our sources

Our Cacao

Our cacao is sourced from Hacienda Victoria in the Guayas region in Ecuador. The single estate farmers who produce premium quality Nacional Arriba are dedicated to preserving this once endangered, ancient, non-hybridized species while using ethical and sustainable practices in respect for the land that bears them fruit.

Reforestation

Our cacao farmers are committed to creating a biodiverse space that can serve as a home for birds and other species. Hacienda Victoria currently holds over a quarter of their land with native trees and are fastly planting more. By the end of 2023, they estimate to plant at least 500 trees and counting.

Farm Culture

With less than 1% rotation of employees since establishing in 2011, their team members are given biweekly doctor visits, Rainforest Alliance certified living facilities including a full equipped kitchen with three warm cooked meals per day, quarterly meetings with a finance specialist who guides them on how to properly manage their earnings as well as a scholarship program for those who wish to further engage in the various areas cacao has to offer.

Sustainability

In order for our farmers to become a safe environmental space to preserve and rescue Cacao Nacional Arriba they firstly considered their engagement with the land that nurtures the fruit. For this, they implemented a resourceful irrigation system and have endured in taking care of the ground by putting into practice responsible soil management. This not only benefits their crops but surely and effectively allows a contagious effect which provides better organic matter throughout the area.

Our Maya Nut

Our Maya nut is sourced from a women ran co-op in Nicaragua. Our Maya Nut is better than orgainc, we are MAYA NUT CERTIFIED: produced by women, sustainably wild harvested, chemical free, non-gmo, reforestation guaranteed, local consumption guaranteed via Heathy Kids Healthy Forests school lunch programs.

Maya Nut Institute has been working since 2001 to educate rural and indigenous women in Latin America and the Caribbean about the Maya Nut for food and income. This results in an immediate interest in conservation and reforestation of Maya Nut forests. Maya Nut is a nutritious, delicious rainforest tree seed that was once a staple food for ancient cultures but is now threatened with extinction due to forest conversion for crops and cattle. Maya Nut is a massive drought-resistant tree which produces up to 800 pounds of seed a year while protecting soils, water, and wildlife.

Our work focuses on women as caretakers of the family and the environment. 99% of the beneficiaries of our educational and income opportunities are women because money in the hands of women goes directly to improve conditions for their families and the environment upon which we all depend.

Since 2001, Erika Vohman, director of the mayanutinstitute.org has worked to teach people around the world about the food and income value of the Maya Seed (Brosimum alicastrum) to improve human health and to motivate rainforest conservation and reforestation.

Our Mushrooms

Sourced Directly from Independent US Farms

Our mushroom suppliers at WholeSun Wellness have searched the globe for mushroom growers who meet their high standards for quality. When they find a farm they want to work with, they partner with them directly and exclusively.

Our mushrooms come from independent growers on small farms and not from corporate agriculture. Larger companies and farms rely on middleman suppliers who purchase bulk mushroom material and sell it to the highest bidder. Other supplement companies will sometimes mix mushroom material to meet their production quotas. However, the company doesn’t truly know where the mushroom material came from and how it was grown.

By sourcing directly from our farmers, WholeSun Wellness can offer complete transparency and traceability for our products. You will never get that from a supply chain dependent on middlemen.

Grown as Nature Intended

Our organic mushroom fruiting bodies are grown on farms, and not in warehouses. Our farmers create an environment for the mushrooms to grow as nature intended. They mimic a mushroom’s natural habitat, growing it on its preferred native hardwood.

Hardwood-grown mushroom fruiting bodies contain a higher amount and greater diversity in bio-active compounds such as beta-glucans, triterpenes, and ergosterols. This growing practice is crucial to producing top quality and potent mushroom extracts.

Our mushrooms go through the entire fungal life cycle. It can take up to 12 months from seed to harvesting to produce some species.

The mushrooms are then harvested by hand at the exact moment they reach their peak potency before drying in the sun (for more vitamin D) and heading to our extraction facility.