SPEAKER_01 1:45

Welcome back to another exciting season of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. We are thrilled to kick off season five with an extraordinary guest. Katrina White? Yeah, season five. I can't I can't eat. That's crazy. Five seasons. Five seasons.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Oh man, five years we've been doing this.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah, it's fun though. Yeah, it is. And we haven't given up, which is good. Katrina is the visionary owner of The Purple Mushroom, a batik indoor urban mushroom farm located right here in Columbia, South Carolina. Tatrina pours her passion into cultivating a variety of fresh gourmet mushrooms every day. She caters to all levels of microphiles by offering grow kits, entry-level mushroom growing supplies, and inspired mushroom products like honey, spices, and teas that her customers absolutely love. Katrina's journey began with a personal quest to improve her diet by limiting meat consumption, which led her to the discovery of oyster mushrooms. After realizing the limited selection of fresh gourmet mushrooms in her local market, she decided to grow her own. Starting out by sharing her harvest with her family and friends, she soon expanded the small farmers' markets. That's when the light bulb moment struck. She had found her passion. Starting the purple mushroom in a spare room in her home, Katrina has now expanded into a 4,000 square foot warehouse. Her journey has been filled with exciting ups and downs, and she remains motivated by filling this unique niche every single day. Yes. How are you doing today, sister?

SPEAKER_03 3:12

I'm good. I'm good. How y'all doing?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Man, we're wonderful. We're wonderful. All things being considered. Made it to a hurricane? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

We did. Yes. Right, right. You would think it was a major hurricane win. Power outages are still hanging on.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Yeah, man. Yeah. So just for everybody who's watching this today, look, y'all know it's amazing we're here today. Right. Filming. We got power here at this location. Thank you to love studios holding it down, being here for us. And we're happy to be on time and prepared, and our guests are able to make it in today. And luckily, nothing bad happened to us. So we're going to have an excellent show today. And we're very uh, I know I was very excited to have you in. I know Mike was telling me some cool things about what it is that you do, but um, before we get into all that stuff, something more important than that. Okay. Your background. So we always like to start off with each episode with a little background information. So that way our audience, anybody who's listening, they can figure out a little bit about who you are and what things they may have in common with you. And that usually creates pretty good connections. So where did you grow up and do you have any siblings?

SPEAKER_03 4:20

Well, my home is Norwood, Connecticut. I grew up in Connecticut. Born and raised. Um, I've been here in the South for a while. So I'm I'm an honorary South Carolinian.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Good.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

I do have uh two brothers, um biological brothers. Um, one is here in Armo, the other one is in North Carolina. And of course, I have some uh, you know, good friends. What do you say? Sisters from another mother. There you go. So we have some really good friends, and um, but yeah, it's it's just the three of us.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Our siblings. Yes. Awesome, awesome. And we always like to ask folks about this because it gives us some understanding of who you are and how you get to the point where you're where you're at today. Because if you have checked out our podcast, you know we are a podcast for millennials trying to figure out how to adult. And there aren't any guidelines, no books to tell you how to do it. And so when we speak to people, we want to let other folks know these are normal human beings. Right. Right. And they go through trials and tribulations, different um backgrounds, different, you know, stories that get them to where they are. But the one thing that ties all of our guests together is the fact that they have been successful in doing something that they love to do. Um and we like to promote that and let people know that they have those options. So, um, who were what inspired you as a child?

SPEAKER_03 5:42

You know, um, I would have to say I was raised in a family full of women. Okay. And um they just got the job done. So I would say that it would be my mom and my sisters, my grandmother, and it was just um, you know, my uncles and everybody was there too, but the women of the family just really got the job done. Um, so I would say that they're my inspiration. And you know, they're nurturers, they're healers, you know, they're warriors when they need to be. Um, but their um ability to just get things done really inspired me because there's no quit, there's no stop, there's no I can't do. We always was um surrounded by women or individuals that were able to just handle it. We just got it done. We just got it done. And that's a Gen X thing, maybe, you know. See, yeah, we was we were the generation, just walk it off. Right. You know, we were doing all that, you know, you have a boo-boo, and yeah, just get up and go, you know, just walk.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Your parents was boomers?

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

See, that's that's one thing that I've started noticing about this whole like, first of all, I'm not a huge fan of breaking everything down generationally dealing with. But it but it works because a lot of it is is like what generation were your parents, right? Yeah, that matters. And and so the us elder millennials. Uh uh. It's not over 40. That's happened since last season. Now I'm over 40.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Oh no, yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

But uh yeah, my focus was was boomers too. Um and yeah, like there is no option, you just do it. Yep. And and I think part of that comes from being raised by people that were like worldwide fighting in a war. That's right. That whole generation just was like, yeah, standing on business was something. Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

You know, so I like how you said that, standing on business.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

Standing on business was something.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

So sometimes you gotta pop out and you gotta show people.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

There we go. That's exactly right. And also, my um before getting into mushroom growing, my background is actually real estate. Really? So I'm a certified residential commercial appraiser, um, as well as a broker, a real estate. Okay. But my passion is is mushroom growing and dealing with the fungi.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

So the first time that you did this, uh I I I know in in the intro we kind of gave the story of you hunting for oyster mushrooms.

SPEAKER_03 8:10

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Which I I'm not a huge fan of uh the taste of most mushrooms, but I love oyster mushrooms. So you you brought a little uh display with us today. Is this kind of how you started in a bag situation like this? Or I've seen people use jars or aquariums or all kinds of on a commercial basis.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

This is what we use. Um, this particular mushroom, I'm gonna lean in again. Go ahead. This is actually a lion's name mushroom. And um there's a lot of buzz going on about the lion's name. Yeah, um, focus, um, helping with ADHD, bringing in clarity.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

It's been used in Chinese medicine forever. Forever.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

And you know, it's just making its wave and it splash here. Not only is it a medicinal mushroom for those purposes, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

It tastes amazing.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

It tastes amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

And I just want people to know that you know, we can move past just the white buttons in the store.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Yeah, and um portobello and the cranini. Now I don't have anything against those mushrooms, but let's expand our palette. And so I just wanted to bring this beautiful mushroom because it's good for the brain and the way it looked, you know, it sort of kind of reminds you of the brain.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

It does remind you of a brain. You know, a lot of times you don't see the rest of this, the rest of this mycelium growing. That's right. Uh and it really does look like a brain. I don't know how well it shows through the bag, but it is it's like like brain tissue. Like a giant. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

And we sell, you know, we sell these as kits, which is wonderful because you can actually see the process. You see the block, you see the mycelium, we call it running, and it's eating through this organic matter, and then it gets enough energy where it's forced to come out of this this exit. And I think it's just such a wonderful way to see the whole process.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

That's what I was about to ask you. So this is a this is coming out of an exit that was pre-planned.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

So it's doing what it's post-that is wild to watch it in that situation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Um, it's a great project, you know, for children. Yeah. It's a great project for adults. I get excited just watching it. I still enjoy watching the process.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

I mean, that takes me to a little bit. Now, I know a little bit about this, but the mushroom is really the flowering part. The plant is, or you can't even really say plant because they're so different from plants. Totally different, yes. But the the organism is all of this white that you see in the mycelium.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

Yes, it's the mycelium that you see running through the bag. Um, it's eating or powering from the organic material that's in here. And it's actually hardwood and soy hulls, which makes the master snakes. We also put a few other supplements in it, but it um we put it in this bag. Well, the process starts with grain, but that's a whole nother nerd story. But um, no, no, give us a whole ring there. We'll nerd out on it. So the first part of it to get to this, the mycelium has to grow out either in a liquid culture or on agar trades. And the liquid culture is what I use in the in the in my farm. It's made of distilled water and some type of um K roll syrup. That's the easiest mixture. We introduce spores from the mushroom into the liquid culture. That's called expanding the culture. We want to expand it out. And so once we expand the liquid culture out, I want to test the viability to see if it's pretty good. Then I will put it, introduce it on Agar tray. But if I'm in a hurry, I will go ahead and introduce it directly to the grain. The grain for me is going to be whole oats, which is easier for me to get whole to here in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

It's kind of like I'm drawing connections between like this and like almost making bread where you've got to add the yeast and then let it grow and then test it to see if it's still alive. That's right. That's kind of what you're doing. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

And so you want to put it when um grow it out, and we call it cleaning up the culture. So you can grow it out, but as you're looking in your mushroom grow and see the ones that are fruiting, you want to pick the biggest, the most prettiest, the brightest, the healthiest. And you take a piece of that mushroom and you place it on the agar tray, and that expands out. And then as you're looking through the agar tray, you want to um sort of kind of isolate the strongest piece of mycelium. There's usually something that stands out.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

So you're actually kind of like doing your own selection, unnatural selection to get what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

Because you wanna you want to present, you know, the best in the market. And so although we're a small farm, we're strong. We're you know we want to be strong. You can do it by hand. Right. And so we grab that piece and then we'll grow that out. So each run, you're growing the strongest, the tastiest, the healthiest mushroom um variety, and then you start to have your own culture selection. Because when I started off, I had to buy it.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Um now I have my own catalog, my own grow, my own liquid culture. Wouldn't that be nice? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

You don't think about it like I mean, because we don't do.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

I mean, you know, truffles are not a cheap product. They are, yeah, seriously.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

And so this particular lion's mane is actually a South Carolina's lion's mane. It was a a guy who um foraged it for me and brought it up. Oh, really? And I was able to culture it off in here. It has been kicking ever since. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Yeah, that's amazing. It blows the mind. Well, so then they do better in the environment. Yeah. And so this is one of those places where um my very um scientific upbringing, since Bill and I told me I was a scientist and I absolutely believed it. And then my pseudoscience weirdo start mixing together because mushrooms get real weird. Like um, there are some legit studies that show that birch trees communicate with each other and actually transfer nutrients through mushrooms.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

So one tree would need something, another tree would have it, and then the mushrooms would send it through their root systems, yeah. Which is the weirdest thing, but it actually like shows plant-to-plant communication and cooperation. The whole family tree of mushrooms is so far away from everything else that we have.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

They chit-chat all the time. Right. That's the most of the time when you see like mushrooms in cartoons, yeah, they're they're whispering because they bring the news. And so when you step in and it touch the mycelium, they just let everybody know someone just enter the forest, you know, do your thing. And you want to know why that stump that's in your yard that was cut down five years ago, it still has fresh limbs and stuff grown on it. Because it's mycelium is bringing the nutrients from other trees. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

They're trying to keep it, you know, trying to help it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, and it's it's got a root system in place. Like that's the hardest thing for a tree to do. It should be able to shoot straight up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Man, the way that you put put said that about this mushroom. It's gonna be a little nicer to the mushroom.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

And that's why when people start talking about values of mushrooms, particularly uh neurological values of mushrooms, um, for cognitive abilities and for regrowing neural damage after injuries, like I that's what they do.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

That's exactly. That's exactly. You know, and they're wonderful in the um so you have your gourmet sector, that's what the chefs are clamoring for in individuals. And then you have the medicinal part. You know, they're um taking down inflammation. Turkey tail is being studied to assist the body in helping with uh cancer. Um, we have Rishi bringing down anxiety, um, lion's mane, once again for neurological, cordycets for energy, endurance, and individuals that may need a little help with libido is there for that as well. Chaga, which is wonderful for the gut, you know, inflammation. So, and then I'm working on just learning how to put them together. So you can take different ones, put them together, and then you have a whole nother set of assistance for the body to help the body to repair itself.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

I see. So it yeah, with actual combinations create a different combinations help with something totally different. That's getting pretty hard medicinal there.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

It is, you know. Um, you know, once again, um, as you're getting older, women we're dealing with menopause, and that is popping up, and you can do use different combinations for that to assist. Um, we have brain fog, we're forgetting. Oh, we think something is going on, but it's just your body moving through its natural changes, which is you know, really not discussed enough in the health field for women. But there's there's different things that can help with that as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

So I I take uh your cordyceps, lion's mane, and rishi mix um every day. And I recently had COVID and for like two, three weeks afterward, the brain fog was just crushing me. Right. And then I realized, oh wait, I've got cordyceps in the cupboard. And I I got off of them during the COVID because you just forget to take all your things. And uh yeah, that helped pop it right back up and pops it right back out. Which cordyceps is one of those weird ones because like y'all have seen the the little ants that climb the thing and then to to and then they turn into a mushroom. Yeah. And and the last of us, they say it the cordyceps is what it is. Yeah, but there's there's like a there's so many cordyceps. The cordyceps took over. But they do increase oxygen, I guess, in your brain.

SPEAKER_03 18:05

You know, your workout is just not getting it like it used to. Try some cordyceps.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

You don't need to take chemicals. Right. I was almost off of caffeine. I have since given up that for the current time frame, but I was almost off of caffeine using cordyceps. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Uh and so like just so I can understand this a little more, because I know I was looking at your products. Um, and I mean, we always like to talk about health benefits and and nutrition. So Mike was talking about the cordyceps, and these are these are tinctures.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

They are. So tinctures are the most benef concentrated, beneficial way to uh concentrated way to receive the benefits of the mushrooms. And so they are tinctures. Um, so we have cordyceps. Once again, it's it's good for energy. It's anti-inflammatory, it's real, good for the immune um immune system. Um, lion's mane for memory and recall and clarity. We have um turkey tail, which is wonderful for cell repair. You know, anybody who's going through the process where the body is being broken down, introducing turkey tail can really assist the body in repairing itself. Okay. Um, taking out anxiety and having that well-being feeling, you're gonna go for the Rishi. Um, chocolate, once again, is good for gut health. Another anti-inflammatory. So these um particular ones, I deal with five. Um, and I've also gone ahead and combined all five of them to make one bottle that anybody who wants, like, I don't know which one I need to take. I don't know. I just need to go ahead and just take them off.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Yeah, it's like a superfood.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

Yeah, and it's called the high five. So mushrooms really have a solidified place in your diet. It really, it really does. You know, you have vitamin B, vitamin D, um, copper in them, um, beta glucans, polysaccharides, all this stuff is in the mushroom. It's in the mushroom.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

See, so this is gonna get to the point I can ask you. So you you had a process where you you were trying not to eat so much meat.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

And you were replacing meat with mushrooms.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

I was, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

All right, could you tell us about that process? Because I know we're in the South. If folks like barbecue, they I don't know if you can barbecue mushrooms yet, but don't let you start eating barbecue. All right, there you go. I was gonna say, you may change it up. Eat frying meat. Because I I guess, especially here, I mean, the idea of eating animals, getting your meat products and et cetera, it's just a big thing to to to, especially for culture-wise, to subvert it and replace it with another product. You really have to explain to somebody why it is just as beneficial, if not better. So if you could explain a little bit of to our audience why and how you can use mushrooms in your normal, just like daily cooking, right? Um, I think that'd be excellent. It's something for them to understand in here.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

So I just want to say um we don't have to replace all meat at one time.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Understood.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

Just try a meatless Monday. So on Monday, we're just not gonna do meat this Monday. Um, mushrooms are so versatile, they can be fried, they can be baked, stewed. Um, I just made some mushroom jerky. Absolutely delicious. Mushroom jerky? Yeah. I should have brought you mushroom jerky. Um this particular lion's mane on Instagram, now I haven't done it myself, but people are making it into like steaks. They're like marinating it, turning it into lion's mane steaks, and all kinds of wonderful stuff. Now you don't have to be that fancy if you're looking to be able to do it. See, how hard is it to do that? Mushrooms into your diet. I have it with my eggs, grits in the morning. I saute my uh mushrooms up, just a um a light saute. Put them on anything. You can have a baked potato um for dinner, you can um saute your mushrooms, add some vegetables on it, and now you have a loaded baked potato. So you don't have to, and people say, Well, how do you cook them? Mushrooms are versatile, you can throw them in with anything.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

You know what I mean? I was about to say it's funny because it's not like people don't like it. I know you really messed up. Yeah, you can't mess it up.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

And so I want to address that as well. For the individuals that eat raw mushrooms, I want to tell you this mushrooms have a substance called chitin on the outside. It's a hard shell. And to receive all the benefits I was just telling you about, mushrooms should be exposed to heat. Really? So it'll break it down, and then your body can absorb the benefits of the mushrooms. So we try not to eat raw mushrooms. I mean, you can, um, but you it would it enhance the flavor for number one, and then you're able to receive the benefits better with it. Even individuals that forage mushrooms, morel's for, for instance, although they're not toxic, exposing them to heat will allow the body to um digest them better. Uh red wine cats as well. So you do want to take your time and expose it to some heat. The mushrooms that they're tossing on top of your salad, you know, I mean you can eat them, but you just stay in and out. You know, you want to at least put some heat to them.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

It's similar to to spinach in the sense like people eat raw spinach, but technically you're supposed to heat spinach. Gotta wilt it. Yes. Yeah. If not, your body can't die because we don't have four stomachs. Right. So our body goes in and it's out, it's gone. You ain't gonna out of it. Yeah, right. So same thing with the mushroom. Right. And it makes sense, especially with the chitin, to break down the chitin so that you can actually get into the nutrients that's behind the wall.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Now, the same way a cow is jumping in and breaking down the stuff we can't, that's what the mushrooms are doing. Yeah. Because you said it's living off of hardwood and soy holes. Yeah. Yeah. So that's where it's getting all that good nutrients.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

It loves organic, you know, and um mushrooms are wonderful. They are a wonderful, uh, sustainable crop for urban farming. Um, not so much energy, like one and a half, 1.8 gallons of water per pound of mushrooms compared to 20 pound, 20 gallons of water for other vegetables.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Right, right. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

It doesn't require a lot, a huge footprint. So that takes it, takes the carbon footprint down. Um, so you know, mushrooms are really they're they're um, and maybe I may be a little biased, but you know, that's what we want to hear.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Because you know, seriously other bias that's fighting for making sure that we're producing cattle in Brazil. So well, I'm you know, we're plowing under half the world to make corn, which aren't exactly the best. Yeah, give some bias.

SPEAKER_03 24:57

You can you can definitely start in a small space if you want to grow, whether you grow in the cell or grown just to feed your family, you know, is a wonderful crop to have, a wonderful urban, urban crop.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Surely.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

What is the turnaround time on one of these bags like this from like when you from start to finish, from lab work to actually harvesting the fruit, you're looking between six to nine weeks. Sometimes four, four to nine weeks to get what you need to do.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

I mean, that's significantly faster than agriculture. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

And you don't have to worry. This is another thing, just so if you can explain this to folks, like, are you worrying about exposure to light? Um, do you have temperature issues that you need to worry about when you're growing these things? Like, do uh the environment does it need to be sterile?

SPEAKER_03 25:45

So when I first started in regards to sterile environment, I used to almost dress like a hazmatch suit because I want it to be so sterile. You know, I wasn't breathing on it. You can just see my eyes through this thing. And I was it it was an overkill.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

They've been on the planet for millions of years, they don't need me to stuff. They don't need you know, they don't require me to do all that, but you do want to have a pretty clean environment. Um and so, um, in regards to the process, we grow indoors, we grow inside tents, and this is a controlled environment, agriculture. So we control the air, we control the light, we control the water, and it's different all the time, depending on what we're growing. Really? And so, well, why is it different all the time if you're growing the same thing? If I put 300 blocks in, I need to dial it in differently. If I put 100 blocks in, I need to dial it in differently. Because they they like air like we do. They're breathing out, you know, the bad um carbon dioxide. And so they want fresh air coming in. So the more blocks you have, the more fresh air you have to put in.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Because they're breathing.

SPEAKER_03 26:59

They're breathing. So you have to dial it in all the time. And even though I take notes and I'm like, okay, last time I had it set on such, this time it's different, you know. So you have to watch it. It's always a dance between having the environment just right.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

So you feel like a winemaker. I wish. You sound like a winemaker. Is that what happens? Yeah, yeah, because you're you literally have to, you're, you're, you, you make your your wine depends on the varietal. Um, when you pull it, what crew it comes off of or level it comes off of. Okay. And then when you're actually making the wine, how you turn in the bottle, what temperature you have that bottle at, all that stuff matters and creates. Yeah, this is this is why I was like, I'm listening to you talk about this.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

I'm like, these mushrooms are a little bit more fancy than I thought they were. You know, you know, it's that microbial too. It's fine. You're trying to keep one of these little microbes alive.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Yeah, you're trying to keep microbes alive. So all that does make sense. That makes sense. There you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

So does this does this um mushroom in this bag, does it have a name?

SPEAKER_03 28:04

Um, Doug. So Doug.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

I had to ask. I just wanted to know, because you know how when people grow plants, they'll give them names and they'll speak to their plants and stuff like that. Do you do that with your mushrooms?

SPEAKER_03 28:16

I talk to my mushrooms when they're putting me in a bond. I'm like, listen, I told these people that you were gonna be ready yesterday. And now you wanna get it together. But other than that, no, we we um Y'all have a working relationship. We have a working relationship. All right, what's up? Look, we I need to get this stuff done. And it's like, okay, we're gonna sleep, and then I don't come in, you know, until late the next day and everybody is out. I'm like, oh my goodness. You know, so I now have to harvest everything, you know. Why they double inside every 24 hours. I'm like, oh, this is how you're gonna do me.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

So you do have to move quickly on.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

You have to move quickly. You have to move quickly in the lab, even when we're putting it on agar, it'll take over the agar tray. I mean, you really have to keep it, keep it moving because they are aggressive. They are they are super aggressive.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

And and your light inputs for this are not what you would think of for growing indoors, right? Like you don't have giant grow lights like we would think of for indoor agriculture because they don't really need to. They don't require just to know which direction's up, really.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

That's it. You know, we just have um some LED lights, some cool lights going around. Um, we tried the antibacterial lights, we tried all type of lights, but they respond better to just the regular cool LED string lights. It's 12 hours on and 12 hours off. They like it really simple. Just to know what it is. That's it. They don't want to do all the extra stuff. And you can get in. Now we're a boutique farm, we're a boutique low-tech farm, so we don't have a lot of um fancy equipment. Um, but we do use what we have on hand, and it works for us. You know, it works well for us. And the mushrooms don't require all that. I see the videos with all the fancy stuff, and it's nice, you know, it's nice to use, but we get we we make it work with what we have, and it makes sense because, like you said, they've been around forever.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Like, why would they be able to do that? Like, I'm gonna help you. They're gonna be here after we're done with it.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

They're gonna be grown out of you.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

That's all I love to say, yeah. So not these people, not not.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Nah, that's not what's happening.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

This is gonna take over me. Oh my goodness. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

No, they're just very, very prolific creatures.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Love they are, they're fancy.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

They're fancy.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

I like them. I I love mushrooms, I think they're amazing. They taste good.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

Absolutely amazing. And um, we give classes as well. We have a class coming up October 5th. It is an adult class. We are gonna learn to grow some mushrooms, have a little bit of adult beverages, and a mushroom coffee bar to enjoy the coffee.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

That's what I wanted to hear about this. If you could if you could speak to us a little bit about what is mushroom coffee.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

So, um, there is another brand on the market, and they have a mushroom coffee that they market, and basically it's mushroom powder.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Okay, I like that straight away.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

This the straight mushroom powder, and I've tried it, and it's cool. You know, mushroom powder is a wonderful thing. Now I have a mushroom coffee that actually has coffee in it, and so it's a blend of coffee and mushroom. So my thing is I'm a coffee drinker. So if I'm going to enjoy a nice cup of coffee, let me add some benefits to it. Okay, we have chaga, once again, it's good for the gut, corniceps for energy and adorance, but not jittery energy. Okay, um, lion's name for recall, raising to bring down anxiety, and once again, turkey tail or cell repair. All five of those mushrooms are inside the coffee. So you can enjoy some coffee and be good and enjoy some health benefits as well.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

What kind of coffee do you blend with your mushroom?

SPEAKER_03 32:11

It's a propaganda. It's just uh a basic, nice, smooth coffee. Um, you don't have that push like you usually get with that strong stomach.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Yeah, and mushrooms. Yeah, we don't have that stomach.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

We don't have that. So you can enjoy it. You can enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

That's awesome. We don't have to bother you about that. Yeah, seriously. I know someone was trying to teach me a process of like, I think no matter that was you. You were teaching about putting them into the logs, like injecting.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Yeah, I mean, just stacking up old wood and throwing it. Because we're about to have a lot of wood to work with.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

Oh, absolutely. And you want to use it as fresh, get the wood as fresh as you can. You want to get it pretty fresh. And um, hardwood, you know, nothing sappy, pine, nothing like that. Get some hardwood and um, you know, drill some holes and get some myceliated dowels and put it into your your logs, seal it up with some max, some wax, because bugs like mushrooms too. Oh, the each mushroom to give it time to. Now, this is the long way around, but done correctly, you'll be enjoying it for years to come.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

Oh, it will just keep because once it's there, so what I did was I took a bag like this after the mushrooms had been harvested. Nice. And I have these um, they're called hoogle cultures, but they're basically just buried hardwood, and then you put dirt over the top of wood chips and it makes like a sponge as they turn into a mushroom pit. So I threw that bag over the kidney. So they're in the wood, and like every now and then stuff will pop up. Now, I don't trust my own mushroom foraging abilities enough to harvest that way, but the experiment works to see it.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

That's um that's nice to see. Is there a way to test to see if a mushroom will hurt you or not? You know, being a really good forager.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

It might just be one time you test it, you know. So no, I I'm not a forager. That's what I'm gonna ask because I don't recommend you trying mushrooms outside. I don't eat, I I don't eat, I don't, I don't eat wild mushrooms. I enjoy if I come across a chanterelle and someone cooked it in something, I'm gonna eat it.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

All right, all right. I won't forage a lot, but I don't forage mushrooms. Okay. What I've been told is that you really like you can't do it from a book. Somebody's got to teach you because everything looks different when it's growing in the wild. That's what I was wondering.

SPEAKER_03 34:42

And a lot of lookalites. It may look like that, but something is different about it. So I just don't. I I admire mushrooms. I get out, I take pictures, I'll stop on the side of the road. I love to see them and everything, but I leave them.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Leave man's the art. I leave them. Leave man's the yard.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

So I grow them indoors, so everything I grew, I know I put it in there. I put that pink oyster in there. So when I harvest it, I know for a fact.

SPEAKER_00 35:06

It's supposed to be that pink. Oh man, I saw that beautiful pink oyster at the zoo the other day, and I could, I could, I mean, it was big as grand.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

It was growing on a stump, and I was like, I know it's an oyster.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

I know it is, but I'm not putting it. You can't touch it.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

You can't touch it.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

That's like the the question that everybody asks. How did how did how did they figure out they could eat that one and not the other one? I was like, well, I guess somebody died or got sick.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

No, you know what it is is before we were pumping our bodies full of toxins, you could tell. You could put a little piece in your mouth and your body would tell you. It'll be like, nope. Yeah, but now we just eat so many toxins we can't tell. I was confused. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

It's like, oh, that's hydrogen oil. I guess it's okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

Exactly, right? I think if I was a little bit on the job training at the moment, sure. And Doug was like, go for it. Go for it. And then everybody saw Doug, not looking at the time.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

No, you know, you don't need that. Those are the special mushrooms. Take them to the temple. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 36:09

And the next thing you know, someone ate a mushroom and they've seen the future.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

And now you have shamans.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

No. Yeah, shaman, yay. Well, uh, man, uh, on your on your website, you also have honey.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

Can you explain the process of that honey and how do you get that honey made?

SPEAKER_03 36:31

So the honey is a blend of local honey from bees. I didn't really believe I had to say that once upon a time, but I did.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Um is it vegan honey now?

SPEAKER_03 36:43

You know, that's what it was like. Um, did mushrooms, did the mushrooms make the honey? I know.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Oh, I see. Yeah. Mushrooms do not make honey. Think about it. Yeah, they were preserved mushrooms.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

Yes. So it's a blend of local honey uh blended with um the mushrooms and a little razzle dazzle. And and you're able to have the benefits of honey and mushrooms at the same time. So this is more of a apothecary type honey. It's not your cooking honey. So you're not pulling it out, okay, you know, for cooking purposes. Wonderful to put in your cabinet. Uh, flu season, sneeze season is coming up, and uh, you feel a little tickle coming on, and you want to add it to your coffee or whatever, or just take a teaspoon of it and just take it straight, straight, straight. And it is um is a medicinal honey.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

Oh, we're gonna have to get some of that. I'm gonna have to get some of that. I just thought that was so cool when I saw that on the West Side because I was like, oh, honey. It's a medicinal honey.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

This this is like fairly new in the home. I've never seen that before in my life. I'm seeing it in other places starting to pop up, I guess. It's trendy, is it's super new, you know.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

It's um it's something I put together and uh I spied it um a while ago um out somewhere, and I'm like, mm, but they had different things in the honey. Yeah, like, well, why not mushrooms in the honey?

SPEAKER_01 38:06

Oh, I see what you're saying. Oh, so you were inspired.

SPEAKER_03 38:08

I was inspired by that, and I'm like, why not other things in the honey? And um I started making the honey, and I realized this is really good. This is this is, you know, I'm not pulling it out to put on my toast, but I put it in my tea when I I I as soon as I feel a little something going on, the mushrooms is is going down. I'm taking it.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

And have you and with you saying that, have you seen um especially if we could just tell our audience have you seen any benefits with your health immediately or within like six to nine months after uh making sure that mushrooms were a part of your diet and your everyday?

SPEAKER_03 38:50

Absolutely. Um I used to be clamoring to get home to take a nap. I was just exhausted. And I really didn't do a lot to be tired. So exhausted and tired, you know, just regular stuff, but I really just needed a nap. Um, I started once I removed some of the meat from my diet and introduced the mushrooms as well as some of the medicinal mushrooms. I don't go a day without taking something mushroom-wise. I can tell instantly with my my um energy levels. When I hit the bed now, I'm definitely going to sleep because I put the work in. I work, I put the work in. Even thought-wise, even without having this this rambling mind, you know, not able to sit still because thoughts are absolutely everywhere. You know, it's here, there, it's everywhere, it's brain fog, it's just too much going on. I was better able to organize my thoughts. Get through my day. I had a plan. Um, I planned my day, I stayed focused, and I did what I needed to do. So that definitely um helped out a lot. And I I believe being able to focus and plan my day without doing so much scattered stuff, as well as bringing, you know, give having more energy, really, really helped my my my health, um, my outlook for my day and my week because it was just a lot internally going on. Okay. Um I'm not vegan. I don't I don't think I will take that route. Um, but I do make it my business not to have meat on days. I don't have to have meat every day. Yeah, I don't have to eat meat every day. Um, so with that being said, I make sure to incorporate more mushrooms in my diet. And I know that has been the um biggest change for me. Just having a focus and having an energy, that alone has just made such a big difference.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

It lowers your stress level. Yes, it keeps you like you're on the water.

SPEAKER_03 40:58

That well being, you know, keep my hand off the horn. You know, I was about to say, yeah. You don't have to blow at every little thing. You know, everything doesn't have to be, you know, addressed with a horn blow. I'm cool, you know, I'm fine. So cool now. Yeah, even when I'm on hold and people say, I'm sorry for the long hole. We're trying to get things done. Yeah, take your time. I'm good. You know, I'm fine. I'm I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna survive it.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Yeah, mushrooms are chill, yeah. Yeah, I don't worry about nothing. Yeah, especially you ready, especially the people that listen to our show. We we need to hear that because I I mean so the epidemic is stress right now and anxiety, and fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, quick, quickly. Hurry, hurry.

SPEAKER_03 41:39

Right. Everyone is in a is in a rush, you know. Take some time. Be easy.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

See? Yeah, be easy. And he's saying it's coming from CT. Be easy.

SPEAKER_03 41:48

That's it. Be easy.

SPEAKER_01 41:49

Yeah, be easy, relax. Right, well, so I know we want to wrap up, but before we wrap up, we always want to give you time to do your shameless plugs and promotion because you got to do that. It's free, it's free good, good business once you do that. But would you um just touch on how you balance, and you're already talking about this though, but it's very important for us to talk about work and life balance. Um, being able to do your work, do your business, and then also make sure that you're putting in the energy into your life, the people around you that matter. How are you able to do those things and keep this business rolling?

SPEAKER_03 42:23

I'm grateful for uh flexibility. So because I'm an entrepreneur, as well as my husband, we have a lot of flexibility.

SPEAKER_02 42:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 42:33

And sometimes quality time and family time will look like work. Meaning we will come to the farm together and get some things done. Because if I just go and everyone is at home, then it's gonna be, you know, a while before I get home to get there to spend some time. But if we all come to the farm to get some stuff done or to help him get what he needs to get done, we can get done faster and get you know out to this to the world what we want to do. That's a family farm. That's a family. Yeah, it's a family farm.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Let's let you break everything down, work together.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

Yeah, so you know, sometimes family time maybe disguise as work.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

Wink wink.

SPEAKER_03 43:15

You know, just remember that. You know, just like when I used to tell my son, we're gonna we're gonna go wash the car.

SPEAKER_00 43:20

Yeah, all that. You need to keep that in mind more often. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

So just the the flexibility of it. And um it's not gonna be a plan, you know, get rid of the the the list, it's not gonna go A, B, C, D. Sometimes we're starting at Z, back to J, maybe K. We might get to A, but it's okay, you know, as long as we stay there. And once I got rid of how I wanted my day to just go tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, which aggravated me because it didn't go that way. So now we flow with it. We flow with the day. I know what I want to have accomplished, and if I don't get it done, you know, in order or all at one time, it's okay. We're gonna get to it. I know we're gonna get through it. We're gonna be back here Thursday and Friday, and we have time to get it done.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

That's an awesome way to think about it. I like that. It's a real awesome way.

SPEAKER_03 44:17

And so, you know, just breathe through it. It's it's it's gonna work out. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be all right.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

I think it's important for our uh audience to hear, especially I know we talked about uh at the beginning, the different generations and how we think about getting things done, et cetera. Yeah. I think there is some positives to understand that you gotta get work done.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

And there's also positives to understand that you gotta be able to relax and also be with your family and enjoy them at the same time. Gotta have balance.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

When you make that transition to being your own boss, yeah, it's different. There's there's like this this mentality that I have to be disciplined, I have to keep myself all the time. But that doesn't necessarily mean nine to five, like no, yeah, like because that's that's designed for factory work and that's not what we do in these days.

SPEAKER_03 45:05

That's that's definitely not that's not it, you know. So I may be working at 12 o'clock because I need to get something done on my my website, and that's fine because I enjoy the day and 12 o'clock. It's quiet. I'm working from 12 to 1 and I'm getting some things done. I might be in the warehouse late, I might be there early. So as long as I have flexibility, just be flexible in life. You know, it doesn't have to be so rigid. Um and just understand that everybody's not gonna be home on time to eat altogether. I don't eat by myself. When y'all get in, y'all go in and grab some eat, you know. Might have already eaten before I got there.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

So just be okay with that. Be okay with everything not being okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

See, I like I like how you say that. Be okay with everything not being okay. Being okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

Because that's something that has to be learned. I know uh we we try to we want our audience to hear that because it lets them know that things that they're doing, if things aren't set up in a prototypical standardized way, it is fine. It's cool. It's fine. It's fine. You're good. You're good. It still leads to success.

SPEAKER_03 46:16

It it definitely definitely does. You know, as long as you're moving in your direction, you you're you're fine. So be okay with that. Be all be okay with that.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

Excellent. Now, it is your time to shine. What you got coming up? What you got coming up?

SPEAKER_03 46:31

I'm glad you asked. So I have uh a few classes coming up learning to grow mushrooms. The first one is October 5th from 11 to 1. Um, this is an adult time. This is you know to do some adult things. We're gonna grow our own mushrooms. Uh take a uh a tour of the farm, and this is where we can ask some questions. Um, we also have uh mushroom kit pickup night, which is on Friday evenings from 5 to 6. This is where you can pick up your kit. We can chit-chat about how to take care of your mushrooms and how to get the best out of your kit. I also have been invited to bring my products to the South Carolina State this year. So it's gonna be at the South Carolina um what's that? The State Fair. Fair. Yeah South Carolina State Fair. So you can check out some of my products here. I'm gonna have some kits, uh, coffee, um, and uh a few other products.

SPEAKER_00 47:29

Um that's amazing. I hope you do quite well there.

SPEAKER_03 47:32

I hope you know I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

Yeah, I always love going through the agriculture stuff there. It's I will be there this year, so I'm gonna make sure to stop by and bring my wife together. Stop by.

SPEAKER_03 47:41

So I won't be there in person, but they're setting up like a market. So they're bringing in local farmers. Uh it has to be made or grown here in South Carolina, and they're going to display our products. So, you know, go over there and record stuff.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Yeah, most definitely. Yeah, and um, you all you know, this is our generation. You gotta drop your your socials if you have any so people can know how to find you and see where to buy your your excellent products.

SPEAKER_03 48:05

Okay, so um my um website is the purplemushroom.com, the purplemushroom.com.

SPEAKER_01 48:13

How did you get you you really got that domain? Yeah, that's why I thought it was wild that no one ever used that because think about mushrooms and purple, and since the 1970s, nobody's touched that.

SPEAKER_03 48:23

Thank goodness.

SPEAKER_00 48:24

Well, you know, people that people that sit on those things are looking for Ford and stuff. That's good. No, you're you're not uh their their target because they're they're basically ransoming when they click on these domains.

SPEAKER_03 48:37

It's funny. Um the uh GoDaddy guy called and told me that I need to put some extra security on my site because they are now kidnapping sites. Yeah, yeah, holding up for ransom.

SPEAKER_00 48:50

Well, they'll thank you out, make you think that you like that, hey, you need to renew and then you sign this thing and then they transfer you to another domain and bye-bye.

SPEAKER_03 48:57

That's it. So I was like, really? He was like, you know, game. Yeah, I just checked your your your resale value, and you know, it's good. You might want to oh this is what I was saying.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

Like literally nobody had that exactly.

SPEAKER_03 49:12

He's like, you might want to put some extra security on there. I'm like, okay, well, let me do that. Yeah, just make them text your phone.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

That's what that's all you mean. That two-factor fixes a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 49:23

Exactly. And um, so that's what I have going on. We um are located at 618 Prescott Road. So if you're looking to purchase fresh mushrooms, Monday through Friday, 11 to 3.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

Perfect. And that's good. And it's a it's a cool facility. Like I've toured your shop. Yeah, yeah. Like the the capacity that you have, right? You could be really pumping out a lot of mushrooms.

SPEAKER_03 49:49

Absolutely. Absolutely. We're growing with the order. So as we bring more clients on, then we'll increase. So, you know, like they say, grow slow so you don't owe. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Say that again.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

Grow slow so you don't owe. That's for the audience. That's for the audience. You know, you want to grow with your clientele. So there's no need for me to just grow mushrooms and I don't have anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 50:14

Well, and particularly in agriculture, like then you got to sell them. So that drives down the price. So now your local price is down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

We're not doing that.

SPEAKER_00 50:22

No, don't do that to the market. Yeah, get ready.

SPEAKER_03 50:26

We're not gonna do that one. Yeah, but mushroom growth you know, cultivating mushrooms, it's hard work.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

It's hard.

SPEAKER_03 50:32

You know, the process is hard. Um, we're dealing with fun guy, we're dealing with mold. Um, once one thing catches on in your farm, it's out. That's that's that's it. Wow for the next six to eight weeks. It's over. You're trash and everything.

SPEAKER_00 50:45

And then you have to just go. So you lose a whole crop from some mold that got in there.

SPEAKER_03 50:48

That's right. That's right. Out. So we have to make sure we stay on top of it. It's not easy. We have to regulate it. Um, we have to make sure that we're pumping our spores out. So it takes work, you know. It it is a fun job, but it takes work. Oh, I like that. I like that. Yeah, yeah, it takes work. And um, shout out to my volunteers that come out to help me in the mushroom farm. I appreciate y'all so much. There we go. And if you're ever in the market to volunteer, just let me know. Once again, it's the purplemushroom.com.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

Excellent, excellent. Well, we greatly appreciate you joining us today on the Hilltop Globe podcast. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Starting off season five, strong. Strong. That's what I like to see. That's like you say, thanks for bringing your friend over here. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 51:33

Doug, really enjoyed it, you know. Doug hanging out here, man.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

Hanging out, doing Doug things. Doing Doug things. Well, it's been awesome. I'm gonna go ahead and say, man, it's DJ and what? A mic behind the camera. Yep. And our esteemed guest, Titrina. Titrina. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 51:54

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

Until next time, make sure you tell somebody next to you that you love them, that you cherish them. And we'll see you on the next episode of the Hilltop Globe podcast. Peace, peace.

SPEAKER_03 52:03

Peace.