Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I tell people you get what you get, and you get what you research for. So if you don't do the proper due diligence and doing the own research on what you put in your body or even the content you consume, you won't really comprehend what I'm trying to sell you, or you might not even comprehend anything that I have at the table. I'm not necessarily trying to sell you something, but there's more than mushrooms than getting high. There's more than mushrooms than growing the mushrooms. Mushrooms taught me that your biggest person out there is you.
(00:01):
You're your biggest person out there.
Hello, Zach. It's nice to see you.
Greetings, Tim Ryan. I'm sorry.
Had to record the past couple episodes due to scheduling
baseball. Don't tell people inside baseball, Tim.
But they were we are we are live.
We're number one.
Live and in color. It's nice to see you. Just seems like it's been a while.
Yeah. I kinda forgot how to do this. Can you teach me?
There you go. Yeah.
Tonight is a big night night that you and I have been waiting for for a while. We've talked about this in general for a while. Savannah Savannah bananas coming to town. We're going we got a group of five. Party of five.
Party of five. Yeah.
Shall be a good time.
I think that Yeah.
I'm I'm excited to see, like, what their activations and their experiences are really like live. I've read at least one of Jesse Cole's books, so I really appreciate him. What about you?
Yeah. Same deal. I think that I I really appreciate how you can take something that can be viewed as dry or boring per the viewership or whatever possibly going down and then flipping the script to make it more engaging, especially to those that may not be interested in it at all. I think that, the Savannah Bananas did that. I think that Live Golf did that.
I mean, like, I I I watched live golf. I watched the tournament that they had in Northern Virginia for just a few minutes. But it's just wild to see, like, golfers wearing shorts, music blaring in the background.
Oh, so they they do things differently. I didn't know.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And so, like, there's no cut. It, it's just it's it's so, again, very, very different in terms of to, just to to shake things up and That
that kinda reminds me of this event, August 21 at the Sandler Center.
Yeah. The beach. What's going on in the August 21?
(00:22):
Well, if you if you know about Savannah Bananas and you like that experience, how could you take a pitch competition and Savannah Bananas arise it? Yeah. I guess I guess you'll have to go to mv757.orgbackslashstartupworldcupva. Grab your ticket. Find out what the hype is all about.
Yeah. It's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it. We're we are in the thick of that for sure. But
We we we will give today's guest a break because she has a vendor show and unable to make it, but she's the only one we will give a pass to.
Yeah.
And, honestly, I maybe she shouldn't maybe she should cancel her vendor show when she show up anyway.
She at the same time, yeah, she's she did commit to ensuring five of her friends will go in in place with her. So
Good. Make it 10. And I'm I'm okay. Five for each of us.
That's
right. Mushroom lady. Mushroom lady. Hey,
fun guys.
Fun guys. Oh, wow.
How's We're already starting, Jesse. Like, this is yeah. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Zach, do you like mushrooms?
Okay. So here's a fun story about me and mushrooms. So
Oh, lord.
Oh, it ain't that kind of story. Don't you worry. First of all, Lionel Sapp is the one who introduced us. Say, hey, Lionel.
Shout out to Lionel.
Say, hey, Lionel.
Shout out to Lionel.
With the digital builders. Was he Lionel the builder or something like that? Yep. Yep. I said, hey.
I need you got any cool people? He said, I got someone. I got a. That's good.
Say I told
(00:43):
you that there's gonna be low
pressure environment.
Say less. Yeah. So my do I like mushrooms? Never ate mushrooms growing up. My buddy James Parker, who you have met, Tim, that was mullet guy at my thirtieth
up there.
He and I would cook a lot in college. We had a five burner grill. Huge. Monstrous. Also had side plates.
How do I get a five burner grill? Well, I go to to Target the first week of school to get a smaller grill. The smaller grill is a $100. The five burner grill is, like, a $110. I was like, screw it.
I'm buying the big one.
10 more dollars.
Big one. We used to have, like, parties of food, like, big like, you know, you go, like, Sam's Club, Costco, get the big ass pork loins and stuff. We used to have all that in there. James then goes, let me let me introduce mushrooms to you. He gets this tinfoil, 1,400 mushrooms on there.
Probably just white mushrooms. Cut them up. No. Nothing fancy. He ain't fancy.
Puts them in there, stick of butter, tried it. I was like, okay.
I I Get in my belly.
Think I think I can I think I can do this? So that's my experience with mushrooms. Never again, never since. Kidding. I like mushrooms.
I think they're cool.
Yeah. Pizza, burgers, steak? No. Oh, yeah. Pile them on.
So weird. So you won't put that on you don't like a salad, but you'll eat a vegetable?
I don't eat salad. It's just, you know, my thing is,
like No. You won't. No.
You won't. Salad either. Don't feel bad. I used to be a vegetarian. I can't it's the lettuce.
It's just
just one thing that
(01:04):
I was
out of the sandwich last week.
You eat mushrooms. Mean, man, I'm a I'm a I'm a meat and potatoes guy through and through, and throw some mushrooms on that meat while you're at it. We're good.
That's good.
How did Tia, how did you meet Lionel?
So I met Lionel, I wanna say, through Instagram. He has his digital builders with the control all in play, And so he wanted me to be a part of his vending not a vending series, but the click the control alt play. And when I say when I pulled up, it was an amazing experience. It was, like, red carpet. We had interviews going on.
People was actually engaging. There was a band. It was amazing. It was nice. I met Elinal.
That conversation was had at the Black Brand Building during my accelerator cohort. And I think that's where I met Ryan too.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's Why
does anyone call you Ryan, Tim?
I'm the man with I'm the man with two first names.
I just realized that. It definitely says Tim Ryan. That's cool. But that's cool.
Wrong. You can't
go wrong. Ryan, Tim.
I I answered them both.
Oh, well, it is confusing because your
My handle.
Handle. So
Ryan t n t.
Yeah. I blame you, mister Ryan.
Well, this is the first time that my handle's been it is is publicly next to my name, but it but it happens all the time. It's it's it's cool. How how did you get introduced to mushrooms to you?
(01:25):
So back in 2020, I had lost my father. And when I tell you I needed some type of healing, I needed it. So I started growing a lion's man because I heard it's good for depression and anxiety. And so once I started growing the mushrooms, I realized that it took my focus off of my grief, and it really made me narrow into, like, my inner workings of self. So really helping me find my own balance within myself, helping me find my balance with the relationship outside of, like, intimacy, but, like, friendships, my mom, my cousins, and my aunts and stuff.
Just helping me connect with the oneness, I wanna say. And then with after the lion's mane, that's when I started growing my good friend Rishi here. And I could tell you each lie each mushroom kinda taught me its own secret message for me. Like, lion's mane taught me that you can do whatever you can, but just make sure that you're at one with yourself. You can do anything if you can put your mind to it, but make sure you are at one with self.
Rishi taught me that it's really all about balance and making sure the inner workings are right before you even leave the house. Because if your mind is not right before you leave the house, you don't know what you're really giving to people. As someone who grows my own products and transmute those products into teas, powders, and supplements, I wanna make sure that I'm the best that I can be at all times so my products are the best. And so when people are taking it, they're taking the best thing. So
I dig that. Have you seen either of you, have you seen fantastic fungi on Netflix?
Yes. I cried. I was on shrews when I watched it, though, and I cried.
Dude, it's crazy. Like, I mean, like, it it's a documentary about What's it called? Mushrooms.
Fantastic fungi.
Yeah. And, but, like, the crazy thing is, man, like, they totally boggled my mind is, like, through they talk to communicate with one another through their root system.
Yep. It's called the mycelial network. And when I say the mycelial network is the original worldwide web. So they talk through exchanging nutrients and different type of signals to the plants, the plants, the trees, and other mushrooms around. And so it's mainly the mycorrhizal mushrooms that do this.
Those are the mushrooms that you find growing on the ground. So the Mario mushroom, which is the Amanita, that's the classic, mycorrhizal mushroom I like to use, for example. Then you got portobellas. Those are mycorrhizal mushrooms because they're found growing on the ground as well. And those mushrooms are really good for the pathway communication with the trees and plants and nature.
It's amazing.
Early twenty twenty March 2020 when the COVID had like, this Monday of cocoa. People weren't afraid yet. People were still like, no. There's, one person in America. Whatever.
I go to have a meeting in Downtown Norfolk with my buddy Mark Marlin, went on his podcast, and he's just telling me about this mushroom coffee. I'm like, oh, interesting. And I believe that's what he's
talking about. Very interesting.
Why? Are you saying, like, I'm a late adopter? Is that that? Because I I felt some,
You're early.
Yeah. Oh oh, so okay. So I can't remember if I had it or not. Four Sigmatic was the company. Yeah.
And now I'm getting quite a bit. Okay. So now I'm getting ads for this Rise thing, and I've been interested in it. I think my wife recently said, hey. Have you heard of it?
And I was like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I heard about it. So I texted my buddy, Mar Marlin, a couple weeks ago, and I was like, cool.
I just think that the the universe is telling me that maybe I need to try a little bit of this. Because, apparently, mushroom coffee, I don't know if you've done it, Tim, supposed to be, you know, it's supposed to be better than regular coffee, and it has better better for you, better effects.
I hear that a lot. Not tried it before.
(01:46):
Is dull anyways. It's 2020. We're in the 20 now. You just caffeine add a little more to your caffeine. Get some We're
closer to 20 we're closer to 2050 than we are to the year February. How's that for crazy?
Oh my goodness. No. We're not.
Yeah. I don't believe that's true. We have to finish this year for that to be
I'm doing I'm doing the math. Head.
We're in July. I think you gotta get through the whole year. I think I don't believe you. I think I I think I think your math is slightly off by about four and a half, five and a half months. But I do wrong.
50? I don't wanna know what the world looks like in 2050.
Well, if you've ever watched Will Smith hits, iRobot, expect it to look like that.
No. We don't want it. We're supposed to prevent that. We don't
want it. All these people want it. You know? Will Smith tried telling us. You know?
Then then he even, like, told us again. You know? I'm telling you, y'all need to worry.
I get my my biggest question is, like, who are the people determine what's healthy mushrooms and what are the poisonous mushrooms that are gonna make you feel bad? I don't wanna be I some there was probably some really sick people that had to figure all that stuff out.
Yeah. Those people are called mycologist. And like I tell anybody because I'm a I'm a diehard forager. I tell anybody, if you have to question or even think too fathom that you don't know what it is, for the love of god, do not put it in your mouth. Don't.
The we have AI. We got Google. You can take a picture and try to figure it out. But if you naturally look at it and you have to think about it, don't put it in your mouth. Don't.
Right.
But if you do want a quick little test to see if the mushrooms that you taste that the mushrooms that you have are poisonous, the poisonous mushrooms do have a slight little nutty taste afterwards, like a little peanut taste to it afterwards. Because I wanted to see what a poisonous mushroom tastes like. And when we say poisonous, it's usually like dysentery. You'll get severe nausea, a very bad upset stomach, extreme diarrhea, which I didn't know extreme diarrhea was a thing until I actually googled what is extreme diarrhea. And yeah.
That's the thing. And so, yeah, it's like Oregon Trail. When I when I talk about mushrooms, I feel like I'm playing the game Oregon Trail even though I never played that game because I'm not that old. But, yeah, it's Oregon Trail.
Well, I was watching theory. A I was watching a season of Alone, and this guy found some, some mushrooms, and he was pretty sure that they were not poisonous. I'm like, man, I don't know if I wanna roll the dice on something like that. That's
And they were poisonous?
They were not. He they're he was good.
And something that classified uh-huh.
(02:07):
No. Speaking of craziness from mushrooms potentially, I did Tim had asked me about this scene in a TV show, and I hadn't seen it yet. So I had to Google it without TV
show. Sure.
Is it last of us?
No.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Correct channel, though, I think. Something to do with this band. And I watched some of it last night just to get the vibe of what he was telling me, and they could they could have been on some poisonous mushrooms.
Well, like, who was the first person to, like, eat mushrooms off of cow poop and be like, hey. Let's give this a go.
Christopher Columbus.
Christopher Columbus, that makes a lot of sense. That explains why the western route to Asia ended up over here in America.
Maybe he was on mushrooms.
Mushrooms because he was high on
the ice. The show has gone off the rockers. Alright.
Some people consider the psychedelic mushrooms poisonous, which is funny because if you read some mushroom books, they'll be like, oh, yeah. Penis envy is classified as a poisonous mushrooms. And it's like, wait a minute. No. It it's if you don't wanna get high off of mushrooms, then, yes, that's poisonous because nobody really wants to sit here and hallucinate when that's what that's not the intentions.
But for those people who see some type of healing in those mushrooms, I think we need to properly label all things that are poisonous, all things that are hallucinogenic or psychoactive as hallucinogenic or psychoactive and not just poisonous because it's stereotypical.
Because it's it's a psilocybin that is that is the ingredient in mushrooms that is the hallucinogen. Is that is that right?
Yes. It is. That is the active ingredient that makes you hallucinate in mushrooms. Well, it's psilocybin in mushrooms. And when we eat it, our body digest it, and it turns into psilocin.
And then that's when we start having a psychoactive experience.
But there's a lot of research right now about, like, real benefits of that from, like, a PTSD with millet or, like, just really getting over traumatic experiences, you know, that that there's some of the benefits of that.
You know what's crazy about all this stuff, though? Even, like, Ayahuascan or whatever it's called. Mhmm. I don't know. Don't ask me how to spell it.
Like, people have such, like, an interesting, like, first thought of it. And it's just like same thing with, like, people who, like, like, there's this guy who he's the guy who sold Stripe. I think his name is Brian Williams, maybe. He's, like, trying to anti age and stuff. And people's first, like, thought on all of these things is like, that's wrong.
You're an idiot. Right. How dare you do that? And I'm just like, first of all, like, let them be them. Let them try it.
(02:28):
They're doing it on their in their own, like, in their own own vein.
Yeah.
Just because it's not for you. But but it's like but then you just say, like, with all these healing things, it's like, well, we talk about this world who is in more pain than ever probably. And here's this thing that we've been so frowned upon. But then it's like, well, that's bad. So it's like, well, why is it bad?
You don't even know why it's bad, but a version of it you'll eat. So it's like it's very weird how we're so, like, against something without really knowing anything about it.
Blame the government.
Quickly.
Blame the government for the reason why you're against it. Blame the government for the reason why there is we don't know much about it, and blame the government for the reason there's only one type of mushroom being sold in most grocery stores. It is portabellas. Even the white button mushrooms, that's a portabella at a different stage of its life. The large cap mushrooms you see being sold with no stem, just the caps, those are just portobello mushrooms.
And I honestly think it's because here in this country, they don't want people to really get healing from the food that they eat. Because if that was the choice, when it comes to mushrooms in grocery stores, we would have more than just one mushroom being sold to us and repackaged a thousand million different ways. You
will have Let me lying there. Deeper into the let's deeper into that then. Is it not the government that you think it's actually pharmaceutical? You think it's actually, like, the medicine companies that are doing that?
Yes. Okay.
That's interesting. Well, I mean, it's it's I mean, I look. I don't study medicine. I don't study hospitals and things like that. But from a, you know, a high level view, it's it's interesting to see someone like Mark Cuban come in.
And he has, like, this new drug company, this new prescription company. Think it's a very small percent what's it called? Cost plus?
Cost plus drugs. Yeah.
Yeah. And so I think the the Genesis is basically, here's the cost of it. There's a slight markup plus a shipping fee so that it's affordable for everyone. I I don't know. I don't know why that's such a bad thing.
Like, when you go to the like, you go to, like, Rite Aid or Walgreens or whatever, Wally World, and they're like, here's your prescription even with insurance. And, like, it's $4,000. And you're like, Yeah. Like, this pill is this big. Like
Yeah. Gonna rip. You gotta take two of them twice a
people have different prices. That's the crazy thing. Cup of water at Costco is $19,000.
That's one of the reasons why I'm scared. One of the many reasons why I'm scared to take medicine, especially prescribed medicine, is why are there so many companies selling the same cure, but it's it's it's it's it's not trustworthy, and it's scary. And I more people need to ask those questions that Yeah.
I'm not sure.
Just think about the COVID times, right, where it was all this money went into finding a cure or a a, you know, a shot for it. And then all these pharmaceutical, medical, insure all these companies get all
this
(02:49):
money. Then all of a sudden, they have all these ads on TV, and it's basically like, this is odd. Like, we paid for all that. No one had a free shot, but just odd. Apologies for jumping on there too.
Yeah. No. It's I mean, that's my thing. Like, it was I don't know how the phrase goes, but it's something like either make time to work out now or make time for doctor's appointments later. Yes.
So, like, that's my whole deal is, like, you know, I will be 52. And, you know, I when I go to the doctor's office for, like, an annual checkup, and they're like, and who's your pharmacist? I'm like, I don't have a pharmacist. I don't have a pharmacy. And they're they they look at me like I'm crazy.
And I'm like, nor do I intend to have one anytime soon because it's like well, I mean, like me as a business guy, you know, when you think about, like, prescription drugs and and pharmaceutical pharmaceutical companies, it's just I the only thing that I hear is lifetime value because you're gonna be on this drug for the rest of your life. There's no better business to be in in terms of, like, what is the lifetime value of a customer? And, like I said, I just don't I want to avoid that at all cost.
That's smart.
Friend friend of the program, Michelle Bates King North. I never knew she had that long of a name. Congratulations, Michelle. See you in a couple weeks.
Yep.
Star World Cup. She goes, hi, Tia, exclamation point. Love your energy and your knowledge on all things mushrooms. Now here's the fun part. Have you ever been mushroom hunting?
It sure is the best place to go and win.
So we call it forging or a four way foray. Up north, they call it forays. Down here, we call it forging. And I wanna say the best the best place to go foraging would be starting your backyard, starting your front yard. Right?
Start at home. And then if you ever enjoy going on walks in the wilderness, you wanna look for places that have a lot of leaves and branches on the ground and always pay attention to the trees because trees have turkey tail mushrooms. Like, if you're in VA, you've probably seen a turkey tail mushroom and didn't even realize it. I have a bag of turkey tail mushrooms somewhere over here, but you've probably seen it and just didn't realize it. Mushrooms are very common.
It's because they don't really teach mushroom or mycology in school. We only know the classic cap and stem mushroom. But when you see, like, these, these are cordyceps, and I go cordyceps out of rice, sterilized rice, liquid culture, and a lot of humidity. But if you was to find this in the ground, it will be growing out of a caterpillar kinda like this. And, yeah, you wouldn't know what you were looking at.
And then nine times out of 10, you'll probably step on it. And then you got a lion's mane. Mhmm.
Well, for those listening, the it almost look like a, pile of spaghetti cooked spaghetti noodles that have dried. I mean, it's just, that's interesting.
I love it. People make broth out of the cordyceps mushrooms. Really good. And then lion's mane is a cypress tropic mushroom. Cypress tropic means that you'll find it growing on the side of trees.
So yeah.
You like grape
that? Is
it like Parmesan? Do like grape that? Like, what's the how do you
So what I like about lion's mane is the texture of it. People use it for a seafood substitute, and it's like crab meat kinda.
So It almost looks like cauliflower.
(03:10):
Yes. It does look like cauliflower.
So how how like, I don't know if that's the right word. Like, is the viscosity of that hard to pull apart, or is it pretty easy?
It's really soft. Oh, it's soft. Yeah. It's spongy. And then let me get you another one.
And it has these little hairs on them.
That's what I the hairs are wearing. Yeah. Yeah. That's gonna take that's gonna be a no for me. I don't like hair.
See? If and I tell people all the time, if you have a texture problem, mushrooms might not be the thing for you. But there's things like powders, teas, and supplements because they are beneficial. Because some people do not like how lion's mane feel, and they're very spongy. They hold a lot of water in it.
Yeah. They hold a lot of water in it. So
Oh, wow. Squirting. So you
did you squeezed it like an orange and liquid came out?
Mhmm. Yep. Wow.
What so what are the so get into some of the benefits of mushrooms.
Okay. So when it comes to lion's mane, we it's really good for anxiety, depression, memory, focus, and concentration, and it's really good for your gut buddies and your stomach. Our stomach and our intestines are our second brain, and it's very important that we practice mindfulness throughout our whole entire body. So lion's mane is good for connecting the neurons in our brain to help with a better gut, which is very important here in America.
Gut health is really, really important.
It is. It is. I learned through lion's mane that gut health helps out with a better mental, better sleep, just better overall anything. And then, lion's mane is really good for your kidneys too. Yep.
And what else I got here?
Where where are you getting this data? Where are getting these data points from? Like, where, like, where Yeah.
Like, what
do you just start learning? You seem to
you're like, you know it.
So I always start I'm old school. I start with a book because I didn't find any mushroom growing classes. I didn't have anybody that could teach me how to grow mushrooms or even the benefits or the science behind it. So I bought books. I used the Internet and Reddit.
Reddit taught me a lot. Reddit taught me so much that I honestly forgot that Reddit could be used for anything else outside of mushrooms. So, yeah, shout out
(03:31):
to them.
But mainly books.
Tim. I saw you, like, losing it.
Books are amazing. So
Well, I'm just I think that is yeah. Some people don't even know what books are.
Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Tangible things. We need to we need in order for you to have a tangible experience, you need a tangible thing. So I'm really big I'm really big on books.
So you can you can turn the page. I can highlight it. Some might be like, oh, you're wrong. It's not a terrible no. Paul's statement is actually said in chapter two, page 73 that we supposed to use hardwood or softwood pellets to grow our oyster mushrooms because they're very resilient, and they don't
So with that, Zach, you, would over in the background over Tia's right shoulder, that is her grow grow tent.
Yes.
Okay. Yeah. So I was gonna ask about that. Is that, a sauna thing?
This is a AC infinity grow tent. I used to have I used to have one that would cover up this whole entire wall here. But due to oyster mushrooms producing so many mushroom spores, my mom actually got spores in her lungs. So mama got sick. We had to downsize.
I got my rishi mushrooms colonizing in this tent right here. And shout out to AC Infinity because it keeps all the light in. It keeps all the moisture in. It keeps everything in. So but, yep, these are my felated my felated grains and hardwood pellets, aka fruiting block.
I put this together so I could make more rishi mushrooms. If you can see, we got some growing on the side here. Can kinda see through
the How long is the growth cycle?
Woo. I made this. I it took three weeks for me to my affiliate grains, and then it took me until February, right, to get this. I wanna and this this is still growing. And I wanna say I made this block February 2.
I made all these blocks in February. And so what I do is when it comes to rishi because the everything is beneficial when it comes to the rishi mushroom. The the, fruiting block is beneficial, and the fruiting bodies is also beneficial. But because I'm not like those other mushroom companies, I'm not gonna sell you my fumigated grains and tell you it's rishi mushrooms. I take the precious time in harvesting all my mushrooms and regrowing and regenerating the process so you can get a 100% fruiting bodies every time.
So
Wow. So this is like so from the time that you start to the time that you actually transact a purchase could take
Oh.
A long time. Six six to seven months. I don't know. I wouldn't
Six about, all in all, six to seven months because it's gonna take me two to three weeks to myceliate the grains. Myceliating the grains is very important because with grain spawn, you can make other you can make a lot of, fruiting blocks with it. And then you have to wait for the grain spawn and your substrate to myceliate as well. And then you have to wait for them to start producing fruit. And when it comes to long, steady growing, like, rishi mushrooms, a lot of mushroom growers might opt out of growing rishi because they take forever to grow.
(03:52):
I would rather grow rishi mushrooms because the one, they're extremely beneficial, and the people in my community need it, so I will always grow it. And two, because it takes a long time for it to grow, I can always be I can grow some cordyceps somewhere else, or I can regenerate lion's mane, or I can grow oyster mushrooms, and I'm still waiting for my rishi mushrooms to grow.
Well, I mean, it sounds like you're a farmer. I am. I'm a mushroom farm. Yeah. I mean, just and farmers, I mean, I that stuff just takes a while.
Right? I mean
Well, I think they yeah. I guess they
That's why if the crop gets screwed up, you're screwed. Right? And that's why they're so serious about Yeah.
You gotta keep that thing going. Yeah. And that happens
that happens a lot. I wanna say growing mushrooms, the biggest competitor I have is another mushroom decide another fungus deciding to reside in my tent, and it will contaminate my mushrooms. And I don't I don't sell anything that's contaminated. So if I see any signs of black mold, trichinomia mold, or lipstick mold, I will throw the whole entire block away. And sometimes when you opt out of throwing stuff away because it's contaminated, you lose profit.
You lose so much. But that's the name of the game. It's the game I chose.
What, who who is your who typically purchases your mushrooms?
My target audience is very broad, but I wanna say people over the age of 25 who already know the healing of mushrooms because I don't have to spend my time trying to convert a customer. The people who are already taking mushrooms and the people who are on, I wanna say, the company like Rise or Magic Mushrooms, they twin they twin to switch over with Southern Bell Fungus because you can actually call me, and I might be literally knee deep in mushrooms. So, like and then Rise actually reached out for me to me to work for them, which I found hilarious.
Rise Rise the powder company?
Mhmm. They're looking for mycologist. And my thing is I don't wanna talk bad about nobody, but my thing is if you are a
You know whenever someone starts whenever someone starts that, that means they're about to say something bad about someone.
It's just how are you a mushroom company looking for my colleges? How did you get here? Rise is a big company. I feel like they should have been
larger form than I have.
Maybe game knows game, and, they they realize that your game is strong.
Yeah.
Was it a quick no? Did you consider it? Like, how did that work?
I didn't even answer.
Oh, damn. You're ghosted. You're one of
those people. Because I was like, what? My competition. My competition. My competition.
(04:13):
Great that's a great validation, though.
It is. It is.
And so what do you do when people purchase your mushrooms, what do they typically use them for? And and, like, how do they how do they test them?
People usually, I wanna say so my top selling mushroom line would be my Cordyceps. People use Cordyceps because it helps regulate with the issues they have with diabetes. If you have hypertension problems, it helps out with that. It helps out regulate the hormones in men and women. It will raise your testosterone and lower your estrogen if you're a man.
And if you're a woman, it will raise your estrogen and balance out your testosterone levels if you're a woman, and I love that. And people who are constantly in the gym, they use it for a pre workout. People use lion's mane products or the business focused savvy people who don't mind sitting down, focusing on a task, and and handling things out like that. The people who buy cordyceps for me have a very active lifestyle. And at the end of the day, they just want something that can take the edge off and not have any chemicals and not get high.
So I will always recommend my Rishi mushrooms for those people. If you want a nice little nightcap, relax, get you some Reishi mushrooms.
What's the thing that people take to
sleep? Melatonin.
Is it melatonin? Okay. So, like, if they could take someone like this instead?
Yes.
Interesting. I
used to take melatonin.
The same effect in the in the morning in my coffee? Like okay. So let so, you know, I have been looking at this. Right? I feel like I'm over the cusp now.
Right? I'm I've I'm I'm ready to make a purchase. Right? And so what what do you anticipate me feeling when I do this compared to the nightcap difference? Like, am I is it gonna make me sleepy?
It's Or some mushrooms make you sleepy and other ones make you do other things?
Well, some mushrooms put you at a more of a lax state of mind. People call reishi the Xanax of the woods. And I tell you, if I make a hot tea of it in the middle of the day, I I'm not I don't want to do anything. It's not that I can't do anything. I don't want to do anything.
I'm too relaxed. I'm good. Like, I would rather just sit here and play the game or watch TV with my mom. I'm good. So I prefer taking reishi because I go to bed, like, around eight or 09:00.
So my wind down my wind downtime is, like, five to seven. So, like, around 06:00, I'm making my Reishi mushroom tea. By 08:00, I'm in the bed, like, just waiting for my eyes to close. And sometimes the sun don't even be down. So
Not at 08:00. Interesting. This is quite this is quite interesting. So how do you figure out the business aspect of that? How do you figure out that people wanna buy it?
How do you figure out where to where to find those people? You you know, you said the vendor shows were something that has been good for you. Like, how do you figure out what shows are there? Is there any pushback because of what you sell at places like this? Like, how do you go through the the business aspect of this?
I wanna say shout out to BlackBrand and Brian and his accelerator program. Because if it wasn't for that, I would still be trying to find my voice, my audience, and a whole lot of other stuff when it comes to Southern Bell Fungus as a business. I do get pushed back a lot because everybody thinks I'm selling drugs, and I'm not selling drugs. I don't grow anything psychoactive. So that's the problem that I have when it comes to vending at certain places is that I have to I feel like I have to overly prove myself and my products to let them know, like, hey.
(04:34):
I don't have anything psychoactive. It's you know? And that and that's kinda hard to prove in a community that doesn't quite understand anything outside of drugs and psychedelics when it comes to mushrooms. So it's a struggle. Even in the bank, it was hard for me to get a business bank account because they thought I was selling drugs and growing drugs.
And I was showing the dude at the bank like, no. I you see the fresh produce box. You see the video. I'm going into this restaurant. The restaurant is called Conscious Planet.
They're a vegan restaurant. I have vegan food. That's what I'm growing. And the dude was like, well, I'm a just talk to my supervisor about it. He was only gone for about ten seconds, came back, and was like, yeah.
My boss said no. She's never heard of any of the mushrooms you talked about. And quite frankly, that that puts you at risk of having your other account shut down if you're blatantly selling drugs. I'm like, I'm not blatantly selling drugs. That was a time.
So when I became a black brand member and I was going to some of their networking things, I noticed that they had Truist there. And so I was talking to the young man from Truist, and he was like, what? I wrote a lion's mane mushrooms. Yeah, girl. You good over here.
I'm a have my people contact you, and you can get you a business bank account, and I did. So this I wanna say 2024, like, December 2024 was the first time of me having a business bank account, and I've been LLC since 2021.
So,
yeah, it's been interesting with the mushrooms.
I see a lot of stuff on your website is sold out. Is that, are you trying to increase production? Or Yes.
Yes. An increase in production is needed, which is why I'm trying to find the proper finances so I can build the ultimate mushroom shed in the backyard because I don't like selling out. I like to have an abundance because this might be bad for business, but I like to give things out for free and to the communities who don't have access to what I have. And I I think there's no community that has access to lion's mane, rishi, cordyceps. You know?
There there is not unless you're in, like, Japan or something.
What yeah. So the southernbellfungus.com
Mhmm.
Is the website where people did yeah. And I suppose that, yeah, once, I don't know, I suppose you have a whole production schedule that you have in terms of you you have to constantly be, like, you any delay is is like a day for day delay to get to be able to sell it.
Yeah. It sucks. So let's just say if I don't harvest the mushrooms in time and I have a vending opportunity on a Saturday and I was supposed to harvest the mushrooms on a Monday, and for whatever reason, I didn't and they get harvested on Wednesday. I still have to dry those mushrooms out, which takes forty eight hours so I can turn them into cheese, powders, and supplements. And then sitting here, I used to grind the mushrooms down by hand with a little bowl and thing.
That was a stupid idea. I didn't know. I was like, yeah. I'm a do like a traditional woman. Yeah.
No. Idiot. They have I bought an industrial grinder, and I'll tell you, my life has been smooth sailing ever since. Wow.
So do you do, do you go to, like, a farmer's markets or things like that to, in addition to your ecommerce site?
I love farmer's markets. Farmers Markets is how I get to talk to the people. I get to show them I get to show them my stuff. I tell them, hey. You can touch the mushrooms that are on this plate is to touch.
They're not to eat. So if you wanna know the texture of what you're buying and how it smells, pick it up, smell it. Don't put it in your mouth, but you can touch it. Smell it. Feel it.
That's amazing. What, going back to Michelle's initial question, outside of Virginia, where is, like, the the mushroom capital that you would like to to forge, like, around the world?
(04:55):
The mushroom capital is in Pennsylvania, and I have a brother and a niece. Yes. And I've never been to Pennsylvania. I'm missing out on the fungi. I'm missing out.
New York and the Catskill Mountains have an amazing mushroom community when it comes to foraging. And they have a broad because they had a higher elevation than us, they have a broad broad span of mushrooms up north.
What's
Richmond Richmond is a good place too.
Oh, really? I've I for some I wanna say that I heard, like, France was also, like, known for mushrooms as well.
They do. They have overseas in The UK, France, they have a lot of mushroom growing courses that I had that I took just so I could further my knowledge because I couldn't find that stuff in America.
Yeah. Is that because it's just a a darker, damper climate there?
Yes.
Interesting. Yeah. That's, I guess I'm curious. When you see that emoji, like, with the the the or or the Super Mario Brothers, what kind of mushroom is that?
That is an ominita mushrooms. Ominita ominita mushrooms are psychoactive, but they're not psychoactive with psilocybin. They're psychoactive with another compound that I can I can never remember it? But the their psychoactive effects, in my opinion, aren't as strong, but they are beneficial. Some people take, omnita mushrooms for relaxation.
It helps put them to sleep, and it does get you high a little bit, but it's way less than weed if we can compare it to anything. So
Yeah. I think that's just gotta be super frustrating in terms of how quickly especially in today's world, how quickly people are to judge and or make a judgment and then the whole education process that you have to go through because you're early. I mean, if if Zach was early in 2020 or in 2025 right now, I mean, it's just we're
we're pretty pretty early. Yeah.
I think you're early. If you're hearing about mushroom coffee in 2020 because I feel like America had a mushroom boom in 2022, 2023. I didn't start hearing about I didn't start growing my own mushrooms in 2020, but I was I had to dig on the Internet to find information. I had to dig on the Internet to even find decent YouTube videos on other people cultivating mushrooms. And now all of a sudden, this is I'm I'm legit watching YouTube videos of how to start and run your own mushroom farm and start your mushroom business.
And I was like, well, I wish you guys was here when I was when I
was in 2020 struggling, trying to figure it out. What the heck is mycelium? What is that? So
What
are we looking up?
I'm looking at because my wife just she got some some mushrooms from from the old Amazon, and I was looking to see
The forest, the rainforest, or the website?
What actual product it was that she That
(05:16):
is a that was a great joke, and no one laughed.
I didn't wanna laugh because what if people would have said to Amazon for real for real? I'm like, oh, shit. I wanna I need a CD. No.
I'm extremely disappointed in both of you for not laughing at that.
I'm sorry. I was I was in the process of reading and
Books. Right?
No. Reading their product description. And I feel like I feel like I know a little bit more because of today's show.
Yes.
Lion's Mane. Yeah. Wait. What's turkey did you mention turkey tail?
Yes. I'm really tempted to go get a bag of turkey tail mushrooms and my iPad charger. So turkey tail mushrooms are very, very useful. Some people take it to fight cancers. I made an abstract for this woman because she was telling me about her brain tumor, and she was telling me that she knows the the benefits of mushrooms.
She was like, yes. If you can make me something that has turkey tails, cordyceps, and rishi mushrooms in it, I got you. And I don't grow my own turkey tails because they come in abundance outside. I definitely went to Sandy Bottom here in Hampton and just stole some from a tree and made my own tinctures from it, and I gave them to her. And she's doing tremendously well with that.
I don't know if it's shrinking her shrinking her tumor, but I know her hormone levels and other medical levels that she has is dropping or increasing the way it needs to. So I'm proud of that. So
what's your plans? Where are you gonna where would you like to take this as this becomes more and more popularity and the education process decreases?
So in the near future, I plan on streaming my growing process because I feel like the streaming world is so interesting. We need more farmers and other people outside of playing the video game all day streaming. And I will play the video game all day too, but we're gonna be growing some mushrooms. And then I wanna say I will be having my mushroom shed. After I outgrow my mushroom shed, I'm looking to get a warehouse either here in Norfolk.
Mhmm. Either here in Newport News or a warehouse in Norfolk. And then when I get the warehouse
Why not why not both?
Why not both? Why not both? Why not both? So I will start with Newport News, and then I'm a grow to Norfolk. And then I'm gonna have my own little tea lounges because I love tea.
And who doesn't want a mushroom tea lounge? And it's gonna be more than just mushrooms. Get your lavender tea, some chamomile, hibiscus, because I love making tea, and I'll sip on tea all day. So Southern bell fungus tea.
Wait. Hold on a sec. We need do it again full screen.
Southern bell fungus tea. There
you go. Do we have a tagline with it?
Do I have a tagline? I don't. I don't.
(05:37):
You should okay. So you should do that again and just make up something real quick.
Okay.
We'll start the show with that, baby.
Okay. Let me think of something. Let me think of something. Okay. I got y'all.
Got y'all. Southern belle fungus tea, where beauty meets quality. Three.
Look. As an early adopter as an early adopter to the knowledge of mushroom coffee, I feel like I should be given a little bit of a pass on not
knowing anything
about emperor's purse or whatever it was called.
The emperor's purse. You get a pass. You get a pass because you know about mushroom coffee before I even knew about mushrooms. Because I didn't start growing mushrooms until, I wanna say, June. Like, it was deep in the summer.
Well, it seems like you have really embraced the mushroom culture. I'm I'm really, quite impressed with your Knowledge? The yeah. Your knowledge about mushrooms as a whole.
Thank you. Thank you. And I'm definitely wanna increase my knowledge. I tell people all the time, I don't know everything when it comes to mushrooms, but one day I will. But that day has not come yet.
So how do you find, like, a an organization like BlackBrand? You said great things about Brian Owens. Shout out to Brian Owens.
Shout out
to Brian. Do you, like, find how do you find a BlackBrand to help you? Because
This
is it's always interesting how like, kinda like the same question with Lionel. Like, how did you meet Lionel? Like, how how did you meet BlackBrand so that they could help you? Because, obviously, it sounds like you they're extremely beneficial to your growth
Yes.
And without them. And so just making sure that the people who need to know can find out. So how do you learn about how do you find out about an org an organization like black black brand? Whoo.
Tongue So I know they're a black brand on Facebook and on Instagram. I found out about them at the Cousins Festival August, which is a crazy story. I was I don't drink. So when I do drink, I'm drunk. So I was drunk, and I I'm just walking around the Cousins Festival, and I look up, and I see this sign, and it says black brand.
And I'm like, well, damn. I'm black, and I have a brand. So I go over there, and I start talking to Brian. And I was like, hey. I'm black, and I have a brand.
Mind you, I'm drunk. And Brian was like, okay. What's your biz what's your business? And I was like, oh, yeah. Here it is.
(05:58):
I grow mushrooms. And he was like, what? I was like, yeah. I grow mushrooms. Not the kind that gets you high.
He was like, are you on mushrooms right now? I said, no. I'm drunk right now. Not on mushrooms. And so he told me about his accelerator program and then the other thing that Black Brands does.
And so I was like, you know what? I have to remember this conversation because it's hard for me to remember things when I'm drunk. Remember this conversation, and hopefully remember to tap back in with Black Brands so I can further grow my business because he was naming off all these resources, and I need it, especially what a bank account. So when I went the next day, because I was drunk that night, the next day, Facebook, and I look up black black brand, and that's when I see all of the I saw the surge program. I saw the accelerator program.
I saw the women who leads. I saw so many things. I'm just like and then they've been around for about eight years, I believe. And I felt so small when I realized that I'm just now getting put on to this. So I'm always trying to tell my entrepreneur like minded friends about black brand so they can further their business and grow too because it's needed.
Okay. There's so much to unpack there. That was an amazing story. Number one is sounds like maybe you could unpack and meet a lot more people if you drink more and randomly go up to people and decipher their, you know, because you're black and I have a brand. I mean, that story in itself is is epic.
I mean, like, kudos to Brian for still, like, not, you know, not being like, okay.
Like, whatever. Brian for real.
Yeah. I I texted him a minute ago. I was like, oh, Tia just said good things about you. That was before this story. Now we get to hear the the initial you know?
That's that's great. No. I mean, I think it's it's really cool. And he and I were talking the other day, and it's like, you know, these resources weren't available eight, ten, fifteen years ago. So so for them to be available, that's great.
And, you know, shout out to to what you've been able to do and to BlackBrand to to seeing you guys, you know, get to where you are now. It's pretty cool stuff. Minus the stuff with your mom and the fungus is growing inside of her because that was crazy too.
What what so what do you what do you say to the people that give you a pushback? Looking for looking for science based data?
I tell people you get what you get, and you get what you research for. So if you don't do the proper due diligence and doing the own research on what you put in your body or even the content you consume, you won't really comprehend what I'm trying to sell you, or you might not even comprehend anything that I have at the table. I'm not necessarily trying to sell you something, but there's more than mushrooms than getting high. There's more than mushrooms than growing the mushrooms. Mushrooms taught me that your biggest person out there is you.
You're your biggest person out there, and your biggest enemy is you or another human being. Mushrooms' biggest competition is another fungus infringing on its space, growing on its environment, turning the environment into something that it cannot grow in. So everybody need to do their mushroom research. Even if you don't like mushrooms, do your research on how they grow, how they interact with the environment, and how the environment interacts with them because we are human beings. Human beings are animals.
Animals live in an environment. And if we are not aware and cautious of what our environment is doing to us, it's not gonna be good for the for the children. What about the babies? Right. So I don't have any kids, so I always try to know.
My friends have kids. I don't have kids. But what about what about them? We gotta
do What kind of what kind of mushroom is on your arm?
I have this is the first psychedelic mushroom I grew. It was a mozzetep, which is the name of the species. It it is a Mexican P. Cubenesis. So those spores are from Mexico, and that that mushroom changed my life as well.
I stopped. I ate twenty eight grams of it. And, yes, we go balls to the wall. I ate twenty eight grams of it, and that's when I decided to just go ahead, get my LLC. That's when I decided to stop watching television.
That's when I realized that everything I consume on a screen might be smokes and mirrors. Like, this is
the smokes and mirrors they talk about.
It's not it's not a wizard in a cloak. It's the man on the TV screen trying to tell me that I need to take his medicine so I could not be depressed. And then in the fine print, he gonna say, if you take this medicine, you're gonna have severe diarrhea and contemplation is suicide. Like
(06:19):
Interesting. I thought you would have, like, you know, on twenty eight grams of this, would have, you know, learned about a a plumber who eats mushrooms to power up, but I guess that's not the case.
That's when I realized the show Smurfs off the $28 trip. Smurfs are the psychedelic compound you find inside of mushrooms. They are the same psychedelic blue. Right? And they live inside of mushrooms.
And then mushroom like, how mushrooms reproduce is so very complex that on the surface level, you really don't know if it's a female, if it's a male. That's why you got all those male Smurfs, and then you got Smurfette because it it really don't matter.
Who knew?
Yeah. That's
Is Is there there anything anything you wanna talk about that we haven't talked about?
No. And sadly, my iPad is on 2%, and I wanna run and get my charger right quick.
Is that what we're on this? We got we got one question left.
Okay. One question. We can last for 2% with one question.
Man, you like you you you like to live. You flying close to the flame. What where where's your where's your favorite place to eat? If there was a food of the region, what is that food? And if we don't have a food, then where is the place that you would like to plug that, that people have to try?
Yen Diddy got some really good lamb soya. Get the lamb soya with the foo. They're look at you like you're crazy because you're not supposed to eat dry food with dry food. You're supposed to eat the foo foo with the soups and stuff. Get the lamb soya with the foo foo and tell them the mushroom lady sent you because I I love it.
I love me some yin diddy, and they're located in Virginia Beach.
There you go. The mushroom lady, one of the most wild and rambunctious shows we've ever had Yeah. Going into this.
My mom is missing out. That's the funny part. If y'all think I'm wild and rambunctious, wait till you meet a woman named Aretha Henderson who quilts
Aretha Henderson.
She quilts, and she plays video games all day.
Well and she's, like, on the, middle world, so, you know, things are crazy. She is
Do people call you the do people call you the mushroom lady? Is that Yes. Is that
Branding is important. Black brand taught me that.
Well, technically, you being drunk
Yes.
(06:40):
And me and Brian Owens, you realized you had a brand.
I wasn't going to go to the Cousins Festival at all. And so one of my homies was like, you like Erykah Badu. Why don't you go to the concert her and Larry June's going? I'm like, what? Why don't I?
So
There you go. The rest is history.
This has been Well, I would the very trip. The very best in your business venture.
Thank you. Thank you.
Now we're getting a shout out of the HQ. Love it. Tia, this has been an absolute trip. Thank you for your time today. Hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
Yes.
See you on the other side.
I will. I will. It was fun talking to you fun guys. And don't forget, take your mushrooms. Be good boys.
Take your mushrooms.
Hey, everybody. I'm Tim Ryan, executive director of Innovate Hampton Roads, and I'm inviting you to attend the Startup World Cup on August 21, 05:00 here at Town Center in Virginia Beach.