Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
A podcast that explores what it means to work with purpose by interviewing people who are working for more than just a paycheck.
Are you in corporate America grinding away the weeks as you watch the years fly by? Do you have that voice in your head that’s asking for something more? But you shouldn’t complain, right? You’ve got a good job, good pay, good benefits. There’s people out there that would kill for a job like that. But that little voice just won’t go away.
I’m your host Gino. And as an ex 9-5er I know that feeling all too well. I worked in corporate for 6 years before I finally decided to walk away, choosing to live my life a little differently. And since then, I’ve met some pretty amazing people who do work that positively impacts the people around them, their communities, and the world. This podcast exists to share their stories, and to help inspire you to do the same. Leave that job that you hate and to start working towards your purpose.
Welcome to working towards our purpose, a podcast that
offers a different perspective on what a job can be. For everyone
out there that's heard that voice in the back their head, asking for
something more. It's time to listen to it. I'm your host,
Gino, and join me as I interview people who have decided to
work in their own purpose. Together, we will learn, become
inspired, and hopefully find our own path towards working in our
purpose.
Patrick Blanchette is founder of Union City Farm, a gourmet
mushroom producer from Prospect, Connecticut. Patrick became a
mushroom farmer after being unhappy at a career in the insurance industry
and deciding that's not how he wanted to spend his days. I'm excited to get
to learn more about his story and his business. Patrick, welcome to working towards
a purpose. How are you doing today? I'm well. Thank you. Thank you.
Excited to get into your story and and to talk about mushrooms, but first,
I wanna just ask, like, a little bit about, like, your home life growing up
and, like, schooling and and kinda like what led you on to the path
of becoming in the insurance industry. Wow.
Wow. That that question that nobody's asked me yet. So
I grew up as a art student, and I was also
very competitive in school. And I have a twin brother, So that helped with the
I also have a twin brother. That's hilarious. They're
not identical the lord, but, yeah.
So It was always competitive. We were always kinda doing the same thing.
How I got into insurance was
well, I Was always told that I was good at talking, and I should
be in sales, and I didn't wanna go to college, and
so I kind of I started my sales career with Kirby
vacuum cleaners. And, and that was
really, really good experience. I only did it for, like, a year or 2, But
it was really good experience to just kinda get out and talk to people and,
break the ice, if you will. And so that launched me
into a couple different options, and I ended up with
insurance. It was fun at first. You know, I think I
got my license for insurance when I was 20 or 21. And so
I was I was doing very, very well. I was making more
money than any any of my friends at the time. But
there in lies the problem because I was doing it with the intention of making
money, and that was it. And then I did that. I was
I was passionate about it to some degree because there were some scenarios where, you
know, I sold a policy and maybe push somebody to get a policy, and then
they end up dying. And that really kinda hit home because I
had to deliver the, you know, the policy to the, the
loved ones and let them know that It was covered. So there was some
passion there. There was some some level of fulfillment, but
it was few and far between. And I went from
doing outside sales where I was basically sitting in people's houses,
talking to them about their insurance, And I switched
to inside sales, which basically means I was sitting behind a desk,
answering phone calls and talking insurance over the phone.
I did the insurance sales inside with the company
for about 10 years, and
It was fun. I mean, it was a it was a good
atmosphere. We had a good team. Everybody was kind of around the
same age bracket, so we'd all get along. But,
one day, it just it just something switched,
and I realized that I don't wanna sit behind a computer for the
rest of my life. As As much as I was making good money and I
was somewhat happy with, you know, the, the people that I was
working with, it just, You know, I I started
kinda diving deep into, I guess, the spiritual side of
me that was never opened up before And started kind of asking the
important questions, like, why are we here? What are we really doing? What does this
all mean? And that led me to believe that what I was doing at the
prime, which was selling insurance, was not my purpose. It was something
that, you know, got me to where I am today, but it's not something
that I'm gonna continue doing for the rest of my life. Ergo, mushroom
farmer. Awesome. Awesome.
I I I guess I'm curious to Like, how how
did that start? Like, where where did the spiritual side of you
become intrigued? Or, like, what was the first thing? Do you remember, like, what
kinda got you into more of that sort of thought patterns? Yep. I was, I
was dating a girl that was into
Mindfulness. She was actually a mindfulness coach and teacher, and she
was also a ballroom dance teacher. And she opened
me up to both of those things, sleep ballroom dancing and meditate
that I've never done before. And being a competitive
spirit, When I started doing that, I realized how bad I
was at both of those things, and it haunted me. It bothered
me so much. So I I dove in deep.
I I was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna get this figured out, and,
and that's that's kinda where it all started. Interesting.
The last interview that I just released today, was one of my friends who's,
like, really big into meditation and kinda talked about, like, the different stigmas of
meditation and people thinking that they can't meditate. Is that something that's
still a part of your life? Like, do you still use meditation? Yeah.
So I did have a period of maybe about a year or 2 while I
was building the farm where I just didn't really have that much time to devote
to myself because I had a passion, and I had a goal and a purpose,
and I Devoted all my time to building the farm, but I'm getting
back into it now because now I you know, I've had the shop open for
a year. The farm has been built for a couple years. I'm starting to get
into a routine, if you will. I'm starting to see gaps where I have
some time to spend with myself. But, yeah, that is a, a
huge component To where I am today with the
farm and my mindset, and it's gonna be part of
my regular routine, If not daily, then
very, very often. Because, I can tell that
I have missed it. I have missed that time with myself because I've
been I've been putting all my energy on external things,
external stimulus in my life, and I haven't really been focusing on me.
And when you do that for a that's extended period of time, it
catches up with you. But a lot of that had to do with
just Building the farm. Because it was all by myself. I didn't have
anybody else. I, you know, I was learning as I was doing
it because I didn't I didn't really know what I was doing. So
I was looking at videos. I was researching. I was from the
from the ground up building all the equipment that I use on the farm, because
I had to do everything within a budget. So I was just in a constant,
you know, 14 to 18 hour day of
Learning and applying and learning and applying.
Mhmm. Yeah. It sound certainly sounds like a huge undertaking.
But, also wanted to go back to, like, the actual transition of you leaving
your career and an older job. What did that look like for you? Did you
do, like, a part time sort of thing, or did you just, like, Rip the
Band Aid off and go straight into mushrooms. Nope. It was funny. I,
this is when I I was really kind of starting to
meditate. I was probably meditating for maybe about a year, year and a
half, maybe even 2 years. I don't know exactly, but, let's call it
a year and a half, and I was very, very
focused. There was a there was a time where my coworkers were
calling me Buddha path because, they would come up to me with
a question or a problem, and I would have to answer The best answer possible
immediately. Like, it was almost like a superpower. It was incredible. But this time, I
was I was meditating probably 5 to 6 hours a day. So
Wow. I was very convinced that what I was
doing and how I was spending my day my day to day doing the insurance
was not going to Serve me anymore. So,
yeah, I ripped the Band Aid off. It was very immediate. I left
there. I didn't have anything lined up. I just left. I didn't know what I
wanted to do. I just knew what I didn't wanna do, and so I took
I took the leap of faith. And I
you know, from an outside perspective looking in, that could come off as
impulsive, especially because I have 2 little kids. I have a 2 year old
and a 5 year old. When I did this, it was the
news of the new baby, my son, and my daughter was 2
or 3 at the time. So It was it was definitely a big move leaving
a solid foundation of income that I've had for a
decade to Just quitting and not knowing
what the heck I'm doing, but I just knew that if I followed my heart
and if I did something that would make me happy, then I would be
okay. And that Mhmm. That was purpose. That was my mission. That was
my goal. So I left the insurance gig. I bought
a new house where I can build a property into a farm.
I knew I wanted to farm. I didn't know what I wanted to farm, but
I knew I wanted to farm. And I I found this, this
property, this multiuse property where I can have a business, and I
can also live on the property for the time being. So
It kind of all worked out, and that's a whole another story to dive into
on how I found this house, but it was pretty wild. So
I, I ripped the Band Aid off and started building the farm,
and here we are. So did you
have any sort of, like I mean, the the way that you say it, like,
I totally agree with everything that you say. But the for me, I feel like
there's a a newer part of me and an older part of me, and there's
always that, like, voice in my head Saying, like, well, you know, what are you
gonna do about money? Or, like, how are you so sure that, you know, you
should follow your art and and that sort of thing? Did you have any, like,
back and forth with that? Or Absolutely. Absolutely.
So when I made this decision, I like I said, I was
meditating quite a bit. I've I've gone through scenarios
multiple times in my head, but it was
it's almost like I was being told to do it because if I wasn't gonna
do it now, I wasn't ever gonna do it. I've been wanting to
farm. I've been gardening for over a decade, and I love being outside and
working with my hands. And I don't know. There was something
very therapeutic about the process of
knowing what I didn't wanna do and committing to
that thought, And then using that to catapult me
into building something that I adore. So there
was a lot of, Yeah. There was a lot of back and forth. There was
good days. There were bad days, but there were more good
days than there were bad days. There was more
The focus and the building. And I, you know, I think one of the best
parts I love about the business is is building the business because I didn't
have a schedule. I didn't have an itinerary. I didn't have a deadline.
You know? It was I wanna go outside, and I wanna put this work in
because it's something that I love to do. And that was my focus every single
day, and then seeing it come together and now being able to share it. I
mean, it was it's it I love it. It's beautiful. But
yeah. I mean, I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't many ups and
downs. Of course, there was. Yeah. Without money coming in, I
mean, You know, I pretty much used my entire savings to do
this. All of it. It's gone. You know? And now it's building back
up because the business is is going well. So I took the risk. I
took the leap of faith. I don't regret it at all. I kinda wish I
did it sooner, but, you know, I think everything happens for a reason and
everything, Everything comes into our our life, you know,
at the time that we deserve it to. Mhmm. Yeah. I agree with that
as well. I guess a question that popped into my head is do you think
that because it's something that I frequently think about. Like, the more time that you
spend with your own thoughts and the more time that either meditation
or, I don't know. Thinking about your future,
then, like, the almost the truer you could be to who you
really want to be or maybe what your purpose should be. Because it seems like
spending 5 hours a day meditating is like giving yourself tons of
time to think about, like, what what you really wanna do, and I think Maybe
that voice in your head becomes so loud that it's like, I don't have any
option but to do this thing because that's what's I'm telling myself to do.
But then when you don't have that time to yourself and you don't allow yours
I don't know. Is there, like, any sort of correlation do you think between, like,
that alone time and, like, following your heart? I
think everybody has a different meditation practice. You know, it's
it's almost very easy to just sit and thought, And
you don't have to be meditating, quote, unquote, to do that. You can just be
staring out the window and do that. My form of meditation that I
practice is really to just focus on nothing.
And when I focus on nothing and I focus on my breath or I focus
on just being present, I see all the thoughts coming
in, but I don't give attention to them. There's a level of control
there that empowers you.
And, you know, our our brains are designed to just put us
in the worst case scenario and constantly be thinking,
and It's easy to get consumed by that in in
anything, in business, in relationships, passion family, in life.
But I think that finding that silence whether you are
outside and doing it or whether you're, you know, listening to
a a meditation, a a music meditation and you do it. I think
that finding that silence and being in the
silence allows all of these other things to kind of work themselves out
around you. I don't know if that makes any sense. Yeah. Totally. But
I find that when I overthink about something I mean, you could you
could overthink about it. There's snow on the ground right Right now. I mean, we
could overthink that, oh, maybe I shouldn't leave the house because I'm gonna slip on
the snow. And if I slip on the snow, I end up in the hospital.
If I go to the hospital, work. If I can't go to work, I'm not
gonna be able to pay my bills. You could fall down the rabbit hole,
or you can completely you know, turn around and think about the opposite. I mean,
if you If you catch yourself in the beginning like, oh, there's snow outside,
maybe I should just put my boots on, you know, and be
careful. I think that there's a a level of control there
that you have over your mind when you do meditate
for Long periods of time like that, and that is
something that is I think everybody should be doing. I think
that it should be in every workplace. I think that, you
know, instead of kids having recess or nap time, we should have
meditation time. We should have an hour a day
At least for everybody to sit and silence and to practice that, and it
is a practice. It's not something you know, when I first meditated, I sat
down at the table like this With the girl I was dating, and
she goes, we're gonna meditate. I'm like, sure. Why not? So for 15
minutes, I closed my eyes. My eyes were fluttering. I couldn't I couldn't
really sit in nothing. I was, like, like, I
went on a journey. My mind just took me on this little escapade, And my
eyes were fluttering. My body's like, why are we why are my eyes closed? It's
the middle of the day. We're not sleeping. But when
I practice continuously being in that
level of silence, eventually, it started becoming easier and easier
and easier. And I noticed that the longer that I did it or the easier
or the quicker that it came to me, the easier that everything around
my life, including my quality of thought, changed. It was
amazing. So meditation has been been huge for me.
Huge. Mhmm. Yeah. I noticed when I try
to meditate in silence and, like, to ignore the thoughts like
you're saying and kinda let them come and go. That it seems sometimes
that I usually do I'll just get, like, a whisper of something, and I'll be
like, oh, that's that's what I need to do in this situation. And it's almost
like it's like I I know that it's the right answer because it's not, like,
yelling at me. It's just, like, Kinda like whispered to me, and then I'm like,
oh, okay. That's that's how I'm gonna do that thing, and that's how I'm gonna
fix that problem. And I think that that comes with that this time that you're
describing where you can kinda, like, Let go of all those negative thoughts that are
just always repeating in your head. So, yeah, I I like the way that you,
like, articulated that to, you know, maybe explain to somebody who's never meditated
before. So, yeah, I I I get also a huge proponent
of meditation and think that anybody should try it. So kinda
changing lanes a little bit. I'm interested how you you said that, you know, you're
interested in farming. How did you land on mushrooms and, and,
you know, how did that start? Good question. So when I moved on to the
property, I Was crunching some numbers, and I realized that it is
gonna take me an awful lot of tomatoes to pay my mortgage. So
I start looking at cash crops. I was looking at
goji berries and ginseng and all of these different weird, you know,
things, because I wanted to do something that was different. I knew that. I wanted
to do something that was definitely different, Something that was unique, something that would stand
out. And so I came across microgreens.
Microgreens are essentially a sprout for anybody that doesn't know that. There's all
different varieties that you could do. There's broccoli, sunflower, peas, radish. I
mean, I do about 15 different varieties. They're highly, highly nutritious.
And so I started kinda looking into that. I'm like, okay. I can I can
do a crop of microgreens every 2 to 3 weeks,
And get a good ticket price for it, and that could be, you know, a
sustainable crop that would help me do the rest of the
farm? I do wanna do the tomatoes and the cucumbers and all that good stuff.
You know? I just wanna be outside and and be immersed in it, but I
wanna have something that's going to Cover me. Cover my
mortgage. Cover my bills. You know? So the, microgreens I
dove into, and I was studying them for, I don't know, maybe around 6 months
or a year, And I was finally really comfortable with them.
And so I started researching a couple other microgreen farmers
that were in the area just to see how they package their stuff, see how
their delivery was, yada yada. And I had this 1 guy come
over, and we were standing out on the farm, and we were talking.
And I said, hey. Listen. You know, the only reason that you're here is because
I wanna do what you're doing. This guy had, like, 30 or 40 restaurants. He
had, probably 20 or 30 different varieties of Mike
Green's. I mean, he was he was doing really well, and he had a similar
story too. He was in corporate America, and he left to do this, so We
kinda connected on that level. And he's like, man,
there's so many people doing microgreens right now because
It's not rocket science. Anybody can do it. I mean, it it takes a little
bit of practice, but anybody can do it. So He's
like, everyone's doing my cream for me right now, but he's like, if you can
get into mushrooms, there's a huge niche for mushrooms
right now. And it was so ironic when you said that because
about 2 weeks prior, while I was going down these rabbit
holes of Learning about farming and agriculture and sustainable
practices. I learned enough to change my decision on
my diet and go plant based. So 2 weeks prior to
him coming over, I decided I was gonna go plant based, and I was eating
mushrooms almost every single day, But it was only mushrooms that I could
find in the store. And so he when he said that, he's like, you should
get into mushrooms. I was like, alright. Whatever. Sure.
Maybe. It wasn't until, like, maybe 2 or 3 weeks later that I
kinda I I I went into it, and I looked at all the
different varieties of mushrooms that can be cultivated
And all the medicinal benefits, all the ways to use them as
meat replacements. It was it was just like this
shining light that came down, And I started
dabbling. I started to, you know, pick up, like, pro
kits. You know? People can find pro kits at, like, Home Depot or, you know,
you can buy them online. My 1st broker, I remember doing it. It was
terrible. It came out awful. It was just it was so
bad. But, I enjoyed watching him grow, and I
you know, it was kinda like it brought me back to the the ballroom
dance and the meditation. It's when I first started something. I was completely
terrible at it, and it just haunted me to the point where I wanted to
be the best at it. So I quickly realized
throughout that process why more people are doing microgreen farming instead of
mushroom farming. There is a huge
investment to do for mushroom farming
where there's not so much for microgreens. But luckily, I did have a
little bit of savings to kind of work on that. So I
dove in deep with the mushrooms. I Like I
said, like, 14 to 18 hours a day reviewing videos
online, reading books, consuming myself with as much information as
possible, And, you know, learning about all the health benefits and all
the ways to use mushrooms instead of meat, it
started just becoming part of my diet. And then, and And then once I
started growing all the different varieties, I'm like, this is freaking
awesome. This is really, really cool, and there's so many different I mean, I
have pink mushrooms. I have yellow mushrooms. I have blue mushrooms. I mean, there there's
all different colors and textures and shapes and sizes, and I just
found that. It was just a love story from the beginning. It seemed like Everything
was kind of figuring out its own path, and all I had
to do was follow my heart, and that's what I did.
Yeah. I love that. It may makes me think about,
like, kind of the story about how I got into what I'm doing now. And,
like, I'm Kinda at a point where I'm rethinking the thing that I chose because,
I think it more so came out of just, like, me thinking, like, oh, I
can't I can't do this one thing. I'm gonna go do this one thing now
and, like, try to force it into something and kinda letting go of the idea
now. And I think I'm maybe more in a open minded situation
where I'm stable enough to, like, you know, pay for all my stuff, but, like,
also thinking, like, I don't know what I'm gonna be doing in the future, but,
like, being open to it. And I think that's, like, Going to be a big
part of it as as you just shared in your own story of just being
open to, like, not knowing what it is. And then when it hits you, like,
you're like, oh, this is it. And then having the confidence to, like, put everything
into it because you're so sure of it just feeling right. So that's
that's, like, inspiring for me to hear because I think maybe I'm not there yet,
but To be open minded and to keep purpose, you know, being open to,
like, whatever comes towards me. Enjoy the journey. It's
easy to overthink. It's easy to get consumed and and
fear of thought of what's gonna passion, how am I gonna do this, when
am I gonna do that, yada yada. I mean, that's what our brain's designed to
do is to give us the worst case scenario to prepare us for those
situations. But the reality is most of those situations don't ever
happen. And so we're just in this this state of fear or this state
of missing out or or whatever it is when we should just be present,
and we should just be enjoying the journey. There's gonna be ups and downs. That's
the whole purpose of life. Right? I mean, if if everything was up
and everything was positive all the time, we wouldn't have appreciation for it. We need
to experience the negative. We need to experience the bad in order for us to
really cherish the good. Yeah. Totally. I'm
thinking a lot a lot of the stuff that you're saying, I
also find in books that I read I like reading a lot of, like, self
help books and stuff like that. Where do you think that your
mindset of of, you know, what what we're speaking about came from.
Did it come from only meditation, or do you also, like, read a lot of
different things, or, like, where do you, I guess, learn from? I I do a
lot of reading. I mean, all different. Joe
Dispenza, I think, is pretty awesome. He's a neuroscientist. His story
is, is pretty amazing. Books from Pema Caudren. I
mean, anything that I can get my hands on, I've been watching I
don't watch TV, but if I do watch It's usually a documentary. It's something that
I can learn from. So anything to do with farming or sustainable
practices or mushrooms, Fantastic Fungi is a great is a
great documentary. Anything that I can learn from. I'm just, you
know, I'm soaking everything up. I you know, I've never
I've I went to high school. I went to some college,
But I've never had the urge or the capacity to learn until recently.
And now I'm just like a sponge. And it started.
Mushrooms started a little bit before the mushrooms with the spirituality
side of me. But since then, I I just I don't know. I just wanna
learn. I wanna I wanna build my knowledge. I wanna I wanna share.
I wanna share that, you know, with with as many people as possible.
So I don't know if it's I think no. It's not Netflix. It's Amazon
Prime has a, I guess, like, a subsidiary called
Gaia. I don't know if you've heard of it, But it's basically
Netflix for spiritual minded people. So it has
much kind of stuff in there, documentaries and And podcasts
and meditations. And so if I have time at the end of the night,
you know, after I'm doing all my work, I'll either flip on a a a
meditation on my phone Put my headphones on, or I'll I'll
watch some type of documentary because they're just you know, there's so much
that we can be learning. And it's great that we have platforms
like streaming and, you know, social media
where we can learn from other people as well. I think that that is
I'm not a I'm not a huge proponent on social media because usually people are
on there for hours and hours just scrolling and scrolling.
But if you do it with an intention and you do it in moderation and
you have, you know, a a a practice around it, I think
that is it can definitely be beneficial. Mhmm.
Definitely. Yeah. Thanks for all those suggested resources. I'm hoping to look
into some of those authors, and that streaming platform sounds awesome. So I'll
definitely have to check that out. This also kinda leads me to the question of,
like, asking you if you were a good student because I feel like you said,
like, maybe this came on a little bit later in your life, like, just the
thirst for education. I think that that's a
really cool way to, like, maybe even almost counterculture way of looking at
education because I think purpose, once they get college or they finish their master's or
whatever. They're like, okay. I'm done learning. I'm just gonna work now. But I
think that kinda, like, Takes all of the fun out of life.
And and even just going into the school systems that, at least, I was brought
up in, it was never really fun to learn, but I now so
like learning because I'm like, oh, this is awesome. I could learn this thing that's
gonna help me here or whatever. And there's a reason to learn, I guess, or,
like, there's a a drive to learn. So were were you a good
student back in, like, high school and stuff? I don't know if I was
a good student. I, I probably could
have been in a better group of friends. We were kind of
the troublemakers. So, You know, school was
you know, I made it through. I made it through, but I didn't enjoy it
because it wasn't my choice. You know, it wasn't my choice to go
to school. I was doing it because my siblings were doing it, because my
parents told me to do it, because everybody else is doing
And so I never really had a a focus. I mean, the only thing that
I really did draw to or pun intended, I guess, was was
art. Art was kind of my outlet. Art was my way
of expressing myself and doing something where I have
control over, where you don't have to tell me What I'm gonna write or what
I'm gonna put for a brush stroke. You know, that that was my passion. And
that's where I really that and to be honest with you, I think that's why
I passed school because, you know, know, if I had to do, like, book reports
or anything, I would try and always do, like, you know, a cover
page. And I would spend hours and hours in the cover page, and then just
do a half assed book report. All the time that I put into it. They
would at least give me a passing grade. So I don't wanna say that I
drew my way through my diploma, but I think that had something to do with
it. But, yeah, school is, you know, it's
I don't know. I think that I think that the way that we're doing things,
and I think that the system, the way that it's set up needs to change.
I think that kids should be introduced to
a lot and be able to choose what they wanna do, Instead
of the majority of the day is, you know, you have to go to English.
You have to go to history. You have to go to math. You have to
go to science. And then, You know, that continues until
they're 23, and they graduate college. And then they come out of college. They don't
know what they're doing. Mhmm. But they said something about
Learning and learning and learning, and then going to work. That
kinda resonated with me because I got to the point where I was doing my
insurance job Where I learned I mean, I was, like,
the master. I was like, there was nothing else I could learn to
do. I was literally doing my job the best way that I possibly could. And
then when I did that for about 5 years, I made the realization that, okay,
there's nowhere else for me to go here. I'm not learning. I'm stagnant.
I'm being complacent. I'm just I'm just a robot. I'm
just I'm just a shell. So when I got out of there and I started
learning, I mean, everything changed. I was
I was open to everything. It was probably the biggest turning point in
my life when I decided to stop not learning
and start learning. Yeah. There was, a
quote you had in the article that I read about you, and it said, I
could literally do my entire job without thinking. And that, like, really resonated with
me because it was the same experience for me. You know, I had, I
don't know, maybe a job that somebody would say is, like, for smart people,
quote unquote, is like, I've got an engineering degree. I had an engineering job,
but after, like, a year, you're just, like, processing paperwork. It's
like you you're just a robot. You're not doing anything like you're saying. And
Even though maybe the title sounded nice, it, like, it still I felt like
my whole days were just, like, melting my brain. Like, I was just waiting to
get out of there so then I could go do the other things that I
was actually interested in. So, see, it's a weird way to live, I
think, but I I could digress on that.
But So, you know, kinda getting back to
your your business and the farm and and the store and everything.
Tell us, like because you you do have, like, a storefront now our farm shop
where you can people can come and buy the mushrooms. What what can people, like,
come to expect when they visit you? So it's not
your typical shop. I'll just say that. You know, I wanted to
create a space that kind of has a little bit of a rugged look to
it. So Everything in this the shop is small. The shop
is very small. It's really just enough space for a table
that I can lay out all the mushrooms on, switch. I don't know if you
follow online or anything, but I do pictures, and I do videos of what's available
for the day, so people can kinda see the mushrooms that are that are available.
But Prior to building the shop, I did
have kind of a test run setup where I had
just 2 by threes and plastic sheathing, And I was building a little makeshift
kinda greenhouse to see if the mushrooms were going to be happy down there.
Everyone that was coming over at the time to buy the mushrooms, I always
wanted to peek in and see what was going on inside that room. And so
I decided to take the whole thing down, Put a wall up with
a viewing window in. So now when you come into the shop, your first thing
that you notice is it's very rustic looking. I've used
Pallet board, reclaimed pallet board to do all the kinda like the
wainscoting, and I've used some live edge. I have a really nice live edge
table that I Built to, to kinda highlight the mushrooms.
So it's very woodsy, very rustic looking, and then there's
a wall up That has a viewing window right into the farm. So
you can look into the farm and see all the mushrooms growing, and people
are usually amazed by that Because you can I mean, they're just kinda
growing right out of the bag? There's always different colors. There's a ton
of mushrooms usually, so it's really It's really a cool feature that I
really, I'm really glad that it did that. Nice. So do
you participate in any, like, farmers market local farmers markets or anything like that, or
is it just the the shop so far? Yeah. I've I've gone to a few
markets. I was supposed to go to a lot more last year, but the shop
started selling out, like, every single weekend, so I didn't have enough mushrooms to get
to the market. This year, we are going to remedy that. So the
goal this year is to get out to as many farmers markets as possible.
Nice. One of the things that I do, I have a part time job where
I work for, like, a local bagel shop, and I go to farmers markets
and, like, They've been something that, like, has brought me so much joy. I love
going to farmers markets and talking to vendors, and the people are awesome. Farmers are
awesome. So it's something that I really enjoy. But, yeah, is there is
there plans for you to, like, become bigger? Like, what's what's the plan, do you
think, for the future, or do you not have one? This year is gonna be
a big year. We're looking at opening up a new passion in New Haven
area. That's where I am. Yeah. It's gonna be
a a bigger storefront with a bigger farm, And it's gonna be kind of
the same concept. People can walk into the farm. They can see everything growing. They
can see where their food's coming from. They can see it's healthy. It's
clean. There's nothing hidden, you know, and that was something
that that came to my attention when I started going down the rabbit hole with
all the documentaries about how much of our food Source
information is hidden. You know? And that's why I went plant based,
you know, kind of learning about the industry and and seeing how our how our
food actually gets to our plate And knowing that that food that food goes
into our body, what what's the saying? Put good in,
get good out, something like that. You know? Mhmm. And I think that having high
quality food is gonna give you a high quality mindset, which is gonna give you
high quality life. Mhmm. For sure. And and maybe
for, people who aren't educated on the benefits of mushrooms
and, like, how good mushrooms can be for you. Do you wanna give them maybe,
like, a a short pitch of, like, why mushrooms are good?
There are so many health benefits that these
little fungi have. It's it's incredible. I mean, There's your typical
oyster mushrooms that help with lowering blood sugar and cholesterol. There's probably
the most popular, mushroom that I do is the lion's vein mushroom. That is
the mushroom for your brain health. So cognitive function, memory, repairing damaged
nerves, promoting hair growth. I mean, there is
mushroom, which is great for calming the nervous system if people have anxiety or depression.
It's an awesome supplement to have. I mean, you can go through each single
mushroom And figure out the properties that it has, and
they're they're amazing. I mean, a lot of people are taking some of these mushrooms
in some form or another, whether it being a supplement or,
you know, some type of tincture, but to have the mushrooms fresh too
and to experience the culinary side of it, They're beautiful. The,
you know, the lion's mane mushroom, for example, it it it's more resemblance to me
of seafood than it is of a mushroom. So a lot of, a lot of,
dishes will mimic seafood dishes. Like, I do a lion's mane
clam chowder, lion's mane crab cakes, lobster rolls. I've made it into
a steak. I've made it into a sausage. There there's so many fun
different ways that you can play with these mushrooms, but, I mean, Just get
them into you. However, whether you eat them, whether you use them as a tincture,
whether you use them as a dried supplement, they are phenomenal. That's
awesome. Do you have, like, any sort of, like, reference
material or books where you can, like, educate your customers on, like, the benefits of
which ones are which or maybe even, like, recipes? We're gonna be
working on that with a new location. You know, it's just me running the show.
So Right now, it's production being available for
the shop and then being available for, obviously, my kids as well. You know?
There's If if you can figure out a way to get 28 hours a day
instead of 24, I might be able to have time up,
but, it's good. It's busy. It's good. I
love it. You know, this partnership that I have with somebody that is gonna be
growing this other platform, this other business, We are gonna be
doing all of that. So we're gonna be doing farmer's markets.
We're gonna be doing grow kits. We're gonna be doing classes.
We're gonna be doing, you know, all the medicinal benefits. We're gonna be
doing recipes. So it's we're really gonna kinda throw all
the pickles out the window, if you will. Nice. That
that's very exciting. And, you know, I think something that people are
really interested in more nowadays. I see more and more, you know, like,
locally grown there's a cafe in New Haven that does, like, all fermented stuff
and continuously talks about the benefits of using local, You
know, this is how it's made. We make it here. And I think it's only
gonna get better and better as people are concerned with their health and
the garbage that we eat on a day to day basis, but
it's all around us. And to make the good stuff all around
us. You know? Look at the grocery store. 90% of the grocery store is
just junk. It's junk. It's processed junk.
And then the real food that's there, the produce that's really there, I mean, It's
sprayed. There's fungicide. There's pesticides. It's not really
natural, and I feel like all of those things are affecting the
collective consciousness of where we all should be as a human race. I mean,
if we put the good in and get the good out, I mean, and change
the way that we diet, and change the way that we eat, and change the
way that we think. And we we have the capacity to to
really Fix the world, number 1, because right now, what we're
doing is not sustainable, but also to really flourish.
Yeah. All of that. So, yeah, as we're getting, kinda close to the end of
our time here, I do like to ask this question to everybody who's
on. Purpose, like, a big word for me, and I know that it, like, means
something different to everybody. So, would you be able to define purpose in in
your own terms? My purpose I mean,
I it's it's love. It's to it's to spread love as
possible. It's really to My platform to do that is
mushrooms and food. I've been a foodie for, you know,
probably almost 20 years now, And, and learning
about the mushrooms and the different ways to cook them,
you know, and and to be able to share recipes and share thoughts and ideas
with people. That is that is what I want. That's my purpose. My
purpose is to show people a better way of eating, show
people a different way of eating. Know, we don't have to be eating meat all
the time. We can eat things that are very similar to meat that are way
better for you than meat, and they're more sustainable, and they're delicious.
You know? Why why Why choose not to? So,
yeah, my purpose is to, is to enjoy the journey, my friend.
The ups, the downs, the goods, the bads, Just enjoy it and
be present. That's my purpose. Mhmm. Yeah. That's a
awesome definition. And then 1 last question too. I I I gotta ask
you. Any opinions on the psychedelic renaissance that's
happening right now, and do you think that you'll be in any way a part
of it in the future? I think it's phenomenal. I mean, I've I've
microdosed before, and, it is
it has Tremendous healing properties, and
there are ton of people that need to be healed. You know? I'm
hopeful that it's gonna come to a a place kinda where
cannabis has, where it becomes legalized to some degree. I'm I'm
very hopeful because that that alone could
Could potentially change the world. Mhmm. Yeah. I think, you know,
if purpose have more capacity and, you know, more
knowledge to use because their their brain is more open because they have
these, you know, these these supplements or these, these ways
to kind of Break barriers that have been built in their brain for
years. Psilocybin mushrooms has has the ability and
lion's mane mushroom To go in there and reconnect, you know,
or disconnect certain neural networks that are going on that are
preventing you or holding you back from From being your true self, from
being the person that you wanna be, the the the the purpose inside of
you. I've had a couple experiences with with psilocybin mushrooms,
but They are you gotta be careful with them. That's
for sure. And them in the right context, but I think that under,
a mentor or a supervisor of some sort. They are
extremely powerful at reconfiguring the brain And
reconfiguring someone's life. So I'm hopeful that they do
become legalized to some extent. And then at that point, you
know, I mean, why would you not come to the mushroom farm for
those? Right? Mhmm. Definitely. Definitely. If
it comes into our path, We'll dabble into it, but,
it's the gourmet mushroom that get me. There's
a there's a really good, of documentaries, documenting on Michael
Pollan's book, How to Change Your Mind. And there's 1 and one of the sections
is on psilocybin. And if you haven't seen that, it's A really good
documentary, but his book's also really good. So, yeah, but,
yeah, thanks, thanks so much for your time and, for your
knowledge and, your experiences and story, and,
if people connected with this or they wanna, like, come buy some mushrooms from you,
how can they get in contact? Just come to the shop. It's 12
Union City Road, Prospect, Connecticut. We're open,
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 12 to 6, and Saturdays from
10 to 4. And, if you can't come in those hours, I
live on the property. So just shoot me a message me a call. If I
have mushrooms on another day, I am always more than happy as long as I'm
here to, to open up the doors for anybody that's interested.
Awesome. That sounds sounds perfect. And I'll definitely have to make my way up there
at some point, and check it out because this sounds awesome. If not, keep a
lookout because we'll be in New Haven pretty soon. Excellent.
Excellent. Alright, man. Thanks thanks so much for your time. Alright. Thanks,
Gina. Take care. Thank you for
listening to working towards our purpose. If you liked today's episode and
are interested in more, You can sign up for my Substack newsletter with the
link in the show notes where I share thoughts, tips, and ideas
that I'm learning along my journey to help inspire you. The
show was produced by Pleasant Podcast at pleasantpodcast.com.