About Us
Shaggy Jack's Wild Mushrooms is the leading brand of Salmonberry Media Group, a multimedia & education company based in the town of Gibsons on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast, traditional territory of the Sḵwxxwú7mesh people. Founded by Jody “Shaggy Jack” Franklin and Andrea Coates in 2018, Shaggy Jack's Wild Mushrooms educates people about mushrooms and provides mushroom products for the local and regional marketplace.
Locations
Our Classroom Space is located at 203-1058 Gibsons Way, upstairs in the big blue building. Parking is available to the side of the building off Highway 101 and to the back of the building along Seamount Way. Doors are at the front and back of the building.
Located in the Gibsons Public Market down by the picturesque Gibsons waterfront, Shaggy Jack’s Market specialises in local, wild, artisan and sustainable foods.
We stock a wide selection of fresh produce, bulk items, everyday essentials, and unique small batch brands you won’t find anywhere else on the Sunshine Coast.
And don’t forget the mushrooms! Shaggy Jack’s Market carries fresh and dried mushrooms, mushroom health supplements, guide books, mushroom-themed art and we are always happy to chat about our favourite fungi.
Open since January 2023, Shaggy Jack’s market is excited to be a foodie destination in Lower Gibsons.
Products
Shaggy Jack's wild-foraged mushrooms and products have been available at farmers markets, grocery stores and restaurants on the Sunshine Coast and the Lower Mainland since 2018.
In 2022, Shaggy Jack's store opened in Gibsons, selling foraged and cultivated culinary and functional mushroom products, grow kits, foraging supplies, mushroom books and art, as well as select local and artisan specialty foods and goods.
Education
Shaggy Jack regularly hosts mushroom educational workshops, including popular beginners classes, wild mushroom foraging forest adventures and culinary eco-tours. The first ever Shaggy Jack's Wild Mushroom Foraging For Beginners class took place in Gibsons in October 2018. Since that time, hundreds of people have learned how to safely forage, cook and use mushrooms after attending these popular classes.
In 2022, the range of classes has grown to include educational sessions about medicinal mushrooms, sustainable fishing, cooking, food security and more. The Shaggy Jack team has taken an integral role in organizing the annual MushrooMania Festival.
Media
In 2021 Salmonberry Media Group, the parent company of Shaggy Jack's Wild Mushrooms, began publishing Sunshine Coast Palate, a print magazine about the local food experience on the Sunshine Coast.
In 2022, Shaggy Jack will be publishing the book Shaggy Jack's Wild Mushroom Foraging For Beginners based on his popular class of the same name, and will be hosting the podcast/video series Shaggy Jack's Wild World Of Mushrooms.
Our Team
Jody "Shaggy Jack" Franklin
Co-Owner, Mushroom Educator, Media Producer, Marketing & Business Strategist
Jody has an extensive and varied background in the arts, entertainment and media as a multidisciplinary artist, working as a performance artist, musician, filmmaker and visual artist; as a media producer working in video, radio and digital media; a publisher, editor, writer and public relations communicator, and as a special events organizer. He trained in the National Film Board director apprenticeship program, worked as a digital video and radio segment producer at CBC Radio 3, worked as a publicist, website editor and event manager for the Burning Man festival, published and edited four magazines, and directed numerous short fiction, documentary and art films.
In 2012 he and life partner Andrea Coates moved to Gibsons to start a family. Living in the forest for the first time in his adult life, Jody was free to indulge his passion for mushrooms, eventually becoming a commercial forager. Since 2018, he has been known to the public as Shaggy Jack, a popular local mushroom expert, and has applied his creative skills to educating people about mushrooms in a highly accessible and friendly manner.
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Andrea Coates
Co-Owner, Operations Manager, Events Coordinator, Administration
Andrea is a writer with a background in publishing, working for the Aberdeen Publishing Group and their Sunshine Coast publications The Local Weekly, Sunshine Coast Business and Home & Decor as an Operations Manager and Advertising Representative. After completing a Work BC Self-Employment program, Andrea became a local cultural entrepreneur in partnership with her husband Jody under the Salmonberry Media Group (SMG) banner, initiating and managing the Orca's Pod community arts hub and Sunshine Coast Palate magazine projects for SMG. In 2022, she strategized, organized, marketed and managed the opening of two Shaggy Jack's Wild Mushrooms retail locations in Gibsons.
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Emerencz Merkle
Operations Assistant, Media & Marketing