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Wild Mushrooms — From Forest to Function

Keep the Wild Close.

Fresh, dried, and wild-foraged mushrooms. Foraging classes and events. Functional mushroom products built on nearly 20 years of experience.

Performance Fuel™ for Focus, Hydration, and Recovery

Headwater is a clean-label, non-stimulant Performance Fuel™ designed for athletes and everyday high performers.

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Choose Your Path Into the Wild

Wild mushrooms and other wild foods on a table

Seasonal wild ingredients, specialty mushrooms, and curated field goods sourced through long-standing relationships across the country and the world.

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Forays, classes, and immersive experiences that bring serious wild mushroom knowledge to life.

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Headwater

A clean-label, non-stimulant functional mushroom Performance Fuel™ built for focus, hydration, and recovery — designed for athletes and everyday high performers.

Try Headwater

Nationally Recognized Wild Food Expert.

Mike Kempenich founded Gentleman Forager more than two decades ago, building the brand through commercial-scale mushroom cultivation, wild harvesting, and restaurant supply across the Upper Midwest.

He later founded Forest to Fork — America’s first wild food grocery store, known for its 20-foot glass mushroom growing tower — before selling the business in 2021. His work has also included university-level mushroom identification instruction at the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin.

Featured in major news and business outlets including MarketWatch and the Star Tribune — and on public television with PBS Wisconsin and MPR News.

The first wild foods grocer in the nation

Mike Kempenich teaching a mushroom class

Wild Mushrooms — From Forest to Function

Keep the Wild Close.

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Choose Your Path Into the Wild

Nationally Recognized Wild Food Expert.