Latest / Ageless and Timeless Podcast® / Steven Sakala

Transcript

Steven Sakala · Ageless and Timeless Podcast®

0:00
This is Michelle Hughes from Ageless and Timeless. Today's podcast is brought to you
0:05
by Water and Wellness. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Water and
0:09
Wellness at their offices, and I can tell you that as far as you
0:14
and I are concerned and our health is concerned, this is one of the
0:18
most important places that you can go to find water that is purified and products
0:24
that will help your longevity and your overall health. Visitwater and Wellness dot com
0:30
to learn how you can take control of your drinking water and learn about those
0:34
natural additives to optimize your health and longevity. Contact Stacy at eight seven seven
0:40
two ninety six six eight eight zero. Use the Ageless code and you'll get
0:45
a twenty percent discount on all your products. Love for you is a measurable
0:56
respect for you. Demands less timeless la fineless Yo cut. Good morning.
1:06
This is Michelle he is from Ageless and Timeless, and I'm coming to you
1:11
today from Saint Helena, California. I've been doing quite a bit of traveling
1:15
lately. Unlike most people who have been locked down, I've been very careful.
1:21
But Saint Helena is the middle of the Napa Wine Country, and it's
1:26
very interesting to be here at this time when most of the restaurants are being
1:32
closed down and the wineries are closed down. However, there's still opportunities to
1:38
be healthy and the hiking and biking and all the other outdoor activities. So
1:48
segueing to health and wellness, which is, you know, as one of
1:52
our big themes in Ageless and Timeless, I've invited a guest to join us
1:57
today. His name is Cicala, and he's the founder and chief executive of
2:06
a company called Mona Botanicals out of Hawaii. And those of you who know
2:12
my background from prior guests, I've spent twenty five years of my life in
2:20
and out of Hawaii developing real estate. So Hawaii is, as they say,
2:24
my heart is in San Francisco, and my soul is in Hawaii.
2:29
So I'm happy to have you. Welcome Steve to Ageless and Timeless. Thanks
2:34
so much, Michelle, good to be with. I know it, I
2:36
know what are we three hours? We are We are just coming up on
2:39
eight am here, eight am here? Okay there, okay, Well,
2:43
thank you for getting up and taking it, being so fresh and eager at
2:49
this hour of your morning, and we'll want to actually explore so many subjects
2:55
with you, Steve, But why don't we start by telling us a bit
2:59
about you, who you are, where you started, how you journey to
3:05
become this pioneer and visionary in Hawaii. So start us from the beginning and
3:12
give us a little bit of your history. Great, well, thank you.
3:16
I'm fortunate enough to be here on the Big Island of Hawaii. I
3:20
have a farm in South Kona. The farm is honow Now Farm, and
3:24
it's it's my dream. I'm getting to really live my dream. So I
3:28
feel really fortunate. I've been here now fifteen years really developing this idea of
3:34
regenerative agriculture, which has become my passion over the last two or three decades.
3:40
The pleasure of being on a diversified farm is really getting to play with
3:46
so many different crops and ideas, sustainable models. And really that stems back
3:53
from my experience in college and community college, where I was really inspired to
4:00
look at how do we start looking at the solutions to many of our earth's
4:03
challenges and our society's challenges. And that's really where I started my activism in
4:10
working towards solutionary models for environmental challenges. So I'm originally from California. I
4:17
got my degree in Humboldt excellent education in activism, natural resources sciences, and
4:25
really became an early advocate of cannabis in California. Right out of high school.
4:30
I got to work with one of the legends in the industry, Jack
4:33
Career, and we worked hard in California to publicize hemp and medical cannabis in
4:39
the early nineties and since then, I've been involved in cannabis and farming.
4:44
You were way before your time. It took a long It took a while
4:47
for the cannabis, the medical cannabis to become mainstream. And so what role
4:57
do you feel that you and Jack played and in that development. Well,
5:01
certainly Jack was one of the main instigators along with Dennis Perrone there in San
5:08
Francisco. You know, they were the forefathers of the current movement. And
5:14
you know, I was just lucky enough to be in the right place at
5:15
the right time to be able to meet those guys and support them through just
5:19
being out on the streets collecting signatures. But it's been a slow road,
5:24
you know, It's this plant has been a part of our reality for thousands
5:27
of years, either through our our diet or as a medicinal, and to
5:31
have it removed in the early nineteen hundreds and then prohibition in the thirties was
5:36
really a disservice to to really prohibit us from this really powerful plant medicine and
5:44
an attritional So it was a real pleasure to be back a part of that
5:46
movement re educating, and you know, at Monobotanics with our CBD hempline,
5:51
that's what we spent a lot of time doing. Is still educating, although
5:56
you know, the time has finally caught up where people are are relooking at
6:00
at the potential of this plant in a really diverse way. So it was
6:03
fun to be on that journey. Of course, we wish it would have
6:06
happened much quicker, and really we wish it wouldn't have had to been a
6:12
recouping of information from prohibition, but certainly we're happy to be on the front
6:16
end. Now, well, let's let's explore this couple of very important subjects
6:21
you're touching on. One is hamp versus THHC, which is obviously cannabis and
6:30
the pros and cons of each, and then Secondly, I want to explore
6:35
regenerative agriculture because that is such a huge topic today. And so let's start
6:43
with the HAMP versus HC. What is the advantage of using cannabis over using
6:50
hamp if you do not want to get high? Right, well, so
6:54
let me let me clarify the terms because oftentimes in the industry and in the
6:58
media, it's not really find properly. So for your listeners, high THHC
7:03
cannabis comes from the exact same plant that the hemp cannabis comes from. They're
7:08
all in the cannabis family. So when we say hemp, what we're referring
7:12
to is a cannabis plant that has less than one percent well actually less than
7:17
point three percent THHC. So zero point three percent, that's less than half
7:23
of one percent THHC is what in America, in the United States they define
7:30
as hemp. So anything above point three percent is considered a high THC plant
7:36
by definition. Really, you know, even up to two three four percent
7:42
THC, it's likely unless you're very sensitive, that you wouldn't get high off
7:46
that amount of THHC. But for legal purposes, anything over that point three
7:51
percent is a high THHC plant. And we should clarify that that was the
7:59
ruling that came a couple of years ago, which the Farm Bill passing,
8:03
and that was a historic event in the United States, if you want to
8:09
touch on that just for a moment so people understand what where that point three
8:13
percent came from. Yeah, the point three percent actually comes from a more
8:18
historical time when I believe it was in the seventies when they actually kind of
8:24
the war on drugs and they really set the limit. So it comes from
8:28
previous times, and it got rolled over into this bill that you're referring to,
8:33
which it was the Farm Bill in twenty eighteen. Part of that Farm
8:37
Bill allowed for hemp to be grown under pilot projects. And so we are
8:43
really fortunate under that twenty eighteen Farm Bill to now have a re emerging hemp
8:50
industry here in the States. So go ahead and explain a little more about
8:56
the value of using one versus the other. Yeah, So, you know,
9:01
I'm lucky to have, you know, two decades of experience in both
9:05
now and I definitely you know, get to experience the benefits of both working
9:09
with friends and family and being in the industry. Really the beauty of hemp
9:15
and CBD is. You can think of it as a beauty product, a
9:18
nutritional and a medicinal. Hemp can be used for so many different things.
9:24
The CBD and the cannabinoids. Just to clarify, cbd is stands for cannabi
9:28
dial It's a non psychoactive cannabinoid, so you can take large amounts of it
9:33
without getting any psychoactive effect, So that can be you know, the main
9:39
categories we see people using that for his anxiety, anti inflammatory benefits, sleep,
9:46
pain, and those are really what we would, I guess consider the
9:52
large buckets that people are using that for. But the list goes on and
9:54
on. We see it benefiting people that have insulin challenges or diabete ds.
10:01
It can help balance out blood pressure and cholesterol levels, hormone production. So
10:05
the list is incredible because of our endocannaminoid system and how the CBD works with
10:09
that. What the health benefits can be. On the THHC side, you
10:16
have obviously, you know the emerging science showing that THHD is good for pain
10:22
relief. You know, especially with this challenge of the opioid epidemic, many
10:28
people are choosing to go with cannabis for pain relief over the opioids or a
10:31
pharmaceutical. So that's a huge benefit to taking a higher THHC product or using
10:37
higher thhd herb. We have, you know, some early indicators in science
10:43
about cancer fighting abilities of both THHC and CBD, but thhd is certainly has
10:48
that potential. We also have documented uses around HIV symptoms, AIDS and the
10:56
wasting syndrome, nausea, things like that is really where you would see the
11:01
THHC more applicable, and certainly on the recreational side, stress relief and sleep
11:07
are both really high THHC benefits. So when you're talking with people and they
11:15
ask you, you know, well, I don't really I want to have
11:18
all those benefits. I just don't want to be in a state that isn't
11:26
um what's the word non psychoactive? Is that the great word? Yeah?
11:33
Yeah, When when you're talking to someone that really wants the benefits of cannabis
11:39
but wants to avoid the high or the psychoactive part, you're you're really looking
11:43
at a HEMP CBD hemp based product or or a low THHC. You know,
11:48
many of the dispensaries now, especially they're in California and the West Coast,
11:52
but really it's spreading throughout the country. They offer CBD ratios to THHC
11:58
where the THHC is quite you know, one, two, three, four
12:01
or five percent, Any of those products are likely to add a health benefit
12:05
without the high. So you just really have to do some research and look
12:11
at what is the THHC to CBD ratio that works best for you and your
12:15
desired results. A little THHC, even in the CBD products, is going
12:20
to give what we call an entourage effect, which shows is the more medicinal
12:26
way to use cannabis. I would advise people in my studies and what I've
12:31
spoken with some of the professionals in the milk industry and cannabis to avoid anything
12:35
that's pure CBD or one hundred percent or ninety nine percent CBD because what those
12:41
are going to be a Those are isolates or isolated compounds, and most of
12:43
those are chemical processes that eliminate some of the other cannabinoids in the THHC.
12:50
I don't consider those as healthy in the long term as a full spectrum product,
12:54
right, So I was just about to ask you the broad spectrum versus
12:58
full spectrum. Will you explain that for all of us, because there's so
13:03
much confusion about CBD and how to select, and there's so many products on
13:07
the retail market that I think we need to try to differentiate for the viewers
13:15
today, which is the product that they should buy for their particular interests and
13:22
why not some of the others that could just be a waste of money.
13:26
So could you give us a little dissertation on the efficacy of CBD in terms
13:33
of the broad and full spectrum. And you've already touched on the isolates and
13:37
why not to buy product that is made from isolate right, right, So
13:43
the difference between full spectrum and broad spectrum is really just the removal of THHC
13:48
on the broad spectrum side. So full spectrum would be something that's an oil
13:54
that derives all of the cannabinoids out of the canvas plant that are present and
14:00
maybe even some terpenes. And that's what we're going to define as full spectrum,
14:03
meaning it has high CBD or high CBG, the minor cannabinoids as well
14:09
as some terpenes, and that's where you're going to get the maximum health benefit.
14:13
According to most science studies, the terpenes play an absolute role in that
14:20
synergizing action with the cannabinoids, and that's the real benefit of going with a
14:24
full spectrum product. The broad spectrum product is just one step down from a
14:30
full spectrum because really it still has some of the minor cannabinoids, likely still
14:35
real high in CBD or CBG, but has the THHC removed. And that's
14:41
because some of the industry just don't want to deal with that point three percent
14:46
THHC for whatever reason, either job related challenges, worried about failing a drug
14:52
test, just perception. And we have some limitations in some countries like Japan
15:00
and where they want it to be nondetectable or zero percent THC. So that's
15:03
where you get the broad spectrum. It still has multiple cannabinoids in it,
15:09
but not THHC or non detectable THHC. And that's versus the isolate, which
15:13
is only one compound. So those are the three tiers. Full spectrum,
15:18
all of the cannabinoids that are present in the plant, broad spectrum, all
15:22
the cannabinoids present in the plant with THC removed, and isolate with just one
15:28
compound. So, Steve, what is um the THHC when it is when
15:37
it is included, what is it about the THHC that AIGs and A beets
15:41
them the effectiveness of the CBD or the hemp side. Yeah, so I'm
15:48
not a doctor and I can't claim to be a medical professional, so my
15:54
knowledge is really just um in the deep study of this plant and the science
15:58
that's out. But essentially, a little THHC is shown to help prime and
16:06
H and highlight the receptors and the endocanneminoid system better than when THHC is absent.
16:17
So when you have a little THHC, your endocanneminoid system recognizes this whole
16:22
plant medicine in a way that gives you a higher potential of benefiting from the
16:26
cannabis plant than if the THHC is completely removed. Okay, that makes that
16:32
makes sense. So it's a cast, it's a catalyst. Absolutely, your
16:36
body recognizes the whole plant medicine differently when it's present. And I guess the
16:41
reason that a lot of the folks it not only the drug testing but the
16:45
point three percent is it has to be measured and you have to go through
16:49
a whole process with government regulations so that you know, any farmers who have
16:56
produced products that are over the point three and and that gets caught, that
17:02
can be the you know, basically the demise of that particular plant and product
17:07
line. Right, So there's another reason, maybe other than like the Japanese
17:12
who won't allow any THHC. There's another reason, which is that sometimes the
17:19
measurement can be an excess of what you have intended and that now your whole
17:25
crop is illegal. Correct, Yeah, I mean on the plant side,
17:30
there's no way to remove entirely the THHC. So that's why hemp farmers are
17:34
in a precarious situation. Yeah, it's point three percent. There's a real
17:38
movement in the hemp industry to get that raise to one percent. One percent
17:44
THHC is still non psychoactive. It's a much more realistic marker of what a
17:49
hemp farmer can keep their THHC levels under. So in the plant it's almost
17:55
impossible to have that less than point three percent. You know, maybe through
18:00
genetic modification or gene marking that there will will see some technology evolved in the
18:04
next years, but right currently you really have to mitigate that on the product
18:11
side, So that's where you know, or the extraction side so that's where
18:17
a lot of technology evolving and how to remove that THHC out of the out
18:21
of the plant when it's an extraction, and then how do you mitigate that
18:26
when you're creating a product, And yes, everything has to be tested and
18:30
if you're making your products properly and you're using your your extracts properly, you
18:34
should be able to always standard that point three percent mark. It's in the
18:38
plant that makes it really difficult at the growing stage to keep it under that.
18:42
So what what are the biggest challenges that you face being vertically integrated?
18:48
And you've just touched on one of them, which is keeping it below the
18:52
THHC, below the legal level of point to it. But what are some
18:56
of the other challenges that you face because you you are from truly from the
19:00
farm to the the consumer. Yeah, very you know, that's that's a
19:07
process that requires a lot of attention to detail. So what don't you tell
19:11
us what you what your challenges are in that process? Yeah, you know,
19:18
Um, the learning curve has been a real interesting opportunity and at moments
19:22
a challenge. I come from a farming background and a science background, and
19:26
so stepping into a vertically integrated business and where I became a manufacturer and a
19:33
brander and a marketer with this, you know, endeavor was was really a
19:38
challenge in the beginning to get out of the mindset. It took me away
19:41
from the farm, which is a challenge for me personally because I really love
19:45
being on the farm in connection to the plants and connection to the food I'm
19:48
growing. So to step out of that and into the office with a majority
19:52
of my time was a personal challenge certainly. I think one of the other
19:56
main challenges is we're up against seventy years of prohibition and really propaganda from our
20:03
government, which was an incredible challenge to overcome. Initially, I think we're
20:08
getting past that as we see you know, thirty five states either legal,
20:12
medical, or recreational, and a more truthful depiction of this plant and its
20:18
potential. But initially, when you know, I've been working with CBD for
20:22
over ten years now, initially there was a stigma that was an incredible challenge
20:27
that you had to explain that this isn't THD. You're not going to get
20:30
high. We've had cannabis a part of our diet or as our medicinal cupboard
20:36
our apothecary for thousands of years and do a lot of re education. That
20:41
takes time. When you're educating, you're not selling, you're educating, and
20:45
so that took extra time. It was definitely one of my passions, but
20:48
a challenge to be able to create the opportunities and the time to spend educating
20:53
people as part of the business. So what would you say is the best
21:02
form to take to get the most main for your buck. Let's say what's
21:07
the best form of taking Let's just focus on on hemp right now, on
21:11
CBD right now, So you know, what do you recommend is the most
21:17
absorbable, the most efficacious for people to get the best results. Yeah,
21:22
that's a great question. I think what I recommend to folks is really you
21:29
want to look at how do you use CBD is really dependent on what results
21:33
you're looking for. In general, the best way to get the maximum results
21:37
of the CBD hemp plant is to take it orally by mouth. And the
21:42
reason is is when you take it by mouth orally, you're going to hit
21:47
a majority of the receptors in the Oregon system. It'll go through. You
21:51
know, you can do sublingual, which will pass the blood brain barrier a
21:55
little bit quicker. You can swallow some of it, which will then go
21:57
through the GI system, and then you really get the maximum benefit to optimumly
22:03
hit as many endocannabinoid receptors as possible. There are some exceptions to that.
22:08
Let's say, if you have a lung issue, you might want to vaporize
22:11
some CBD to really get it directly to the lungs. If you've got pain
22:17
and inflammation at the joint level, you might want to supplement that oral dose
22:22
with some topical But in general, the maximum efficacy comes from an oral dose,
22:29
so sublingual, so it goes right into the bloodstream rather than through the
22:33
GI tract. You know, I would say you want some to go through
22:37
both because a lot of people have stomach challenges, a lot of people have
22:41
GI challenges, So to have some of that absorbed sublingually is going to really
22:45
benefit you, and to have some of it go through your organ system and
22:48
GI system is also going to benefit you. So I usually say, you
22:52
know, let it sit under your tongue for thirty seconds to a minute.
22:56
Whatever is absorbed then is perfect for that subling will application. Whatever still remains
23:02
um you can swallow and then you get that benefit to go through that that
23:04
GI system. So when you say swallow, you're saying swallow the actual tincture
23:11
that you've just taken sublingual that obviously eventually it's going to stay in your under
23:15
your tongue for thirty two a minute, but you're going to swallow it,
23:21
so then it does have its travel through the GI tracked. You got However,
23:26
authorlready had some absorptions in the mouth, which is one of the first
23:30
receptors. Correct or okay, got it? Okay, So what dosage?
23:37
What what's the intensity of the of the dosage that you recommend? Yeah,
23:44
well, again not a medical professional, um, but with my you know,
23:47
twenty years of experiencing cannabis, UM, there's a couple of rules that
23:51
we recommend. UM, if you're new to cannabis, we absolutely recommend to
23:55
start low and go slow. So we call it a low and slow kind
23:59
of method, which is start with low milligrams, you know, maybe even
24:03
five to ten milligrams, which usually should be imperceptible for most people. And
24:10
then you know, we see most of our clients taking somewhere on an average
24:14
between twenty to thirty milligrams a couple times a day, and that seems to
24:18
be the sweet spot for many people for the general benefits of anxiety relief,
24:25
inflammation, some better sleep results, and certainly pain. So those are what
24:32
we see in the industry as those typical ranges, but it can really vary
24:37
depending on what your target is in the body and you and the results that
24:41
you're looking for, So that just depends. But those are the generalities I
24:45
would recommend. And then what are some of the pitfalls that you would guide
24:49
people to avoid in terms of their selection of product. Yeah, that's a
24:55
great, great question. Um. You know, because I'm on the regenerative
24:57
agriculture side of things, and I've been an organic farmer for my entire farming
25:02
history. It's one of the main things I recommend people look for because if
25:07
you're using a CBD product for a health challenge, you don't want to compromise
25:11
your immune system further by getting something that might have, you know, chemical
25:15
fertilizer residuals or molds or pesticides or herbicide molecules. So looking for something that's
25:22
organically grown and not just the hemp. Make sure that all the all the
25:26
ingredients are organic. You know, we talk about organic hemp a lot in
25:30
the industry, but then we put it into a carrier oil that has no
25:34
history of being organic or not certified organic. So if you're if you're working
25:40
with or in a compromised immune system of any sort, or if you're using
25:44
this for a health and wellness regime, you absolutely want to make sure that
25:48
you're using organic ingredients in that CBD product. One of the things that we
25:52
do to really increase absorption and efficacy at the Monobotanics brand is we add additional
25:57
botanicals and really can also help with some of the things that we're talking about.
26:03
So our main additional botanical is tumeric, which is one of the most
26:07
widely studied plant medicines on the planet with over four thousand years of documented use.
26:12
We combine that CBD full spectrum extract that's organically grown with some of these
26:18
other really potent synergistic herbs and botanicals. So we want to get to botanics
26:26
in a moment, but I do want people to know that we're not here
26:30
just to advertise, and we are objective and that you have studied this industry.
26:37
So if you're going to put together a resource list of other companies besides
26:41
yours that you believe are doing the right thing by the consumer and adding the
26:48
organic products, the carrier and the catalyst that you mentioned. What other companies.
26:55
What are some of the companies that are reputable in that respect. Yeah,
26:59
that's a good question. Um. I would love to have a long
27:02
list, but I don't have a long list because, to be honest,
27:04
there's not a lot of companies using lots of you know, a predominantly organic
27:08
approach. But one company that really stands out is Ari Botanicals started by John
27:15
Rulak who is the founder of Nativa, and Palmeto Harmony with the founder Jannel
27:22
Um. Those are two companies that I believe are focused on organic ingredients,
27:26
regenerative agriculture and um and really doing right by the industry to set the model.
27:33
They really are taking the right steps. Steve, I'm sorry to interrupt.
27:37
What was the second company? I missed that? It's called Palmetto Harmony.
27:41
Palmetto liked the bug PA l M E T t O. Yep,
27:45
Palmetto Harmony. I've never heard of them. Okay, yeah, well,
27:51
we have a few favorites to UM. You know, we've had what we're
27:56
going to have Clint Boon, who you met or actually met his sister.
28:00
Yeah, yeah, his sister in Hawaii and that's called Ruth Roos Botanics and
28:08
they are definitely efficacious about every detail of farming. So they are just like
28:17
you, vertically integrated. And then Quicksilver what about Have you interacted with Quicksilver
28:22
Scientific at all? And you know, I'm familiar with their work and they
28:27
do a lot of great products, but I'm not so familiar with their CBD
28:32
side. Yeah, doctor Chris Shade, he's you know, like you,
28:34
he's a side and it was a farmer and uh, you know has that
28:40
same uh pure intention, let's say, of creating the best products for the
28:49
health and wellness of all of us. So, uh, doctor Shade was
28:53
guests on our podcast, actually came on twice because we ran, but you
29:00
can definitely tune in and listen to some of what he said. And you
29:03
know, one of the things Quicksilver Scientific does they combine with GABA Healthy mean,
29:10
you know for the comming and a stress release. So have you ever
29:15
considered doing that with some of your products? You know, we really are
29:19
focused on this idea of whole plant medicine, and so we have not taken
29:25
it down to the single molecules like that. It's really our interest to say
29:30
that we can stand behind each ingredient because we know exactly where it comes from.
29:37
When you get down to the gabba and some of those things, you're
29:40
more of a in a laboratory environment. So it's not it's just not our
29:45
brand. We're really the idea of an herbalist approach the nature knows best and
29:51
using whole plant medicines. It's not that that's not a great approach, it's
29:55
just not our approach, right, I understand it, And that actually is
29:57
good because a differentiates to you from some of the others and gives you a
30:03
niche. And so let's segue now to the regenerative agriculture. So what why
30:11
is it so important to regenerative agriculture to our wellness? Yeah, that's a
30:18
great question. Really, I think at this stage of the planet, what
30:22
we know for a fact is that chemical agriculture is a failed experiment. It's
30:26
depleted our soils, it's really destroyed our microbiome through the residuals that we get
30:33
in our food. It certainly has just destroyed our soil web, which is
30:37
really the foundation of all life. So what we need to do is start
30:41
pivoting our agriculture models to more sustainable models, and organic agriculture is one baby
30:48
step in that direction. But in my opinion and what science is showing us,
30:53
we have to go beyond just that baby step of organic agriculture and start
30:57
looking at not just eliminating chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides and chemical herbicides, but
31:03
how do we look at the practices that put carbon back into the soil,
31:08
that leave more in the soil than we take out in our agriculture practices.
31:14
Because we've stripped the soils for so long, we have to be looking at
31:18
how to regenerate the soils so that we can start eating nutrient dense food again.
31:25
And our food has become less nutrient dense due to these agriculture processes,
31:30
which absolutely is our founding building block of our health and wellness. If we're
31:34
not getting the nutrition we need from our food, then we're more challenged to
31:38
stay healthy. And so for me, the regenerative agriculture, this idea of
31:44
putting more back in than we're taking out in our agriculture practices is one of
31:48
the solutions to our healthy to a healthy lifestyle and to the long term longevity
31:53
of our rates. Really well, two things occur to me. One is
31:57
the recent ten billion dollars lawsuit that yes, Panto and Bear uh and and
32:07
the fact that Bear is not admitting any wrongdoing. However they're still having to
32:12
pay ten billions. How do you how do you explain that? One?
32:16
Well, the writing is clear. You don't have to dig very deep anymore
32:20
to know that Monsanto and now you know the parent owner and parent company of
32:23
Monsanto Bear Um, they were deceptive in what they sold to American farmers and
32:30
now to the world, and that is poisons that they claimed were non harmful,
32:37
and yet we now have the science that shows that they were extremely harmful
32:42
to humans as well as extremely damaging to our soils and to the bees,
32:46
you know, so and to the insects and really to the to the planet
32:52
as a whole. And now they're being called out. And you know,
32:54
even though they're not admitting wrongdoing, the fact that UM jury after jury now
32:59
is showing them culpable for damage to human health and to farmers and to their
33:04
businesses. You know, I hope that this puts them under, because we
33:09
can't continue to have chemical agriculture and have a healthy planet and a healthy,
33:14
healthy human race. But why is it that people still buy round up?
33:17
For example? You know, it's fascinating to me. I have a farm
33:22
store here on the Big Island that I go to to get some of my
33:25
organic inputs, and they have a big palette of roundup all the time,
33:30
and when I'm in there, there's usually someone buying roundup and it once,
33:34
you know, it makes me want to jump out of my skin and say,
33:37
do you realize what you're doing to yourself and to the planet. You
33:40
have to look at the history. Most of the people have been convinced that
33:46
these are safe chemicals through a long string of propaganda, and the word hasn't
33:52
totally gotten out that these are extremely dangerous chemicals. It really is going to
33:59
take a concerted effort to really educate and re educate people on how to take
34:05
care of the land and themselves without these types of chemicals. So let's just
34:09
assume that we weren't using roundup, because you know, we've we are evolved,
34:15
enlightened, and yeah, it health conscious enough, and we've made that
34:20
decision whether whatever we are, a small farmer or a large institutional, what
34:27
do we do to mitigate the the insects and they and the pest past that
34:35
are the reason that round up exists and it has been so what's our alternative?
34:40
Yeah, you know, I would really direct people to the Rodel Institute
34:45
and two Acres USA for a wealth of information on this subject. Um they're
34:49
really the the at the the crux of the information coming out about these types
34:54
of practices. But essentially there's a list of practices that you can do,
35:00
like diversifying your farm. You know, we have to move away from this
35:02
idea of monocropping and hundreds and hundreds of acres or thousands of acres for that
35:07
matter, of the same crop that is not going to be sustainable when you
35:12
look at pest management and soil carbon levels. So you have to think about
35:19
diversifying your crops. First of all, no till would be another practice that
35:23
we would recommend in regeneral agriculture. Start using cover crops during off seasons and
35:30
rotating the fallow areas in a crop area. Using mob grazing is another thing
35:38
that we can do to incorporate carbon to break pest cycles. There's many ways
35:44
to incorporate livestock and diversifying agriculture crops and fallow periods, you know, incorporating
35:53
pollinating species into the agriculture crops so that you have flowers that attract pollens and
36:00
other predator insects that help keep the pest population that are control. So there's
36:07
a myriad of ways to do this, they're all documented as successful. You
36:10
have Zach Bush, doctor Zach Bush, triple certified physician, really taking on
36:16
regenerative agriculture as one of his missions to educate farmers about some of these practices
36:22
on a large scale, not the small scale farmer, but the medium and
36:25
large scale farmer about these practices so that these farmers can look at models that
36:30
are actually working and it's not theoretical because those models actually exist and they're out
36:35
there. Now, do you think it's more costly to do a lot of
36:40
the suggestions that you've just made rather than just spray round up and be done
36:46
with it. Actually, we're showing the opposite. These studies are showing that
36:50
you actually save money doing these practices because you're not investing in GMO seeds,
36:55
you're not investing in chemical agriculture, and your crop yield go up because you're
37:00
actually feeding the soil soil web that actually hosts the microorganisms that convert the nutrients
37:09
to the plant. So you know, it's an adjustment and you might have
37:14
to change the type of equipment that you use or pull behind your tractor,
37:17
so there's maybe some initial capital cost in the changeover, but as you get
37:22
three, four or five six years on the crop yields are showing to increase,
37:27
so you're actually making more money over time, and they're healthier plants,
37:31
and they're healthier plants, and you're doing the right thing from the planet,
37:35
and as a farmer, you're not exposing yourself to these dangerous chemicals. I
37:39
had, you know, a family member who was a farmer that died from
37:43
a rare form of brain cancer, and of course we know that it was
37:47
related to the to the farm chemicals that he was using. He was a
37:51
very young, young adult, So you know, these farmers are exposing themselves
37:57
to chemicals and chemical combinations that are unstudied, and we really need to protect
38:02
our farmers by educating them about these practices. And of course the health of
38:07
our land is paramount, so just to go back one moment, because you
38:12
said something about the carbon and re you know, regenerating the soil. How
38:19
what is the process of doing that. I mean, obviously carbon is you
38:22
know, is an ingredient, but how do you inject it back into the
38:27
soil and make the soil healthier richer as a result. Yeah, there's different
38:31
ways to do that, but one of the main ways that we're familiar with
38:35
as a gardener as a farmer is by adding compost onto the land. So
38:40
by adding carbon either through compost or by cover crops, you can you know,
38:45
plant a whole field of cover crops and then leave the cover crops in
38:51
your field to tom to deteriorate and feed the soil with that carbon level.
38:58
And what the carbon does. Think of it as like the home for the
39:00
microorganisms or the apartment complex. It provides the substrate for those microorganisms to be
39:07
able to live. And it's those microorganisms that were actually after that's what really
39:14
again helps to feed the micronutrients and the nutrients directly to the plant roots.
39:20
So it's absolutely essential for a healthy ecosystem to have those microorganisms. The carbon
39:25
happens to be the home for those and then Also, as we know,
39:30
carbon in our atmosphere is incredibly destructive, so by putting that carbon back into
39:36
the soil, you're keeping it out of the atmosphere. So it serves multiple
39:39
purposes. Carbon doesn't just do one thing in the environment or in the soil.
39:45
It serves multiple functions. Those are two of the main functions of why
39:50
we want to add more carbon into our soil structure. It also has a
39:53
role in helping hold water and creating air spaces, So the aeration the structure
40:00
of the soil really also depends on how much carbon we have in the soil.
40:05
I'm glad you mentioned water because I was just about to ask, you
40:08
know the importance of water in this whole process, and we know how changed
40:14
water is in our environment. So how do you deal with the water issue?
40:20
Well, you know, the water issue is a challenge because of these
40:24
years and years of chemical agriculture, we have polluted aquifers and it's going to
40:31
um It's really going to take us some time to clean up our mess.
40:37
You know, I think by adding carbon into the soil, you're optimizing whatever
40:42
rainwater you get. At a location here on the Big Island, we have
40:46
a lot of rainwater catchment. So I'm fortunate enough to be living off of
40:50
rainwater on my farm. So it really depends on where you're at and what
40:54
your location is, what your solution is to the water challenges. But certain
41:00
by adding a lot of carbon into your soil, with compost, with using
41:05
cover crops, with using some of these techniques, you're taking advantage of the
41:08
water that you do get on your location, the rain that you do get.
41:12
And that's what we want to do, is we want to lock that
41:15
water into our location, not have it run off. You know, any
41:20
type of soil runoff and loss from water is a real is a real travesty,
41:24
and we've seen it for too long. You know, a lot of
41:29
that soil in the Midwest ended up in the Mississippi River and is now in
41:31
the Gulf of Mexico, and it's caused tremendous amounts of environmental destruction. So
41:37
by by using these techniques, we're also keeping the water on our farms and
41:43
having an infiltrate into the aquifers. You know, I always tell people don't
41:46
ever, I wouldn't drink the municipal water given what we know without having a
41:52
beef and filtered meaning you know, what about all the pharmaceutical drugs that are
41:59
in the runoff as one example, and then of course the pesticides and herbicides
42:05
that we've just been talking about that are in the tainting the water supply.
42:08
I mean, there's all these these reasons why you would never oh and then
42:13
the municipal water system trying to purify it with chlorine and fluoride and all these
42:20
other chemicals. So you know, why would you ever drink water um you
42:28
know that that has that kind of tainting. It's a real challenge. It's
42:31
a real challenge. I mean, there's there's unfortunately privilege and not being able
42:36
to to, you know, to choose to not drain municipal water. But
42:39
some people don't necessarily have that privilege, which is why this needs to be
42:43
a universal standard that we have to clean up our water issues. Everybody should
42:47
deserve clean water out of their tap. Everybody should deserve clean water for a
42:53
healthy lifestyle, but it's not our reality. We don't have. Let me
42:57
look at Flint, Michigan. They still haven't their water issue. It has
43:01
to be a priority of our political system, and unfortunately it's not. And
43:06
it's another reason why those that those of us that have the privilege to buy
43:10
organic agriculture and to be educating others about why we need to be eating clean.
43:15
It's not just because of the fact that we want to support farmers that
43:20
are using the right practices, or we don't want more chemicals in our body.
43:23
The fact is you just don't want more chemicals in your body because it's
43:28
in our environment, it's in our water, it's in our beauty products,
43:30
it's in everything. So by at least eating organic, you're creating the internal
43:36
environment for our bodies to detoxify some of those If you're not eating a clean
43:40
diet, you're adding more challenge into the body no matter what. You're getting
43:45
some of these chemicals through the environment. But by choosing a clean organic diet
43:51
with regenerative hopefully practices behind those organic products, you're at least giving your body
43:55
an opportunity to detox and regenerate when it has the opportunity. You know,
44:00
when you talk about the responsibility of let's say, the government to give us
44:08
clean water, it's rather catch twenty two because you know, we ask ourselves,
44:15
where does the health of an individual prioritize in the system of what gets
44:23
money and what doesn't because it is all about money in the end. Right,
44:29
if money is put towards purifying the water system, it would happen.
44:35
I mean, we can send people to the Moon, we can fight wars
44:38
in Afghanistan and als where, But why is it that something as important as
44:44
our basic water supply is left down at the lower level of priorities. Well,
44:51
so you're hitting on one of the main political topics of our time,
44:55
the misallocation of resources. And unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry and the military industrial
45:01
complex and the fossil fuel industry as an incredible grip on our political our political
45:07
process, and our political system here in the States. And until we buck
45:12
that system and stand up for our rights as individuals, we are going to
45:17
concede. We're going to continue to see corporate control of our political system.
45:22
And I think that we have to stand up and elect officials that are not
45:25
beholden to corporations and reinvigorate our domestic systems, our water systems, our agriculture
45:35
systems, our infrastructure. We definitely need to be thinking about how we take
45:40
care of ourselves domestically instead of spending these tremendous amounts of money on war and
45:46
fossil fuels and pharmaceuticals that don't serve us well. If one thing that COVID
45:53
nineteen has done is made everyone more aware of taking responsibility for their well being.
46:01
So, how has that this virus helped or hurt your perception of where
46:10
we're going as a society. Yeah, that's a great question. I think
46:16
that, you know, one of the silver linings of this this virus challenge
46:22
is people are thinking more about their health and wellness. You know, we're
46:25
seeing tremendous amounts of demand for botanical based products, immune building vitamins and botanicals,
46:37
and that's a huge plus. I mean, if people are looking at
46:39
nutrition again, how how we can support our immune systems through nutrition and botanicals,
46:45
that's a huge plus. It is going to continue to be a challenge
46:51
from here on out. I don't think that this is going to end and
46:53
then we're going to be back to life is normal. We're going to be
46:57
in a continual challenge. We have almost now eight billion people on the planet.
47:00
If it's not COVID, it's going to be something else. We have
47:05
to take this idea of health and wellness into our own hands. Be in
47:09
nature, be you know, you have to look at how we support our
47:14
building blocks of life, and it's nutrition, exercise and movement and a spiritual
47:20
practice or spiritual belief of some type. So people have to get back in
47:23
tune with those three things, prioritize them, and support people that are helping
47:29
spread the word. I agree with you wholeheartedly, and I know before we
47:32
run out of time, I want to spend some time on your most beautiful
47:37
company and your vision. So if you could take a moment, and I
47:42
think we're gonna flash over the screen. Here's some of the product line and
47:47
the website link that I provided to the studio, so hopefully they will showcase
47:55
that. But in the meantime, why don't you just go ahead and launch
47:58
into a discussion the vision of Mana. And first of all, why don't
48:02
you tell us because I know what the word mona means. I lived in
48:06
Hawaii off and on for twenty five years. However, not everyone understands what
48:10
mana is and how important the word and the concept is to what you are
48:16
doing as a company. So just take a moment and tell us what manames.
48:22
Yeah, so our company is Mana Artists and botanics, and mana in
48:25
Hawaiian is the life force energy that runs between all things, so think of
48:30
it as the equivalent of qi or prana. So for us, you know,
48:36
the idea of creating Mona botanics was to really create an educational opportunity about
48:40
how we think about our bodies, how we think about what we put into
48:44
our bodies, and how do we strengthen this idea of nutrition and a spiritual
48:51
belief. And so for us, when we created our CBD hempline, it
48:57
was really about how do we take the best ingredients of the mana of Hawaii,
49:01
put it into a into a bottle and offer it to people as a
49:06
whole plant medicine and is really a nutritional So we know just about all the
49:09
farmers that grow the ingredients that go into our products. We're one of the
49:14
only companies using an organic macadamia nut oil to infuse our CBDT full spectrum extracts
49:21
in. We're putting the additional botanicals in like tumeric, passion, buying comfrey
49:27
plantain and really looking at how do we synergize those botanical mechanisms and our body
49:32
to increase the absorption, the efficacy and the benefits and so it's it's a
49:38
real pleasure getting to be here in Hawaii to promote Hawaii as as a place
49:45
and but as a feeling and as um as a model for connection, diversity,
49:50
and health and wellness. But when we last spoke Steve, which I
49:54
think was about a year and a half ago, when we met, I
49:57
should say, in Hawaii, um, a legislature was stalled in terms of
50:02
the farmer's ability to grow more than ten acres. What has happened in Hawaii
50:09
where, by the way, you know, Hawaii is a huge opportunity because
50:14
you have three growing seasons for you well know that as a farmer. So
50:19
so what has happened to help or hurt you in terms of legislative activity in
50:24
the state of Hawaii. Yeah, it's unfortunately politics moves very slow here in
50:30
Hawaii and in general. You know, our legislature took a recess due to
50:35
COVID, so we haven't seen the results of what our legislative session is going
50:39
to produce. For HEMP. There are some part down bills that we hope
50:45
to see past I don't know. I don't know if they're going to make
50:49
it through the legislature, but we hope to see something that allows for a
50:53
more commercialized idea of hemp, but that still keeps it in the um,
51:00
in the realm of regenerative agriculture and supports people here in Hawaii doing hemp at
51:07
a commercial level and then supports the farmers to actually create products from those from
51:14
those crops and not just you know, extracted and export it. That we
51:17
actually see the legislature take the initiative to support a thriving, vertically integrated industry
51:23
here. I really hope that that's what our legislature does. I'm not sure
51:27
that we'll see it this year. And it's just so frustrating to see this
51:30
because sugar, you know, was the industry of Hawaii for so many years,
51:37
and then you know, the sugar industry went through its demise and there
51:42
needs to be a replacement for the agriculture of Hawaii to be continuing to survive.
51:50
Yeah, I want to be careful in promoting another monoculture crop because really,
51:54
sugar was so destructive to Hawaii. So really the solution is small scale
52:00
diversified agriculture or medium diversified agriculture. Hemp is absolutely one of those crops that
52:07
can be part of that system that can make an incredible difference for Hawaii.
52:10
And I really hope that our political leaders step up to the opportunity that COVID
52:16
has provided us to look at how do we look at domestic solutions? How
52:21
do we look at local solutions to our economy because we can't rely on tourism
52:25
anymore. I don't know that it will come back to that level. We
52:28
have to look at agriculture is one of the solutions to our economy here in
52:32
Hawaii. It should be a diversified approach. Well, you are such a
52:37
good spokesperson, Steve. I don't want to stay run out of time without
52:40
you offering the most generous gift to our viewers, which hopefully I didn't see
52:50
that website come up, but I hopefully they'll edit that into our discussion today
52:54
so people will have an idea of your website. But go ahead and give
52:59
us the vital information for the link and your contact info for ordering the coupon
53:06
code, and then tell us what you want us to do. If we
53:09
want to order from from you, folks, uh to at least try The
53:15
first step would be to try the CBD. There's so many other products if
53:19
you offer and people will be tempted. I know I was blown away by
53:23
your packaging and your esthetics. So go ahead and just take a minute,
53:29
and then we've got to move quickly because I don't want us to run out
53:31
of time. Okay, So you can find us at Mona Botanics dot com.
53:37
Mana Botanics is UM going to be offering a twenty percent discount to any
53:44
of your listeners and viewers, so you can use the code ageless twenty or
53:49
twenty percent discount. I would highly recommend our flagship product, which is our
53:53
Hawaiian macadamian oil with tumeric and organic vanilla um. It's called the Hawaiian Hemp
53:59
Boy. It comes in three different strengths. Uh, and our bomb is
54:02
our second best selling product. But any any of our products on the Monobotanics
54:07
website are going to have full spectrum extracts in them. So anything that you
54:12
choose on that website will be UM will be a medicinal product. Excellent.
54:16
And then, uh, if somebody wants to email you, what would how
54:22
would they do that? Yeah, so you can email us at info at
54:25
Monobotanics UM. You can also email me directly if you really wanted some deeper
54:31
information. I'm Steve at monobotanics dot com and just st E v E Steve
54:38
got it and botanics. Why don't you spell that just for everybody? T
54:44
A N iics Yes, one M, not two. That's right, That's
54:49
right, Okay, all right, Well, see if you've been wonderful and
54:52
you've provided such a good foundation for us to understand h so many issues.
55:00
One of course the regenerative agriculture issue, to the distinction between hemp and and
55:07
cannabis. And three of course Mana's product line, so that we know why
55:14
we want to order other than the twenty percent generous offer. But obviously,
55:20
with all the choices for CBD today, this is one that I think people
55:25
need to look at because of what you described. The carrier oils are organic,
55:30
there's no chemicals, all the reasons that we've discussed. So thank you
55:36
very much for our mahal mahalo nu iloa uh in Hawaiian for thank you very
55:42
much for being with us today, and we wish you well and hui hoo
55:46
as they say, Okay, thank you stee Okay. I wanted to just
55:53
close quickly with a few comments. I have personally used Steve's at Mana from
56:01
Mana, and I can tell you that they work, and that's always just
56:06
one person's opinion. But I try to be very objective. I do not
56:12
ever try to promote something that I wouldn't personally be advocating become by my own
56:17
personal youth. So let me just say that if you have an interest in
56:22
trying CBG, this is one product line and he has many many others,
56:28
some branch into more of the cosmoceuticals. So take a look at the website
56:32
and I think you'll be very pleased that you've discovered this little Hawaiian company.
56:38
It's a grassroots company, but it's it's vertically integrated, which is another big
56:44
plus. So thank you so much for joining us today. We always are
56:50
so happy when we have guests like Steve Scalo who teach us so much about
56:54
how to preserve not only well to how to create our well being, but
57:01
more importantly, how to preserve it. So this is Michelle Hughes signing off
57:06
for Ageless and Timeless. Have a beautiful day. My love for you is
57:13
immeasurable, My respect for you immands Your ageless, timeless Lason, fineless your
57:24
beauty, Hea