we fill one bag.
Research is underway on a production method that removes the need for bags altogether. The goal is zero.
USDA Organic certification isn't a label you put on a bag, it's a rigorous, independently verified process that covers every stage of production. Our certification covers the growing substrate, cultivation practices, handling, and drying.
This matters especially for cordyceps because the market is full of imported product with self-reported "organic" claims and no third-party verification. Ours is USDA certified under the National Organic Program. Documentation is available on request.
Request Certification Documentation →No synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers, from substrate preparation through harvest.
Independently certified under the USDA National Organic Program, not self-reported, not marketing language.
One farm, one grower, one product. You know exactly where it came from, because there's only one place it could have come from.
Start with a 1 lb or 5 lb order to verify quality for yourself. Wholesale pricing scales from there. COAs available.