Kara Bond, of Canton, Ohio, always dreamed of having a mushroom farm. “It was something that I always kidded about … ‘I don’t want a desk job; I’m gonna be a mushroom farmer,’” Bond said. She worked desk jobs for a long time. But when she was laid off in November 2019, she found herself with extra time on her hands.
Kara started Canton Mushroom Works in July of 2021 and has been reliably supplying mushrooms to major grocery stores and restaurants since. During that time Kara has demonstrated a steady increase in product yield and customer base. Current clients include regular weekly orders to Giant Eagle, Earth Fare, Lucca Downtown, Melange and H2 Huth and Harris, 330 Grill at the DoubleTree Hilton, plus roughly a dozen or so smaller and intermittent clients.
Kara has been featured by Fox 8 News, New Day Cleveland and the Canton Repository. Kara's mushroom farm is insured and registered with the Department of Agriculture and therefore considered a ‘safe source’ by Canton City Health Department and Kara is ServSafe certified. They also have a Food and Safety Plan in place. Canton Mushroom Works grows a variety of gourmet mushrooms including Lion’s Mane, Chestnuts, Pioppinos, King Oysters and a variety of other oyster mushrooms. Here is a link to their Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079974624843.
Kara is a graduate of Kent State University with a major in Advertising and minor in Marketing. She has an extensive work history in advertising, writing, sales, customer service, graphic design, administration and leadership. She strives to create a business that not only serves our community with great tasting mushrooms, but also in healthy supplements and community workshops and classes.
Besides being a member of the Rotary Club of Canton, Kara is involved in the Ohio Cavers & Climbers Grotto of the National Speleological Society, works with Stark Fresh, and is married to husband Todd Bond.