November 5, 2025 • 39 mins
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nutrition
Nuts where we explore the latestinformation on nutritional
science, wellness trends, andinformation on cutting-edge
supplements.
This is where you will hearexperts in clinical nutrition,
healthcare practitioners,researchers, and supplement
(00:23):
industry experts discussingtoday's most important health
care issues.
I'm your host, Dr.
Phil Pappas.
I'm a certified clinicalnutritionist, cognitive
researcher, and psychologist.
We would like to thank oursponsor, Holly Hill Health Foods
and Hollyhillvitamins.com, theplace for great selection,
(00:46):
service, and great pricing.
Use coupon code NUTs, that'sN-U-T-Z, for 15% off, and
remember restrictions may apply.
(01:26):
And today we have a great showlined up for you.
Our guest is Dylan Elmer, whois, in fact, the son of the
creator of Wild Harvest, Argon'sWild Harvest Herbs.
I mean, this is a great company.
And uh Dylan um has been in thisbusiness since he was seven
(01:48):
years old.
He knows and has done just abouteverything you can do when it
comes to harvesting herbs.
So as he says, he can drive thetractor, he can make up the uh
the concoctions, the extracts,he can harvest, he can do just
(02:08):
about everything.
He does a lot of marketing fromwhat I can see.
And uh he comes out and doeseducational things, and today
he's gonna be a guest on theshow.
So welcome Dylan Elmer to theshow and tell us a little about
you and the company.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
Uh well, a little about myself.
Um, I started from a young ageum working on the farm.
So um every summer was spent uhon the tractor, um uh uh
tilling.
Uh we would uh uh I talked aboutthat I spent one summer just
picking up rocks and uh loadingthem into the uh into the bucket
(02:48):
of the tractor and then takingthose rocks, dumping them on a
pile, and then coming back.
And uh you got to clear thefields, right?
So um worked in almost everypart of this company.
I've worked in production, uh uhencapsulation, milling, um, done
a lot of wildcrafting, um, anduh spent a lot of time in
customer service as well.
So answering a lot of thequestions that um you folks
(03:11):
probably get asked quite a bit.
So um yeah, just uh nice roundeduh uh um career at Oregon's Wild
Harvest.
And uh we've been around for 30years, over 30 years now, still
100% family owned um andoperated.
And you work with your familyevery day.
I worked with my family everyday.
My brother's on the farm, mymom's on the farm, uh, uncle,
(03:34):
brother-in-law.
Um, so we've got uh it's it's afamily affair for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (03:39):
And it's a brutal farm work.
SPEAKER_01 (03:41):
It's not easy work.
It is not easy.
Uh farming is uh especiallyorganic farming.
So you don't you you don't getto cheat and use chemicals or
anything like that.
You're using uh your hands andit's uh physical labor.
And uh um there's a lot thatgoes into it.
Um when you see it on the shelf,it doesn't do it justice.
When you see an ashwagandha oran echinacea, you there's so
(04:04):
much that has gone into thatproduct.
Yeah.
So there's a lot to it.
SPEAKER_00 (04:08):
You even make your own organic fertilizer.
SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
We do, we do.
So uh we're a biodynamic farm,and uh a part of biodynamic
farming means that uh we'reself-sustaining.
So uh we don't bring infertilizer, we don't bring in
manure.
Uh, we're producing it right onthe farm.
So we grow the alfalfa and wefeed it to our livestock, and
all of our livestock on thefarm, we raise them for their
(04:32):
manure.
There's no slaughtering on thefarm.
We just want that fresh manure.
So we feed them that biodynamicalfalfa, and then we take that
manure and spread it over thosefields.
So um, yeah, self-sustainingecosystem.
SPEAKER_00 (04:45):
But you even have to work the manure.
SPEAKER_01 (04:47):
We do.
I plant fascinating.
We do.
There's it's not ready to go.
It comes ready to go.
That's uh yes.
Um, so it's uh, I say we take itfrom the cows and spread it over
the fields, but that's not howit goes.
So we take it from the calvesand we add it to our manure
piles.
We've got several, and um,there's a lot that goes into it.
So manure is heating up, sothere's bacteria that's breaking
(05:11):
down those nutrients and you'reliterally cooking it.
We're cooking it.
It gets up to 160, 180 degreesinside that pile.
Steam's uh uh billowing off, anduh, and we got to turn the pile,
right?
Because the stuff on theinside's breaking down, but the
stuff on the outside isn't.
So you got to turn itconstantly.
And um, we actually add backnutrient-dense herbs to our
(05:33):
manure pile, like nettle andvalerian.
These are very nutrient-denseherbs, so we're enhancing our
manure.
So when we add it to thosefields, it's as strong a quality
as you're gonna get.
SPEAKER_00 (05:45):
Okay, it makes sense.
Now the term regenerativefarming.
I can't say that I've heard thatused a lot.
So what is that?
SPEAKER_01 (05:54):
Regenerative farming is well, yeah, I I often say
it's like old-fashioned farming,right?
We are an active farm.
It's not a commercial farm withone crop.
We are an active live farm andum biodynamic that practices um
are it's its own ecosystem, butit's people, it's the planet,
(06:15):
it's the animals, it's theinsects, all working together,
right?
To produce these um plants thatwe um rely on.
Um, so regenerative farming justmeans that we are giving back to
the soil.
We're not just pulling, we'renot constantly uh harvesting.
We're actually giving back tothe soil.
We're doing cover crops, um,which a cover crop just means
(06:38):
when you aren't growing a plantin that field.
You're coming and growing acover crop.
Um, this can be like barley oroats milky tops, very
nutrient-dense herbs.
And um those cover crops are soimportant because uh instead of
an empty field, now you have aplant that's converting carbon
dioxide into oxygen.
(06:58):
You don't have just a barrendirt field.
You've got this um active livefield.
And then you till all that ummaterial back under and you put
it back in the soil.
So then when you plant yourherbs on top, now those herbs
have all those nutrients thatwere provided by the cover.
Everything they need.
Exactly.
Enhancing that plant.
(07:20):
It's been provided.
So important.
It's so important.
SPEAKER_00 (07:23):
So um I want you to discuss, and and I heard you
talk about this earlier, discussclean supplements.
SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
Clean supplements, uh it's very important.
So important.
And um, you know, uh what I liketo, you know, I tell people, uh
no one's looking out foryourself besides yourself.
You gotta you gotta payattention to what you're putting
in your body.
And um, these days, uh the otheringredients, that's that's the
part that you really gotta payattention to.
(07:53):
I'm asked that all the time bycustomers.
SPEAKER_00 (07:55):
What are these other ingredients?
SPEAKER_01 (07:57):
Yeah, what does this mean?
I can't even say this word.
What is this?
And a lot of times they'reunnecessary.
And um what I mean by that is alot of these other ingredients,
uh I'll throw out like silicondioxide and magnesium stearate,
these these are um flowingagents and uh anti-caking
agents, and um, they're justmaking it so you can process
(08:19):
material faster.
And uh I I've I always mentionthat we are all about quality
over quantity, and we want tomake sure that we're given the
best plant medicine available.
And um those other ingredientscan get very hairy and it's
unnecessary, and it's just onemore thing for your body to
process out.
Um, you know, your liver'sworking all the time.
(08:41):
We don't need to give it morework to do.
And uh those those otheringredients we stay away from
clean supplements, um, usingwhole herbs, so important.
Um, making sure that these uhproducts are properly tested,
right?
Um we're testing for heavymetals, pesticides, herbicides,
aflatoxins.
Um, you get in uh salmonella, A.
(09:02):
coli.
Uh, we have a micro lab thatwe've invested so much in our
testing um to make sure thatit's the top quality, it's the
cleanest supplement available.
And um uh as the industry grows,as more people are uh interested
in supplements, um, you noticethat the quality tends to go
(09:24):
down.
There's more players in thegame, there's more demand.
People are always looking to,you know, control the market or
uh, you know, to corner themarket.
And uh uh so the quality doesseem to diminish over time.
And uh being family-owned, 100%family-owned without outside
investors, allows us to uh stickwith our morals, um, our pillars
(09:46):
of this company is um we're notgonna deviate from that.
We are not gonna deviate andmake an inferior product.
We we would discontinue aproduct, and we have
discontinued products overmaking an inferior product.
SPEAKER_00 (09:59):
I uh have taken a couple herbal courses, and what
you're saying kind of rings abell.
My professor said, when youchop, you know, when you don't
use the whole herb, when youmodify it, that type of thing.
He called it herbal chaos.
And I thought you what you'rejust saying sounded like herbal
(10:20):
chaos if you don't handle itcorrectly.
Absolutely.
And you handle it in thatwonderful way.
Absolutely.
So right now we're talking toDylan Elmer, who is what is your
title at the company?
SPEAKER_01 (10:30):
I'm director of sales now, so I've been in this
position for about a year and ahalf for Oregon's Wild Harvest.
Oregon's Wild Harvest, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (10:37):
Wonderful, wonderful herbs.
We've been selling them here atHolly Hill for how many years?
SPEAKER_01 (10:42):
Oh, geez, it's been uh over a decade or decade
before my time.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
You guys have been carrying thisfor a long time.
SPEAKER_00 (10:49):
All right, yeah.
It's one of the first new thingsI saw when I joined the group.
Oh, that's awesome.
And I thought I have never seenthat line, you know.
So I was fascinated and Inoticed it kept growing.
Ah, that's great.
SPEAKER_01 (11:02):
Yeah, we're doing really well with Hollyhill.
That's great.
It's well, you're doing reallywell, aren't you, overall?
We're seeing some really goodgrowth.
You know, I I mentioned Imention it when I go out and I
say we're 30 years in, but itfeels like we're just getting
started for a long time.
Because like yourself, there's alot of folks out there that
don't know about us, theyhaven't heard our story.
(11:23):
Um, and we got to get the wordout.
That's on us, right?
So we got to get the word outthere.
And so that's been a big part ofwhy I go out and you know, give
have these discussions and talkmore about the family.
SPEAKER_00 (11:35):
So with that in mind, yeah, what are the hot
products uh in your lineup?
SPEAKER_01 (11:40):
Good question.
Um, well, the best seller andhas been the best seller for a
decade plus is our ashwagandha.
And um not surprised.
SPEAKER_00 (11:50):
Not surprised.
SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
Sell a ton of them.
Yeah, ashwagandha is verypopular.
And uh I know you don't have anystress, but there are folks out
there that do.
And yes, that's right.
I am stress-free.
Completely stress-free.
Um, but there are folks outthere that uh are looking for um
stress-reducing herbs, uh,something to help with uh
balancing the body.
And that's that's whatashwagandha is all about.
(12:13):
It's a it's a balancing herb,it's um known as an adaptogen.
So it's helping the body adaptto stress.
And yeah, I was actually justtalking to one of your customers
out there, and um, he was anhe's an Indian guy, and he was
talking about, you know, theseherbs like ashwagandha go back
7,000 years.
There's the writings on theseherbs and being used for
(12:34):
medicinal purposes.
And um, it's really you don'tthink about it a lot of times,
but it's like, wow, you know,this is uh um, this has been
going on a long time and we'rekind of just rediscovering it
for a lot of folks.
Um, but ashwagandha is a hugeseller these days, um, you know,
especially in the last uhhandful of years, detox herbs
(12:56):
have really picked up like milkthistle, milk thistle dandelion,
um, folks understanding that,hey, our livers are taking a
beating.
Um, the air we breathe, the whatwe're drinking, what we're
eating, it all has to befiltered out through the liver.
And um uh so we've reallynoticed like detox herbs, um,
the the milk thistle products,um, even an herb that I knew for
(13:21):
the longest time because I couldsmell it in our garden from a
young age.
Um, we've been growing wormwoodforever.
Yeah.
And uh we've had that in ourline for gosh, 30 years.
And uh, you know, it was a lowseller, middle to bottom.
And then um the last handful ofyears, um, with these detoxes
coming out, wormwood has becomea top seller for us.
(13:45):
And uh it's funny, uhAshwagandha is our best seller.
And at one time, gosh, it'sprobably been 20 years now, but
no one knew Ashwagandha, and wealmost discontinued that
product.
And then the the uh Ashwagandhacraze took off, and uh thank
goodness we didn't discontinueit.
SPEAKER_00 (14:02):
You know, I've been selling a lot of your cinnamon,
and I believe your cinnamon ismarked salon cinnamon.
SPEAKER_01 (14:08):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (14:08):
There are other cinnamons.
There are, yeah.
So actually, you know, withdiabetes, I've actually done
several diabetes lectures.
Yep.
And it always comes up.
I mean, how do you control bloodsugar?
Yeah.
And that's what cinnamon doesreally best, doesn't it?
Tell us a little more about whycinnamon works so well.
How do you make yours?
SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
Cinnamon is awesome, and there's a specific type of
cinnamon, and it's known asCeylon cinnamon.
Uh, cinnamonum barum is the uhbotanical name.
And um, this this cinnamon isthe one that you want,
especially for folks that areconcerned about their blood
sugar levels, um, because folksthat are concerned about their
blood sugar levels are probablynot gonna have it uh, you know,
(14:52):
fixed in a couple weeks.
And so there's another uhcinnamon on the market, um,
cassia is the what it's knownas.
Um, cassia cinnamon has a highlevel of coumarin in it and it's
hard on the liver.
And so when you take this forextended periods of time, it can
actually have negative effectson your liver.
So you want to steer away fromthe cassia cinnamon.
(15:14):
Whereas with Ceylon cinnamon,that is very low trace levels of
coumarin, and it's health, it'sperfectly safe to take on a
regular basis.
And most folks that are takingcinnamon are taking it
year-round, every day, you know,because they're eating every
day, right?
And it's it's gonna help thatrelease of the blood sugar uh
the b sugar into thebloodstream.
(15:35):
And uh it's just a really coolherb.
SPEAKER_00 (15:38):
So in um I'm not an I am a I have uh chef
credentials.
Oh, right on.
Um but I don't do it as aliving.
Yeah.
And um both my grandfathers werechefs.
Uh one of them was prettyfamous.
And uh I know um Europeancooking, very old European
(15:59):
cooking.
Awesome.
And cinnamon was uh one of themain ingredients in a lot of the
desserts, even in some of thedishes, which I do myself, but
in the desserts, cinnamon.
Now, did they know that?
Or and what cinnamon were theyusing?
Yeah.
What do you use in cooking?
What is cooking cinnamon and howdoes it differ?
SPEAKER_01 (16:20):
Yeah, so um cooking cinnamon is um gonna be the
cassia, is what I'm talkingabout, and that's the flavor
that you're used to.
Um uh ceilan cinnamon does havea similar flavor, but it's not
gonna be as strong as theothers.
Um, so that's why um cassiatends to be the most popular
(16:42):
because it's most common andit's used a lot in cooking as
well.
Probably less money.
A lot less money, a lot less.
So Ceylon cinnamon comes fromone place in the whole world,
and that's Sri Lanka.
Um, these trees are native tothat area.
And we were just talking abouttrees.
You can't just plant a tree andharvest the next year.
You gotta plant a tree and waitdecades for it to produce.
(17:04):
And so Ceylon cinnamon comesfrom one part and that's Sri
Lanka.
SPEAKER_00 (17:08):
And yeah, and for a while, that was a problem since
they were having a civil warthere, and we were having
trouble getting it, if Iremember.
Yep, yep.
But everything seems to be okaynow.
SPEAKER_01 (17:17):
Does seem to be okay.
We've been working with the sameum uh group that's uh growing
cinnamon for gosh 20 years now.
It's been a long time.
Yeah, and it's uh um, butthere's a finite amount, and a
lot of these herbs, um, there'sa finite amount of quality herb
out there.
So when you see a high price ona product like a cinnamon and
(17:37):
it's right next to anothercinnamon and you don't know the
differences, you're gonna say,well, for the lesser.
Yeah, it's like, well, I'll justgo for that cheaper one.
Same thing, but it's not.
It really isn't.
SPEAKER_00 (17:47):
I think as long as I remember, let's just pretend I
can remember back to the year1999 or 2000.
Salon cinnamon has always beenthe go-to product for
controlling blood sugars.
Maybe not for cooking.
Yep.
Although I've gone out of my wayto use it.
Me too.
And um I don't see a problemwith it.
(18:08):
You may have to use a littlemore than you would the other
one, but you know, who cares?
Yeah.
And it gives everything a nicecolor too, which I kind of like
your presentation.
It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (18:19):
I add it to my oatmeal.
Yeah, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (18:21):
Put it on uh yogurt.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's always there are so manyuses for it.
SPEAKER_01 (18:27):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (18:28):
Is is cinnamon one of your bigger sellers?
SPEAKER_01 (18:30):
Cinnamon is a top seller for sure.
I would say it's probably top,it is definitely top 10, maybe
top five, but it's definitely atop 10 seller.
Um, and you know, especiallyover um there, there has been
more information out there forfolks.
And people will, you know, Iworked in customer service for a
dozen years, and people willcall and ask, you know, is it
(18:54):
the the Ceylon cinnamon?
And it's like, oh, this isgreat, you know, folks are
becoming aware of thedifferences.
But um, yeah, no, it's a bigseller.
And um, these days, uh, youknow, diet and healthy lifestyle
is so important.
And uh blood sugar is, you know,you want to be able to control
that, right?
It's uh um so important for ourbodies.
SPEAKER_00 (19:15):
I want to go to Astragalus.
Yeah.
A day doesn't go by where Ididn't don't see something
either in my email or a study onmy desk.
Something comes up aboutastragalus.
Yeah, yeah.
Tell us about astragalus.
SPEAKER_01 (19:29):
Well, astragalus, I'll tell you right from the
start.
Um, we we grow astragalis, wegrow a lot of astragalus, and
um, it's a really unique herb.
Um, as I mentioned earlier, itsome of these herbs are in the
ground for a few months and youharvest, but astragalus needs to
be in the ground for three orfour years before it actually
develops to where the levelsthat you want for the medicinal
(19:51):
value.
Um, there's certain umconstituents in astragalus that
are higher and lower the firstcouple years that it's in the
ground.
So you won't harvest astragalusuntil about year three and four.
And this is my dad's favoriteherb, actually, is astragalus.
And um, he he loved it becauseit was so effective, but very
(20:12):
mild, right?
Like so um echinaasias andelderberries, these herbs that
you take when you're feelingsick, um, they they activate the
immune system.
And it's not something you wantto take on a regular basis
because you don't want yourimmune system constantly
constantly being exactly, youdon't want that happening.
So um a stragalus is basicallyjust keeping the light on for
(20:34):
that immune system, making surethat it's ready to go whenever
needed, but um, it's notactivating it.
And so um it's a really greatherb.
Um, but there's actually moreresearch in what you were
talking about.
There's um this is a traditionalChinese herb, and um, there's
been research done on umtelomeres and helping with the
(20:55):
telomeres and uh repairingthose.
And as we get older, ourtelomeres break down and old age
sets in.
Yeah.
And um, so this herb has um, andwith so many different herbs, is
we're finding out differentapplications all the time on
these, right?
And so astragalus is uh umthere's more research coming out
(21:15):
on longevity and helping with uhum us living longer.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
Yes.
Yeah.
Um phytonutrients.
Yeah.
That used to be a much biggerword, if I remember.
Yeah, but that's part of thisstory, isn't it?
Yeah, absolutely.
What are all thosephytonutrients?
We can't even figure them out.
No, we can't.
SPEAKER_01 (21:34):
And that's that goes back to the whole herb
philosophy, right?
Because there's so manyconstituents of phytonutrients
that are in these plants, and wedon't even know.
We might be able to pick out andsay, hey, you know, we we think
this is working, but we don'tknow if there's other
constituents found in that plantthat are helping that.
We're gonna get some futuresurprises.
(21:55):
Exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (21:57):
You've been using this all along.
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly.
And so um we we always try andkeep the um it's the whole herb
approach.
And obviously, there's umthere's been research.
I'll use milk thistle as anexample.
There's there's uh um been quitea bit of research on milk
thistle and turmeric as well.
Those are two more uh popularresearched herbs and uh the
(22:19):
constituents found in there,like silamarin.
Um, that you know, there's beenresearch that silamarin helps
with the liver support.
But so we'll include, you know,a uh silamarin uh extract in our
milk thistle, but we alwaysinclude the whole seed in there
as well, because even thoughthere's one part of that herb
that's helping the body, we wantto make sure that all those
(22:41):
other beneficial constituentsare being uh being delivered
with our supplements.
So um there's not a ton ofresearch done on a lot of these
herbs.
And so that's where we alwayshearken back to the point of
hey, how have these been usedfor hundreds, if not thousands
of years?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:01):
And I guess some of them were originally uh used in
cooking.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (23:06):
Uh dandelion.
Dandelion, uh, turmeric.
Um, you know, so there'sturmeric, you want to include
black pepper.
Um, most uh turmeric supplementsare gonna have black pepper in
there, and the reason for thatis absorption.
Turmeric is not a verybioavailable herb.
And um what's ironic about it isyou know, turmeric's a spice,
(23:27):
and um, it's been used withcooking.
And what else helps with uhturmeric absorption happens to
be fats.
So typically folks were usingturmeric in with their food, and
there was a fat in that food,and it was being absorbed.
So there's we don't even know,you know, that, but it was used
(23:48):
for many, many years in this oneway, and it was being absorbed
in the body.
Turmeric was being absorbed, andthen correctly we correctly,
exactly.
And then, you know, we comealong and we just take a ton of
turmeric and then find out thatit's not being absorbed.
So um there's a lot that westill need to figure out with
this stuff.
And well, you have a pretty fullline of products.
SPEAKER_00 (24:09):
We do, but you're adding more products all the
time.
SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
Tell us about the new skews.
New skews.
We've got all kinds of newskews.
Um, well, you know, first off,we've added some uh value sizes
of popular products, uh, themost popular products out there.
We've we've already had somevalue sizes, but we extended our
value size line because um a lotof these folks uh rely on these
products, and we want to be ableto get it to them for a better
(24:34):
price point and a larger uhbottle.
So um we've come out with somevalue sizes.
Um, we've come out with some newliquids like an Oshwagandha
glycerate, which is analcohol-free ashwagandha
product.
And then um something I'm reallyexcited about is our new vitamin
line.
And um, this has been in theworks for gosh, I would say at
(24:58):
least seven years.
Um we've been, we've been, we'vebeen working on this for a long
time.
And um, a lot of it is the RDand um making sure that uh we
are supplying the best qualityout there, right?
So um our vitamin line is allorganic, all plant, whole, whole
food sourced.
(25:18):
Um, so what you're getting isum, you know, talking about
bioavailability, a lot of thesevitamins and multivitamins are
synthetics, uh, megadoses, andthey just go right through the
body.
So you think you're taking allthese great things and you're
just flushing them out, and yourbody's not absorbing any of it
and doesn't recognize it.
(25:39):
Your body doesn't recognize whatyou're putting in there, so it's
just gonna get rid of it.
So, what we came up with waswhole food vitamins.
And uh, so we have four that wejust came out with our zinc, our
vitamin D, our biotin.
Um, really excited about that,our vitamin C as well.
Um, and these are all whole foodsourced vitamins, um, along with
(26:03):
every single one of them has auh prebiotic blend in there as
well.
So it's gonna help with theabsorption and also helping with
gut health, which as you know,we're we're finding all about
these days of how important ourgut health is to overall
well-being, mind, heart,everything is, you know, healthy
gut, tobacco feel better.
(26:24):
Absolutely.
You look better.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
Your hair is better, that'sright.
Skin is better.
It's a wonderful thing.
It's so important.
And um, as our diets havechanged, you know, um, I always
stress folks um uh getting intothe bitters, right?
The herbal bitters, becausewe've we've cut that part out of
our diet these days.
(26:44):
What people aren't eating a lotof bitter foods, right?
The the uh fruits and vegetableshave kind of gone down and uh uh
processed foods are up.
And um, so we just we need to becognizant of what we're putting
in our bodies and is our bodiesreally accepting what we're
putting in our bodies?
Are they gonna is it gonna beabsorbed or is it just gonna be
(27:05):
washed, washed away?
SPEAKER_00 (27:07):
You know, as a kid, I always hated it, but at our
dinner table, there was eitherdandelion, escroll, or endive.
Yeah, yeah.
And I remember trying to eat it,and and the bitterness was like,
you know, you're a little kid.
Yeah.
And uh very hard to do.
But you know, you learn, youwatch the adults, they would put
(27:28):
a whole lot of lemon juice onit.
Yeah, and it turned into apretty good um green.
Yeah.
Of course, it got older, itwasn't such a problem.
For little kids, it's a littleproblem.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (27:37):
Yes, it's very important.
It's so important for digestion.
And um, folks are having allkinds of uh, you know, I'm not
excluded from that uh diet anduh um can play such a big role
on how we feel, um, how wethink.
Um, you know, it's it's soimportant.
And um supplements are neededfor some of this because we're
(28:00):
just not getting it, you know,we're we're not getting what we
need.
So uh another new item, yellowduck, uh awesome, awesome herbal
bitter.
Yeah, tell us more about that.
So it's in a liquid form, andthat's really important for
these bitters, right?
Because you want to taste it.
As soon as it hits your tongue,that's signaling to your body,
hey, get ready.
You've got some food coming,time to release those digestive
(28:21):
enzymes.
And so your gallbladder releasesit into your small intestines,
and then your liver isstimulated to produce more uh
bile, right?
So yellow doc is awesome becauseas soon as it touches your
tongue, it's signaling, hey,there's some food coming.
And uh, the other great thingabout um yellow dock is it's
(28:41):
considered a natural acidive.
And what that means is itdoesn't mean you're gonna take
it and have to go run to thebathroom.
It's not like that.
But what it is is it'sconstantly, it's making the
food, it's making sure that it'sconstantly moving because that's
so important to digestion.
That's guaranteeing transport.
Exactly.
And that is so important becauseas soon as something sits,
(29:05):
that's where you get the gas,that's where you get the stomach
pains, and that's you know, andconstipation and all that stuff
that goes along with it.
So you want stuff, what youwant, and an ideal body is you
ingest it, and your body'staking out everything it needs,
and then it's getting rid of it.
And that's that's how you wantit to go, right?
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
You don't want stop and start.
SPEAKER_01 (29:24):
No, you don't, you don't.
And so yellow dock is so greatfor that.
And we we grow that right on ourfarm, um, along with 40 other
different herbs.
You know, we're growing the milkthistle and ashwagandha,
stragalus.
Um, we're growing some reallycool herbs, and uh yellow dock
is one of the newer.
I think we just, yeah, last yearwas our first year growing
yellow dock, and it grew sowell.
(29:46):
It's such a pretty root, too.
It's really it's got thisbeautiful like golden color.
It's almost like a little V, uh,upside down V.
It's it's such a great root.
SPEAKER_00 (29:55):
I use your, I've been using for a while, your
fenugreek.
Oh, great.
People who we want to stimulateappetite a little bit.
Yeah.
And of course for umbreastfeeding.
Yeah.
And it's been amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (30:08):
Oh, that is so great.
Really nice.
My sister uh uh swore by thatduring her pregnancy or you
know, uh after her pregnanciesfor um uh lactation, and uh she
swore by it.
But you you say that uh aboutthe um uh helping with uh
digestion and uh stimulatingappetite, and it's uh we always
marketed fenugreek for thelongest time as uh lactation
(30:31):
herb, right?
Yes.
And then there was more researchthat came out all about
digestion and how importantfenugreek is for digestion.
And uh so we've actually kind ofpivoted, and I talk way more
about fenugreek with digestionnow, but for the longest time, I
mean it was a top seller and itwas we only marketed it as for
(30:53):
lactation.
SPEAKER_00 (30:54):
I have a lot of um post-treatment cancer patients
um who aren't eating well.
Um they've lost weight.
Yeah, so I use that most of thetime with them.
In fact, probably on all ofthem.
That's good.
And uh the difference from whatI was trying to do before and
just good old fenugreek, whichis very inexpensive, by the way,
right?
(31:14):
Yeah.
Um, it's amazing what it does.
That's so cool.
Yeah.
I I love hearing that.
SPEAKER_01 (31:20):
Yeah, it's um that that's so cool.
SPEAKER_00 (31:23):
That's one of the really big ones that I've stuck
with in your line.
It just seems to work amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (31:28):
Oh, that's great.
It's it, you know, fenugreek isis one of the original.
We've had that forever.
Is that right?
Yeah, it's one of the originalherbs.
Um, and it it is, it's just aseed, just you know, just a
little seed.
And uh, and it, you know, it wasa top seller for us, and then it
kind of got pushed down, andthen the started talking about
(31:51):
the digestion part becauselactation is a very small
segment, right?
So it's like, okay, you'reyou're appealing to a small
segment, and then the all thestuff about um digestive health,
and um, it's really picked backup to and it's and I have you to
thank for that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:06):
Well, you're welcome.
It works so well, I could notwalk away from it.
I mean, I'll be using that for along time, obviously.
Uh, the other thing we that Ipersonally, and I think most of
this people in the store hereare suggesting is your nettles
and your nettles with quercetin.
Tell us a little bit about thosetwo.
SPEAKER_01 (32:25):
So, nettle, it's such a cool herb.
Um, most people know it isstinging nettle, right?
So um, stinging nettle, uh mostpeople have brushed against that
plant and had a nice little rashbecause it's covered in these
little hairs, these fine littlehairs.
And um, and that's the part thatmakes you all itchy when you
brush against it.
And uh, but and we grow a lot ofnettle.
(32:48):
We've got about 20 acres ofnettle.
We we harvested about 30,000pounds this year.
Um, and that plant, the part ofthat plant that we need to keep
intact is those fine littlehairs.
Um, and the reason is becausethe constituent found in nettle
to help with the histamineresponse in the body is found in
(33:08):
those hairs.
So if we were to traditionallydry nettle, uh all those hairs
would burn up.
And now, nettle is a verynutrient-dense herb.
It likes to grow uh near water,so it pulls a lot of minerals
up, uh high in silica.
So it's a very nutrient-denseplant.
Um, but we want those hairs.
So what we do is we harvest itabout 30,000 pounds.
(33:31):
We load up 30,000 pounds offresh nettle right into the back
of a freezer truck, two freezertrucks actually.
And then we ship it uh to afreeze dryer and it gets
freeze-dried.
And what freeze-drying does isthere's no heat involved.
So it's more of like a vacuumand it pulls the moisture out
and it keeps those hairs intact.
And so what we're left with is agreat allergy herb.
(33:54):
Um, it works wonders.
Um, I swear by it, especiallythis time of the year, changing
seasons.
Um, but because we keep thosehairs intact, it's a great
allergy supporting herb.
And the quercetin is just gonnauh help with the uh the
antihistamine response as well.
And we actually have another onethat's um called Alerate.
SPEAKER_00 (34:14):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
And it has nettle, quercetin, and then N
acetylcysteine, which is greatfor the mucus buildup because if
you've got allergies, you getmucus, and that N acetylcysteine
will help break down that mucusand help drain you out.
SPEAKER_00 (34:28):
And N acetylcysteine um is not an unknown quantity.
Yeah, you'll find it in hospitalpharmacies as an IV.
Yeah, exactly for well, for thatand for other reasons.
Uh, but it can be used as amucolytic and it does a
wonderful job.
It does.
Um, that's terrific.
Yeah, it I mean, those twoproducts in particular, the
(34:49):
quercetin and the quercetin andthe um um acetyl n nettles and
the uh nettles by themselves,yeah, uh are they fly out of
here.
SPEAKER_01 (34:59):
They're so great.
It's uh um, you know, we so wehad that product, it's one of
the original products we had.
Um, and about oh gosh, it'sprobably been about four years
now, maybe five years ago, wehad a crop failure.
And so we had a crop failure onour nettle, and there is no
other freeze-dried nettle outthere.
(35:21):
All the nettle on the market isdried nettle.
And again, if you're to usedried nettle, you lose those
hairs and you lose that part ofthe herb that helps with the uh
histamine response in the body.
So um what happened was is weactually had to basically uh we
were out of stock on thoseproducts for a good year and a
half, two or three.
(35:41):
Oh, yes, the shelf was empty.
People were very upset.
Ah, you remember, yes.
It was uh, and we had plenty ofcalls.
And um, you know, what we couldhave done is we could have very
easily just got rid offreeze-dried, put out the exact
same product with dried nettlein there, but it wouldn't work.
So what happened was is we lostuh a lot of customers we lost
(36:03):
over the years because we didn'thave that product.
And then we reintroduced them,and people are realizing, hey,
they're back out.
And so they've picked right backup.
And we actually just invested inthis um uh blister pack machine,
which is great because now wecan produce samples because a
big part of that product is itactually works.
Um, so like just get in people'shands and if you've got
(36:25):
allergies, just take this.
And then that's how weoriginally sold that product 20
years ago, 30 years ago is wemade little sample bottles and
we just handed them out.
Yes, and that's how we built ouraudience.
That's how we built our customerbase, and then we lost part of
our customer base.
So now we're coming out withsamples of those products
because they actually work.
There were a lot of very upsetpeople.
SPEAKER_00 (36:46):
Oh, let me tell you because they were counting on
their freeze-dried stingingnettles.
SPEAKER_01 (36:51):
I know, I know that uh listen.
We had people calling, we hadfolks saying, Well, I know
you're out of stock, but do youhave some just like in the back
somewhere like on the shelf?
It's like, no, I don't have any.
I'm like, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, we're we're hiding themall in the back just for you.
So we've got them.
But we were out, and that wastalk about a bummer.
(37:11):
And during that time, I was incustomer service and talking a
lot of people off the ledge,like, hey, we're gonna get them
back.
Just give us time.
SPEAKER_00 (37:19):
All right.
Well, I think we've done apretty good job here.
I think I know a lot more aboutherbs uh just from your short
talk.
Uh, I appreciate the time.
Now I just want to remindeverybody um you can listen to
the podcast, obviously, but weare on our website, we sell wild
harvest herbs.
(37:39):
And you're gonna like the price,you're gonna love the product,
so don't be afraid to go thereand check out some of these
products.
You've got allergies right now'sallergy season, those stinging
nettles would be perfect.
Oh, they work great.
Um, Astragalus if you get sick.
unknown (37:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:55):
Uh turmeric for the aches and pains.
I mean, there's so many thingsthat you can choose from.
You'll see them all on thewebsite.
And uh right now, I just want tothank you, Dylan Elmer, for
coming on the show, telling usall about Wild Harvest, and
thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_01 (38:11):
Thank you so much for the time and the
opportunity.
Really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (38:14):
Don't be a stranger.
SPEAKER_01 (38:15):
No, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00 (38:17):
Come back soon.
SPEAKER_01 (38:17):
Absolutely.
I'll be back for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (38:19):
All right, thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (38:20):
Cheers.
SPEAKER_00 (38:21):
Thanks to our loyal listeners, and thanks to our
sponsor, Holly Hill Health Foodsand Hollyhillvitamins.com.
Don't forget to use coupon codeNUTS NUTZ for 15% off.
You can reach me with questionsand comments at two one five
three six one seven seven sevenzero.
(38:44):
Until next time, this is Dr.
Phil Pappas wishing you goodhealth.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nutrition
Nuts where we explore the latestinformation on nutritional
science, wellness trends, andinformation on cutting-edge
supplements.
This is where you will hearexperts in clinical nutrition,
healthcare practitioners,researchers, and supplement
(00:23):
industry experts discussingtoday's most important health
care issues.
I'm your host, Dr.
Phil Pappas.
I'm a certified clinicalnutritionist, cognitive
researcher, and psychologist.
We would like to thank oursponsor, Holly Hill Health Foods
and Hollyhillvitamins.com, theplace for great selection,
(00:46):
service, and great pricing.
Use coupon code NUTs, that'sN-U-T-Z, for 15% off, and
remember restrictions may apply.
(01:26):
And today we have a great showlined up for you.
Our guest is Dylan Elmer, whois, in fact, the son of the
creator of Wild Harvest, Argon'sWild Harvest Herbs.
I mean, this is a great company.
And uh Dylan um has been in thisbusiness since he was seven
(01:48):
years old.
He knows and has done just abouteverything you can do when it
comes to harvesting herbs.
So as he says, he can drive thetractor, he can make up the uh
the concoctions, the extracts,he can harvest, he can do just
(02:08):
about everything.
He does a lot of marketing fromwhat I can see.
And uh he comes out and doeseducational things, and today
he's gonna be a guest on theshow.
So welcome Dylan Elmer to theshow and tell us a little about
you and the company.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
Uh well, a little about myself.
Um, I started from a young ageum working on the farm.
So um every summer was spent uhon the tractor, um uh uh
tilling.
Uh we would uh uh I talked aboutthat I spent one summer just
picking up rocks and uh loadingthem into the uh into the bucket
(02:48):
of the tractor and then takingthose rocks, dumping them on a
pile, and then coming back.
And uh you got to clear thefields, right?
So um worked in almost everypart of this company.
I've worked in production, uh uhencapsulation, milling, um, done
a lot of wildcrafting, um, anduh spent a lot of time in
customer service as well.
So answering a lot of thequestions that um you folks
(03:11):
probably get asked quite a bit.
So um yeah, just uh nice roundeduh uh um career at Oregon's Wild
Harvest.
And uh we've been around for 30years, over 30 years now, still
100% family owned um andoperated.
And you work with your familyevery day.
I worked with my family everyday.
My brother's on the farm, mymom's on the farm, uh, uncle,
(03:34):
brother-in-law.
Um, so we've got uh it's it's afamily affair for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (03:39):
And it's a brutal farm work.
SPEAKER_01 (03:41):
It's not easy work.
It is not easy.
Uh farming is uh especiallyorganic farming.
So you don't you you don't getto cheat and use chemicals or
anything like that.
You're using uh your hands andit's uh physical labor.
And uh um there's a lot thatgoes into it.
Um when you see it on the shelf,it doesn't do it justice.
When you see an ashwagandha oran echinacea, you there's so
(04:04):
much that has gone into thatproduct.
Yeah.
So there's a lot to it.
SPEAKER_00 (04:08):
You even make your own organic fertilizer.
SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
We do, we do.
So uh we're a biodynamic farm,and uh a part of biodynamic
farming means that uh we'reself-sustaining.
So uh we don't bring infertilizer, we don't bring in
manure.
Uh, we're producing it right onthe farm.
So we grow the alfalfa and wefeed it to our livestock, and
all of our livestock on thefarm, we raise them for their
(04:32):
manure.
There's no slaughtering on thefarm.
We just want that fresh manure.
So we feed them that biodynamicalfalfa, and then we take that
manure and spread it over thosefields.
So um, yeah, self-sustainingecosystem.
SPEAKER_00 (04:45):
But you even have to work the manure.
SPEAKER_01 (04:47):
We do.
I plant fascinating.
We do.
There's it's not ready to go.
It comes ready to go.
That's uh yes.
Um, so it's uh, I say we take itfrom the cows and spread it over
the fields, but that's not howit goes.
So we take it from the calvesand we add it to our manure
piles.
We've got several, and um,there's a lot that goes into it.
So manure is heating up, sothere's bacteria that's breaking
(05:11):
down those nutrients and you'reliterally cooking it.
We're cooking it.
It gets up to 160, 180 degreesinside that pile.
Steam's uh uh billowing off, anduh, and we got to turn the pile,
right?
Because the stuff on theinside's breaking down, but the
stuff on the outside isn't.
So you got to turn itconstantly.
And um, we actually add backnutrient-dense herbs to our
(05:33):
manure pile, like nettle andvalerian.
These are very nutrient-denseherbs, so we're enhancing our
manure.
So when we add it to thosefields, it's as strong a quality
as you're gonna get.
SPEAKER_00 (05:45):
Okay, it makes sense.
Now the term regenerativefarming.
I can't say that I've heard thatused a lot.
So what is that?
SPEAKER_01 (05:54):
Regenerative farming is well, yeah, I I often say
it's like old-fashioned farming,right?
We are an active farm.
It's not a commercial farm withone crop.
We are an active live farm andum biodynamic that practices um
are it's its own ecosystem, butit's people, it's the planet,
(06:15):
it's the animals, it's theinsects, all working together,
right?
To produce these um plants thatwe um rely on.
Um, so regenerative farming justmeans that we are giving back to
the soil.
We're not just pulling, we'renot constantly uh harvesting.
We're actually giving back tothe soil.
We're doing cover crops, um,which a cover crop just means
(06:38):
when you aren't growing a plantin that field.
You're coming and growing acover crop.
Um, this can be like barley oroats milky tops, very
nutrient-dense herbs.
And um those cover crops are soimportant because uh instead of
an empty field, now you have aplant that's converting carbon
dioxide into oxygen.
(06:58):
You don't have just a barrendirt field.
You've got this um active livefield.
And then you till all that ummaterial back under and you put
it back in the soil.
So then when you plant yourherbs on top, now those herbs
have all those nutrients thatwere provided by the cover.
Everything they need.
Exactly.
Enhancing that plant.
(07:20):
It's been provided.
So important.
It's so important.
SPEAKER_00 (07:23):
So um I want you to discuss, and and I heard you
talk about this earlier, discussclean supplements.
SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
Clean supplements, uh it's very important.
So important.
And um, you know, uh what I liketo, you know, I tell people, uh
no one's looking out foryourself besides yourself.
You gotta you gotta payattention to what you're putting
in your body.
And um, these days, uh the otheringredients, that's that's the
part that you really gotta payattention to.
(07:53):
I'm asked that all the time bycustomers.
SPEAKER_00 (07:55):
What are these other ingredients?
SPEAKER_01 (07:57):
Yeah, what does this mean?
I can't even say this word.
What is this?
And a lot of times they'reunnecessary.
And um what I mean by that is alot of these other ingredients,
uh I'll throw out like silicondioxide and magnesium stearate,
these these are um flowingagents and uh anti-caking
agents, and um, they're justmaking it so you can process
(08:19):
material faster.
And uh I I've I always mentionthat we are all about quality
over quantity, and we want tomake sure that we're given the
best plant medicine available.
And um those other ingredientscan get very hairy and it's
unnecessary, and it's just onemore thing for your body to
process out.
Um, you know, your liver'sworking all the time.
(08:41):
We don't need to give it morework to do.
And uh those those otheringredients we stay away from
clean supplements, um, usingwhole herbs, so important.
Um, making sure that these uhproducts are properly tested,
right?
Um we're testing for heavymetals, pesticides, herbicides,
aflatoxins.
Um, you get in uh salmonella, A.
(09:02):
coli.
Uh, we have a micro lab thatwe've invested so much in our
testing um to make sure thatit's the top quality, it's the
cleanest supplement available.
And um uh as the industry grows,as more people are uh interested
in supplements, um, you noticethat the quality tends to go
(09:24):
down.
There's more players in thegame, there's more demand.
People are always looking to,you know, control the market or
uh, you know, to corner themarket.
And uh uh so the quality doesseem to diminish over time.
And uh being family-owned, 100%family-owned without outside
investors, allows us to uh stickwith our morals, um, our pillars
(09:46):
of this company is um we're notgonna deviate from that.
We are not gonna deviate andmake an inferior product.
We we would discontinue aproduct, and we have
discontinued products overmaking an inferior product.
SPEAKER_00 (09:59):
I uh have taken a couple herbal courses, and what
you're saying kind of rings abell.
My professor said, when youchop, you know, when you don't
use the whole herb, when youmodify it, that type of thing.
He called it herbal chaos.
And I thought you what you'rejust saying sounded like herbal
(10:20):
chaos if you don't handle itcorrectly.
Absolutely.
And you handle it in thatwonderful way.
Absolutely.
So right now we're talking toDylan Elmer, who is what is your
title at the company?
SPEAKER_01 (10:30):
I'm director of sales now, so I've been in this
position for about a year and ahalf for Oregon's Wild Harvest.
Oregon's Wild Harvest, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (10:37):
Wonderful, wonderful herbs.
We've been selling them here atHolly Hill for how many years?
SPEAKER_01 (10:42):
Oh, geez, it's been uh over a decade or decade
before my time.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
You guys have been carrying thisfor a long time.
SPEAKER_00 (10:49):
All right, yeah.
It's one of the first new thingsI saw when I joined the group.
Oh, that's awesome.
And I thought I have never seenthat line, you know.
So I was fascinated and Inoticed it kept growing.
Ah, that's great.
SPEAKER_01 (11:02):
Yeah, we're doing really well with Hollyhill.
That's great.
It's well, you're doing reallywell, aren't you, overall?
We're seeing some really goodgrowth.
You know, I I mentioned Imention it when I go out and I
say we're 30 years in, but itfeels like we're just getting
started for a long time.
Because like yourself, there's alot of folks out there that
don't know about us, theyhaven't heard our story.
(11:23):
Um, and we got to get the wordout.
That's on us, right?
So we got to get the word outthere.
And so that's been a big part ofwhy I go out and you know, give
have these discussions and talkmore about the family.
SPEAKER_00 (11:35):
So with that in mind, yeah, what are the hot
products uh in your lineup?
SPEAKER_01 (11:40):
Good question.
Um, well, the best seller andhas been the best seller for a
decade plus is our ashwagandha.
And um not surprised.
SPEAKER_00 (11:50):
Not surprised.
SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
Sell a ton of them.
Yeah, ashwagandha is verypopular.
And uh I know you don't have anystress, but there are folks out
there that do.
And yes, that's right.
I am stress-free.
Completely stress-free.
Um, but there are folks outthere that uh are looking for um
stress-reducing herbs, uh,something to help with uh
balancing the body.
And that's that's whatashwagandha is all about.
(12:13):
It's a it's a balancing herb,it's um known as an adaptogen.
So it's helping the body adaptto stress.
And yeah, I was actually justtalking to one of your customers
out there, and um, he was anhe's an Indian guy, and he was
talking about, you know, theseherbs like ashwagandha go back
7,000 years.
There's the writings on theseherbs and being used for
(12:34):
medicinal purposes.
And um, it's really you don'tthink about it a lot of times,
but it's like, wow, you know,this is uh um, this has been
going on a long time and we'rekind of just rediscovering it
for a lot of folks.
Um, but ashwagandha is a hugeseller these days, um, you know,
especially in the last uhhandful of years, detox herbs
(12:56):
have really picked up like milkthistle, milk thistle dandelion,
um, folks understanding that,hey, our livers are taking a
beating.
Um, the air we breathe, the whatwe're drinking, what we're
eating, it all has to befiltered out through the liver.
And um uh so we've reallynoticed like detox herbs, um,
the the milk thistle products,um, even an herb that I knew for
(13:21):
the longest time because I couldsmell it in our garden from a
young age.
Um, we've been growing wormwoodforever.
Yeah.
And uh we've had that in ourline for gosh, 30 years.
And uh, you know, it was a lowseller, middle to bottom.
And then um the last handful ofyears, um, with these detoxes
coming out, wormwood has becomea top seller for us.
(13:45):
And uh it's funny, uhAshwagandha is our best seller.
And at one time, gosh, it'sprobably been 20 years now, but
no one knew Ashwagandha, and wealmost discontinued that
product.
And then the the uh Ashwagandhacraze took off, and uh thank
goodness we didn't discontinueit.
SPEAKER_00 (14:02):
You know, I've been selling a lot of your cinnamon,
and I believe your cinnamon ismarked salon cinnamon.
SPEAKER_01 (14:08):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (14:08):
There are other cinnamons.
There are, yeah.
So actually, you know, withdiabetes, I've actually done
several diabetes lectures.
Yep.
And it always comes up.
I mean, how do you control bloodsugar?
Yeah.
And that's what cinnamon doesreally best, doesn't it?
Tell us a little more about whycinnamon works so well.
How do you make yours?
SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
Cinnamon is awesome, and there's a specific type of
cinnamon, and it's known asCeylon cinnamon.
Uh, cinnamonum barum is the uhbotanical name.
And um, this this cinnamon isthe one that you want,
especially for folks that areconcerned about their blood
sugar levels, um, because folksthat are concerned about their
blood sugar levels are probablynot gonna have it uh, you know,
(14:52):
fixed in a couple weeks.
And so there's another uhcinnamon on the market, um,
cassia is the what it's knownas.
Um, cassia cinnamon has a highlevel of coumarin in it and it's
hard on the liver.
And so when you take this forextended periods of time, it can
actually have negative effectson your liver.
So you want to steer away fromthe cassia cinnamon.
(15:14):
Whereas with Ceylon cinnamon,that is very low trace levels of
coumarin, and it's health, it'sperfectly safe to take on a
regular basis.
And most folks that are takingcinnamon are taking it
year-round, every day, you know,because they're eating every
day, right?
And it's it's gonna help thatrelease of the blood sugar uh
the b sugar into thebloodstream.
(15:35):
And uh it's just a really coolherb.
SPEAKER_00 (15:38):
So in um I'm not an I am a I have uh chef
credentials.
Oh, right on.
Um but I don't do it as aliving.
Yeah.
And um both my grandfathers werechefs.
Uh one of them was prettyfamous.
And uh I know um Europeancooking, very old European
(15:59):
cooking.
Awesome.
And cinnamon was uh one of themain ingredients in a lot of the
desserts, even in some of thedishes, which I do myself, but
in the desserts, cinnamon.
Now, did they know that?
Or and what cinnamon were theyusing?
Yeah.
What do you use in cooking?
What is cooking cinnamon and howdoes it differ?
SPEAKER_01 (16:20):
Yeah, so um cooking cinnamon is um gonna be the
cassia, is what I'm talkingabout, and that's the flavor
that you're used to.
Um uh ceilan cinnamon does havea similar flavor, but it's not
gonna be as strong as theothers.
Um, so that's why um cassiatends to be the most popular
(16:42):
because it's most common andit's used a lot in cooking as
well.
Probably less money.
A lot less money, a lot less.
So Ceylon cinnamon comes fromone place in the whole world,
and that's Sri Lanka.
Um, these trees are native tothat area.
And we were just talking abouttrees.
You can't just plant a tree andharvest the next year.
You gotta plant a tree and waitdecades for it to produce.
(17:04):
And so Ceylon cinnamon comesfrom one part and that's Sri
Lanka.
SPEAKER_00 (17:08):
And yeah, and for a while, that was a problem since
they were having a civil warthere, and we were having
trouble getting it, if Iremember.
Yep, yep.
But everything seems to be okaynow.
SPEAKER_01 (17:17):
Does seem to be okay.
We've been working with the sameum uh group that's uh growing
cinnamon for gosh 20 years now.
It's been a long time.
Yeah, and it's uh um, butthere's a finite amount, and a
lot of these herbs, um, there'sa finite amount of quality herb
out there.
So when you see a high price ona product like a cinnamon and
(17:37):
it's right next to anothercinnamon and you don't know the
differences, you're gonna say,well, for the lesser.
Yeah, it's like, well, I'll justgo for that cheaper one.
Same thing, but it's not.
It really isn't.
SPEAKER_00 (17:47):
I think as long as I remember, let's just pretend I
can remember back to the year1999 or 2000.
Salon cinnamon has always beenthe go-to product for
controlling blood sugars.
Maybe not for cooking.
Yep.
Although I've gone out of my wayto use it.
Me too.
And um I don't see a problemwith it.
(18:08):
You may have to use a littlemore than you would the other
one, but you know, who cares?
Yeah.
And it gives everything a nicecolor too, which I kind of like
your presentation.
It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (18:19):
I add it to my oatmeal.
Yeah, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (18:21):
Put it on uh yogurt.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's always there are so manyuses for it.
SPEAKER_01 (18:27):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (18:28):
Is is cinnamon one of your bigger sellers?
SPEAKER_01 (18:30):
Cinnamon is a top seller for sure.
I would say it's probably top,it is definitely top 10, maybe
top five, but it's definitely atop 10 seller.
Um, and you know, especiallyover um there, there has been
more information out there forfolks.
And people will, you know, Iworked in customer service for a
dozen years, and people willcall and ask, you know, is it
(18:54):
the the Ceylon cinnamon?
And it's like, oh, this isgreat, you know, folks are
becoming aware of thedifferences.
But um, yeah, no, it's a bigseller.
And um, these days, uh, youknow, diet and healthy lifestyle
is so important.
And uh blood sugar is, you know,you want to be able to control
that, right?
It's uh um so important for ourbodies.
SPEAKER_00 (19:15):
I want to go to Astragalus.
Yeah.
A day doesn't go by where Ididn't don't see something
either in my email or a study onmy desk.
Something comes up aboutastragalus.
Yeah, yeah.
Tell us about astragalus.
SPEAKER_01 (19:29):
Well, astragalus, I'll tell you right from the
start.
Um, we we grow astragalis, wegrow a lot of astragalus, and
um, it's a really unique herb.
Um, as I mentioned earlier, itsome of these herbs are in the
ground for a few months and youharvest, but astragalus needs to
be in the ground for three orfour years before it actually
develops to where the levelsthat you want for the medicinal
(19:51):
value.
Um, there's certain umconstituents in astragalus that
are higher and lower the firstcouple years that it's in the
ground.
So you won't harvest astragalusuntil about year three and four.
And this is my dad's favoriteherb, actually, is astragalus.
And um, he he loved it becauseit was so effective, but very
(20:12):
mild, right?
Like so um echinaasias andelderberries, these herbs that
you take when you're feelingsick, um, they they activate the
immune system.
And it's not something you wantto take on a regular basis
because you don't want yourimmune system constantly
constantly being exactly, youdon't want that happening.
So um a stragalus is basicallyjust keeping the light on for
(20:34):
that immune system, making surethat it's ready to go whenever
needed, but um, it's notactivating it.
And so um it's a really greatherb.
Um, but there's actually moreresearch in what you were
talking about.
There's um this is a traditionalChinese herb, and um, there's
been research done on umtelomeres and helping with the
(20:55):
telomeres and uh repairingthose.
And as we get older, ourtelomeres break down and old age
sets in.
Yeah.
And um, so this herb has um, andwith so many different herbs, is
we're finding out differentapplications all the time on
these, right?
And so astragalus is uh umthere's more research coming out
(21:15):
on longevity and helping with uhum us living longer.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
Yes.
Yeah.
Um phytonutrients.
Yeah.
That used to be a much biggerword, if I remember.
Yeah, but that's part of thisstory, isn't it?
Yeah, absolutely.
What are all thosephytonutrients?
We can't even figure them out.
No, we can't.
SPEAKER_01 (21:34):
And that's that goes back to the whole herb
philosophy, right?
Because there's so manyconstituents of phytonutrients
that are in these plants, and wedon't even know.
We might be able to pick out andsay, hey, you know, we we think
this is working, but we don'tknow if there's other
constituents found in that plantthat are helping that.
We're gonna get some futuresurprises.
(21:55):
Exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (21:57):
You've been using this all along.
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly.
And so um we we always try andkeep the um it's the whole herb
approach.
And obviously, there's umthere's been research.
I'll use milk thistle as anexample.
There's there's uh um been quitea bit of research on milk
thistle and turmeric as well.
Those are two more uh popularresearched herbs and uh the
(22:19):
constituents found in there,like silamarin.
Um, that you know, there's beenresearch that silamarin helps
with the liver support.
But so we'll include, you know,a uh silamarin uh extract in our
milk thistle, but we alwaysinclude the whole seed in there
as well, because even thoughthere's one part of that herb
that's helping the body, we wantto make sure that all those
(22:41):
other beneficial constituentsare being uh being delivered
with our supplements.
So um there's not a ton ofresearch done on a lot of these
herbs.
And so that's where we alwayshearken back to the point of
hey, how have these been usedfor hundreds, if not thousands
of years?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:01):
And I guess some of them were originally uh used in
cooking.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (23:06):
Uh dandelion.
Dandelion, uh, turmeric.
Um, you know, so there'sturmeric, you want to include
black pepper.
Um, most uh turmeric supplementsare gonna have black pepper in
there, and the reason for thatis absorption.
Turmeric is not a verybioavailable herb.
And um what's ironic about it isyou know, turmeric's a spice,
(23:27):
and um, it's been used withcooking.
And what else helps with uhturmeric absorption happens to
be fats.
So typically folks were usingturmeric in with their food, and
there was a fat in that food,and it was being absorbed.
So there's we don't even know,you know, that, but it was used
(23:48):
for many, many years in this oneway, and it was being absorbed
in the body.
Turmeric was being absorbed, andthen correctly we correctly,
exactly.
And then, you know, we comealong and we just take a ton of
turmeric and then find out thatit's not being absorbed.
So um there's a lot that westill need to figure out with
this stuff.
And well, you have a pretty fullline of products.
SPEAKER_00 (24:09):
We do, but you're adding more products all the
time.
SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
Tell us about the new skews.
New skews.
We've got all kinds of newskews.
Um, well, you know, first off,we've added some uh value sizes
of popular products, uh, themost popular products out there.
We've we've already had somevalue sizes, but we extended our
value size line because um a lotof these folks uh rely on these
products, and we want to be ableto get it to them for a better
(24:34):
price point and a larger uhbottle.
So um we've come out with somevalue sizes.
Um, we've come out with some newliquids like an Oshwagandha
glycerate, which is analcohol-free ashwagandha
product.
And then um something I'm reallyexcited about is our new vitamin
line.
And um, this has been in theworks for gosh, I would say at
(24:58):
least seven years.
Um we've been, we've been, we'vebeen working on this for a long
time.
And um, a lot of it is the RDand um making sure that uh we
are supplying the best qualityout there, right?
So um our vitamin line is allorganic, all plant, whole, whole
food sourced.
(25:18):
Um, so what you're getting isum, you know, talking about
bioavailability, a lot of thesevitamins and multivitamins are
synthetics, uh, megadoses, andthey just go right through the
body.
So you think you're taking allthese great things and you're
just flushing them out, and yourbody's not absorbing any of it
and doesn't recognize it.
(25:39):
Your body doesn't recognize whatyou're putting in there, so it's
just gonna get rid of it.
So, what we came up with waswhole food vitamins.
And uh, so we have four that wejust came out with our zinc, our
vitamin D, our biotin.
Um, really excited about that,our vitamin C as well.
Um, and these are all whole foodsourced vitamins, um, along with
(26:03):
every single one of them has auh prebiotic blend in there as
well.
So it's gonna help with theabsorption and also helping with
gut health, which as you know,we're we're finding all about
these days of how important ourgut health is to overall
well-being, mind, heart,everything is, you know, healthy
gut, tobacco feel better.
(26:24):
Absolutely.
You look better.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
Your hair is better, that'sright.
Skin is better.
It's a wonderful thing.
It's so important.
And um, as our diets havechanged, you know, um, I always
stress folks um uh getting intothe bitters, right?
The herbal bitters, becausewe've we've cut that part out of
our diet these days.
(26:44):
What people aren't eating a lotof bitter foods, right?
The the uh fruits and vegetableshave kind of gone down and uh uh
processed foods are up.
And um, so we just we need to becognizant of what we're putting
in our bodies and is our bodiesreally accepting what we're
putting in our bodies?
Are they gonna is it gonna beabsorbed or is it just gonna be
(27:05):
washed, washed away?
SPEAKER_00 (27:07):
You know, as a kid, I always hated it, but at our
dinner table, there was eitherdandelion, escroll, or endive.
Yeah, yeah.
And I remember trying to eat it,and and the bitterness was like,
you know, you're a little kid.
Yeah.
And uh very hard to do.
But you know, you learn, youwatch the adults, they would put
(27:28):
a whole lot of lemon juice onit.
Yeah, and it turned into apretty good um green.
Yeah.
Of course, it got older, itwasn't such a problem.
For little kids, it's a littleproblem.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (27:37):
Yes, it's very important.
It's so important for digestion.
And um, folks are having allkinds of uh, you know, I'm not
excluded from that uh diet anduh um can play such a big role
on how we feel, um, how wethink.
Um, you know, it's it's soimportant.
And um supplements are neededfor some of this because we're
(28:00):
just not getting it, you know,we're we're not getting what we
need.
So uh another new item, yellowduck, uh awesome, awesome herbal
bitter.
Yeah, tell us more about that.
So it's in a liquid form, andthat's really important for
these bitters, right?
Because you want to taste it.
As soon as it hits your tongue,that's signaling to your body,
hey, get ready.
You've got some food coming,time to release those digestive
(28:21):
enzymes.
And so your gallbladder releasesit into your small intestines,
and then your liver isstimulated to produce more uh
bile, right?
So yellow doc is awesome becauseas soon as it touches your
tongue, it's signaling, hey,there's some food coming.
And uh, the other great thingabout um yellow dock is it's
(28:41):
considered a natural acidive.
And what that means is itdoesn't mean you're gonna take
it and have to go run to thebathroom.
It's not like that.
But what it is is it'sconstantly, it's making the
food, it's making sure that it'sconstantly moving because that's
so important to digestion.
That's guaranteeing transport.
Exactly.
And that is so important becauseas soon as something sits,
(29:05):
that's where you get the gas,that's where you get the stomach
pains, and that's you know, andconstipation and all that stuff
that goes along with it.
So you want stuff, what youwant, and an ideal body is you
ingest it, and your body'staking out everything it needs,
and then it's getting rid of it.
And that's that's how you wantit to go, right?
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
You don't want stop and start.
SPEAKER_01 (29:24):
No, you don't, you don't.
And so yellow dock is so greatfor that.
And we we grow that right on ourfarm, um, along with 40 other
different herbs.
You know, we're growing the milkthistle and ashwagandha,
stragalus.
Um, we're growing some reallycool herbs, and uh yellow dock
is one of the newer.
I think we just, yeah, last yearwas our first year growing
yellow dock, and it grew sowell.
(29:46):
It's such a pretty root, too.
It's really it's got thisbeautiful like golden color.
It's almost like a little V, uh,upside down V.
It's it's such a great root.
SPEAKER_00 (29:55):
I use your, I've been using for a while, your
fenugreek.
Oh, great.
People who we want to stimulateappetite a little bit.
Yeah.
And of course for umbreastfeeding.
Yeah.
And it's been amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (30:08):
Oh, that is so great.
Really nice.
My sister uh uh swore by thatduring her pregnancy or you
know, uh after her pregnanciesfor um uh lactation, and uh she
swore by it.
But you you say that uh aboutthe um uh helping with uh
digestion and uh stimulatingappetite, and it's uh we always
marketed fenugreek for thelongest time as uh lactation
(30:31):
herb, right?
Yes.
And then there was more researchthat came out all about
digestion and how importantfenugreek is for digestion.
And uh so we've actually kind ofpivoted, and I talk way more
about fenugreek with digestionnow, but for the longest time, I
mean it was a top seller and itwas we only marketed it as for
(30:53):
lactation.
SPEAKER_00 (30:54):
I have a lot of um post-treatment cancer patients
um who aren't eating well.
Um they've lost weight.
Yeah, so I use that most of thetime with them.
In fact, probably on all ofthem.
That's good.
And uh the difference from whatI was trying to do before and
just good old fenugreek, whichis very inexpensive, by the way,
right?
(31:14):
Yeah.
Um, it's amazing what it does.
That's so cool.
Yeah.
I I love hearing that.
SPEAKER_01 (31:20):
Yeah, it's um that that's so cool.
SPEAKER_00 (31:23):
That's one of the really big ones that I've stuck
with in your line.
It just seems to work amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (31:28):
Oh, that's great.
It's it, you know, fenugreek isis one of the original.
We've had that forever.
Is that right?
Yeah, it's one of the originalherbs.
Um, and it it is, it's just aseed, just you know, just a
little seed.
And uh, and it, you know, it wasa top seller for us, and then it
kind of got pushed down, andthen the started talking about
(31:51):
the digestion part becauselactation is a very small
segment, right?
So it's like, okay, you'reyou're appealing to a small
segment, and then the all thestuff about um digestive health,
and um, it's really picked backup to and it's and I have you to
thank for that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:06):
Well, you're welcome.
It works so well, I could notwalk away from it.
I mean, I'll be using that for along time, obviously.
Uh, the other thing we that Ipersonally, and I think most of
this people in the store hereare suggesting is your nettles
and your nettles with quercetin.
Tell us a little bit about thosetwo.
SPEAKER_01 (32:25):
So, nettle, it's such a cool herb.
Um, most people know it isstinging nettle, right?
So um, stinging nettle, uh mostpeople have brushed against that
plant and had a nice little rashbecause it's covered in these
little hairs, these fine littlehairs.
And um, and that's the part thatmakes you all itchy when you
brush against it.
And uh, but and we grow a lot ofnettle.
(32:48):
We've got about 20 acres ofnettle.
We we harvested about 30,000pounds this year.
Um, and that plant, the part ofthat plant that we need to keep
intact is those fine littlehairs.
Um, and the reason is becausethe constituent found in nettle
to help with the histamineresponse in the body is found in
(33:08):
those hairs.
So if we were to traditionallydry nettle, uh all those hairs
would burn up.
And now, nettle is a verynutrient-dense herb.
It likes to grow uh near water,so it pulls a lot of minerals
up, uh high in silica.
So it's a very nutrient-denseplant.
Um, but we want those hairs.
So what we do is we harvest itabout 30,000 pounds.
(33:31):
We load up 30,000 pounds offresh nettle right into the back
of a freezer truck, two freezertrucks actually.
And then we ship it uh to afreeze dryer and it gets
freeze-dried.
And what freeze-drying does isthere's no heat involved.
So it's more of like a vacuumand it pulls the moisture out
and it keeps those hairs intact.
And so what we're left with is agreat allergy herb.
(33:54):
Um, it works wonders.
Um, I swear by it, especiallythis time of the year, changing
seasons.
Um, but because we keep thosehairs intact, it's a great
allergy supporting herb.
And the quercetin is just gonnauh help with the uh the
antihistamine response as well.
And we actually have another onethat's um called Alerate.
SPEAKER_00 (34:14):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
And it has nettle, quercetin, and then N
acetylcysteine, which is greatfor the mucus buildup because if
you've got allergies, you getmucus, and that N acetylcysteine
will help break down that mucusand help drain you out.
SPEAKER_00 (34:28):
And N acetylcysteine um is not an unknown quantity.
Yeah, you'll find it in hospitalpharmacies as an IV.
Yeah, exactly for well, for thatand for other reasons.
Uh, but it can be used as amucolytic and it does a
wonderful job.
It does.
Um, that's terrific.
Yeah, it I mean, those twoproducts in particular, the
(34:49):
quercetin and the quercetin andthe um um acetyl n nettles and
the uh nettles by themselves,yeah, uh are they fly out of
here.
SPEAKER_01 (34:59):
They're so great.
It's uh um, you know, we so wehad that product, it's one of
the original products we had.
Um, and about oh gosh, it'sprobably been about four years
now, maybe five years ago, wehad a crop failure.
And so we had a crop failure onour nettle, and there is no
other freeze-dried nettle outthere.
(35:21):
All the nettle on the market isdried nettle.
And again, if you're to usedried nettle, you lose those
hairs and you lose that part ofthe herb that helps with the uh
histamine response in the body.
So um what happened was is weactually had to basically uh we
were out of stock on thoseproducts for a good year and a
half, two or three.
(35:41):
Oh, yes, the shelf was empty.
People were very upset.
Ah, you remember, yes.
It was uh, and we had plenty ofcalls.
And um, you know, what we couldhave done is we could have very
easily just got rid offreeze-dried, put out the exact
same product with dried nettlein there, but it wouldn't work.
So what happened was is we lostuh a lot of customers we lost
(36:03):
over the years because we didn'thave that product.
And then we reintroduced them,and people are realizing, hey,
they're back out.
And so they've picked right backup.
And we actually just invested inthis um uh blister pack machine,
which is great because now wecan produce samples because a
big part of that product is itactually works.
Um, so like just get in people'shands and if you've got
(36:25):
allergies, just take this.
And then that's how weoriginally sold that product 20
years ago, 30 years ago is wemade little sample bottles and
we just handed them out.
Yes, and that's how we built ouraudience.
That's how we built our customerbase, and then we lost part of
our customer base.
So now we're coming out withsamples of those products
because they actually work.
There were a lot of very upsetpeople.
SPEAKER_00 (36:46):
Oh, let me tell you because they were counting on
their freeze-dried stingingnettles.
SPEAKER_01 (36:51):
I know, I know that uh listen.
We had people calling, we hadfolks saying, Well, I know
you're out of stock, but do youhave some just like in the back
somewhere like on the shelf?
It's like, no, I don't have any.
I'm like, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, we're we're hiding themall in the back just for you.
So we've got them.
But we were out, and that wastalk about a bummer.
(37:11):
And during that time, I was incustomer service and talking a
lot of people off the ledge,like, hey, we're gonna get them
back.
Just give us time.
SPEAKER_00 (37:19):
All right.
Well, I think we've done apretty good job here.
I think I know a lot more aboutherbs uh just from your short
talk.
Uh, I appreciate the time.
Now I just want to remindeverybody um you can listen to
the podcast, obviously, but weare on our website, we sell wild
harvest herbs.
(37:39):
And you're gonna like the price,you're gonna love the product,
so don't be afraid to go thereand check out some of these
products.
You've got allergies right now'sallergy season, those stinging
nettles would be perfect.
Oh, they work great.
Um, Astragalus if you get sick.
unknown (37:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:55):
Uh turmeric for the aches and pains.
I mean, there's so many thingsthat you can choose from.
You'll see them all on thewebsite.
And uh right now, I just want tothank you, Dylan Elmer, for
coming on the show, telling usall about Wild Harvest, and
thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_01 (38:11):
Thank you so much for the time and the
opportunity.
Really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (38:14):
Don't be a stranger.
SPEAKER_01 (38:15):
No, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00 (38:17):
Come back soon.
SPEAKER_01 (38:17):
Absolutely.
I'll be back for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (38:19):
All right, thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (38:20):
Cheers.
SPEAKER_00 (38:21):
Thanks to our loyal listeners, and thanks to our
sponsor, Holly Hill Health Foodsand Hollyhillvitamins.com.
Don't forget to use coupon codeNUTS NUTZ for 15% off.
You can reach me with questionsand comments at two one five
three six one seven seven sevenzero.
(38:44):
Until next time, this is Dr.
Phil Pappas wishing you goodhealth.
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