1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,740
And if we're still doing this prescriptive agriculture, in my mind, it really isn't any different than the conventional when it comes to health.

2
00:00:09,740 --> 00:00:19,160
Now, it can be, and I think this is an important distinction, it can be healthier if it's grown the way the hippies intended.

3
00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:25,460
And quite frankly, my grandfather and his predecessors in agriculture grew food.

4
00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:28,640
They paid attention to what was going on in the soil.

5
00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:36,100
and it's far more refined today than it was back then but i guarantee you you would never find a

6
00:00:36,100 --> 00:00:41,680
farmer that would be in my grandfather's generation that would not go out with a

7
00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:43,520
shovel stick it in the dirt and smell the dirt

8
00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:06,700
All right, everybody.

9
00:01:06,860 --> 00:01:10,480
Welcome back to another episode of the Space Tomatoes podcast.

10
00:01:11,060 --> 00:01:12,740
I'm one of your hosts, Savick.

11
00:01:13,460 --> 00:01:14,120
And I'm Alex.

12
00:01:14,180 --> 00:01:14,440
Hello.

13
00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:15,160
Welcome back.

14
00:01:15,580 --> 00:01:27,240
And today we have with us a special guest, Bob Underwood, affectionately known as Farmer Bob and the man behind Beyond Berries.

15
00:01:27,540 --> 00:01:28,440
Welcome to the show, Bob.

16
00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:34,820
Well, great. Thanks for having me, guys. It's good to be here. Looking forward to the conversation.

17
00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:44,320
Absolutely. So, I guess we could just dig right into this. What was the impetus behind this?

18
00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:51,440
At some point, you had this idea. Where did it come from?

19
00:01:51,440 --> 00:02:02,340
Yeah, so great question. It came from a lot of different places actually, but I would say the most prevalent is my desire to see people eat healthy.

20
00:02:03,300 --> 00:02:11,780
And it started with my kids. They were young and growing up on a berry farm, we had plenty of berries right at hand.

21
00:02:11,780 --> 00:02:25,080
But I found fairly quickly, especially when they were younger, that they would sometimes have a smile and then sometimes have a pucker when they bit into the berries.

22
00:02:25,220 --> 00:02:27,320
And I think we've all experienced that, right?

23
00:02:27,740 --> 00:02:31,220
And when that smile happened, well, boy, they were sure getting into those.

24
00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,320
And when that pucker happened, well, they set it down.

25
00:02:33,380 --> 00:02:34,920
They wanted to move on to something else.

26
00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:39,920
So I started thinking, you know, I want my kids, obviously we all do, to eat healthy.

27
00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:47,860
what am I going to do that is going to get them eating that and consistency came to mind so I

28
00:02:47,860 --> 00:02:53,800
started daydreaming if you will about what we could do to make a berry taste consistent and

29
00:02:53,800 --> 00:03:00,600
as I progressed through my career this is early on my kids were very young then as I

30
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:07,240
went on through my career I started really building a niche for our core competency which is berry

31
00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:14,880
purees and we do that through a company called trans-specific food that that company sells fruit

32
00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:21,680
to all the major brands so just think of most of your beverages think of most of your ice creams

33
00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:29,060
inclusions and bakery products we sell to many of those people you're going to find the uh the

34
00:03:29,060 --> 00:03:35,040
trans-specific food products not branded but you're going to see that in a lot of your ice cream

35
00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,260
And they're big brand. I mean, we sell a lot of volume.

36
00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:49,340
So now all of a sudden I'm condensing these ideas of consistency and what we're actually doing with the idea of being able to take upcycled fruit,

37
00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:56,940
which by nature, some of what we do with Puri is upcycled fruit, but the farmer in me doesn't like to see anything to the waist.

38
00:03:56,940 --> 00:04:07,480
So those three ideas sort of gelled and then we throw in this concept of dates and created the Beyond Berries.

39
00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:12,820
And what we've done there, and it is actually a proprietary process, we've taken whole dates.

40
00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:25,360
So when you're eating a Beyond Berry or the Beyond Berries product, you're actually eating a fusion of upcycled berries, which means it's this fruit that would not have gone to the store.

41
00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,300
It's not pretty enough to be in a clamshell or in a frozen bag.

42
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:38,080
And it generally would be left by the farmer out in the field and or sorted out in a processing facility and it goes to waste.

43
00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,860
Again, as a farmer, we hate to see waste.

44
00:04:42,820 --> 00:04:46,800
So we took that and started playing around.

45
00:04:47,260 --> 00:04:49,820
Literally, it's kind of like Betty Crocker.

46
00:04:49,820 --> 00:04:53,320
we're toying with a lot of different ideas,

47
00:04:54,020 --> 00:04:56,280
played around with a lot of different methodology

48
00:04:56,280 --> 00:05:01,380
and figured out how to put together this concept of beyond berries,

49
00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:02,880
taking this fruit,

50
00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,900
and it's a combination of a number of different types of berries right now,

51
00:05:07,660 --> 00:05:09,780
and whole dates.

52
00:05:09,780 --> 00:05:14,360
So you're getting all the nutritive value of each of those fruits

53
00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:18,280
distilled down into a liquid form.

54
00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:24,900
then we have a molding process that we remold them back into a familiar shape

55
00:05:24,900 --> 00:05:27,400
that represents the flavor of what you're eating.

56
00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:32,720
And now you've got a creamy, bite-sized sorbet.

57
00:05:33,220 --> 00:05:39,580
It's like biting a little berry that tastes and feels like a sorbet or an ice cream or a popsicle.

58
00:05:40,300 --> 00:05:46,180
And what you're getting in that creamy, sweet, consistent flavor is the dates.

59
00:05:46,180 --> 00:05:56,840
You don't really taste the dates, but because it's the whole date, unlike most people use a date sugar, which is fairly refined, or using a date syrup, again, which is refined.

60
00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:03,740
In this case, we found a way that we can actually use the whole date, and that creates what we have in Beyond Berry.

61
00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,820
And I was actually, I'm proud to say this, actually.

62
00:06:07,540 --> 00:06:10,580
I'm able to now have something that the kids love.

63
00:06:10,980 --> 00:06:14,200
And we've done a number of demos.

64
00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:20,620
we've done a number of trade shows and now we're actually in sam's club doing what they call a

65
00:06:20,620 --> 00:06:27,060
road shows and kids by far love them and i i love telling that story you know guys i this was

66
00:06:27,060 --> 00:06:33,120
actually created for you to give you something that you would enjoy eating and it's healthy for

67
00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:38,020
you and then i look at mom and dad and i say hey mom and dad and you can feel very good about this

68
00:06:38,020 --> 00:06:44,880
this is going to be healthy it's only it's only four ingredients the one variety which is black

69
00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:50,580
raspberry which is our more most popular there's only four ingredients in it there's no

70
00:06:50,580 --> 00:06:55,200
yeah i mean there's no trying to figure out what's in it it's right there on the label

71
00:06:55,200 --> 00:07:02,980
all right it's it's uh you you i can't remember i think it's uh it's the the black black it's

72
00:07:02,980 --> 00:07:11,360
blackberries right uh honey dates and there was fruit or something i don't remember so the black

73
00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:16,780
raspberries there's three varieties there's the black raspberry there's the blueberry and then

74
00:07:16,780 --> 00:07:23,600
there's a red red raspberry okay and i like to scale them this way on a scale of sweetness the

75
00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:29,780
sweetest is the black raspberries the tartest is a red raspberry and the blueberry is somewhere in

76
00:07:29,780 --> 00:07:35,320
the middle. So with the black raspberry, it's got the most ingredients in it. And that is

77
00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:45,640
black raspberries, blueberries, dates, and black currants. Okay. So it is, it is truly a super fruit.

78
00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:51,080
If you, if you want to look it up, look it up. We don't necessarily advertise it that way,

79
00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:55,660
but it really is a super fruit. Everything I just named there is, is categorized as a super fruit.

80
00:07:55,660 --> 00:07:57,480
We brought them together in that flavor.

81
00:07:57,780 --> 00:08:06,880
And then you have the blueberry, which is actually blueberries, dates, and raspberries together, which gives it that little bit of tart tang to it.

82
00:08:07,340 --> 00:08:10,880
And then the raspberries is two ingredients, raspberries and dates.

83
00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:12,160
Okay, dates.

84
00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:14,000
So where did I get honey from?

85
00:08:14,260 --> 00:08:15,060
I don't know.

86
00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:17,340
I was like, where did I get that from?

87
00:08:17,340 --> 00:08:29,780
So one of the things when I was researching as well, I actually spend a good amount of time in California is you have a partnership of sorts or affiliation with Mother's Market.

88
00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:41,920
And if you know what Mother's Market is, it's a place you can go and you trust whatever you're getting there is, you know, high quality, real food, right?

89
00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:50,180
It may not contain the organic label, but you're pretty much guaranteed it's not full of anything that you wouldn't want in your body.

90
00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:50,960
Right.

91
00:08:51,420 --> 00:08:53,660
So that to me was very exciting.

92
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:58,800
How do you how do you go about, you know, getting those, you know.

93
00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:03,760
Companies interested in your product.

94
00:09:04,220 --> 00:09:06,320
What does that entail?

95
00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:11,720
Is that a long process, hard to do, or is it fairly simple and easy and making friends?

96
00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:12,880
Yes.

97
00:09:15,140 --> 00:09:18,740
Long, hard process that's simple and easy like making friends.

98
00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:19,320
I got it.

99
00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:22,880
I mean, I say that tongue in cheek.

100
00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:24,880
It's all of those.

101
00:09:25,700 --> 00:09:32,160
Specifically to Mother's Market, they met us at our very first food show.

102
00:09:32,540 --> 00:09:37,460
So they are the second customer of the Beyond Berries.

103
00:09:38,420 --> 00:09:40,260
And they were excited about it.

104
00:09:40,260 --> 00:09:41,580
They met us at a food show.

105
00:09:41,580 --> 00:09:42,860
They tasted it.

106
00:09:42,940 --> 00:09:43,480
They liked it.

107
00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:49,680
And they thought, boy, this really kind of fits our niche, if you will, in the world.

108
00:09:49,980 --> 00:09:51,900
And you describe that well, Havoc.

109
00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:52,840
That is their niche.

110
00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:53,760
People trust them.

111
00:09:54,660 --> 00:09:59,800
And I'm proud to partner with somebody like that because if we don't have integrity, we don't have anything.

112
00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,840
And everything really revolves around that.

113
00:10:04,940 --> 00:10:08,560
And that's frankly why my picture is on the label.

114
00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:22,760
I want people to have that sense that there's somebody behind it, that this is somebody hopefully that you'll be able to trust, certainly learn to trust as you try the product and learn more about me through the opportunities like I have with you guys here.

115
00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:34,780
I truly and genuinely appreciate the opportunity to speak with you guys because it does let people see who I am and that I'm just a regular guy like the rest of us that had an idea.

116
00:10:35,620 --> 00:10:37,940
And hopefully it's going to make everybody a little bit healthier.

117
00:10:38,340 --> 00:10:49,580
And we can talk a little bit more about why that philosophy rings a little more true than just the product when we start talking about my agricultural philosophy.

118
00:10:49,580 --> 00:10:58,440
but yeah all of this resonated with with mother's market and so we've got mother's market we we just

119
00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:05,160
tied in you may know of this store brand as well in southern california bristol farms

120
00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:14,860
all of them all of them are natural foods uh i say organic but not in the organic sense of

121
00:11:14,860 --> 00:11:20,300
production but they're they're organic uh in nature people just want to go there because

122
00:11:20,940 --> 00:11:24,780
uh they know that it's wholesome they know that they're going to get something that they

123
00:11:24,780 --> 00:11:32,060
as you you indicated earlier you can trust and that way i that's our really our target audience

124
00:11:32,060 --> 00:11:39,020
as a retailer we've had some of the big guys look at us and my business mantra for years is say

125
00:11:39,020 --> 00:11:45,820
has been don't say no unless you have to and we'll eventually get around to the bigger brands

126
00:11:45,820 --> 00:11:52,120
brand stores i'm sure there is interest there but i really want to develop this brand and give

127
00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:57,820
people an opportunity to know what it's about first before they just start to see it in mass

128
00:11:57,820 --> 00:12:05,620
market appeal okay yeah and and go ahead alex you had something no i was going to ask is the is the

129
00:12:05,620 --> 00:12:14,820
Sam's Club tour just on that side of the country, or are you guys going to be doing a nationwide rollout on something like that?

130
00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:18,100
It really depends on Sam's Club when it comes to that.

131
00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:18,980
Okay.

132
00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:25,320
I've got a friend who's very connected into the Walmart Sam's Club world, and he's excited about it.

133
00:12:25,340 --> 00:12:27,080
And he says, we've got to get you on a roadshow.

134
00:12:28,100 --> 00:12:33,340
And just a minute ago, I said I really didn't want to get into that big environment quite yet.

135
00:12:33,340 --> 00:12:36,360
Well, I had that same conversation with him and he said, no, no, no, no, no, no.

136
00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:37,720
That's not what we're talking about.

137
00:12:37,820 --> 00:12:43,720
This is, this is a, you actually buy the space from, from Sam's club.

138
00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:47,780
And then you go out there and you, you tell people about your product.

139
00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:49,680
And I said, boy, I'm, I'm all over that.

140
00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:50,840
So that's what we're doing.

141
00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:53,060
We're doing it in the Las Vegas area.

142
00:12:53,460 --> 00:12:55,040
We're doing our fourth show.

143
00:12:55,120 --> 00:13:00,360
Now we've got one more behind this and we'll look to see what Sam's club says.

144
00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:06,660
but so far you know we did three and then they picked us back up for two and we're talking about

145
00:13:06,660 --> 00:13:12,660
more down the road i'd like everything guys we've got to refine our message and and how we do that

146
00:13:12,660 --> 00:13:21,460
this isn't something that uh i'm inherently uh good at i mean i think i'm pretty good at having

147
00:13:21,460 --> 00:13:26,840
conversations with folks like this but you get me out and talking about myself yeah it's really kind

148
00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:33,040
of unnatural for me but it is working and I'm having a lot of fun especially with the kids I

149
00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:38,960
just we were giving away free freezer tote bags as kind of a promotional thing if you'll buy

150
00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:45,180
multiple units and we had some repeat customers from the first show in the same location and the

151
00:13:45,180 --> 00:13:51,300
family came up and said oh my gosh we love your fruit of course you love to hear that it's great

152
00:13:51,300 --> 00:13:53,060
and the kids are all excited about it.

153
00:13:53,860 --> 00:13:57,960
And we sold them some more and got them a tote bag, and away they went.

154
00:13:58,400 --> 00:13:59,860
And I don't know, it was about five minutes later,

155
00:13:59,980 --> 00:14:03,320
one of the little young boys came up and said,

156
00:14:03,740 --> 00:14:08,480
Farmer Bob, could I have your autograph on my tote bag?

157
00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,920
I never, ever envisioned hearing somebody say they wanted my autograph,

158
00:14:13,340 --> 00:14:14,680
but it was a sweet moment.

159
00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:16,440
That is awesome.

160
00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:18,140
That's really good.

161
00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:19,180
I like it.

162
00:14:19,180 --> 00:14:24,400
Well, that's if that's not it's got to be all all.

163
00:14:24,580 --> 00:14:25,220
I don't know.

164
00:14:25,300 --> 00:14:28,040
It's worth all of all the gold in the world right there.

165
00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:28,800
Right.

166
00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:30,380
That had to make your day, I'm sure.

167
00:14:30,700 --> 00:14:30,920
Yeah.

168
00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,560
So on the organic piece.

169
00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:33,840
Right.

170
00:14:35,060 --> 00:14:39,460
I kind of cringe when I hear organic anymore.

171
00:14:39,460 --> 00:14:39,960
Right.

172
00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,860
I think the intention in the beginning was good.

173
00:14:42,900 --> 00:14:46,160
And I think there's still a lot of good intention behind it.

174
00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:56,640
But anymore, it's more of just a regulatory location than anything else, I think.

175
00:14:57,440 --> 00:14:59,360
What are your thoughts on that?

176
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:12,380
In other words, it's more just a piece of paper that even if you're doing better practices than organic farmers are doing, you can't use that term or you're going to be in big trouble.

177
00:15:12,380 --> 00:15:20,580
so boy uh i am so glad you led in that way because when i have this conversation with people i never

178
00:15:20,580 --> 00:15:28,900
quite know there's a lot of misconceptions around organic a lot of them and we do use organic dates

179
00:15:28,900 --> 00:15:35,440
why do we use organic dates because the vast majority of production is organic we use organic

180
00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:40,700
berries and conventional berries why do we do that and i do want to kind of get this out there

181
00:15:40,700 --> 00:15:47,540
because it's asked quite frequently, because we are looking to try and prevent food waste as well.

182
00:15:48,420 --> 00:15:53,800
And there isn't nearly the scope, although people like to talk a lot about organic,

183
00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:59,840
the vast volume of fruit is still sold in what we classify as conventional.

184
00:16:00,700 --> 00:16:04,660
So I wanted to take the opportunity both to help farmers,

185
00:16:04,660 --> 00:16:13,560
but as well make sure we did our best to eliminate food waste by allowing both organic and inorganic.

186
00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,620
So we do not inorganic, excuse me, conventional.

187
00:16:19,580 --> 00:16:25,640
Speaking directly to the idea of organic, this one is I can get on a soapbox.

188
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,540
So you guys might want to slow me down a little bit.

189
00:16:30,060 --> 00:16:31,540
Pull it up, preach away.

190
00:16:32,060 --> 00:16:33,660
All right, I'm going to do it.

191
00:16:33,660 --> 00:16:35,480
You gave me the podium.

192
00:16:35,700 --> 00:16:42,280
You gave me the pastoral opportunity, so I'm going to take it.

193
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:49,040
Organic, when it first started, was, you know, frankly, oversimplification,

194
00:16:49,180 --> 00:16:53,420
but it was a bunch of hippies that wanted to come up with a way to say,

195
00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,600
this chemical idea isn't really all that great, guys.

196
00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:00,260
There's not so many great things about this.

197
00:17:00,260 --> 00:17:04,300
and they said, you know, the way we used to do it worked pretty good.

198
00:17:04,380 --> 00:17:05,500
We're going to go back to that.

199
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:09,820
And you guys have all, you know, Silent Spring,

200
00:17:10,020 --> 00:17:13,920
all the books that have come out talking about chemical agriculture,

201
00:17:14,360 --> 00:17:16,780
they were dovetailing on that.

202
00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:22,740
And they really were just a bunch of 60s hippies that said,

203
00:17:23,060 --> 00:17:24,700
we're going to retaliate.

204
00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:26,960
And they did.

205
00:17:27,220 --> 00:17:29,660
And they went out there and they said, we're going to go back

206
00:17:29,660 --> 00:17:33,000
and we're going to start going back to nature

207
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,720
and we're going to grow it just without any of these chemical inputs.

208
00:17:39,020 --> 00:17:40,900
And it was really more than that.

209
00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:46,780
I mean, I sort of classify this as in the context of organics.

210
00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:55,440
I really classify conventional agriculture then as more prescriptive agriculture.

211
00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:57,900
So there was a problem.

212
00:17:57,900 --> 00:18:06,920
and this is obviously my opinion, but there was a problem and we looked for a way to solve that

213
00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:16,200
problem. We as agriculture now, prior to the advent of, of chemical medication, if you will,

214
00:18:16,260 --> 00:18:23,460
for the plant might be the best way to sort of globally phrase it. Prior to that, we, we looked

215
00:18:23,460 --> 00:18:27,320
at the soil. We looked at the plant. We looked at the health of the plant. We looked at what was

216
00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:34,300
going on and then we tried to find the root cause and cure it at that level what happened was

217
00:18:34,300 --> 00:18:44,040
somebody came along and said hey you know this plant creates this specific toxin if you will

218
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:49,500
that's going to kill this specific bug and the classic example is really a chrysanthemum

219
00:18:49,500 --> 00:18:59,100
there's a chemical it's a pyrethrin is this the name or a pyrethroid that occurs naturally in

220
00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:05,660
chrysanthemums and somebody in a lab said i can synthesize that and i can market that

221
00:19:05,660 --> 00:19:12,400
and that was you know it's not specifically the pyrethrin but it's an easy example but that really

222
00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:17,940
is what started it we took something that was organically known in nature to prevent certain

223
00:19:17,940 --> 00:19:22,980
maladies and then we got in a lab and we synthesized it we standardized it and

224
00:19:22,980 --> 00:19:27,120
went out and marketed it so now all of a sudden you have an insect problem and

225
00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:30,960
rather than looking at the health of the plant and trying to figure it out you've

226
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:44,256
got this guy that walks in and he says hey I got this cheap alternative that going to kill that specific pest and away you go And that really is what chemical agriculture was

227
00:19:44,256 --> 00:19:54,076
And I use that term loosely because I've used these tools over my lifetime and I am certainly not going to bad mouth them.

228
00:19:54,536 --> 00:19:56,236
They've done a lot of good in the world.

229
00:19:56,236 --> 00:20:03,816
So it's just not the philosophy that I agree with per se anymore in growing fruit or anything for that matter.

230
00:20:04,476 --> 00:20:10,996
So you've got this concept now of trying to find a way to solve the symptom.

231
00:20:11,336 --> 00:20:11,976
I got a headache.

232
00:20:12,076 --> 00:20:13,076
I'm going to take aspirin.

233
00:20:13,716 --> 00:20:16,936
You know, when you put it in our world, I've got a headache.

234
00:20:17,016 --> 00:20:17,996
I'm going to take aspirin.

235
00:20:18,116 --> 00:20:20,536
Well, nobody's really asking the question, well, why'd you get the headache?

236
00:20:20,776 --> 00:20:21,596
Did you get enough sleep?

237
00:20:21,696 --> 00:20:22,656
Were you drinking enough water?

238
00:20:23,236 --> 00:20:24,636
And really that's what we became.

239
00:20:24,636 --> 00:20:33,596
So we have this problem, whether it be fungal, whether it be plant-based for weeds or insects, whatever it is, we've got this problem.

240
00:20:33,716 --> 00:20:35,796
So here's the pill for it and take that.

241
00:20:36,396 --> 00:20:38,676
And it was incredibly cheap.

242
00:20:38,936 --> 00:20:40,496
It was incredibly easy.

243
00:20:40,876 --> 00:20:49,316
The old way of doing it, if you will, was, again, you've got to find out what the problem was and then you've got to fix the problem.

244
00:20:49,436 --> 00:20:51,896
That takes time, that takes money, and that takes labor.

245
00:20:54,636 --> 00:20:58,136
It was an easy button, and we all pushed it.

246
00:20:58,776 --> 00:20:59,796
We all pushed it.

247
00:21:00,116 --> 00:21:04,436
And, again, there was a lot that happened that was good from that.

248
00:21:04,596 --> 00:21:05,696
We increased production.

249
00:21:05,876 --> 00:21:06,836
We increased yields.

250
00:21:07,016 --> 00:21:08,416
We increased a lot of things.

251
00:21:09,376 --> 00:21:16,336
And, you know, away we went, and nobody really was taking a look at what the consequences was of the easy button.

252
00:21:17,316 --> 00:21:17,456
Yeah.

253
00:21:18,016 --> 00:21:20,856
Unintended consequences are rarely good.

254
00:21:21,616 --> 00:21:22,156
Correct.

255
00:21:22,156 --> 00:21:22,216
Correct.

256
00:21:22,216 --> 00:21:28,456
correct and so now you know bringing it full circle back to the hippies the hippies kind of

257
00:21:28,456 --> 00:21:34,396
realized this and said wait a minute we're going to change it and they did the problem with the

258
00:21:34,396 --> 00:21:41,536
hippies and you know you probably may or may not remember um the adwalla juice scare where they

259
00:21:41,536 --> 00:21:47,416
were using unpasteurized apples that came organically and some people got e coli and got sick

260
00:21:47,416 --> 00:21:54,436
And all of a sudden, you know, and these are, I'm not making light of any of this or serious problems, right?

261
00:21:54,916 --> 00:21:55,256
Sure.

262
00:21:55,496 --> 00:21:57,616
But now we've got the government involved.

263
00:21:58,196 --> 00:22:01,116
So the government is saying, we're going to take care of this problem.

264
00:22:01,296 --> 00:22:04,716
So they, to do that, the government can't do anything.

265
00:22:04,836 --> 00:22:08,496
And again, this isn't me necessarily making a statement on government controls.

266
00:22:08,676 --> 00:22:10,596
It's just a fact of what happened.

267
00:22:10,596 --> 00:22:15,936
the government says, well, there really isn't any way we can monitor this

268
00:22:15,936 --> 00:22:19,816
and we can control this unless we put it in some form of a box.

269
00:22:21,256 --> 00:22:26,696
So they got all the figureheads, if you will, within government working together

270
00:22:26,696 --> 00:22:28,736
and they boxed what is organic.

271
00:22:28,736 --> 00:22:35,956
And really what organic was boxed as, the exact same thing as conventional,

272
00:22:35,956 --> 00:22:44,396
except it was organically based products that we were using for prescriptive agriculture

273
00:22:44,396 --> 00:22:51,276
and there's some good things about that and there's some bad things about that

274
00:22:51,276 --> 00:22:57,056
but i think what happened was once it was boxed it allowed those people like myself

275
00:22:57,056 --> 00:23:04,376
and agriculture to to market because we've got a box to market from and what did we market i think

276
00:23:04,376 --> 00:23:10,916
the common perception for most people eating organic is that it's healthier for you and there's

277
00:23:10,916 --> 00:23:19,656
no pesticides applied well there are pesticides applied they're just organically based pesticides

278
00:23:19,656 --> 00:23:26,396
now we can talk about yeah we can talk about whether that's good or whether that's bad but

279
00:23:26,396 --> 00:23:32,876
it's still a prescriptive type of agriculture i have a headache i need a pill and then the healthy

280
00:23:32,876 --> 00:23:40,596
part of it is really where I start to shudder a little bit more because it's not necessarily

281
00:23:40,596 --> 00:23:46,856
healthier. What makes the food healthier is the environment in which it's grown.

282
00:23:47,776 --> 00:23:53,876
Right. And if we're still doing this prescriptive agriculture, in my mind, it really isn't any

283
00:23:53,876 --> 00:24:01,096
different than the conventional when it comes to health. Now it can be, and I think this is

284
00:24:01,096 --> 00:24:08,456
an important distinction. It can be healthier if it's grown the way the hippies intended. And

285
00:24:08,456 --> 00:24:15,596
quite frankly, my grandfather and his predecessors in agriculture grew food. They paid attention to

286
00:24:15,596 --> 00:24:22,516
what was going on in the soil. And it's far more refined today than it was back then. But I

287
00:24:22,516 --> 00:24:28,756
guarantee you, you would never find a farmer that would be in my grandfather's generation

288
00:24:28,756 --> 00:24:32,136
that would not go out with a shovel, stick it in the dirt and smell the dirt.

289
00:24:32,936 --> 00:24:33,076
Oh yeah.

290
00:24:33,256 --> 00:24:36,496
Feel it, smell it, look for life.

291
00:24:36,656 --> 00:24:38,016
I mean, you can see the life.

292
00:24:38,556 --> 00:24:43,376
Pull a plant, grab it, pull the roots right out and look.

293
00:24:43,876 --> 00:24:44,896
You'll see nodules.

294
00:24:44,896 --> 00:24:54,356
You'll see the nodes that are the transmission highways for minerals and nutrients to these root balls, right?

295
00:24:54,456 --> 00:24:58,076
If you see all of this, you're going in the right direction.

296
00:24:58,076 --> 00:25:06,656
if your soil looks like the ag fields around me uh you you obviously took a wrong turn like

297
00:25:06,656 --> 00:25:14,676
go back do something different my my opinion and and it is absolutely a truth that healthy soil

298
00:25:14,676 --> 00:25:24,056
actually protects plants uh vine borers we we those things i with a passion just don't like

299
00:25:24,056 --> 00:25:30,516
those. But if your soil is healthy and you've gotten a good, healthy nematode load, you won't

300
00:25:30,516 --> 00:25:37,336
have vine borer problem. You may get one crop up, but it won't sustain itself, right? So, and an

301
00:25:37,336 --> 00:25:44,116
often overlooked piece of that is the soil biome. So, sorry, I'm going to segue out here. Like,

302
00:25:44,116 --> 00:25:51,736
how do you, you know, what do you look for in farms as far as practices, maintaining healthy

303
00:25:51,736 --> 00:26:01,096
soil um you know inputs being more natural uh you know i'm not gonna bag on bt as a prescriptive

304
00:26:01,096 --> 00:26:07,416
use during a dire situation a pest load can come in japanese beetles being one of them

305
00:26:07,976 --> 00:26:15,976
but a pest load can come in and you you either just suffer the loss or you do something and then

306
00:26:15,976 --> 00:26:24,696
In my hope is that you're not only just doing something, but you're also fixing the root of the problem, right?

307
00:26:25,356 --> 00:26:33,576
So what do you look for in those areas when you're dealing with people, conventional or otherwise, right?

308
00:26:35,336 --> 00:26:37,716
So it really is about how you treat the soil.

309
00:26:37,716 --> 00:26:41,136
And everything you just said is accurate.

310
00:26:41,136 --> 00:26:50,336
it regenerative agriculture is sort of the buzzword today uh i've i am a little bit more

311
00:26:50,336 --> 00:26:59,456
prophylactic than that i i like to call it biodynamic farming and that includes the proper

312
00:26:59,456 --> 00:27:06,616
mineral balancing of the soil it's important that you have your basis aligned basis b-a-s-e-s-c-s as

313
00:27:06,616 --> 00:27:10,576
and calcium, magnesium, potassium in particular.

314
00:27:10,576 --> 00:27:21,536
There's a percentage that's been proven many, many years ago that produces crops consistently better, stronger, healthier.

315
00:27:22,636 --> 00:27:24,356
So that's an important part of it.

316
00:27:24,436 --> 00:27:30,436
But the biggest part of it is actually having the right biological activity in the soil.

317
00:27:31,116 --> 00:27:38,196
If you do that and you have those two things in line, and I'm not going to get too far in depth here.

318
00:27:38,236 --> 00:27:39,576
I just want to speak high level.

319
00:27:39,996 --> 00:27:47,496
But if you get those in line, you have the right biome in the soil, and you said it earlier, you're going to create healthy plants.

320
00:27:48,216 --> 00:27:49,736
It's just going to happen.

321
00:27:50,556 --> 00:27:55,376
And I like to use this analogy in the animal kingdom.

322
00:27:55,376 --> 00:28:00,116
If you look at a lion and he sees and he's scoping the herd for his prey, what's he doing?

323
00:28:00,436 --> 00:28:04,516
he's going out there and he's looking for the weakest prey.

324
00:28:04,716 --> 00:28:05,696
It's the easiest.

325
00:28:05,876 --> 00:28:07,256
He wants to save his energy.

326
00:28:08,236 --> 00:28:10,296
That's just the natural kingdom, right?

327
00:28:11,076 --> 00:28:14,736
So he's going to look for the weakest.

328
00:28:15,456 --> 00:28:20,016
Well, it's not dissimilar in the plant kingdom.

329
00:28:20,016 --> 00:28:24,996
So you've got an insect or you have a specific weed or you have specific

330
00:28:24,996 --> 00:28:32,216
anything that we would classify as a pest or detrimental to the crop production,

331
00:28:33,176 --> 00:28:35,396
those pests are going to look for the weakest.

332
00:28:35,756 --> 00:28:38,256
So if you've got a healthy plant, they're going to move on.

333
00:28:38,416 --> 00:28:39,156
And they do.

334
00:28:39,496 --> 00:28:44,476
I mean, I've literally been doing this for many years and watched this happen.

335
00:28:44,916 --> 00:28:48,316
And there's a couple of videos on social media where I talk about it,

336
00:28:48,336 --> 00:28:52,296
and I will continue to do that because that message is near and dear my heart.

337
00:28:52,296 --> 00:28:57,636
because the logical extension of a healthy plant is healthy people, right?

338
00:28:58,576 --> 00:29:04,596
And so now we're getting back to what we talked about just a few minutes ago.

339
00:29:05,016 --> 00:29:08,216
We're not talking about taking a pill for the headache.

340
00:29:08,216 --> 00:29:11,636
We're talking about finding the root cause in what we eat,

341
00:29:11,636 --> 00:29:15,756
and we're not only making the plant healthier, but we're making ourselves healthier.

342
00:29:15,996 --> 00:29:17,596
We make ourselves healthier.

343
00:29:17,996 --> 00:29:21,456
We don't need to worry about all these big health care costs.

344
00:29:21,456 --> 00:29:25,716
We don't have to interject as much into the health insurance.

345
00:29:25,956 --> 00:29:27,036
You know, can I afford it?

346
00:29:27,096 --> 00:29:27,776
Can I do it?

347
00:29:27,836 --> 00:29:28,876
Can I go to the doctor?

348
00:29:28,996 --> 00:29:30,336
Do I need to go to the doctor?

349
00:29:30,556 --> 00:29:34,796
And again, not again, I want to echo what you were saying before.

350
00:29:34,996 --> 00:29:41,956
The same thing in the plant world where, yes, once in a while you may need something that gets away from you.

351
00:29:42,276 --> 00:29:46,476
While you're learning to hone what that plant needs, things are going to happen.

352
00:29:46,476 --> 00:29:55,496
And, you know, an aspirin or a BT, as you put it, may be needed to get us over the hump while we're getting that healthy.

353
00:29:55,736 --> 00:29:59,976
And I would use that logical extension to me for us as people.

354
00:30:00,336 --> 00:30:12,576
If we start eating healthy food that have been grown in biodynamically active soils that have been properly minerally balanced, I think we're going to find that we are far more healthy.

355
00:30:12,576 --> 00:30:22,176
and a very oversimplification and and i sometimes get kicked under the table when i tell this story

356
00:30:22,176 --> 00:30:30,436
but if you look back to our grandparents area into the four era the 40s and 50s i mean technically

357
00:30:30,436 --> 00:30:37,936
they did everything wrong right they drank they smoked uh they worked a lot but they sure seemed

358
00:30:37,936 --> 00:30:43,696
a lot healthier than we do. Oh yeah. They were thinner. They were more active. They were,

359
00:30:44,016 --> 00:30:49,016
you know, just everything about it. And I know, I mean, I grew up with these folks. I was blessed

360
00:30:49,016 --> 00:30:55,416
to have my grandparents in my life for a young age. And I, you know, I, I remember sitting in

361
00:30:55,416 --> 00:31:01,536
smoke filled room and, and everything that today we would say, it's going to kill you. Stop it.

362
00:31:01,536 --> 00:31:05,156
You're going to die. And they all lived into their eighties, some of them into their nineties

363
00:31:05,156 --> 00:31:12,116
and we're healthy all the way there is is that that's anecdotal no doubt about it but i we can't

364
00:31:12,116 --> 00:31:19,696
ignore that there's we can't ignore that there is a lot of anecdote there i i i use the same thing

365
00:31:19,696 --> 00:31:27,276
my grandmother uh you know into her 80s she made a pie every week she would make a pecan pie

366
00:31:27,276 --> 00:31:35,716
every morning she would heat up a slice of pecan pie and have it with black coffee every morning

367
00:31:35,716 --> 00:31:41,716
this was her morning routine you look at anyone that's going to talk to you about eating healthy

368
00:31:41,716 --> 00:31:46,136
and living a healthy lifestyle they're going to be like nope she cooked with lard she cooked with

369
00:31:46,136 --> 00:31:53,876
butter i mean she this was like real you know food is what i take it as and you know again

370
00:31:53,876 --> 00:31:59,596
longevity, happy, you know, healthy out doing, you know, four or five mile walks through the

371
00:31:59,596 --> 00:32:05,136
desert in the morning, you know, with her husband and, you know, all of this stuff. And so I don't

372
00:32:05,136 --> 00:32:16,096
know, again, it's a lot of anecdote, but it it's, it's hard evidence to dispute. Um, I mean,

373
00:32:16,136 --> 00:32:21,936
there's, and, and again, I don't want to, my, my goal in life is not necessarily to pick fights

374
00:32:21,936 --> 00:32:29,216
with anybody but my I I certainly want a question I mean I grew up in that era our our era was taught

375
00:32:29,216 --> 00:32:36,056
to question right and so I'm still that way just because that's the way we do it today is that the

376
00:32:36,056 --> 00:32:41,956
way we should do it before and if that if it worked before and we changed it and it doesn't

377
00:32:41,956 --> 00:32:47,596
seem to be working now what's wrong with going back and saying you know maybe what we were doing

378
00:32:47,596 --> 00:32:49,076
was really what we should have been doing.

379
00:32:49,216 --> 00:32:50,816
And, you know, okay, we tried that.

380
00:32:50,896 --> 00:32:51,636
Let's move on.

381
00:32:52,516 --> 00:32:57,156
And I don't think science necessarily allows for that.

382
00:32:57,276 --> 00:32:59,216
They always want to be looking ahead,

383
00:32:59,216 --> 00:33:02,076
but they're not very often interested in looking behind.

384
00:33:02,936 --> 00:33:03,056
Yeah.

385
00:33:03,716 --> 00:33:03,996
Yep.

386
00:33:04,876 --> 00:33:09,196
Until you get a preponderance of evidence that shows, you know,

387
00:33:09,376 --> 00:33:12,676
pretty blatantly that there was a mistake there,

388
00:33:12,776 --> 00:33:16,596
in which case you might get enough public opinion worked up

389
00:33:16,596 --> 00:33:23,396
to get some people to come back and risk you know doing a study that's counter to mainstream

390
00:33:24,516 --> 00:33:32,436
thoughts i guess yeah the perfect example of that today is the the whole discussion around natural

391
00:33:32,436 --> 00:33:40,516
colors and natural flavors uh that that was the easy button it was cheap it was easy and

392
00:33:40,516 --> 00:33:43,036
And, you know, it was said to be healthy.

393
00:33:43,656 --> 00:33:48,056
Well, we are now looking in the rearview mirror because I think there's been some problems.

394
00:33:48,256 --> 00:33:52,036
And we're finding out that, you know, maybe that wasn't the right place to go.

395
00:33:52,196 --> 00:33:54,836
So, you know, for every rule, there's an exception.

396
00:33:54,836 --> 00:34:07,476
And I would say in this case, science is taking a look now at some of these chemically produced dyes, chemically produced flavors, colors.

397
00:34:07,476 --> 00:34:10,776
and saying that's probably not the healthiest for us.

398
00:34:11,696 --> 00:34:12,296
And they're right.

399
00:34:13,036 --> 00:34:15,416
I'm just going to be bold in that statement.

400
00:34:15,776 --> 00:34:16,116
They're right.

401
00:34:16,236 --> 00:34:16,616
They're not.

402
00:34:17,216 --> 00:34:17,716
They're not.

403
00:34:18,396 --> 00:34:22,436
It's funny because I was actually doing this exercise yesterday

404
00:34:22,436 --> 00:34:23,956
and kind of looking through it.

405
00:34:24,296 --> 00:34:25,716
They got a lot of things wrong.

406
00:34:25,916 --> 00:34:27,216
Eggs, they got wrong.

407
00:34:27,896 --> 00:34:30,456
Margarine, oh boy, wow.

408
00:34:30,876 --> 00:34:31,256
Oops.

409
00:34:31,816 --> 00:34:33,156
Seed oils, right?

410
00:34:33,156 --> 00:34:48,236
You know, I mean, the food pyramid in general, in my honest, humble opinion, was probably one of the worst single page items that was ever created.

411
00:34:49,136 --> 00:35:00,496
So, you know, luckily we are starting to see more people owning up to that, owning up to the data does not support what was said previously.

412
00:35:00,496 --> 00:35:01,896
So that's nice.

413
00:35:01,896 --> 00:35:09,496
yeah yeah it is nice i i really do believe that we're we're headed on a good trajectory now we

414
00:35:09,496 --> 00:35:17,296
obviously all have a lot to learn and if we don't there's something wrong but but it we're headed on

415
00:35:17,296 --> 00:35:22,076
a good trajectory now i think to really starting to help people understand the value of eating

416
00:35:22,076 --> 00:35:28,296
healthy and it's more than just a trim body uh there's a lot more to it and i i'm going to be a

417
00:35:28,296 --> 00:35:36,556
big advocate for eating biodynamically active food. I just, I think we solve a lot of problems,

418
00:35:37,016 --> 00:35:42,276
a lot of problems, if we just get back to eating healthy and frankly supporting growers that are

419
00:35:42,276 --> 00:35:49,516
going to be getting back to that style of agriculture. The problem with that is that

420
00:35:49,516 --> 00:35:54,396
we have to give them a reason to. I mean, we're all businessmen in agriculture. We do do this

421
00:35:54,396 --> 00:35:58,796
because we love it that's not a fair statement i mean particularly the family farms the bigger

422
00:35:58,796 --> 00:36:05,316
corporate farms might be a little bit different than this but this this and i'm not going to say

423
00:36:05,316 --> 00:36:13,716
small i mean there's some big corporate family farms as well that really do care about how we

424
00:36:13,716 --> 00:36:20,216
take care of the soil and what we do and but we need to stay in business so people

425
00:36:20,216 --> 00:36:25,956
and I always hesitate a little bit here because I'm the first one to say I don't want to pay more

426
00:36:25,956 --> 00:36:34,816
for anything if I don't have to. So we have to help people understand value, the value in this

427
00:36:34,816 --> 00:36:39,636
idea of growing food. And the value really is, if you want to put it in a monetary sense,

428
00:36:39,636 --> 00:36:45,356
you start eating this way. I'm not going to start citing you publications. I can,

429
00:36:45,936 --> 00:36:49,636
but I'm not going to start citing you publications. I'm just going to give you my promise.

430
00:36:50,216 --> 00:36:55,816
that my experience has been if you eat this way, if you eat food that comes this way and you stop

431
00:36:55,816 --> 00:37:02,576
dealing with preservatives in your food and you take the time and make food, but more importantly,

432
00:37:02,736 --> 00:37:08,116
you get it from a biodynamically enriched soil, you're going to be healthier. Your medical costs

433
00:37:08,116 --> 00:37:15,096
are going to go down. Your lifestyle is going to increase. Your personality is going to be

434
00:37:15,096 --> 00:37:18,456
rejuvenated because you just feel better about yourself.

435
00:37:19,836 --> 00:37:23,456
These are all, again, we talked about anecdotal.

436
00:37:23,556 --> 00:37:30,836
These are all anecdotal, but I'm very convinced after doing this for over 40 years now that

437
00:37:30,836 --> 00:37:32,276
you will see a difference.

438
00:37:33,036 --> 00:37:38,516
And the Beyond Berries, getting back to that, although it's not all biodynamically grown

439
00:37:38,516 --> 00:37:40,596
fruit, the stuff that comes from my farm is.

440
00:37:40,596 --> 00:37:49,536
but that's that's the direction we're trying to to go and the reason that i stepped out of the

441
00:37:49,536 --> 00:37:56,716
industrial sector if you will in in my main business is so that i could message this

442
00:37:56,716 --> 00:38:02,576
because the brands don't have the time or the bandwidth or the understanding to really

443
00:38:02,576 --> 00:38:08,716
do this so my hope is that by getting out here with the farmer bob brand again with my face on the

444
00:38:08,716 --> 00:38:15,836
my face on the label and a product line that's simple, understandable, that we can get people

445
00:38:15,836 --> 00:38:22,416
to start to sort of understand this concept. And then I can take that back to more growers and say,

446
00:38:22,416 --> 00:38:29,756
look, here's evidence of where this works. You know, you still go ahead and sell. My hope is

447
00:38:29,756 --> 00:38:33,696
still go ahead and sell into those traditional markets. But when you get down to this fruit,

448
00:38:33,696 --> 00:38:36,056
that's going to be potentially wasted,

449
00:38:36,536 --> 00:38:38,836
come see me because I want to value add that

450
00:38:38,836 --> 00:38:39,796
and I want to help you.

451
00:38:40,216 --> 00:38:44,456
I want to get this good fruit that is healthy,

452
00:38:45,316 --> 00:38:49,176
nutritionally balanced, biodynamically active,

453
00:38:49,656 --> 00:38:51,316
and get that in front of consumers

454
00:38:51,316 --> 00:38:56,236
and let them know what it is to get back to eating healthy.

455
00:38:58,816 --> 00:39:00,256
Yeah, I'll leave it there.

456
00:39:00,676 --> 00:39:03,056
I feel like I'm a little bit on my soapbox.

457
00:39:03,696 --> 00:39:20,812
No I think Havoc and I could probably do a full episode on our testimony of eating better because we both made tremendous changes in life and lost weight and the whole nine yards eating You know we shop pretty much I think both of us shop in the periphery of the store We don even go in the middle of the store anymore

458
00:39:20,992 --> 00:39:34,412
But for a lot of people, I think it comes down to convenience because it's much easier to pick up a bag of chips or a box of something and throw it in the cart than it is to buy the raw foods and prepare them yourself.

459
00:39:34,412 --> 00:39:38,312
And that's just adjustments that we had to make personally in our life.

460
00:39:38,312 --> 00:39:42,592
But I think that's one of the biggest hurdles that people have to go over.

461
00:39:43,132 --> 00:39:49,332
It's just easier to even get Uber Eats or whatever and have that stuff delivered to your house.

462
00:39:51,072 --> 00:39:51,472
Absolutely.

463
00:39:52,032 --> 00:39:54,032
And I'm not going to say don't have your bag of chips.

464
00:39:54,132 --> 00:39:56,012
It kind of gets back to our earlier conversation.

465
00:39:56,372 --> 00:40:00,832
You eat healthy, and that's your predominant way of eating.

466
00:40:02,712 --> 00:40:05,032
If you want to have a chip fix, have a chip fix.

467
00:40:05,172 --> 00:40:06,192
I mean, it's not going to hurt you.

468
00:40:06,192 --> 00:40:07,812
If you like it, enjoy it.

469
00:40:07,812 --> 00:40:12,712
My grandfather said for years, you can eat anything in moderation.

470
00:40:14,292 --> 00:40:16,312
My grandfather told me the same exact thing.

471
00:40:16,792 --> 00:40:16,912
Yeah.

472
00:40:17,872 --> 00:40:24,652
I might add to that a little bit more now is just don't eat too much of the preservatives.

473
00:40:25,712 --> 00:40:28,852
Stay away from those if you can, the artificials, anything.

474
00:40:29,692 --> 00:40:34,932
If it's a name that you can't pronounce or if you can pronounce it, you really don't know what it is,

475
00:40:34,932 --> 00:40:41,332
probably a good rule of thumb to stay away from it there's plenty of food out there that is what

476
00:40:41,332 --> 00:40:48,372
it says it is but the for the sake of convenience and lx i'm glad that you brought that up um

477
00:40:48,372 --> 00:40:56,732
we have the food industry has made it so easy to eat and so easy to have things conveniently on the

478
00:40:56,732 --> 00:41:05,292
store shelf but like the earlier agricultural agriculture discussion there's a price that

479
00:41:05,292 --> 00:41:11,852
comes with that convenience and we just need to moderate that a little bit yeah i mean you know

480
00:41:11,852 --> 00:41:21,532
in alexa and his wife are both another set of anecdotal evidence right i mean it wasn't just

481
00:41:21,532 --> 00:41:26,792
about getting healthier and losing weight, right, Alex? There's a deeper story to this, isn't there?

482
00:41:28,072 --> 00:41:34,512
Yeah, I started that journey. I have an autoimmune condition, psoriasis. I mean, it's not

483
00:41:34,512 --> 00:41:40,092
going to kill me, but it's inconvenient. So I set upon that journey to try to fix that. Well,

484
00:41:40,112 --> 00:41:46,552
it's not perfect. It's a lot better than it has been in the past. And I'm pretty content on my

485
00:41:46,552 --> 00:41:50,812
journey, but it's a journey. I'm not there yet and still working on it.

486
00:41:51,532 --> 00:41:54,752
But, you know, we try to grow as much as we can here.

487
00:41:54,852 --> 00:41:58,892
We're just, you know, a little residential lot, and we have our chickens out back.

488
00:41:59,412 --> 00:42:05,932
And I do have blackberries, so maybe you can give me a couple tips for somebody growing blackberries in my own yard.

489
00:42:06,652 --> 00:42:07,692
I'll be happy to.

490
00:42:07,812 --> 00:42:08,112
I don't know.

491
00:42:08,572 --> 00:42:08,912
Yeah.

492
00:42:09,012 --> 00:42:13,972
I mean, the only bad thing I've had is Japanese beetles came in one day, and they're like, this plant's ours.

493
00:42:13,972 --> 00:42:17,432
And I had to pick them off by hand, and chickens love them.

494
00:42:18,332 --> 00:42:19,412
You know what?

495
00:42:19,512 --> 00:42:21,072
I was going to mention that.

496
00:42:21,072 --> 00:42:36,592
It really is a system. It's a holistic system. And the fact that you have chickens really makes a big difference. And as was discussed earlier, sometimes you get those Japanese beetles that will come in and, you know, they'll just overwhelm it in sheer numbers.

497
00:42:36,592 --> 00:42:41,892
and again i going back to my animal kingdom if you got a bunch of lions in the pride well they're

498
00:42:41,892 --> 00:42:46,592
not all going to be able to pick on the the unhealthy plants so we might need a little boost

499
00:42:46,592 --> 00:42:52,352
to knock down the lion population or the japanese population to balance everything and at the end of

500
00:42:52,352 --> 00:42:59,212
the day guys that's really what this is is balance and there is no you know check the box which is

501
00:42:59,212 --> 00:43:04,852
what we all kind of want to have today it's easier check the box and this works there really isn't a

502
00:43:04,852 --> 00:43:07,452
check the box in the system that I'm talking about.

503
00:43:07,452 --> 00:43:13,712
It's integration, it's monitoring, it's being active and, you know,

504
00:43:13,792 --> 00:43:14,892
finding out what works.

505
00:43:15,152 --> 00:43:21,332
And those chickens will not only help you with the, and you know this,

506
00:43:21,652 --> 00:43:23,572
they're not only going to help you with the insects,

507
00:43:23,912 --> 00:43:27,592
they're also going to help you with the soil and fertilization,

508
00:43:27,772 --> 00:43:29,132
but not just the fertilization.

509
00:43:29,672 --> 00:43:34,332
The bioactive nature of what they're leaving there for fertilizer is going to

510
00:43:34,332 --> 00:43:42,872
enhance the soil as well. And on my farm over the years, I've sort of designed my own biology to put

511
00:43:42,872 --> 00:43:49,172
back in the soil based on the crops we're growing. And in our case, it's berries. Again, very high

512
00:43:49,172 --> 00:43:54,532
level. I don't want to make this a science discussion, but very high level berries. And I

513
00:43:54,532 --> 00:44:02,372
would say this for you, berries like a fungally dominated soil. You get basically, you know, again,

514
00:44:02,372 --> 00:44:16,952
In high level, you have bacteria and you have fungus, fungal activity in the soil, as well as arthropods, as well as, you know, you were mentioning nematodes.

515
00:44:17,052 --> 00:44:17,912
All of that is there.

516
00:44:18,052 --> 00:44:23,232
So I'm talking about the smaller size aspect of it.

517
00:44:23,232 --> 00:44:28,892
So there's two distinctions, fungal and bacterial.

518
00:44:28,892 --> 00:44:36,212
vegetables generally like a bacterial dominated soil so if you're growing brassicas if you're

519
00:44:36,212 --> 00:44:43,392
growing grains if you're growing grasses vegetables in general they're generally going to want to have

520
00:44:43,392 --> 00:44:51,572
a more bacterial dominated soil if you're growing more woody plants like a berry or a tree or

521
00:44:51,572 --> 00:44:56,952
something like that they're going to generally lean towards a more fungally dominated soil

522
00:44:56,952 --> 00:45:16,312
So, you know, again, high level, you can take that information in your blackberries and, you know, then work within your specific environment combined with that soil balancing that I talked about with the bases and you're going to create a healthy plant.

523
00:45:16,412 --> 00:45:17,492
I'll almost guarantee it.

524
00:45:18,012 --> 00:45:18,532
Yeah.

525
00:45:18,652 --> 00:45:25,952
One thing we use for all of our berries is any of the, so, you know, firewood, right?

526
00:45:25,952 --> 00:45:35,992
uh, rather than mulch, actual split logs because less danger of, you know, incorporating pesticides,

527
00:45:36,192 --> 00:45:42,972
herbicides, fungicides, et cetera. Um, but punky wood is, is perfect. And that's kind of like that

528
00:45:42,972 --> 00:45:47,872
wood that's been sitting out too long. It's gotten wet and it's kind of a little mushy to the touch,

529
00:45:47,872 --> 00:45:54,492
et cetera. It's no longer good for firewood. We just toss all of that around our berries and that

530
00:45:54,492 --> 00:46:01,452
right there builds up that my mycelial layer immensely quickly faster than anything i've ever

531
00:46:01,452 --> 00:46:07,352
seen do it and you know we'll throw a little bit of our compost so we we have livestock as well

532
00:46:07,352 --> 00:46:14,672
right we have horses goats chickens turkeys geese all of that manure all of that bedding and manure

533
00:46:14,672 --> 00:46:22,632
saturated with urea and you know obviously manure goes into our own compost our of course kitchen

534
00:46:22,632 --> 00:46:28,612
scraps go into our compost uh you know leaf litter will go into compost if we you know let

535
00:46:28,612 --> 00:46:35,352
grass because we do we let it grow up go to seed and then mow it down sometimes we'll actually go

536
00:46:35,352 --> 00:46:42,432
and take the tractor and put bucket loads of fresh grass up into the compost as well so what we feed

537
00:46:42,432 --> 00:46:50,712
our plants is everything that comes as waste from our farmstead and then of course with the berries

538
00:46:50,712 --> 00:46:56,732
We throw less compost on there because, as you said, the bacterial portion of it isn't as critical.

539
00:46:56,892 --> 00:46:59,152
It's still important, but it's not as critical.

540
00:46:59,372 --> 00:47:01,492
And then we throw that punky wood on there.

541
00:47:01,672 --> 00:47:04,412
And that's just kind of an annual thing.

542
00:47:04,652 --> 00:47:06,732
You know, load the berry plants up with wood.

543
00:47:07,552 --> 00:47:09,492
You guys are biodynamic farmers.

544
00:47:09,672 --> 00:47:10,612
Welcome to the cause.

545
00:47:11,752 --> 00:47:12,232
Yeah.

546
00:47:12,412 --> 00:47:17,212
I just thought about something for your product, which I bet it takes care of.

547
00:47:17,212 --> 00:47:22,312
I love blackberries, but the worst part is those seeds that get caught in your teeth.

548
00:47:22,532 --> 00:47:25,332
And I bet your product eliminates those entire.

549
00:47:25,932 --> 00:47:26,892
It does.

550
00:47:27,112 --> 00:47:27,952
It does.

551
00:47:28,052 --> 00:47:36,292
But I just want to take a step back and then let's talk about that because I just absolutely love this conversation.

552
00:47:36,712 --> 00:47:40,232
And before we walk away from it, I want to tell you another story.

553
00:47:40,232 --> 00:47:50,092
uh so the composting side of it and the punky wood uh and i talked about fungal i didn't really

554
00:47:50,092 --> 00:47:55,572
tell you how you get there but you you described it having it's using more woody products because

555
00:47:55,572 --> 00:48:00,132
they're going to have more fungal activity you got to be a little bit careful with some of the

556
00:48:00,132 --> 00:48:06,552
woods that you're using because you don't want to run into an allelopathic uh wood and and by that i

557
00:48:06,552 --> 00:48:19,972
I mean, again, it kind of relates back to the early conversation in organic, but allelopathy is a term used to say that a plant will prevent other plants from growing around it.

558
00:48:20,032 --> 00:48:21,852
There's a chemical in it that keeps it that way.

559
00:48:21,852 --> 00:48:24,872
So, you know, you might have looked underneath like a cedar tree.

560
00:48:25,012 --> 00:48:31,952
If you have a cedar tree around and you don't see any plant activity around and under that, that's allelopathy that's causing that.

561
00:48:31,952 --> 00:48:38,312
So the natural toxins that are in the tree prevent those from growing.

562
00:48:39,052 --> 00:48:44,772
And, you know, many of our herbicides are developed from that type of concept.

563
00:48:45,392 --> 00:48:47,352
But that punky wood thing.

564
00:48:47,732 --> 00:48:48,892
So here's my story.

565
00:48:49,932 --> 00:48:57,972
When I first started growing berries in Oregon, I worked for a great guy and a lot of old guys that had been around for a while.

566
00:48:57,972 --> 00:49:02,572
and he was a mentor of mine, certainly in production, and taught me a lot.

567
00:49:03,092 --> 00:49:04,952
One of the things he said all the time is,

568
00:49:05,032 --> 00:49:10,192
yeah, there's nothing better for growing berries than coming right out of virgin timber.

569
00:49:11,212 --> 00:49:15,812
Now, some people might shudder about that, but it's a fact.

570
00:49:15,952 --> 00:49:18,052
I mean, that's how ground was broken in the Northwest.

571
00:49:18,372 --> 00:49:22,492
It came out of timber, and when they planted berries into it, the berries just thrived.

572
00:49:22,492 --> 00:49:29,552
And I thought to myself, well, and with time, then you sort of lost that thriving aspect of it.

573
00:49:29,652 --> 00:49:33,672
You had to get back to this prescriptive agriculture to keep things growing.

574
00:49:33,912 --> 00:49:38,912
And I started asking myself, okay, there's got to be a reason for that.

575
00:49:39,172 --> 00:49:40,992
I'm in my 20s now.

576
00:49:41,532 --> 00:49:45,552
I don't know, beans with a bag's open about life in general then.

577
00:49:46,692 --> 00:49:48,492
But I was asking that question.

578
00:49:48,492 --> 00:49:56,172
And I, back then I was, and still am making compost teas as part of the regimen for biological activity.

579
00:49:56,632 --> 00:50:03,752
And I went out into the forest and started grabbing that punky wood because I said, you know, this is the natural process, right?

580
00:50:03,852 --> 00:50:08,692
And I threw it in a compost tea and boy, did the plants light up.

581
00:50:09,032 --> 00:50:12,132
So now my thermal compost all has that in it.

582
00:50:12,232 --> 00:50:14,752
My vermicompost, I try and get a little bit in it.

583
00:50:15,012 --> 00:50:17,812
And my compost teas, I try and get a little bit in it.

584
00:50:17,812 --> 00:50:23,312
And boy, it just it just really reinvigorates the plant with that funky wood.

585
00:50:24,312 --> 00:50:28,052
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I actually learned about this.

586
00:50:28,612 --> 00:50:38,532
I'm a big fan of of learning from failure and learning from like what happened here.

587
00:50:38,632 --> 00:50:41,472
It just this grew and it's succeeding. Why?

588
00:50:42,372 --> 00:50:45,192
And in the case of the berries, that was exactly it.

589
00:50:45,192 --> 00:50:52,292
we had a pile of firewood that we used it was it's all hardwood um and next thing you know i've just

590
00:50:52,292 --> 00:50:58,532
got blackberries wild blackberries and raspberries just shooting up everywhere nowhere around this

591
00:50:58,532 --> 00:51:07,272
but this whole pile is just a dense patch of berries and i was like well the only thing

592
00:51:07,272 --> 00:51:13,792
different here than anywhere else is the wood so i started doing that and boom you know so

593
00:51:13,792 --> 00:51:19,692
then i started researching okay what is this and that's where the mycelial layer come came in and

594
00:51:19,692 --> 00:51:26,732
that knowledge came in but i actually learned it just from i guess listening to the land the plants

595
00:51:26,732 --> 00:51:34,792
amen brother amen i do have another blackberry question sure so as you know when they when they

596
00:51:34,792 --> 00:51:39,112
start coming in season they start coming and sometimes i can't eat them quite fast enough

597
00:51:39,112 --> 00:51:44,992
So besides preserving like jams and sugary stuff like that, how can I keep the fresh fruit longer?

598
00:51:45,172 --> 00:51:46,132
Are there any tips for that?

599
00:51:46,612 --> 00:51:47,152
Great question.

600
00:51:47,252 --> 00:51:53,252
So let's go back to the seeds and let's dovetail that into the preservation of the fruit.

601
00:51:55,172 --> 00:51:59,552
The direct answer to the question is you can always freeze the berries.

602
00:52:00,692 --> 00:52:03,972
Pick them, throw them in the freezer, throw them in a bag and freeze them.

603
00:52:03,972 --> 00:52:09,892
you are not going to lose any value whatsoever in a freezing process.

604
00:52:09,892 --> 00:52:15,172
In fact, and I'm not ready to hang my hat on this, my proverbial hat on this yet,

605
00:52:15,292 --> 00:52:21,392
but I think anecdotally I can understand the concept that freezing,

606
00:52:21,652 --> 00:52:26,412
because you can pick it dead ripe and put it in the freezer right away,

607
00:52:26,972 --> 00:52:33,752
is going to be more nutritive value for you than the way we have to deal with fresh fruit.

608
00:52:33,752 --> 00:52:38,852
Now, if you're dealing with that right out of your garden, probably not as big of an issue.

609
00:52:39,032 --> 00:52:48,012
But if you're buying that out of a clamshell, say, in the store somewhere, they have to pick it immature.

610
00:52:48,672 --> 00:52:54,132
So there's a reason we eat fruit when it's ripe, because it's better for us.

611
00:52:54,172 --> 00:52:57,952
We like fruit when it's ripe, because it's better for us.

612
00:52:58,012 --> 00:53:00,212
I mean, God created some pretty good systems.

613
00:53:00,652 --> 00:53:01,352
He really did.

614
00:53:01,352 --> 00:53:08,572
and we manipulate those systems a little bit and sometimes not to our benefit

615
00:53:08,572 --> 00:53:14,552
but we do it out of necessity because people have got to eat and they want to have berries and

616
00:53:14,552 --> 00:53:19,232
they've got to be shipped a little bit on the under right side so they make it there and

617
00:53:19,232 --> 00:53:28,652
and you know they're able to be consumed without degradation so freezing i'm a big proponent and

618
00:53:28,652 --> 00:53:33,712
that's why I went with with the first in the product line of the Farmer Bob products being

619
00:53:33,712 --> 00:53:40,532
the Beyond Berries I went with a frozen product intentionally because I can now take that and I

620
00:53:40,532 --> 00:53:47,352
can preserve everything good about it in a way that doesn't require anything else I just produce

621
00:53:47,352 --> 00:53:52,532
the fruit I mold it and I freeze it and you can certainly do the same thing and I would advocate

622
00:53:52,532 --> 00:53:59,032
for that or anybody for doing that just take that you freeze almost anything and that's nature's

623
00:53:59,032 --> 00:54:04,932
preservation quite frankly um so let's let's stick with what nature knows what god knows and

624
00:54:04,932 --> 00:54:13,432
let's keep it going that way uh so long-winded answer to your uh what do you do to preserve

625
00:54:13,432 --> 00:54:19,452
them but freeze them nothing wrong with freezing it perfect i know some of it's probably mental

626
00:54:19,452 --> 00:54:22,932
but I swear mine tastes better than the ones I buy at the store.

627
00:54:23,212 --> 00:54:23,972
I know they do.

628
00:54:25,172 --> 00:54:26,572
I don't think it's mental.

629
00:54:27,292 --> 00:54:33,092
I think just simply, and again, it gets back to the biodynamic farming

630
00:54:33,092 --> 00:54:36,732
and paying attention to what we're growing, food tastes better.

631
00:54:37,612 --> 00:54:41,272
And one of the things, so on the farm that I'm growing now,

632
00:54:41,452 --> 00:54:44,692
I grow black raspberries.

633
00:54:44,692 --> 00:54:48,992
and here's just a quick little side note

634
00:54:48,992 --> 00:54:50,192
to what we're talking about here.

635
00:54:51,572 --> 00:54:54,952
Typically black, a measurement that we use a lot

636
00:54:54,952 --> 00:54:58,452
when we're trying to talk about the quality of food,

637
00:54:58,532 --> 00:55:00,972
particularly in the juice and puree industry,

638
00:55:00,972 --> 00:55:03,492
which I'm in in a big scale,

639
00:55:04,392 --> 00:55:06,812
we look at the measurement called BRICS

640
00:55:06,812 --> 00:55:09,132
and that's a measure of soluble solids.

641
00:55:10,412 --> 00:55:14,212
Okay, commonly called sugars, right?

642
00:55:14,692 --> 00:55:29,492
So most black raspberries are going to run anywhere from a low of 10 to a high of 13, 14 bricks that are grown under what would be conventional or even organic.

643
00:55:29,492 --> 00:55:36,892
Organic, if it's grown more towards the actual hippie style organic, will boost that.

644
00:55:37,292 --> 00:55:43,392
But with the biodynamic practices that I'm using, they run closer to 22 bricks.

645
00:55:43,392 --> 00:55:51,492
well that's increasing the flavor and that's probably what you're getting with the blackberries

646
00:55:51,492 --> 00:55:57,872
you know you just the way we grow food makes a difference in how healthy it is but also how

647
00:55:57,872 --> 00:56:05,572
good it tastes and the nutrient density in your product or biodynamically

648
00:56:05,572 --> 00:56:13,172
grown product is astronomically higher than anything else. What that means in,

649
00:56:13,952 --> 00:56:18,252
I like to say dumb farmer terms, what that means you're going to eat less and get more.

650
00:56:19,532 --> 00:56:24,912
So you're not going to have to eat as much food and you're going to feel full. Well,

651
00:56:25,652 --> 00:56:31,852
where you're eating biologically dead food, whether it be through preservatives or whatever

652
00:56:31,852 --> 00:56:39,292
it might be you got to eat more to get that same nutritive value so it makes i believe that 100

653
00:56:39,932 --> 00:56:50,332
yeah yeah i actually uh tuned into a a documentary i believe it was on uh the the um

654
00:56:51,452 --> 00:57:00,972
the marketability of tomatoes right and this goes to any any crop right and the gmo

655
00:57:00,972 --> 00:57:07,012
process that they've done to make them more marketable, right? You can grow a tomato

656
00:57:07,012 --> 00:57:13,432
in your yard, right? You grow that tomato and put it on a shelf. It's not going to last a week.

657
00:57:13,432 --> 00:57:18,072
It's just not going to. So they take steps to make sure they last longer,

658
00:57:18,292 --> 00:57:25,092
skins a little bit, little bit more firm, little tougher, you know, pick them less ripe, etc. And

659
00:57:25,092 --> 00:57:30,852
all of this leads to a decay in the amount of nutrients, phytonutrients, etc. that are available

660
00:57:30,852 --> 00:57:33,932
in that vegetable or berry or fruit.

661
00:57:35,472 --> 00:57:36,372
And a big piece of this.

662
00:57:36,372 --> 00:57:37,752
But it's pretty and it looks good though.

663
00:57:37,812 --> 00:57:40,152
Well, a big piece of this is also making sure

664
00:57:40,152 --> 00:57:42,212
that it comes out and looks pretty, consistent,

665
00:57:42,512 --> 00:57:44,312
pretty, always the same, right?

666
00:57:44,332 --> 00:57:45,612
Or very, very close.

667
00:57:46,492 --> 00:57:48,052
And it's an interesting thing

668
00:57:48,052 --> 00:57:50,712
because I've always, I've detested tomatoes.

669
00:57:50,952 --> 00:57:52,072
I just don't like them.

670
00:57:52,072 --> 00:57:55,212
I started growing them because my wife wanted tomatoes.

671
00:57:56,212 --> 00:57:58,212
Finally said, all right, pop one in my mouth.

672
00:57:58,252 --> 00:57:59,652
And I'm like, I like this.

673
00:57:59,652 --> 00:58:00,892
This is really good.

674
00:58:01,312 --> 00:58:01,792
Yeah.

675
00:58:02,032 --> 00:58:07,272
And I can spot a store-bought tomato blindfolded every single time.

676
00:58:07,272 --> 00:58:08,312
And I don't like them.

677
00:58:08,412 --> 00:58:09,552
They're terrible, right?

678
00:58:09,652 --> 00:58:10,912
Same with sweet potatoes.

679
00:58:11,012 --> 00:58:11,692
Never liked them.

680
00:58:11,852 --> 00:58:14,432
I've got a whole bunch of them that we're just going through.

681
00:58:14,852 --> 00:58:18,572
And, you know, it's an interesting concept.

682
00:58:18,852 --> 00:58:21,212
Now, here's another thing that I really like.

683
00:58:21,812 --> 00:58:24,772
So for me, we have a bunch of apple trees, right?

684
00:58:24,812 --> 00:58:26,632
We have five that are currently producing.

685
00:58:26,752 --> 00:58:27,932
That's a lot of apples, really.

686
00:58:27,932 --> 00:58:30,772
We don't get a huge amount because of the way we farm.

687
00:58:31,632 --> 00:58:32,712
But I'll tell you this.

688
00:58:32,752 --> 00:58:40,032
I couldn't sell an apple to anyone to save my life because when they come off the tree, they're Fuji apples too.

689
00:58:40,112 --> 00:58:46,632
When they come off the tree, they got black spots on them, dents, and they don't look appealing at all.

690
00:58:46,852 --> 00:59:03,248
I mean nobody would look at that and buy it I wouldn Not a chance But if you cut it open and eat it wow that a you know piece of gold right there and i think it really interesting to see more and more you know places products

691
00:59:03,248 --> 00:59:10,668
people looking at hey this is a lot of food that's literally going to waste it best good food

692
00:59:10,668 --> 00:59:16,368
yeah best case scenario it goes to compost but i would say that's probably in the single digit

693
00:59:16,368 --> 00:59:23,648
percentile for farmers right most of it probably goes to the ground or gets shipped off to a a

694
00:59:23,648 --> 00:59:31,428
facility that does the sort and process and packing and it gets tossed right so

695
00:59:31,428 --> 00:59:39,868
exactly yeah exactly right exactly right and that is really um the concept of beyond berries that

696
00:59:39,868 --> 00:59:47,028
fruit that you're talking about that doesn't, it's not pretty enough. I mean, for whatever reason,

697
00:59:47,168 --> 00:59:53,868
it's not pretty enough. It's too soft. It's too, too mushy. It's irregular. It, it, you know,

698
00:59:53,868 --> 00:59:58,388
is missing cells in the case of a berry, but it doesn't have to be a berry. It's any fruit. It

699
00:59:58,388 --> 01:00:02,568
could be an apple. It could be a peach. It could be a pear. It could be a broccoli. It could be

700
01:00:03,208 --> 01:00:09,568
cauliflower. It could be peas, whatever it is. I mean, there's a tremendous amount of food that

701
01:00:09,568 --> 01:00:13,748
It doesn't look good, and we've been conditioned to eat with our eyes.

702
01:00:14,328 --> 01:00:18,968
And that's what this upcycled component of the Beyond Berries

703
01:00:18,968 --> 01:00:20,688
and the actual upcycled movement.

704
01:00:20,888 --> 01:00:25,228
There's a number of different people that are looking at this

705
01:00:25,228 --> 01:00:27,928
and trying to take food waste that you just described

706
01:00:27,928 --> 01:00:30,188
and saying, you know, this is perfectly good food.

707
01:00:30,188 --> 01:00:35,468
We just got to find a way to put it in a way that is presentable and palatable.

708
01:00:36,628 --> 01:00:38,488
And that's what Beyond Berries is.

709
01:00:38,488 --> 01:00:45,248
And again, when we get back to the discussion of organic and conventional and beyond berries, that's why I do it.

710
01:00:45,348 --> 01:00:50,068
I want to be able to make sure we're getting all of that we can to prevent food waste.

711
01:00:50,208 --> 01:00:54,088
Because that's just, you may as well take a dollar bill and light it on fire.

712
01:00:55,668 --> 01:01:01,928
From an economic perspective, from a health perspective, I mean, there's a whole lot of great food going away.

713
01:01:02,028 --> 01:01:05,988
So we should be eating, especially if it's biodynamic.

714
01:01:06,828 --> 01:01:07,948
Oh, yeah, for sure.

715
01:01:08,488 --> 01:01:13,148
And to our process, again, and I want to go back to your question of seeds.

716
01:01:13,268 --> 01:01:14,468
I haven't forgotten that, Alex.

717
01:01:15,248 --> 01:01:21,188
But the seeds are taken out because our process is,

718
01:01:21,268 --> 01:01:24,568
it's a little bit more than just a regular puree process

719
01:01:24,568 --> 01:01:26,928
because of the dates that are in it.

720
01:01:28,108 --> 01:01:32,668
There's some specific things that we've had to do to get that whole date in there

721
01:01:32,668 --> 01:01:35,528
to make a homogeneous mix and get that creamy flavor

722
01:01:35,528 --> 01:01:37,668
and all the goodness of the date.

723
01:01:37,668 --> 01:01:41,368
But in that process, we are removing the seeds.

724
01:01:42,108 --> 01:01:43,188
So they're coming out.

725
01:01:43,688 --> 01:01:49,708
So the Beyond Berries or any of the other, I mean, we could leave the seeds in it if there was a reason to do it.

726
01:01:50,188 --> 01:01:57,128
But we really didn't see a need because it enhances your smoothie experience if you're making a smoothie out of it.

727
01:01:57,608 --> 01:02:01,408
It enhances your beverage experience, one of the things that you can use.

728
01:02:01,488 --> 01:02:04,168
I mean, they're great for snacking, but there's so many other uses for it.

729
01:02:04,168 --> 01:02:10,688
you can put it in soda water and make a fruit flavored soda and they're great that way you

730
01:02:10,688 --> 01:02:15,488
don't have to add anything else to it just throw beyond berries in it and into a club soda or so

731
01:02:15,488 --> 01:02:21,488
perrier or some form of carbonated water and you've got a soda fruit soda totally healthy

732
01:02:21,488 --> 01:02:29,028
you know i i do like to have a drink on occasion and actually i was sitting around developing this

733
01:02:29,028 --> 01:02:34,148
years ago with a group of my guys at the house and they were razzing me you know like us guys do

734
01:02:34,148 --> 01:02:39,068
what are you going to do with this stuff you know you knucklehead and so we had the blueberries out

735
01:02:39,068 --> 01:02:44,448
we were sitting around drinking some bourbon and i just plopped three or four blueberries in the

736
01:02:44,448 --> 01:02:49,548
the bourbon and excuse the crassness here i says well we're gonna have bob's blue balls bourbon

737
01:02:49,548 --> 01:02:59,528
and we got a good laugh about it but it was actually really good because i i generally would

738
01:02:59,528 --> 01:03:05,688
drink the bourbon neat and it gave it cool i do like the ice but i don't like to have the dilution

739
01:03:05,688 --> 01:03:11,848
with the ice but you got a little bit of a fruity uh fruity flavor to the bourbon which i thought

740
01:03:11,848 --> 01:03:18,288
went paired well with it and it cooled it down so it made a really nice drink and my daughters are

741
01:03:18,288 --> 01:03:25,268
making mimosas with it just a lot of uses because those seeds aren't in there i mean you couldn't

742
01:03:25,268 --> 01:03:31,308
really do that as well if the seeds were there yeah i might actually have to try that make a

743
01:03:31,308 --> 01:03:36,808
manhattan and throw some of the black raspberry ones in there yeah it's good i'm telling you

744
01:03:36,808 --> 01:03:44,028
it's good maybe you can get me to try it i'm not a drinker at all but well maybe one day you can

745
01:03:44,028 --> 01:03:50,608
make the what do they call them mocktails you can make the mocktail there you go yeah we'll get him

746
01:03:50,608 --> 01:03:58,228
to try some we got him to try some uh some of my wife's beer he enjoys it so girl girl beer yeah

747
01:03:58,228 --> 01:04:00,468
i drink the chick beer

748
01:04:00,468 --> 01:04:12,328
the little skinny cans nice and cute this is this is awesome stuff i really really you know

749
01:04:12,328 --> 01:04:19,388
enjoy the story the process that you've gone through and to me you know

750
01:04:19,388 --> 01:04:26,328
having anyone in any portion of the food industry looking at food as something that is

751
01:04:26,328 --> 01:04:36,648
more more aligned with a healthy human um is a huge huge benefit right obviously there has to

752
01:04:36,648 --> 01:04:43,168
be the marketing and all of that stuff right uh i just think that's that's just an amazing thing

753
01:04:43,168 --> 01:04:48,968
to hear the more more we can get more of this would be better right you know in general in

754
01:04:48,968 --> 01:04:53,668
In general, my take on processed food is, you know, right out of the gate.

755
01:04:53,808 --> 01:04:55,308
No, don't, period.

756
01:04:55,948 --> 01:04:58,588
However, there are products out there.

757
01:04:58,588 --> 01:05:18,888
And I guess I would, maybe there's a need for a new label, lightly processed, or something to this effect that, you know, points out that it doesn't always have to include, you know, multisyllabic chemicals and, you know, artificial this and that and all the other.

758
01:05:18,968 --> 01:05:26,268
nonsense that goes into it you can make this product in a very light processed way that

759
01:05:26,268 --> 01:05:33,968
maintains a healthy nutrient profile and is good for the consumer as well as being good for the

760
01:05:33,968 --> 01:05:43,308
farmer and the people producing it so i call this minimally processed um it does there there's a

761
01:05:43,308 --> 01:05:50,528
process that occurs between the whole fruit and what the beyond berries is. That process

762
01:05:50,528 --> 01:05:58,708
really is simply a puree process. We're just grinding up the fruit. Now there's nuance to

763
01:05:58,708 --> 01:06:04,208
how we get the dates to integrate that is proprietary and took us a while to kind of

764
01:06:04,208 --> 01:06:09,768
figure out. But in essence, it's really just taking the whole fruit. And this is exactly what we do.

765
01:06:09,768 --> 01:06:25,828
We take the whole fruit, we take the combination of fruits, we take the seeds out, and then we reform it into the shape of the berry flavor that it represents.

766
01:06:26,748 --> 01:06:33,268
So when I say minimally processed, there's only one step other than a frozen.

767
01:06:33,908 --> 01:06:35,408
There's really only one step.

768
01:06:35,408 --> 01:06:45,168
We take the whole fruit, we throw it in a vat together, and this is an oversimplification, but we throw it in a vat together, remove the seeds, and here you go.

769
01:06:45,248 --> 01:06:46,128
This is what you eat.

770
01:06:46,228 --> 01:06:49,228
So we've not altered, changed, added anything.

771
01:06:49,388 --> 01:06:50,588
There's no added ingredients.

772
01:06:50,788 --> 01:06:51,908
There's no added sugar.

773
01:06:52,088 --> 01:06:53,068
There's no nothing.

774
01:06:53,688 --> 01:06:56,088
It is the fruit and nothing but the fruit.

775
01:06:57,648 --> 01:06:58,748
And that's a wonderful thing.

776
01:06:58,748 --> 01:07:08,528
I mean, we use, like Alex said, when the dearth of blackberries comes in, with strawberries too, we do the same thing.

777
01:07:08,848 --> 01:07:11,468
We have a centrifugal juicer.

778
01:07:12,148 --> 01:07:16,888
And so we'll just toss just a bucket load of blackberries into this thing.

779
01:07:17,068 --> 01:07:28,688
And then, you know, we use that for, we make a frozen yogurt that's, in my opinion, as good, if not better than any ice cream you could find.

780
01:07:28,748 --> 01:07:30,888
And it's very simple.

781
01:07:31,388 --> 01:07:34,168
Again, you come down to like very simple ingredients.

782
01:07:34,528 --> 01:07:46,068
It's, you know, a full fat Greek yogurt, honey, a little bit of cream and, you know, the berries and stuff that you put in there.

783
01:07:47,448 --> 01:07:47,888
Yeah.

784
01:07:48,668 --> 01:07:49,528
Oh, and honey.

785
01:07:49,828 --> 01:07:50,468
Did I say honey?

786
01:07:50,648 --> 01:07:51,048
Yeah, honey.

787
01:07:51,288 --> 01:07:51,808
You said honey.

788
01:07:51,968 --> 01:07:52,588
You like honey.

789
01:07:52,748 --> 01:07:53,608
You're just all about the honey.

790
01:07:53,908 --> 01:07:54,848
He does like honey.

791
01:07:54,948 --> 01:07:56,168
I'm kind of catching that.

792
01:07:56,248 --> 01:07:56,968
Nothing wrong with honey.

793
01:07:57,068 --> 01:07:57,548
I love it.

794
01:07:57,548 --> 01:08:00,128
It's the best vomit I've ever had.

795
01:08:04,268 --> 01:08:14,068
Well, I mean, you can, a lot of the preservation techniques, I mean, when you look at a, like a juice concentration, we drink a lot of, a lot of juices that are concentrated.

796
01:08:14,268 --> 01:08:16,408
Those are fairly highly processed.

797
01:08:17,168 --> 01:08:20,068
I mean, it's a distillation process essentially is what it is.

798
01:08:20,088 --> 01:08:21,348
You're driving off the water.

799
01:08:21,348 --> 01:08:28,508
and that's again i don't want to get into the technical aspect of it but that's that's more

800
01:08:28,508 --> 01:08:34,988
highly processed um you look at the preservations like jam and jellies that's now you're getting

801
01:08:34,988 --> 01:08:40,608
into really far more processing but really all we're doing is what you're going to do with the

802
01:08:40,608 --> 01:08:49,528
and we've got another product line that we're working on right now it's um a spread and it's

803
01:08:49,528 --> 01:08:53,048
going to be the exact same process. We're not going to be putting any preservatives in it.

804
01:08:53,088 --> 01:08:57,088
There's going to be no sugar. There's going to be nothing like that. It's going to be just as,

805
01:08:57,968 --> 01:09:05,388
it's going to be the puree and, you know, some, maybe some lemon juice in it. And we're going to,

806
01:09:05,788 --> 01:09:12,528
we're going to make a spread. So yeah, that's, that's sort of on the horizon. We've got a couple

807
01:09:12,528 --> 01:09:18,068
other flavors of beyond berries, but we've got a lot of ideas back there. If, you know, if we can

808
01:09:18,068 --> 01:09:21,388
convince people that we've got a product that I won't say convince people,

809
01:09:21,388 --> 01:09:25,488
but if people do decide we've got a product and a,

810
01:09:25,488 --> 01:09:27,728
and a system worthy of investing in,

811
01:09:27,968 --> 01:09:32,028
we've got a lot of fun ideas that we can come out with that are just going to

812
01:09:32,028 --> 01:09:36,768
continue down this minimally processed all fruit and nothing but the fruit

813
01:09:36,768 --> 01:09:37,568
road.

814
01:09:38,048 --> 01:09:42,308
I think there's a lot of opportunity there and to help people eat healthy.

815
01:09:43,788 --> 01:09:43,888
Yeah.

816
01:09:44,488 --> 01:09:45,968
If you need any honest reviews,

817
01:09:46,068 --> 01:09:46,528
let me know.

818
01:09:48,068 --> 01:10:07,248
I do need honest reviews. In fact, you know, at these shows, we're always saying because we're on social media. And again, I think I told you guys when we started this show, I really am an 8-track guy in a cyber world. So I have no social media presence until recently because of the marketing aspect of it.

819
01:10:07,248 --> 01:10:15,288
but um you know i've learned some phrases like share and follow still not quite sure i know what

820
01:10:15,288 --> 01:10:21,788
all of that means but i do know that i get some feedback from consumers and and that is very very

821
01:10:21,788 --> 01:10:27,368
important to me and when we're engaging in these shows we do ask them to make your comments if

822
01:10:27,368 --> 01:10:34,128
they're not favorable i i still want to know this helps me grow and if you look at uh happen to look

823
01:10:34,128 --> 01:10:41,048
at our website, we'll give a plug here, farmerbob.com, or social media is at Farmer Bob Fruit,

824
01:10:41,988 --> 01:10:49,708
you'll see a number of different uses for the beyond berries. And those have almost all come

825
01:10:49,708 --> 01:10:55,728
from people that have tried it and given feedback. Hey, it works great here. You know, we had one

826
01:10:55,728 --> 01:11:01,668
kind of was a wild one to me, and I guess it is a thing. I just didn't know it. But we had one

827
01:11:01,668 --> 01:11:08,008
consumer come back and say i've got a high protein ice cream that i've made with beyond berries

828
01:11:08,008 --> 01:11:16,388
and havoc you're going to love this one okay so they took cottage cheese they took beyond berries

829
01:11:16,388 --> 01:11:22,908
and honey blended it up in a blender i told you you were going to love it blended it up in a

830
01:11:22,908 --> 01:11:31,648
blender and refroze it and made ice cream oh wow and it's really really good but that's that's

831
01:11:31,648 --> 01:11:38,388
that is a consumer that got this in their hands um and started playing around with it and came up

832
01:11:38,388 --> 01:11:44,208
with that and we just i'm so blessed and fortunate to have people that are willing to give that

833
01:11:44,208 --> 01:11:49,008
feedback because now i can share that with others that can enjoy that and in this world of high

834
01:11:49,008 --> 01:11:56,968
protein you know that's again simple wholesome food cottage cheese honey and are beyond berries

835
01:11:56,968 --> 01:12:02,588
boy you're eating healthy but you got ice cream with none of the other out of's in it

836
01:12:02,588 --> 01:12:06,088
yeah no that's this is the way

837
01:12:06,088 --> 01:12:15,868
the way i love it i believe it you know i i live it now you know it's it's and it's it's been an

838
01:12:15,868 --> 01:12:23,588
incredible journey you know uh really has so this has been a great conversation and i we just got a

839
01:12:23,588 --> 01:12:27,548
little bit of a plug but let's let's go run through that one more time where can we find you

840
01:12:27,548 --> 01:12:32,168
where can people get the beyond berries if they don't happen to be near a storefront that that

841
01:12:32,168 --> 01:12:42,828
carries them and maybe what's your absolute favorite recipe okay so uh right now we're available in

842
01:12:42,828 --> 01:12:49,888
uh mother's market bristol farms in the midwest we're available in woodman's uh so basically

843
01:12:49,888 --> 01:12:52,788
Michigan, Ohio area were available in stores there.

844
01:12:53,348 --> 01:13:01,688
All up and down the West Coast, the Northwest, all the way up into Alaska where Three Bears

845
01:13:01,688 --> 01:13:08,608
Alaska, Mother's Market, Bristol Farms, Vicente Foods, some of the more natural.

846
01:13:08,788 --> 01:13:11,068
Look for us in the natural food stores.

847
01:13:12,228 --> 01:13:18,728
LifeSource in Oregon, we're talking to Market of Choice right now.

848
01:13:18,728 --> 01:13:24,408
should be getting into that store soon and some of the more natural food stores in the Northwest.

849
01:13:26,208 --> 01:13:31,388
And actually, this seemed a little bit ironic to me, but Smart and Final picked us up.

850
01:13:32,108 --> 01:13:39,888
So Smart and Final stores in the Southwest were in most all of those, and they've had great success.

851
01:13:40,188 --> 01:13:43,708
Smart and Final has generally been more of a discount store,

852
01:13:43,708 --> 01:13:48,068
but they are leaning more towards actually the movement that we're talking about here, guys.

853
01:13:48,068 --> 01:13:49,928
And I guess that would be a plug for them.

854
01:13:50,048 --> 01:13:55,148
They're starting to realize this and see market acceptance on their side.

855
01:13:55,248 --> 01:13:57,188
So they picked us up to be a part of that movement.

856
01:13:57,488 --> 01:14:00,348
I was just really happy to be involved with that.

857
01:14:01,448 --> 01:14:08,048
The unfortunate thing is because it is a frozen product, it's just not economically viable to ship it.

858
01:14:08,168 --> 01:14:13,788
The cost of shipping to move it around, to keep it frozen with dry ice and get it there is tough.

859
01:14:14,608 --> 01:14:17,588
I'm happy to ship you guys some to try it.

860
01:14:17,588 --> 01:14:19,688
I think that would be great if we could do that.

861
01:14:19,788 --> 01:14:20,988
I'm more than happy to do it.

862
01:14:21,008 --> 01:14:26,848
Just shoot me your physical addresses, and I'll get my daughter's description.

863
01:14:27,728 --> 01:14:31,568
And this really is, I say that, this really is a family-run operation.

864
01:14:31,568 --> 01:14:37,568
I have my wife who's actually here with me, smiling at me and encouraging me.

865
01:14:37,728 --> 01:14:39,488
My biggest encourager is her.

866
01:14:40,388 --> 01:14:42,208
My daughters are involved in the business.

867
01:14:42,348 --> 01:14:45,508
My son was, but he just decided to go into the Coast Guard.

868
01:14:45,508 --> 01:14:48,328
So, yeah, he's embarked in that journey.

869
01:14:49,468 --> 01:14:52,168
And then, frankly, our team is all like family.

870
01:14:52,328 --> 01:14:53,648
We just have a great group of people.

871
01:14:55,348 --> 01:15:00,968
And, yeah, so we're one big, happy family creating Beyond Berries

872
01:15:00,968 --> 01:15:03,648
and some puree to sell to wholesale customers.

873
01:15:03,868 --> 01:15:06,568
I guess that's my plug there.

874
01:15:09,148 --> 01:15:09,668
Yeah.

875
01:15:10,068 --> 01:15:10,488
Awesome.

876
01:15:10,988 --> 01:15:11,388
All right.

877
01:15:11,388 --> 01:15:18,608
And then we like to ask our guests a single question that we think is important.

878
01:15:18,828 --> 01:15:20,648
Throughout our lives, we're impacted.

879
01:15:20,988 --> 01:15:29,648
We are, you know, given advice or, you know, something just sticks with us that made a fundamental and profound impact in our lives.

880
01:15:30,248 --> 01:15:37,528
So we ask our guests, you know, who is that person, historical figure, professor, could be anyone, right?

881
01:15:37,528 --> 01:15:45,088
you know, living or no longer living or also could be still living, but not with us living.

882
01:15:46,348 --> 01:15:48,908
Who would you like to give a shout out to?

883
01:15:49,868 --> 01:15:52,348
Such a big and broad question.

884
01:15:52,808 --> 01:16:01,188
We never get anywhere in life without mentors and people in our lives that have been there to support us,

885
01:16:01,908 --> 01:16:04,888
teach us and, you know, help us grow.

886
01:16:04,888 --> 01:16:14,448
But if I have to narrow it down to one, by far the most important person, the most important man to me in life is Jesus Christ.

887
01:16:15,208 --> 01:16:18,828
He's my God. He's my beacon. He's my king.

888
01:16:19,668 --> 01:16:27,468
And everything that I do is going to revolve around his teachings and his desire of me to glorify the Father.

889
01:16:30,368 --> 01:16:31,488
That's a great answer.

890
01:16:31,488 --> 01:16:33,448
That is a wonderful shout out.

891
01:16:33,448 --> 01:16:41,288
and now yes yes all right well hey we've really appreciated you coming on sharing your stories

892
01:16:41,288 --> 01:16:48,268
your your process well to the extent that you can obviously uh and just having a wonderful

893
01:16:48,268 --> 01:16:55,268
conversation it's been a really good time um so about time for us to wrap it up here

894
01:16:55,268 --> 01:17:02,648
lx anything else you wanted to close out with or no i i i really enjoyed this conversation thank

895
01:17:02,648 --> 01:17:07,168
you so much for coming on thank you for answering my questions and then i think we're kind of all

896
01:17:07,168 --> 01:17:12,248
on the same page here about this stuff yeah just need to eat a little better yeah absolutely and

897
01:17:12,248 --> 01:17:16,448
guys thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to chat a little bit about the product a little

898
01:17:16,448 --> 01:17:22,728
bit about what i believe in and boy it's just been great talking with kindred spirits it's so much

899
01:17:22,728 --> 01:17:28,488
easier to have these discussions when uh you have an idea of what it is that i'm trying to espouse

900
01:17:28,488 --> 01:17:29,988
with this healthy eating.

901
01:17:30,128 --> 01:17:32,248
So thank you for letting me be a part of that

902
01:17:32,248 --> 01:17:37,508
and frankly echoing and advocating the same ideas.

903
01:17:39,368 --> 01:17:39,848
Awesome.

904
01:17:40,508 --> 01:17:42,048
All right, well, hey, everybody,

905
01:17:42,168 --> 01:17:44,708
thank you once again for giving us a bit of your time.

906
01:17:45,048 --> 01:17:46,508
We really do appreciate it.

907
01:17:46,528 --> 01:17:47,948
If you liked us, give us a like.

908
01:17:48,788 --> 01:17:50,848
If you didn't, thumbs down, leave a comment,

909
01:17:51,148 --> 01:17:53,088
suggest a guest, topic, whatever.

910
01:17:53,868 --> 01:17:54,628
Have fun.

911
01:17:54,768 --> 01:17:55,728
You can find us everywhere.

912
01:17:55,868 --> 01:17:56,948
You know where you can find us.

913
01:17:57,128 --> 01:17:57,648
We're everywhere.

914
01:17:57,648 --> 01:17:59,168
Just go look.

915
01:17:59,328 --> 01:17:59,948
We're everywhere.

916
01:18:00,568 --> 01:18:06,468
Wherever you are, whenever you're listening to this, have an amazing day.

917
01:18:08,008 --> 01:18:09,028
See you, everybody.

918
01:18:27,648 --> 01:18:31,488
We'll see you next time.