Ian Triplett had no idea mushrooms were on the verge of stardom when he bought his first mycological grow kit in 2015. In fact, he didn't even have a taste for fungi back then. He simply wanted to try his hand at cultivating something new and different alongside his family's viticulture operation in Leesburg. After serving in the Marine Corps and earning a degree in economics from Longwood University, he had a day job in banking. But he missed getting his hands dirty.
"I grew up in agriculture. I've always liked to grow things," says the owner of Three Cap Farms, a popular vendor at the Saturday morning EatLoco farmers market in National Landing. "I always had a little garden—even at university. In this case I just fell in love with the process."
Little did Triplett know his umami-rich crops would become an "it" food, expanding beyond the produce aisle and finding their way into snack food seasonings, homeopathic remedies, biodegradable packaging, a 2019 Netflix documentary and even home décor. In 2022, The New York Times declared mushrooms the "ingredient of the year."
As demand for the product, uh, mushroomed, so did Triplett's business. "I have increased production by 100% every year since I started Three Cap Farms in 2020," he says. "Now I'm at the point where that's not so easy."
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