SUDBURY – Even though there's been snow outside for more than a month, that hasn't stopped one local farmer in Sudbury from running his unique business.

Ivan Vincent decided to leave his career in 2014 to start up his own business, calling it The Ugly Barn Farm.

"I think it was 2016 when we actually started growing mushrooms, but from then on, it's been a pretty fun ride. Basically, it was just a trial to see what the building could do, test out capacity, test out species and then in 2017 we made it to the Farmer's Market and that went over very well," explained Vincent.

The Ugly Barn Farm offers 18 different species of mushrooms and depending on the type, it can take anywhere from six weeks to six months to be fully grown.

"When you want a certain shape to the reishi… they produce antlers and high CO2, and those antlers grow very slowly, so a six month period is not unusual to wait to get those beautiful shapes," said Vincent.

The Ugly Barn Farm supplies mushrooms to a few different local shops in the city, one of those being Seasons Pharmacy and Culinaria, a pharmacy that not only supplies medication but also fresh local food.

"We have regulars coming every week to get them. They go really well… they taste delicious. There are medicinal values to some of the mushrooms so it's doing something different for you and they're typically not varieties you would find in a grocery store or easily available in other methods," commented Laurie Pennell, Seasons Pharmacy Co-Owner.

During the winter months, The Ugly Barn Farm sells its mushrooms every Saturday at the city's Winter Market.

Vincent says next years, he hopes to expand and also sell his mushrooms at the North Bay Farmer's Market.