Heart of Herbs Herbal School Podcast
Welcome to the Heart of Herbs Herbal School Podcast, with Demetria Clark.
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Heart of Herbs Herbal School Podcast
HerbRally Unleashed: Embracing Passion and Community in the Herbal World with Mason Hutchison
Unlock a world of botanical wisdom with our captivating conversation featuring Mason Hutchison, the creative force behind HerbRally.com. Explore the diverse career paths within the herbal community and the importance of quality and integrity in the industry. Mason reflects on his enduring relationship with Mountain Rose Herbs and how his passion for connecting communities led to the creation of Herb Rally, a comprehensive resource for herbal events and knowledge. Discover Mason's journey of transforming his vision into a flourishing business and the creative ways he integrates personal interests, like hip-hop, to make his work more fulfilling.
Ride along with us as we navigate the exhilarating leap from a stable career to pursuing a passion full-time. Mason shares the triumphs and challenges of turning HerbRally.com into a thriving venture ahead of schedule, touching on the critical role of financial planning and the courage required to follow one's dreams. Through heartwarming personal anecdotes, we delve into the power of language and intention in shaping one's destiny and the unexpected rewards that come with entrepreneurial endeavors.
Dive into the vibrant world of HerbRally's offerings, where herbal enthusiasts find not just education but a community. From a rich library of herbalism classes through the Schoolhouse membership to exclusive podcast content, Herb Rally provides a supportive environment for learning and growth. With a focus on diverse teaching styles and inclusive education, this episode celebrates the value of community-driven knowledge and the passion that fuels the herbalism world. Join us for a journey filled with love, learning, and the endless possibilities within the herbal community.
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Hi, this is Demetria Clark, the director of Harder Burbs Herbal School, and today I am speaking with Mason Hutchison. Did I say that right?
Speaker 2:Yep right on the money.
Speaker 1:The person who is behind the phenomenal website Herb Rally and has been behind the scenes in my herbal career as far as, like my connection to Mountain Rose and all this other stuff for, like I don't know, a gazillion years.
Speaker 2:I'd probably guess it feels like forever, probably 12, 13 years maybe, wow that's long.
Speaker 1:that's probably a long time, yeah, yeah, especially in the internet I know right, it's wild to think about that yeah, no definitely and it's been always been a pleasure knowing that there's um honorable people on the other side of the computer when you're communicating with a company.
Speaker 1:And I will say, knowing that in just our brief interactions, just even knowing that there was someone there who cared made it really easy to like have a relationship with that company. Because you know you'll see how people tear companies down online all the time, and so you know we always share with our students places that we feel are safe to shop at. Nobody's perfect right, but I do know recently there was this big thing with cinnamon and I emailed them and was like, can you just share with me so I can share with my students about your quality control? Because I told them they want to hear it from you and they were back. They like got back to me, like seemed like in an hour. So you know, and I know that your long time there probably is part of the reason why the people that you trained you came up behind you and are working where you were at like helped build that. This is how we work with integrity. So thank you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You know we try to do our part, and I'm not no longer with Mountain Rose Herbs, of course, but I definitely cherish the years I spent there and I can attest to their quality control and sourcing and all that. Like you said, no business is perfect, but they definitely do their best and they try to improve where they can. They try to take feedback very seriously. So, yeah, I would definitely recommend Mountain Rose Herbs. To this day, we actually have a very tight knit relationship with them. We just did an unboxing video for them on YouTube, and so it's always a lot of fun to interact with our old homies at Mountain Rose Herbs Because, of course, amanda, my wife and co-owner of Herb Rally, also also used to work there, and that's actually where we met.
Speaker 1:Oh, so it was a love connection too it was that's right. Awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, the best things come from the best things, which then make the best. So you know, leave it to me to like go crazy on the language skill, but so that's awesome. So what? I and I? I will be interviewing your wife and she's a phenomenal artist. So if anyone wants to hop over to herb rally and, of course, look at everything that you guys do there, her unique um, am I going to? That's her stamp, right, the design and the way that she has a lot to do with that right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so going back to, like our Mountain Rose Herbs days, I was the events person, I was in marketing and then she did all of a lot of the creative at Mountain Rose Herbs, so she primarily focused around photography, but she's definitely an illustrator, graphic artist, videographer, all the above and basically what we did was we took our skill sets over to taking Herb Raleigh full time and so to this day, her contribution to Herb Raleigh is, yeah, all of the photography, videography and so forth, so anything artistic related that's her realm.
Speaker 1:That's cool. So when you guys go and look because I'm telling people to go so they should go right, but anyways, because no one listens to me, not even my children but when you go over and take a look at the feel and the vibe and I think that's really important. One of the reasons why I am interviewing Mason is because I want to share with our students and our listeners the diversity of herbal careers, that it isn't just being a clinical herbalist or making tinctures, it's also artistry and education and connection. And Herbal Alley is all about connection. You can just tell because it gives you like a nice big hug. I don't get to spend enough time there, but you know right away that connection's important. So what was your inspiration for Herb Raleigh? What started your heart down this path?
Speaker 2:I love the concept of your show, dimitri, because you're right, there's so many different ways to make a living. In my early years I thought that I was going to be a dietitian, which kind of is akin to being a clinical herbalist of sorts. But I knew as I was going down my herbal path, if you will, that my strengths really lied in building community and as the events and outreach person for Mountain Rose Herbs kind of touching back on that again I was looking for a website that listed all of the herbalism events that happened in the United States, the world virtually, etc. And I would find bits and pieces of different websites that kind of listed some herbalism events but not others, like maybe the major herbal conferences that were happening around the country. But what I was interested in was the herb walk happening in the local neighborhood or the herb talk happening at the local library and so forth, because I've been to these talks, I've been on these plant walks and whatnot, and so I was like no one, no one has created this website. And then I thought, hmm, do I have the audacity to create this thing that I wish to see in the world?
Speaker 2:And it took me probably a year of having it live in my head before I actually executed and took the first step. Um, first of all, you know, it's like coming up with a name for your business. I was like, oh, this is going to be herbal eventscom or something like that, and, um, and I didn't really want to pigeonhole myself. And then, for whatever reason, the name herb rally came to mind. I was like, okay, cool. And then I, yeah, I stuck with that name for about a year and then finally I decided, uh, to execute and actually buy it, purchase a domain online, and then just start listing these events. And it kind of just blossomed from there.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a beautiful site and I'm glad you did that and I I love the name because I've always secretly wanted to do like a european rally drive or like one through mexico, like in my head, like I would be really good at this probably I wouldn't be but in my head I am amazing. You know the range rover and you know, anyways, I digress.
Speaker 1:But when I heard the name I was like street race, let's go. You know, like you know, you could do a bike rally and go to all the herbal stores in the, in the, in the country. Not that I, I, I bike or use my cycle, but I mean in my fantasies, so I always really liked the name. And then the bottom of the Y is it is that a dandelion leaf?
Speaker 2:It is yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool, that's what I always thought, but I never officially asked, so it's really great that you have that. What was, what was some of your like you had to to? What were some things that you had to get out of your own way in order to accomplish this? Like, what advice would you have for someone who was like I want an herbal outside of the box business, maybe something people haven't seen before? Like you know, sassy herbal bumper stickers?
Speaker 2:or you know or whatever right.
Speaker 1:Like, what were some of the things that you had to tell yourself? Like, how did you psych yourself into saying, okay, I'm going to take this, jump from security and bet all on myself and go?
Speaker 2:That's such a good question. I guess I have a few answers. Such a good question. I guess I have a few answers. First, just kind of starting with the mental aspect, it was incredibly difficult for me to get this going. I didn't believe in myself. I thought you know who am I?
Speaker 2:To start a business, I always fancied myself a behind-the-scenes type of person. And then if I'm putting a business out into the world, I'm essentially putting myself out there on the Internet in this particular way, and I would say I've struggled with depression and low self-esteem and heavy doubt about myself and my capabilities. And so the way I do a lot of things, when I'm trying something new or trying to put myself out there, I start with incredibly small and I set very long-term goals. So that was a that was that gave me the ability to kind of like chunk it and smaller segments and not have to rush in to be like the best website of all time immediately or something like that. So I really think making bite-sized, really small goals over the long course of time was incredibly helpful.
Speaker 2:Uh, another thing I'll say is you kind of just have to do it and it sounds incredibly cliche, um, but you know, growing, growing up very shy, uh bashful kid with um, you know, struggling with certain mental health problems it was. Yeah, I would just say you have to just kind of get yourself in the position where there's no turning back. You have to jump off the diving board, you have to. I don't know. I feel like that. I'm like struggling to say this right now for some reason, I don't really know why, other than um it's. I think I'm struggling with saying it because I feel kind of cliche, but like everyone's heard this before Cliches are re.
Speaker 1:There's a reason why we have cliches, right, right?
Speaker 2:And I feel, if, if I could do it, oh yeah, so so people see Mason on the outside and they think, oh, he's this gregarious, you know, quasi charismatic, oh yeah, Social connector type of guy. And I wasn't always like that. I had to work at it. I had to slowly, incrementally improve my social skills because I wanted to talk to people, I wanted to be out there. It just took a lot to get over.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I mean, with that in mind, slow, incremental goals that you could accomplish so you could build that confidence and momentum and then just also just doing it, if you have this idea, like you said, fun herbal bumper stickers or something like that you just feel it inside of you, You're like it keeps coming back to you, you're dreaming about it, you're just like, ah, I have to do this. And that's kind of how Herb Rally was for me. I was like I was obsessed with this idea and I felt like if I wasn't doing it, I was doing a disservice to my soul and my evolution as a human. I don't know if you have any comments on that, because I did have something to bring up as far as, like, the monetary side of things too, but did you have any feedback on any of that, demetria?
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, thank you for sharing so openly and honestly. I know for myself it's been years before I could even well one do anything like this. It's always been really hard for me. I always feel like everybody's you know. I always tell my students, of course I have to tell myself this also no one can talk shit about you better than you. Why do we even you know it's like, why do we even let anyone else's voice come in? Because we can look in the mirror and be like double chin's looking good today or whatever, right, like you know. So it's, it's, it's, you know, one of those things that I think we don't talk about enough, especially in the world that you and I work in Sure, because there is so much pressure to be the oh, you know, and I'm like I'm tripping, falling over, tugging my you know leggings up, picking my nose.
Speaker 1:Like not okay.
Speaker 1:You keep it real Like like I am not like that, and so I would just see all of these people and I'd be like I don't belong here.
Speaker 1:And then I realized, after maybe five, six years of doing it, I didn't belong there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I belong with where I am and with my people and my you know so, and just, uh, you know, always like the fact that you shared your vulnerabilities and your fears. We all have them, we just, and every industry I'm sure has their own, like you know. But there's such this gotta be perfect in this herbal or alternative health world and it's like I'd rather not be a perfect human being and just go with it versus you know. So I'm glad that you shared that, and I'm glad that you shared that so openly, because I think a lot of students are going to hear this and be like, okay, so all right, mason Mason knows what I mean when I feel this way or whatever, and they're going to, they're going to be drawn to that because your honesty and your authenticity, I didn't know, everyone's like authentic, authentic, right, but it's, it's there on your site on the topics that you cover and stuff. And then you are going to talk about money and you know money is like one of my favorite subjects.
Speaker 1:I haven't turned my heat on yet, because I'm like save that money but um the money part's hard yeah so what do you have to share about that, or what would you like to share about that? You don't have to share anything if it's nothing you want to talk about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do want to get into that, but just something you said there sparked something else that I wanted to highlight. You were talking about being perfect and, say, the herbal community or appearing this way, but the reason we love Dimitri is because you are so you know to use the cliche authentically, you, and you're not scared to share that too, which we all appreciate. And one thing I want to point out is one of the reasons I love working on Herb Rally, so much is I. I get it to be kind of a reflection of my, my offering my work to the world, along with Amanda's as well, with Amanda's as well, and just kind of a little instance of that is a lot of, say, herbal companies will use, say like, say, um, uh, folk music or banjo music or or whatnot. And we have two different herb rally theme songs for our different podcasts, and they're both hip hop. I'm a big hip hop fan, so I wanted to put it out there and be like this is a representation of of what we like. So I want to create a hip hop theme song of sorts and, um, I'm just really glad that I do that, because then it just becomes more enjoyable, uh, to put your work out there in the world. But I just wanted to highlight that be yourself as much as you possibly can. You'll have a lot more fun doing it.
Speaker 2:Uh, as far as the money side of thing goes, um, what? The initial question that you answered me this was another thing that kind of popped in my head was um, when I first started herb rally, I said I wanted it, I wanted it to be my full time gig. But I, I, uh, I gave myself 10 years of runway, so working out mountain reserves. Uh, the whole time in the back of my head I'm thinking I'm going to build this on nights and weekends and my free time and with the goal of, after 10 years, being able to have it float or or, um, you know, supply the income that we need. Or it was just me at the time um to where I could quit my day job at mountain Rose herbs and lo and behold, I actually got there in seven years.
Speaker 1:Um, the universe. Said challenge accepted.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:Sorry, that's like I'm running through my head.
Speaker 2:You put it out there. Yep, Exactly, and, and you know, for better, for better or for worse. You know, sometimes it's like, oh shit, I don't have my paycheck coming every other week from mountain reserves anymore. But at the same time I'm so glad I did it. I don't want to die with regrets and we'll always know now whether it worked out or not. We're going on what three years now being away from Mountain Reserves, and so we're doing something right. Herb Rally does continue to grow very modestly, but at the same time I'm very glad that I gave myself that 10-year goal, because I never felt rushed. I was able to slowly, incrementally build and grow over time.
Speaker 1:Well, that's great. I just when you were saying that, I was like oh, you just opened the door, come on in. I'm big on that. It's so funny because we I always tell my husband to be careful with his language when he manifests. I always joke that he's the stronger manifester than me, even though he always says everything that comes is from mostly the work that I do. And it's just so funny. I'm like you've got to watch your language Because when we moved to Virginia.
Speaker 1:He's like I want to be closer to the kids. If they need us and that or no. He said when to the kids if they need us, and that or and are and no, he said when when they need us, yeah been building barns and sheds, and they need us you know doing all kinds of stuff at one of the kids farms and I'm like you should watch your language, because we really do have so much power.
Speaker 2:That's a fact.
Speaker 1:The belief and the connection is. You know, I know a lot of people giggle about you know that kind of stuff, but I do think we control a lot yeah. And giving yourself that timeline really said this is what I'm going to do. And that must have been really exhilarating when you got to your goal sooner, but probably a little scary too, right.
Speaker 2:It was not easy. By that point, by the seven-year mark, amanda and I got married and then we kind of slowly tested the waters by having her quit first, and then, two or three months later, I was like, okay, I guess we're doing it. And personal finance actually plays a big role in this too. I'm a big personal finance nerd, uh, so we made sure to have a buffer of uh savings in our bank account. Uh, we made sure that we were making adequate money per month in order to fund our life. Um, and and all of those things kind of play together. But even as prepared as you are, just like parenthood, who's ever ready to be parents? You know, making that leap from day job to full-time herb rally was definitely scary, um, and I still wonder, you know, I still wonder why I did it. But, um, I'm very honestly, I'm very glad we, we did make the leap, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's. It's funny, like, um, when you said that you, you know you had like your fund and your backup, and I always talk to students. I'm like look, put your money away for taxes and get an e-fund and I think they all think I'm goofy until they start their business and I get all these great emails. They're like guess what? I had to pay taxes this year. I'm so proud of myself.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Because if you're not paying taxes, you're not making money, you know. And so we we always kind of have these conversations about that kind of stuff. But it is scary when you, when you jump off and say this is what I'm going to do. I was really fortunate because when I first started I didn't have any other choice. It was either make money or your children aren't eating. So you know, but I mean I always joke, but there's always a choice in there, but it wasn't.
Speaker 1:I wasn't leaving something steady, you know, I was just really learning my own way. And so I think for people who are going from the because I can talk to like hey, I was the stay at home mom and I did this and did that, and it's like people feel like that's the narrative for a lot of people. But you're like, hey, I was in a nice steady career, you probably had retirement plan or whatever, and you know, and and then I'm going to jump off in into the lion's den or the crocodile pond or whatever, and that's really brave. So thank you for sharing that. I love hearing stories of, of bravery and and people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, can I just add to that real quick, real quick story.
Speaker 2:So actually I kind of did the same thing when I made my leap to mountain Rose herbs.
Speaker 2:I was a dietitian aid at the hospital in Eugene, Oregon, and, as I was saying before, I thought I was going to be a dietitian.
Speaker 2:So I was kind of on track to do that. And I just started really getting to herbs and herbalism right when mountain Rose herbs moved from pleasant Hill, oregon to Eugene, my hometown, and I had a cush job, I had benefits, I was working with all my friends, I thought I was on this correct career track. And then I had a major shift in what I thought my future was going to be like and I was like I'm going to get a job at Mountain Rose Herbs. And I did a similar plunge to the one I recently did when we went to Herb Rally by leaving my last job at the hospital to go work at Mountain Reserves. And so I think a lot of times when you're doing these different drastic life changes, you could kind of get some practice in and build your confidence that way too. I haven't really thought about it until talking to you just now about how I practiced doing that leap previously with a different career change and life change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, wow, so you definitely. So you're a jumper.
Speaker 2:I think I am. I think I'm an all in type of dude and, um, I'm all about taking calculated risks, I suppose. But most importantly, really, what it comes down to is the anguish I feel if I don't pursue my dreams. As cheesy as that sounds, I really don't want to live a life where I'm not pursuing the things that I want to have in my life. That actually includes Amanda as well. That's a whole other story.
Speaker 1:You want her in your life or you want her to pursue her dreams.
Speaker 2:Yeah, both, both. But yeah, as far as, like, I worked with Amanda for four no, it was like three something three plus years and I was, you know, madly in love with her for the whole time. But we were coworkers so I didn't say anything. And then finally, when I was like nah, I got to tell her but yeah, so that's another, I love you. That's all. Yep In so many words.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's awesome. I'm a big fan of like love at first sight because I actually fell in love with my husband before I spoke with him. I just saw him from a bus.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Washington DC.
Speaker 2:Who dat? And then?
Speaker 1:he showed up at the thing that I was at two hours later. It was a hippie alternative high school conference. I was at two hours later. It was a hippie alternative high school conference. I was 15, he was 17 and we've been together pretty much ever since wow and I just was like that's. I said to the girl who was from the farm in Tennessee. I said, hey, I'm gonna marry that guy. And she's looking at me like marriage is not cool. I was like I'm gonna marry that guy and she's looking at me like marriage is not cool.
Speaker 1:But I was like I'm going to marry that guy and I did.
Speaker 2:That's so cool.
Speaker 1:I'm a fan of sometimes letting the wind get knocked out of you and being in love, and if you can definitely be in love for a few years without saying anything, then you are definitely in it to win it. I went up and just snagged him and grabbed him and said, hey, I think that's awesome. You can tell there's a lot of love between the two of you on the website and I think that's one of the I don't often go to, like a lot of other herbal. I work, work a gazillion hours a week.
Speaker 2:You've got your own website.
Speaker 1:Well, there's that, but it's also like sometimes I just want to watch my Miss Marple.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Or read a cozy cat mystery or something, right, yeah, but I love going there because I think the artwork and the pictures of you I'm assuming she's taking these photos of you, yeah, and the photos of the two of you together it's just lovely. So I will say that I can't wait to talk to her about all that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I think the thing is is that your passion is evident in your website and so I think that a lot of people are more people are going to connect with that as they get to know you more, because it's a reliable it. I know the word safe space is like all over the place but it's a safe herbal space yeah, there isn't any dickery.
Speaker 1:There isn't any, you know um, people are just, they can access resources and join, and so why don't you tell us about everything that you offer? Because it's really more like an, an herb smorgasbord it is it is a rallying, but it is a rallying point, oh my gosh, but um you know so. So what can people get there like what can they access and find out about?
Speaker 2:yeah, thank you. So, yeah, it's expanded quite a bit over the years. As I was mentioning, it started out as a herbalism events website. We still do do that.
Speaker 2:I've just added some new events today. People actually submit events, but I also subscribe to countless herbal newsletters and I found out about events that way. So herb rallycom slash events will list all of the events that I know about that we know about. Chronologically Uh, we also sort them out by state, so you're welcome to also check it out, say, herbal HerbRallycom slash event slash Oregon or whatever state, but there's a button there that you could navigate to each individual state as well. We also list herbalism schools, online schools, virtual events. There's also. I want to say the next thing that we added if we're talking chronologically, like in accordance with how Herb Rally evolved, we did monographs, so we have probably 70 plus herbal monographs on there and they're beautiful people sorry, oh no, that's great, and what we try to do is we really try to focus on lengthy, well-written um, sometimes story driven, but again they're still going to be botanical uses, botany, um, ecology, etc.
Speaker 2:Um, so that's herb rallycom slash monographs. We've kind of slowed down on adding those because we've been focusing way more on the podcast and the YouTube channel and stuff like that. We still do want to add more uh monographs. I I'll also say this I'm not the one writing the monographs. This is actually one of the another really cool thing about herb rallies. We try to make everything kind of a community driven project, if you will. So there's just tons of different authors that write these monographs over the course of the years and, by the way, herb rallies started in 2015. We probably started adding the monographs around 2016 or so.
Speaker 2:But another major component of the website is the um, the the uh podcast, which Dimitri has been on. Uh, we have a few different types of shows. We've got herbal conference recordings where you'll find sometimes even like three hour lectures on there. Uh, the newer series is called the herbalist hour, which is the one Dimitri has been on, and so, yeah, we we spend a lot of time producing and creating these podcasts, episodes that come out each and every week. There's other types of shows on there as well. Sometimes there's narrated monographs, et cetera. But we have I think we're approaching 800 episodes of the podcast. So that's pretty crazy. That's awesome, yeah, and we've been releasing new YouTube videos every day as well. So there's just hundreds and hundreds of videos on our YouTube channel. There's a couple other projects I guess I'll briefly touch on. We've got the Herb Rally Schoolhouse, which is our member area. It's $10 a month. It's where we have member-only classes in there. We've got herbal community discounts.
Speaker 1:Really it's one of the ways that the Herb R rally audience is able to support our work here at herb rally. It's an incredible value. Thank you, it really is it. I mean people I'm not even trying to be like tacky salesy here it is such a great value. I mean I don't even have time to like check it out that often with my, with my schedule, and I find value in it every single time. Honestly, it should probably be like five times more a month with the amount of information you have in there.
Speaker 1:But, everyone will get mad at me. So I won't say it that way, but it is incredible. So tell us more about that. I know I interrupted you in the middle. Tell us more because I really think. I really think I was actually thinking like, is there a way like we could get like a student membership and have all of our students automatically Like you?
Speaker 2:know.
Speaker 1:So I was like, oh, I got to talk to my, but it's like that's how valuable I think it is, like that's how cool I think it is. So please tell people why they need to check this out.
Speaker 2:We appreciate that. Yeah, so it's herb rallycom slash schoolhouse and basically inside of there is currently we're sitting around 70 ish classes and again, it's from a wide range, a diverse range of different herbalist teaching on a wide range of subjects in herbalism, and we actually took a little couple month hiatus on adding new classes. We do plan on picking that back up soon where we're going to start putting them in the member area to grow the library of available classes in there. Another fun perk that sometimes people actually take us up on is people members of the Herbalist Schoolhouse are able to join us live for the Herbalist Hour interviews, at least when they're done on Zoom. So that's always fun when we have members join us. They're able to interact with the guests, ask questions and so on.
Speaker 2:There's also herbal community discounts to a couple, maybe half dozen different shops, including Mountain Rose Herbs, who we mentioned before, oshala farm, who we partner with quite a bit um, and then some others. And yeah, we just continue to try to make it better and better, just like everything else we do at herb rally. It's uh, it's growth and improvement over time. Uh, but we really just want to provide another fun space for folks to learn herbalism and that's kind of the gist of uh the herb rally schoolhouse.
Speaker 1:I'd say oh, I love that. It's like getting to go to an herbal conference and just learn from because I'm a huge proponent of variety of teachers. I mean, that is probably a thing all of my students leave with is, you know, we have different teachers in our classroom who've done guest lectures but also just like because I think I think when I came up I'm gonna be 50 soon, so when I really started herbalism it was there was a lot of disciple mentality, shit yeah, totally such a turnoff for someone like me who's like a dork.
Speaker 1:So I was like I this isn't.
Speaker 1:This isn't something I want to like, you know, because there are people who are like ride or die for their like herbal teacher, even when they do like really goofy stuff, and I'm like that's not good, like we need diversity and we need to be able to, you know, question and see and having access to a resource like that for our students and I'm sure you know other school students it's just so good because it really says, oh yeah, my teacher said this, but you could try that, or you know, like, oh, I never heard this tip before, or you know, and it's just kind of like a way to really, I think, connect people a little bit more deeply with the diversity and complexity of herbalism and herbal practice. So, yeah, Thank you for having that resource available and is, I mean, super affordable.
Speaker 1:It's like less than a cup of coffee a month for some of these people get unicorn coffees or whatever, I don't know because I don't do any of that, but I know there's all kinds of fancy things out there and this should be someone's fancy thing, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1:You're treating yourself. I'm a little biased.
Speaker 2:I will mention too, if people just want to check out behind the scenes, they're able to get a free month by using coupon code SCHOOLHOUSE30 at checkout, so that'll get you a free month and you could check out all the classes on there and whatnot. So see if it's a good fit for you. But yeah, I definitely think it's a good value. We were trying to do that from the very beginning. Try to have it be very you know, quote unquote affordable. Of course that word means different things to different people, Uh, but we thought $10 a month was a reasonable price to to ask for an exchange with what we're trying to provide, value wise. So absolutely.
Speaker 1:PO box costs more than 10 bucks a month, I mean like seriously people. I mean like you know, you know, I don't know. I mean, I just think like we have to really start the amount of work that goes into what you provide.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 1:And my big thing is, if we want herbalism to be sustainable, we need to pay ourselves and each other fairly for resources. And people will say things to me all the time like, well, you know, your course is expensive and I'm like it's literally less than 10 cents a page. Or, you know, $3 a lecture, or you know, and, and and I mean I don't often like say this, I usually okay, well, you know, if you don't want it, that's totally up to you. But when we do brass tacks, and how do you justify this? And it's like cause, I know, I know how hard it is to do and maintain a huge website.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally, I mean just the stuff that people don't even. I know you're doing your updates and your security checks and your blah, blah, blah and that whole email thing that just everybody had to go and readjust their servers and the blah. People don't realize that that's all involved too and mostly it's done in-house. I'm gonna assume you probably handle a lot of it yourself.
Speaker 2:I mean literally labor. Yeah, the herb rally team is me and Amanda, so if Amanda's doing the you know the pretty stuff I'm doing, all that shit you were just talking about she'll help me with some admin stuff, but yeah, yeah, no, I mean, it's a lot of work, and so I think that what you're offering is a steal.
Speaker 1:Thank, you, it's an absolute steal and if you decide to raise your prices and anyone gets mad, you can tell them to come talk to me, I'll send them dimitri's way yeah, I'll go, I'll go kicking some ass, no, but I. But I mean, we have like, right now we have access to endless information.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Which means we have access to endless information. Yep, and half of it's just straight up baloney and not to be mean to baloney, it's just straight up baloney, baloney and not to be mean to baloney, it's just straight up baloney. And what herbal schools do and websites like yours that have a great teaching focus, is it helps people weed through. That's true. And with all this access to information, you always see people are like well, you don't need to study herbalism, you should just ask your grandma. Well, well, not everyone had that grandma. If I wanted to make moonshine, I would talk to my grandmother.
Speaker 1:Okay, but that is not everyone's reality and there's also a lot of really unsafe information out there and it tends to run in in cycles like everyone's now going to do some super, whatever kind of cleanse or whatever and they're very dangerous in some cases. And the schools and the education helps people not give their infant a coffee enema, right, right, but you know, you see this stuff out there. When there was a problem with ebola all over pinterest was ebola recipes and I'm like if you seriously could drink a tea and get rid of ebola, ebola would be gone right, like a conspiracy to keep everyone with Ebola right. So the reality is is good. Education and resources helps people become that educated resource in their community, and that is the service you're providing. Wow, what a long winded. I just certainly love to hear myself talk.
Speaker 2:So anyways, well, I will just briefly comment on that. Working at Mountain Reserves, I'm incredibly thankful to have that training working in the marketing department, because we were trained to not have any sort of grandiose claims for any sort of herbal products. And then I also studied at the Columbine School of Botanical Studies, who also the teachers there were incredibly conservative as well. So I feel like I am able to weed out a lot of like say quote, unquote, misinformation and most people, 99% of the people that contribute to Herb Rally I've met in person or vetted and I and I trust their, their teaching because they're not saying these outlandish things online.
Speaker 1:So so just to kind of touch on what you were just saying there, no, I'm glad you shared that because I think it's important for people to know that there's a process that you respect and you're not just throwing information out there. It's really easy to fill pages, but it's really hard to fill pages with quality, vetted, safe information. I mean, we even teach our students how to read a study because there is all this stuff out there and you, with your background, know how to do that. You know, you know your your um dietician, you know studies and you know that really, you know, probably taught you information like that.
Speaker 1:So I think that's good that people know that you also have this background of you, the marketing, and you know mountain rose herbs have to stay fda compliant the fda is not out to get you, but they are gonna make sure you're not saying snort this and get rid of cancer yes, exactly you know and and people will be like oh my gosh, they're coming to get me and I'm like they're not coming to get you. Look at your label what are you?
Speaker 1:saying and they're like oh okay, you know, like so, and you know, I know, mountain Rose, I was always trying to stay on top of compliance like any other business, um, and so you have all this experience, which then in Herb Raleigh, people are getting the benefit of, for I mean, I can't stress like this, I know this is like, you know, beating the drum over and over saying the same thing, but I mean $10?.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well that's the thing is, we also have tons of free content on our YouTube and podcast. So if you can't afford the $10 a month, check us out on YouTube. We're at Herb Rally. You can easily find us on all of those. What do those? What do you call them? Social networks, whatnot? But um, but it is a nice. We did price it to where we thought, if people do have the means and do want to support us, that would be a nice little entryway, almost like a say, like a Patreon or something like that, where people are supporting our work by being members and then we're trying to still, like you're saying, give them an immense value through the classes that we offer as well.
Speaker 1:Well, it's definitely a huge value, and your YouTube productions are great. All of the content that you put out, your interviews I mean I wish I had time to listen to more of them, but whenever I listen to them I'm like it's just like an integrity thing, and I think that shows like people know that there's an integrity there and a passion there and a love there, and your connection, I think, is really well documented with the individuals that you talk to and they're very open with you, and so I think that's lovely too. So people should definitely check that out, thank you.
Speaker 1:Is there anything else that you want to share about the work that you do with everyone.
Speaker 2:Man, we're juggling so many projects right now. At the same time, amanda has mandated a weekend and day off policy, so we're taking some steps back. We're we're we're more slowly integrating these things that we want to accomplish and that we're working on. I don't want to spill the beans on any of the fun projects that we have coming up, but, no, this has been a blast. Love the work y'all do.
Speaker 2:Demetria, oh, thank you, and would love to have you back on my show again at some point. Um, thanks to everyone who listened this far into the episode and, um, yeah, I just really appreciate it. Definitely definitely check out the YouTube, very proud of that. And uh, it's been so much fun building that over the past couple of years. Cause YouTube was one of those things again where I was like, really do, do I want to be on camera this and that? And finally, we just said you know F it and we decided to go for it. And just, the YouTube channel is just doing great things right now. And, yeah, so that was a long rambling way of saying no, I don't think there's much else I'd like to add.
Speaker 1:Well, there you go, perfect. Thank you so much for being here. Where can everybody find you again?
Speaker 2:Yep, so herb rallycom is going to be the best place. If you ever have any feedback for me, if you know about herb rally, you just want to say hi, you can email me, Mason at herb rallycom. Um, otherwise, yeah, check us out on all the socials at herb rally and uh, yeah, we look forward to hearing from you.
Speaker 1:Perfect. Thank you so much for joining us today, and you are the first, our first guest on this new series that we're doing about exploring the different facets of herbalism. So thank you so much for being here. It means a lot, and I can't wait, of course, to talk to Amanda about all the artsy stuff, because my first major in college was art and art history, so I just love the power art plays and I love how artistic your guys' site is. It's just so inspiring, and so, anyways, I will let you get back to your day, but thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it, and if there's ever anything we can do for you, please reach out.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thanks y'all, for listening and we'll we'll talk to you soon, demetria.
Speaker 1:Thank you, okay, bye-bye.
