The Real Reason We Need Nutrient Supplementation | S4E9 (E039)
Do you know where your food comes from or how it’s grown?
What about your supplements?
Should you even care?
In today’s episode, we’re diving into supplements, nutrients, and taking a look at regenerative farming. We’ll get into what it is and why it matters and we’re joined by two experts, Ret Taylor and Vida Chavez-Garcia. Ret co-founded Ned, a supplement company creating and offering simple and effective natural remedies for common ailments. At Ned, they’re keeping things purely simple, on purpose. So, come find out if you should take supplements, why we should ALL care about regenerative farming, and why your bowl of greens has a fraction of the nutrients it used to.
In This Episode
Ret’s inspiration for creating Ned (1:41)
How Vida got involved in Ned & her background (5:38)
What is regenerative farming? (9:03)
Why the land needs rest, food, and water just like we do (11:34)
The dramatic drop of nutrient density in our food (16:20)
America’s lack of magnesium (17:29)
Regenerative farming in terms of supplements & what we put ON our body (19:05)
The potency difference in Ned’s products (19:52)
What can the Wellness industry do to help to shift focus to quality over quantity? (23:30)
How you can know a company is practicing regenerative farming (26:00)
What’s next for Ned? (32:21)
Toréa’s favorite Ned products (36:09)
Resources Mentioned
Nervous System Reset Challenge (starts 16 Jan) Use code WOLF for free access.
Deep Transformation Enrollment closes 27 January
Wilderness Reset Retreat Waitlist Oct 18-22
Shop Ned products & learn more online
Shop One Degree Organic Oats & Foods
Join the Optimized Wellness Community
Submit your question for the show!
Transcript
Toréa Rodriguez 0:08
Welcome to the Wildly Optimized Wellness podcast. I am your host, Toréa Rodriguez. And I’m joined by the lovely co host, Evie Takacs. Both of us are Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioners and we love working with women from all over the world, through our virtual programs, helping women not only feel better, but actually achieve that vibrant, no holds barred version of themselves, they’ve been missing for a long time, and how we actually get there. Well, that is what this show is all about. Now, please keep in mind that this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. And if you like what you hear today, we would love for you to hit that follow button, leave a review in Apple podcast, share with your friends, and keep coming back for more. Let’s start today’s adventure shall we?
Toréa Rodriguez 1:08
Okay, welcome back to wildly optimized wellness Evie and I are super excited because today we have two guests with us. And we're excited because they come from a company called Ned and Ned has so many different values that I just love and appreciate so much that I had to invite them onto the podcast. So we're going to talk a little bit today about regenerative farming, which you may not expect from a supplement company, but it's super important topic, both for health for wellness or outdoor spaces, all of that stuff. So Ret and Vida. Would you please just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit of the backstory around the creation of net or how you came to find net and collaborate with it?
Ret Taylor 1:54
Yeah, absolutely.
Toréa Rodriguez 1:56
Thank you.
Ret Taylor 1:56
It's great to be here. But yeah, it kind of started back with my mother's battle with breast cancer in 2014. She decided she would not do chemo or radiation and instead battled her cancer through nutrition and movement and positive thinking. And that sounded really cool to me. But it also really scared me because I knew she knew very little of what that actually meant. And she wanted her to do everything she could to stay healthy. And so I took it upon myself to really go out and learn everything I could about nutrition and had a bit of a background. But yeah, being based here in Boulder, Colorado, I was surrounded by health experts of all varieties, and a few things kept coming up, one of which was CBD and cannabinoids and this was back in 2014, when very few people actually knew what CBD was. So started buying CBD from my mom and spent two years doing so certain using it myself there I'm looking for leads and traded the ibuprofen for Cannabinoids. And yeah, my mom saw really pretty good results. But it was a just not a very nice journey. For me, I was looking for the absolute best for my mom. And I was asking hemp companies questions like where do they grow their hemp and how it's extracted and what's your mission and getting zero answers and really just kind of bounce from one brand to the next and you know, ended up kind of just like buying what was on sale and just like over those two years done zero affinity for any brands out there. And it was based on the lack of transparency in part on the lack of quality and eventually got it into my mind. Let me let me dive deeper into this started meeting with hemp farmers out in their fields here in Colorado. And these are the farmers that came very highly recommended and they're all growing for quantity and quality. Yeah, they they wanted to impress upon me how cheap their hemp was and how quickly they could tear it down and grow it again. That was even more disappointing. So eventually long story short, at the end of the summer of 2017 I met a farmer and Paonia, Colorado which is just this amazing farming community going back 150 years and it's just the brain trust of farmers there's incredible the soil the sun 330 days of sun the water comes pouring off rocky mountains there in the Elk Mountains and finally connected with a farmer who was growing instead of on 1000 acres using freshers and big machinery. He was growing on just a couple acres doing everything by hand. He was slaying binaural beats and reggae to his plants. And he was organic and including biodynamic principles and you know, vortex in the already very pure mountain water. And I just knew as soon as I drove onto his Yeah, just was like a breath of fresh air driving onto his farm just felt like this is the place and it was at that point that, that never really began. And you know, it's been five years since then five and a half years now. But it's been an incredible journey. It's one about passion and commitment to plastic for pills ethos, and we've grown the business and really been blessed to have a number of great people join us Vida being being one of them.
Toréa Rodriguez 5:10
And it's really cool. And what a cool story. And it's unfortunate because that story is very, very common, especially when you're trying to source for certain types of supplements. And there's an adage of like, let's just build more quantity. And that doesn't necessarily lead to quality of the compounds that you're getting from them. And so kudos for you to continue to try and push for that. And then finding it, which is super amazing. So let's shift over to Vida. Vida, let us know, a little bit. First of all, tell us who you are. Let us know a little bit about your background, and how did you discover Ned and come to collaborate with Ned.
Vida Chavez-Garcia 5:49
A good morning, happy to be with you it's doing at night. My name is Vida Chavez-Garcia, I am the order fulfillment and production manager at Ned. This is my second year here. And I gained to Ned in a very bizarre and unexpected way. I saw an ad on Craigslist. And it was an advertisement for an unnamed brand new Wellness Business that was looking for help in its warehouse. And so I reached out and I was working really just like less than 10 hours a week. And this is prior to Ned launching its most popular product called Sleep lens. And I tried to make an exit then from Ned for a different job. And due to the success of this new product that they had just launched, they were like sit tight, you're not going anywhere. And that offered me an official position on their team. And so I've now been here for two years, and along the way have stepped into different roles. And so I am now the order fulfillment Production Manager. And then by stepping into these two roles, I also started to develop an interest in how we were sourcing our botanicals. And due to my background in regenerative agriculture. I am a farmer, I had an educational farm in central Argentina for six years called Huerta de Vida, where I received interns from all sorts of countries, all sorts of backgrounds who came and underwent a month long course with me in soil health practices, natural construction, herbalism cooking, really just a step away from gridded life and looking at how people can live with the land and recenter themselves reground themselves. And from that place, I came back to the United States and then found myself working in a warehouse. So in order to find this new chapter of my life, to give it meaning. And to make it interesting to myself, I decided to bridge the gap between my background and regenerative agriculture, and what the work I was doing here at a wellness company like Ned. And so I decided that I wanted to look at how we were sourcing our botanicals, and really make sure that we were sourcing them from farms that were living in a respectful way, that we're growing botanicals that were growing in healthy soil, and that were holding the wellness of their communities at the heart of their business model.
Toréa Rodriguez 8:29
Very cool. What a cool experience for you to have back in Argentina and then be able to utilize it and train people here in the United States on the same principles. Let's take a step back for a second because the listeners that listen to this podcast on a regular basis, they've probably seen at this point, the word regenerative on certain products, but I wanted to cover like what is Regenerative Farming actually mean? And then we can get into the nitty gritties of how as a consumer do even find out whether or not your stuff is that way. But what is Regenerative Farming?
Vida Chavez-Garcia 9:06
Yeah, this is not this is not an easy answer. And it's something that someone has to live to really understand. But as a regenerative farmer, I would say that easiest way to explain regenerative farming is it's a series of practices that establish a relationship between a farmer and the land that establish a relationship that is reciprocal, that it's a give and take relationship that's based on land stewardship. And it's also a recognition that just like any person, a land has needs, and those needs are food, water and rest. And so just working with the land in response to those needs in order to enhance the life giving capacity of a land to grow nutrient dense foods and medicine.
Ret Taylor 9:59
Yeah I think you should take that because you are regenerative farmer. And it's such a deep thinker. And I just love your answer Vida. And it also kind of goes to the principles of our business, which is about keeping things simple and natural. Those are two of our main tenants, and doing things the way that they were originally done, and the way Mother Nature intends. And so, you know, we, we've gotten so far out ahead of ourselves as a society creates what can be created in nature, we created labs, and we've really overthought so many different things. And then we've, we've also brought this approach to the earth and to products and to the things that leads that has, again become way more overcomplicated than it ought to be. So regenerative farming, is farming the way it used to be. It's farming without the agriculture, it's farming without massive tools. It's it's multiple different crops. It's allowing root systems to take place. And it's it's not over stripping, it's not overdoing, it's not over producing it's way farming always was practiced. So we overcomplicated it.
Toréa Rodriguez 11:14
Yeah, until we wanted to build massive quantities of food that seems to be where people get too focused on efficiency. And don't get me wrong, I love efficiency. But when we are taking it to an extreme and taking it out of the natural, efficient processes that nature already provides, that's when it kind of gets a little bit overkill. And Vida I'd loved what you said with that's a land also, like us, needs food, water and rest. Can you expand a little bit on the rest piece? That's very interesting, because I haven't heard that before. And in terms of talking about land, but also in terms of food and water, you and I both know that it goes beyond just pouring, you know, irrigation water and putting some fertilizer on the soil. So what what kind of things are you talking about when you're talking about food and water and rest for land?
Vida Chavez-Garcia 12:04
Yeah, so like any good worker, we get hungry, we get thirsty, and we get tired, we need a break. And so the land has been taking care of itself. The land has a very efficient and effective method of self care. And it's been practicing this for much longer than we've been around. And so the humans decided to intervene and natural systems, we quickly took an approach of like, how much can we get as fast as possible, and it became an extractive relationship. And so regenerative farming is really about rebalancing that dynamic, and reestablishing a give and take. And so if I just like anybody, or myself, anybody on my team, or myself, if we have a big project ahead of us, I know that we're going to need snacks and we need water and we're going to need breaks along the way. And it's just a very simple equation that you can apply to the land as well, which land had been doing for itself. And through observation, regenerative farmers have learned how to mimic these processes. And so one of the ways that you can do that you feed the land is that you grow crops in rotations so that you're not growing the same crop over and over again. And you're also growing crops in combination where crops work well, that worked well with each other, they covered different roles, just like any of our teams at work, we don't all have the same role. There's a diversity of roles, and we work together as a team, and we were able to get the job done well. And so it's the same thing with plants growing in the land, they're working together as teams. And if there's only one kind of plant that's performing one kind of role, a lot of it's just not going to be done as well, the end product isn't going to be solid. So it's it's doing, it's doing that kind of stack, it's called stacking functions with the land, but that ends up actually feeding the land because each plant is also providing something for the land. And this really beautiful relationship with the land where the land gives the plants what it needs to seed. And in exchange, the plants and birds, ancient wisdom are feeding back the land something that it needs, as well. And so essentially, they're feeding each other. So making sure that those plants are being grown and the way that they're used to in the teams that they're used to on land, make sure that the land has the variety of foods that it needs. Keep working hard.
Toréa Rodriguez 14:36
Love it. I love it.
Evie Takacs 14:38
That's so beautiful that I just I want to say the way that you're describing it is just so beautiful, because we've heard about regenerative agriculture, and you know, we care about that, but just the way that you're describing is really eloquent. And I think it's a really nice and beautiful way to think about the land and what our role is. And so I appreciate you explaining it in that way. I think it's I think there's a deeper appreciation that we need to have for that and so the way that you're describing is really helpful in that way.
Toréa Rodriguez 15:03
Yeah. I learned this lesson the first time through when I was just learning how to grow my own vegetables. And I had some raised beds at my house. And the first year, I grew tomatoes in this three by three plot bed. And they were amazing. And it was awesome. So I decided to do it again the next year in the same bed, not knowing that the tomatoes had taken all the nutrients that they needed for that year, and that I needed to grow something else there. And of course, they flopped and not knowing anything about regenerative farming. This too, I think was back in like 2008, or something when I was doing this, I just assumed that I had a black thumb and that I wasn't wasn't good at it. Right. And I just didn't, didn't know what I didn't know, back then in terms of what we all need in terms of water, and that rest and the the diversity of the nutrients. I just opened up my Shuteye Chai box last night. So I finally got it got my hands on some Shuteye Chai we'll talk about that in a little bit. But inside that box, what I loved about it is you guys have a postcard that talks about the food nutrient density today compared to yesterday. And you have this lovely graphic of one carrot to four carrots that it takes four carrots today to equal the same nutrients as one carrot. So part of what we're seeing in terms of food, right, is that the overall nutrient density in our food system worldwide has dropped dramatically because we're not using this regenerative farming style of taking care of the land. Have you seen that? We're starting to shift it back in the other direction working in this industry? Are you seeing that we're shifting it?
Ret Taylor 16:44
No, I wouldn't say I'm seeing that yet. I'm seeing a growing industry for supplementation, and supplementation being when we're not getting enough of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals that we ought to from our food, I actually see it the other way. Okay, this this growing supplementation industry. And you know, the what you were referring to the carrots, that would have been what our grandparents would have had a bowl of leafy greens in 1940 contain four times as much magnesium as it does now amazing. And that's a direct result of over farming, mono cropping, big agriculture, just stripping, stripping, stripping, taking you to call it an extractive relationship. And that's exactly the case. And so we're finding ourselves devoid of essential minerals and vitamins. Magnesium is is an essential mineral that controls over 300 different functions in the body. And 70% of us Americans are not getting a recommended daily allowance, recommended daily allowances is a pittance of what we really should be getting right. And so the vast majority of us are walking around magnesium deficient, which I was. And that was leading to an inability to recover after the workouts is leading to poor sleep, even depression, the body won't release serotonin, the happy hormone without sufficient magnesium. And this is something that very few people know about, although we've been doing our best to educate and there's a few others out there as well. And now magnesium is a kind of a hot topic just like CBD what. And so yeah, you know, our meds product lineup is both on the hemp side, as well as on the vitamin supplements and minerals, and our mellow referred to Shuteye Chai, that's sort of our magnesium collection. And you absolutely love it. I'm glad you received it and hope you like it, we put a lot of time into it and love it. In fact, my business partner Adrian and I, we just got back from India a couple months ago, actually. But we went there to really learn all we could about chai and different masala spices, or Vedic traditions, and really just know this product.
Toréa Rodriguez 19:05
That's really cool. The reason why I asked that question, right is that regenerative farming, at least in the wellness industry is starting to be more talked about, but it's really only being talked about with regards to food, and the nutrients that we're taking in through what we're eating. What I'm not seeing it talked about much until I found your company is being talked about in terms of the supplements and what we put on our skin and how the same kind of practices also have an effect on the potency of the functionality of certain types of plants, or plant medicines that we use in terms of the compounds. And you know, we were talking about magnesium, but then there's also you know, the different herbs like holy basil and those kinds of things and ashwagandha that we use in different kinds of supplements. Are you seeing that there's a difference in terms of the potency of the ingredients that you're getting? Because you're sourcing it from regenerative farms.
Ret Taylor 20:00
Yeah, absolutely. Our farmer Jonathan in Paonia, who grows our hemp, he has been actually reducing the number of acres that he uses to grow on while increasing the yield. So we pay for yield. So in a hemp plant, what we want is to have the highest yield of cannabinoids possible, that doesn't necessarily equate to the largest amounts, the most poundage. And so what he's been able to do is again, reduce the land that he grows on, while increasing the amount of cannabinoids that he grows. And that's entirely done through his regenerative farming practices, and really his his expertise as a farmer. So we see that firsthand. And then, you know, it was about a year and a half ago that we realized, we got this amazing relationship with Jonathan, he grows all of our hemp, we go direct to the farm that enables him to continue to be a hemp farmer and enables him to understand, to know six months ahead of time, what the price will pay for his hemp is it gives him a market, it gives him the opportunity to grow or become more efficient, which is what he's chosen to do. And it gives him as a farmer more certainty. And farmers have absolutely no certainty. bugs can come hell can come, markets can fluctuate, regulations can fluctuate. And so to give a farmer some sort of certainty, is a big thing for them. And so we said, you know, we got this great relationship with Jonathan doing really well by him. At same time, we were buying our Ashwagandha or Hammermill, passionflower, and lemon balm, and all the other ingredients that we're using, from really great aggregators, that we're finding incredible ingredients from various farms around the country, and good companies in enough of themselves. However, we didn't have that direct relationship. And so we'd be this leadership, we reached out to a number of different funds. And it took some time Vida you should speak to this. But basically, what we did was we found mazing farmers across the country that were by and large regenitive. And what it's done is it's increased the quality of our products, it's increased the potency, and even the weight that we have to purchase, because the products are that much more nutrient dense, that much better. So we see it every day. And that's really our approach is buy better products, not more of it.
Toréa Rodriguez 22:29
So I'm thinking that as you're saying that, and that making the connection between the postcard that was in the package, right? One carrot for carrots, and increasing the yield of the compounds is what's important, while decreasing the amount of space that we're taking, for farming. So this might be a really good segue to get into the ecological impact of the conventional way of farming. Because if we are really farming less nutrients out of the same space, so taking care of corn, for example, we're gonna have to grow more corn plants to get the same nutrients. And so therefore, the demand for farming land tends to increase, which then increases our water usage and demand on water and a planet. And, you know, I live part time in Oregon and part time in California. So I'm very, very familiar with extreme drought. And this kind of dynamic that goes on with farming communities, and trying to find enough water yet trying to grow even more crops. So can you talk a little bit about where the responsibility needs to shift within the wellness industry to help drive a focus on quality over volume.
Ret Taylor 23:41
So I've been in the business a long time, and all the way back to 2001. When I helped to co found a environmental business in Saudi Arabia, when we just learned there that even before Green was a term we learned that is doing good business is good business. And so that involves things like regenerative agriculture, it involves doing things the right way, is typically turns out to be also good for the bottom line if you've got the patience. And so we're seeing farmers moving toward regenerative agriculture because they're seeing their neighbors thriving. They're seeing their neighbors, not only turning out great crops, but also being touted as the future of agriculture. They're seeing a bit of a shift back away from the complicated, built in a lab, over thought processes to this much more simple a for natural understanding that Mother Nature's are smarter than any of us, and we really ought to stop trying to outsmart her. And that's really the shift that that I think we're seeing and the companies that there are good come attorneys that are that are getting involved, and they're really pushing things forward. in leaps and bounds, we're proud to be one of those companies, we have a relatively small impact. But when many companies with small impacts step up, we can make a large impression. And I met this morning with the CSR director for a very large company. And we had a very long conversation, and I actually had to skip my next meeting for it. But he was just really interested in what we what we as a company are doing, and how they can do it as well. And that gives me tremendous hope, because they have an impact that's many times larger than we did. And so I see these big public companies looking for insights into how to be more efficient, more responsible, and more sustainable. And that gives me a ton of love it.
Evie Takacs 25:55
That's really promising. And as we're talking, I'm thinking, okay, someone's listening to this. And even for myself as a consumer, how do I know that a company is practicing in this way? Or how do I know that they, you know, if this is something that's important to me, and I want to vote with my dollar, what are things that you look for, or that should be on a website, or should be marketed from the company or the brand, just as someone who wants to make this shift, they know which brands to look at? And also how to do that recon, if you will?
Ret Taylor 26:25
Yeah, well, that's what I was trying to do when my mom was, was battling her cancer, and I was calling the companies and just wasn't getting any answers. And I would go on the website. And, you know, honestly, these days is really, really hard to know, there's a ton of green washing there's a ton of generative washing, it's a new buzzword, and everybody's using it, not even knowing exactly what it means. And so what I think the best way to do is, we really don't value those anymore, we use our prefrontal cortex to put logic to everything, whereas it's, it's the deepest part of our brain, that's what we should really be paying attention to. And it just feels right. So if you spend your time getting to know a company, and it doesn't feel right, you probably spend the time getting to know a business does go right there. They're speaking from a place of experience, they're showing their farm. And then all of our customers know Jonathan, though his wife and two dogs, it's hard to fake that. So look for those hidden clues, look for a personal relationship, because otherwise you could fall victim to be duped, and a lot of trying to do.
Toréa Rodriguez 27:41
And I think that was one of the things that I love so much when I was looking at your company and researching your company, I'm picky about what I put in my body and on my body. And I've always found that if I can see the whole chain between product, product, and farmer that makes that product that makes me feel a lot more comfortable. Because I know that at least net as a company is paying attention to the farms and the people that are doing that work. It's kind of similar to me and I recorded a couple of weeks back this episode, I'm talking about choosing better chocolate, because this is rampant in the cacao industry to have like, not paying farmers for it and you know, not using organic practices or regenerative like any of this stuff. And so I think if a company is valuing it enough to put it on their website to put the different farms and highlight the people that are doing the actual work. That to me is a clue that at least some of this is being kind of taken care of from that company's perspective. Vida, I'm curious, would you agree with those kinds of things to look for? Or when you're trying to find products and source products? What is it that you look for personally,
Vida Chavez-Garcia 28:57
Really, so I had a list when I first started to source, I decided that it was time for us to source the 50 other botanicals that we make medicinal remedies with at net besides hemp that it was time to source those botanicals from regenerative farms where the farmers are of the same caliber is Jonathan it to Athena farm, that I wanted to find people that were going to pick up the phone. That was the first thing that I made a list of farms and then I got I sent emails, and it was whoever replied back and it's really about building a team of allies and regenerative farms, appreciate businesses that see them and support them and are looking for opportunities. And so to reach out and get a reply right away. That was the first time that I was on the right track is really reaching out to farmers who are trying to bridge the gap between regenerative agriculture and the market because it's only by working as it's Gene and building momentum that we're gonna have any kind of impact on this massive market that is not supportive of regenerative agriculture, and it's not paying attention. And it seems to be acting as if we're not in a crisis. So the first thing was finding somebody who's going to pick up the phone, who's going to respond to the email, and it was going to do so enthusiastically. And then from there, it was asking them what their story was. And it turns out that the majority of the farmers that we've made connections with, they didn't start as farmers, most of them actually started that sort of a list, they have a background in human health. And then they continue to their training. And they went to the source of human health, and it's the soil. And they decided that the best way that they could continue to be practitioners of human health was by becoming a regenerative farmer and taking care of the land first. And so that kind of commitment speaks loudly. And so those are the people that I want to work with. They I trust, what they do, I trust that the work that they do on the land is growing extremely powerful, and potent medicinals. And then these are also people who are excited about trying our products and seeing where their botanicals go, and what we ended up doing with them, they have a real interest in seeing the whole journey of their work. And we've decided to create a web page that's dedicated to the Farm To NED Alliance where we highlight each one of the farms that we work with the beautiful photo of the farm, family, farm team farmer, and also a quick description of who they are and what they're about where they are to make it really easy for anybody who's interested in where we're sourcing our botanicals from, for them to see these farms. And then to create their own relationship with these farms. They don't only have to support these farms by buying from Ned, they can also have their own relationship. And with that, that's what we want to see more of as a network of support regenerative farmers, not just for Ned.
Toréa Rodriguez 32:08
That's amazing. And there's one other company that I know that does this. And they sell oats and I can't remember the name of their company, but I think it's Know Your Farmer oats or something like that. I'll definitely put that in the show notes for sure. I'm curious if you're finding at all any kind of inclusivity of Native American tribes that are getting involved in taking care of the land and teaching those traditions to new people who are have an interest in taking care of the land? Are you seeing that at all.
Vida Chavez-Garcia 32:40
So one of the limitations of ethically sourcing botanicals from regenerative farms for a wellness company like net is that the majority of our products are certified organic. And their organic certification is a significant barrier for a lot of brown and black and indigenous farmers who are just trying to get their hands on land in the first place. And so we don't just offer certified organic products, there are other things that we do such as loose teas, nutritional salts that are mixed with botanicals, and those are opportunities for us to expand the farm to net Alliance so that we can invite a bigger diversity of farmers into the alliance. And that is the next step. Let's source botanicals for our certified organic products, because that's the bread and butter of our business. But now that we have that those boxes checked, now it's time to look into other opportunities. And so in the next month, I'll be making connections with those farmers. And absolutely with indigenous farmers, because it's indigenous culture that we all come from. We're all indigenous, we're just different degrees of separation from our indigenous cultures. But that's really the backbone of our understanding of how to work in harmony with nature and to live with the land.
Toréa Rodriguez 34:06
Amazing. Amazing. I'm so excited that you guys are pioneering some of these relationships because they're needed. And you're right, like the organic certification. Both of you and I have talked about it before. This is why you go and talk to the people at the booth at the farmers market and have the conversation because just because they don't have the organic sign because it costs 10s of 1000s of dollars to get that sign doesn't mean that they're not following these practices. So like you said, it has more to do with creating a conversation and establishing communication with people to build these relationships going forward. That is definitely the first step and I love that you had that first on your list. Yeah.
Vida Chavez-Garcia 34:49
It's been really wonderful. It's been a healing process for me to this work still feels unfamiliar as far as working in a warehouse, not working directly with the land. And so to be able to make these connections with regenerative farmers, it's just a way for me to be able to keep that part of myself alive.
Ret Taylor 35:09
Vida is so good at it. And, you know, experts always know when they're talking to other experts. And so Vida has been a massive asset to us, in that she's able to connect with the farmers, really, you know, feel them out, but let them feel her out as well. Vida represents our company so so well, yeah. And this farm, and that program is to make the absolutely most exciting part of our business, because of the impact that it has on Pharma is on us individually, we could all be doing something far different, probably more lucrative, probably easier, but certainly not as fulfilling. And then the impact that it has all the way down the line to our customers that products really, truly speak for themselves and quality. We've always known that we could find better ways of doing things, making better higher quality products. And we've always done so soon, we really are proud of the products.
Toréa Rodriguez 36:09
Well, I definitely love your products. And you're right, they absolutely speak for themselves. I love using the sleep blend that was what I started with was this one. And since then added the magnesium product of mello products. And now that you've got the Shaddai Chai I've been sipping on that Chai, because it's wintertime and it's so lovely to have a nice hot and steaming spicy mug. And in the evening, those two products have completely stepped up my sleep game, which has been amazing. And I've been around the block for a while and know whether or not something's going to impact my sleep. And I'm I've just been really pleasantly surprised at how efficacious your products actually are. So I love them, I recommend them to my clients ever has been checking them out too. So thank you so much for doing what you do and producing the stuff that you do, because it's amazing. And I'm just so excited that you guys are doing this farm to net initiative because this is where we need to go if we aren't going to solve the problems that we have on this planet. And if we're going to survive this next next stage, if you will. So thank you so much.
Ret Taylor 37:16
Again, it's just good business. And so others will come to it. And they realize that it's just good business.
Toréa Rodriguez 37:25
Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Where can people find you guys? Go ahead and tell us your URL and anything else you want to tell us? We'll make sure that all the links and all those things are in the show notes.
Ret Taylor 37:36
Yeah.
Toréa Rodriguez 37:37
Where can they find you?
Ret Taylor 37:38
Our website is helloned.com. helloned.com. And then we're on Instagram @Ned.
Toréa Rodriguez 37:47
Fantastic. And people are wondering what I'm talking about. This is it. This is the Shuteye Chai and it's amazing. It's a non caffeinated chai latte that you get to sip on before bed. And it's Yeah, best sleep ever. I love it. Cool. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for coming on. Really appreciate it. And hopefully we'll have a question to have you guys on maybe later next year.
Ret Taylor 38:12
That would be great.
Toréa Rodriguez 38:13
Fantastic.
Ret Taylor 38:14
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Toréa Rodriguez 38:22
Hey, thanks for joining us for this episode of the Wildly Optimized Wellness podcast. If you’re ready to dig deeper into your health, stop playing the Whack-a-Symptom game, start testing to get better guidance, you can find more about Toréa at torearodriguez.com and you can find Evie at holisticallyrestored.com. Want a peek into what it’s like to work with us? Come join us at our Optimized Wellness Community. You can find the invitation link in the show notes below. And if you have a question for the show, you can submit your question under the podcast section of torearodriguez.com. Finally, if you found something helpful in this episode, don’t forget to leave a review, hit that follow button or share it with a friend. They’re gonna love that you thought of them. Until next time, see you outside!
