Why Matariki Mushrooms? Our founding story

A little cluster of stars

When I was a child, we often drove home in the dark after visiting my grandma, aunties and uncles, who lived about an hour away. I would look out of the window for one small cluster of stars. Some months I couldn’t find it at all and almost forgot about it, and then suddenly it would be back in the night sky. Nobody could tell me what it was. I only found out in my early twenties that it was the Pleiades, and even then it had no particular meaning in my culture. But every time I spotted it, I felt happy and somehow relieved.

At the end of my university studies, I came to Aotearoa for a practical placement with different regenerative projects. I arrived around Matariki, and my very first WWOOFing host, who is Māori, told me what Matariki means here. I was amazed. The little cluster of stars I had followed all my life, which meant nothing much where I grew up, was deeply significant here. It made me feel connected to this land straight away.

The Pleiades girl

A while later I was at Luminate Festival on Tākaka Hill. One cold night, warming up by the big fire before bed, I overheard someone wondering where the Pleiades were. I knew they were just behind a cloud, so I told her: “If you wait a moment, they’ll pop out.” The next day I was selling at the festival market when I heard the same voice beside me. “You’re the Pleiades girl!” I said. That was Valetta, and that’s how we met.

A mushroom that helped me heal

A few years later, after the birth of our second child, I developed Bell’s palsy. Half of my face was paralysed. I couldn’t drink without spilling, I drooled, half my mouth hung down, and I had to tape my eye shut at night because it wouldn’t close. It lasted for weeks, and as well as being physically unpleasant, it was a real psychological drain. The doctors prescribed steroids, but as I read more, I learned that science still has no clear treatment for it. It’s understood as a viral inflammation of a facial nerve.

Around that time I came across an article about lion’s mane, a medicinal mushroom, and early research from Japan into its potential to support nerve and brain health, including in conditions like dementia. What stood out to me was that it’s described as anti-inflammatory and antiviral, with potential to support nerve repair. Those were exactly the things my body seemed to need, so I ordered some and started taking it. Within a few days I felt my symptoms begin to ease. I can’t say for certain how much was the mushroom and how much was my body healing in its own time, but I felt so relieved and grateful. I remember thanking the universe, and thinking: wow, a mushroom helped heal me.

A sign in the night sky

I had been dreaming about starting a mushroom business for years but kept putting it off. In that moment I thought, maybe it’s finally time. I was standing outside at night, and right then I looked up and saw the Pleiades for the first time that season. It was October, and they had been hidden all winter. That’s why we called our business Matariki Mushrooms.

I soon discovered that Aotearoa has its own native cousin of lion’s mane, pekepeke-kiore, and a whole world of native fungi waiting to be explored and protected.

Native Mushroom Magic

When we started working with MSD and Te Pūtahitanga, part of the programme was a business course. One of the coaches told us we shouldn’t use the words “medicinal” and “mushroom” in the same sentence because it would make customers uncomfortable. I was outraged. After my own experience, and after reading about the potential of fungi to support people with conditions like dementia, being told not to even talk about it felt wrong. So we chose our tagline, Native Mushroom Magic, as an invitation to start that conversation.

Coming soon: five years of Matariki Mushrooms, and our new chapter on the Kāpiti Coast.

Ngā mihi nui,
Mihau & Valetta