Working Towards Our 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

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link in the show notes where I share thoughts, tips, and ideas

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show was produced by Pleasant Podcast at pleasantpodcast.com.