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April 21, 2023 - Health Ranger - Mike Adams
19:57
FOOD GROW update from Patriot Green Products and Mike Adams
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Alright, welcome folks.
I'm here with Kevin Fretz in studio here from patriotgreenproducts.com.
We interviewed you, what was it, a couple of weeks ago now?
And I understand that a lot of people found your compost products really interesting.
I just want to kind of get an update from you, kind of a short update of, like, how's it going?
What are the conversations like with some of our viewers?
Are you helping people get started with the spring growing?
Absolutely.
Yeah, first of all, I wanted to thank all of your viewers for the support.
It's been an enormous amount of people that have reached out to us.
Well over a thousand people reached out to us.
So we have a team of people.
We're going to give back to each and every one of you.
And the conversations that I've had the pleasure of speaking with people have been very, very nice.
And it's been a great experience, and we're happy to help them.
So what kind of projects are people doing with your product?
Which I should remind everybody, it's compost.
Mostly from those trees that were ground up after the Lost Pines fires of 2011 here in Central Texas.
So this is like 12 years of composting with all the microbes and everything.
Absolutely.
It's amazing compost.
You gave me some.
I'm going to start growing with those shortly.
But what kind of stories are you hearing from people?
We are hearing stories of people with raised bed gardens, in the ground gardens, people that want to do soil testing, people that are anxious to start growing their own food, people that are very aware of what's happening in our country right now and are getting prepared.
So we're lucky to help them.
That's a question I had for you.
Is that a theme that's recurring, is that people realize the food supply chain is not very reliable?
Yes, yes.
People that I've spoken to are very concerned about the food chain supply breaking down and they're getting prepared.
They're starting to grow food at home.
So is that a shift from the kind of people that used to call your company?
I mean, I know before you did a lot of commercial clients, maybe hotels or, I don't know, parks?
Hotels, parks, golf courses.
You know, this is new for us, so bear with us.
We're going to get to you guys, all of you, I promise.
But yes, we were a wholesale company that worked with commercial hotels, golf courses, cities, farms, things like that.
So this is the first dealing with homeowners.
But, you know, we've got a lot of experience and we can help them.
And beyond me, we've got some of the top scientists in the world that are working with us.
So we definitely want to help everybody.
That's awesome.
So one of the questions I have for you, Kevin, was about, I mean, are you able to ship...
You know, across the country right now, or are you only serving people?
We're actually shipping across the country right now.
Shipping across the country.
We're shipping to Idaho, we're shipping to Illinois, we're shipping all over the country right now.
Okay.
Yep.
Very cool.
And is that, I mean, I know the shipping costs have gone up a lot with UPS, just because fuel prices and everything...
Is it still working?
We're making it work.
You know, we had to source out a shipping company.
We found a really good shipping company.
Okay.
My operations director, Darcy Garand, is helping us with that.
Cool.
And these guys are just top-notch to really getting their job done.
Is it more cost-efficient for customers to order by a pallet or something?
Like a tote bag on a pallet?
Yeah, a pallet.
And actually, we're about to start producing products in smaller bags.
People have been requesting that from us.
Oh, is that right?
Yeah.
Smaller than what?
50 pounds?
Yeah, like 25-pound bags.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
Yeah.
So we're about to start producing smaller bags within the next two weeks.
Okay.
So we're going to be introducing new products that are coming online.
Nice.
You can bring them here and you can sit down with me.
We'll talk about your new stuff.
Our food waste dehydrators.
Remember what we talked about?
Oh yeah, I remember that.
We just came in.
We're working with a supplier in Korea.
Okay.
Oh, I really want to try this.
Yeah, no, it's fantastic.
This will teach everyone at home how to make fertilizer at home.
That was the food aracocycle, as I call it.
That's right.
Yeah, exactly.
Okay, cool.
Also, I want to thank you for bringing some stuff for me today.
My pleasure.
In full disclosure to our audience, Patriot Green Products, they're not a sponsor, but they do bring me some free stuff to play with.
And today you brought me some bags.
What is that?
Potting soil?
It's a potting soil.
You'll be able to grow potatoes and kale and carrots and everything in it.
Okay.
Plant direct.
So I've got several bins prepped with right now a combination of your compost plus my native soil.
And I was just waiting for this piece.
And I'm going to plant, I'm going to do potatoes and carrots and beets.
Awesome.
A lot of root vegetables.
What about...
I want to do a new batch of turmeric, actually.
I think it could probably work for that, too.
I think so.
I think it will.
It'll work for that as well.
Yeah, we put micronutrients and everything in it.
It's a really nice mix, yeah.
So the base mix is the compost from Bastrop, from the fires.
But yeah, everything else is in there.
It's really, really good.
And the char, you have the char?
Yep, the char is in there as well.
Is that something, are people purchasing biochar separately too?
They are.
So what I'm trying to educate people on in the biochar is that biochar is fantastic, however you have to charge it, meaning you have to charge it with biology.
Because if you don't charge it with biology, it actually could have a detrimental effect.
So they're buying our compost tea brewers.
A lot of compost tea brewers have been sold.
So the people that are buying biochar, we're trying to educate them how to charge the biochar before they put it in the ground.
So I have a suggestion what we can do for the next time we come back.
And I'll probably bring some of the plants I'm growing at that time.
But ask some of your customers for photos of what they're growing with your product.
It's a great idea.
And then if you can get us just maybe a URL on your website where we can see the photos, we can bring it up here on a laptop.
And we can show it to people.
Just some examples of what people are growing.
Especially, you know what?
Container.
Growing.
Because a lot of people live in apartments or condos.
They don't necessarily have a lot of yard space, but they still want to grow something.
Yep, you're absolutely right.
In fact, that mix I brought you today, that's going to be one of our new mixes that we're going to be bringing online very soon.
Oh, what's it called?
We're calling it our potato mix.
Oh, really?
Potato mix?
Yeah.
Okay.
Your potato mix.
But you can grow carrots and you can grow kale.
It's pretty much an all-purpose mix, but it's specifically designed.
You can grow tubers with it.
Okay.
That'll do very well.
Well, that's awesome.
That's what I intend to do.
It drains well.
It holds the correct amount of moisture.
It has the right nutrients.
It has the right biology.
So, it'll work well.
Okay.
Yeah, very cool.
So, I don't need to add extra micronutrition or anything like that.
I don't have to add anything to it.
It's ready to go.
What about after I grow in it for a season?
What should I add for the next season if I'm going to use it again?
Compost tea.
Just compost tea?
Yeah.
So we'll make compost tea.
We can put micronutrients right in the tea mix and the correct microbes and then you just use the tea again and you can use it again.
Okay, very cool.
Because the soil itself is perfectly good.
You don't need to throw out the soil.
You just need to maybe amend it, aerate it.
Speaking of the soil, the microgreen mixes We've created it so that you can grow three crops with your microgreen mixes.
So after you grow your microgreen mix, compost, if you can, what is in the tray that you used the last time, and then you can use it over and over again.
Absolutely.
Well, and also, a lot of people, let's say they're growing the large bean sprouts, like the green beans, and they're cutting off all the roots, right?
So you should compost those roots right back into the system.
Exactly.
And frankly, you're composting sunlight, because the plant used sunlight and CO2 to make the structure.
The structure goes into your compost.
It's like the sun is giving you free compost.
Plus, you're getting more organic matter.
Because you're creating all of that root structure in the soil, so it's more organic matter.
So yeah, you compost it and use it over and over and over again.
Very good.
Yeah.
Combined with the food waste system that we're going to bring in?
Yes.
That's going to be fantastic.
Oh, I can't.
People are going to love that.
I can't wait.
So, can you...
What about...
I guess you don't put meat or bones in that kind of system.
We don't recommend meat and bones.
Any vegetable matter you can put in there.
Okay.
Or any grains you can put in there.
Oh, you can put grains in there.
Yeah, so if you have old spaghetti, things like that, you can put that in there.
Okay.
Yep.
What about eggshells?
Yep.
Eggshells.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Calcium.
You know, the other...
Because I have free-range...
So I'm gathering eggs.
And last night I was feeding my dogs the fresh eggs.
That's why their fur coat is so beautiful.
And my guy here, Rhodey, I had opened up the egg and put the egg in his bowl, and then I just tossed the eggshells.
I'm on a ranch.
He chases down the eggshells and gobbles them up.
He's like, eggshells, eggshells.
Smell like eggs.
It must be good.
Natural calcium.
You love it.
So I think in the future I'm just going to open the egg and put the eggshells and the egg.
You know what you can also do?
You can dry them out and then you can put them in a coffee blender after they're dry.
Sure.
Turn them into powder.
That makes sense.
And then you mix them in with your compost.
Yeah, yeah.
So now you've got calcium.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So there's no waste at all.
True, yeah.
Because, yeah, the chickens are eating the bugs.
The bugs are getting calcium from the soil.
Exactly.
Right?
For their exoskeletons.
The chickens turn that into eggs and eggshells.
The whole system works.
It's a whole closed loop system.
It works very, very well.
Do you find it interesting for your company, again, Patriot Green Products, and I should mention to the folks, The name Patriot really does mean something.
You support veterans' causes as well.
Absolutely.
Well, first of all, I'm an immigrant.
I came to the United States in 1993 from Canada.
And I chose to be a U.S. citizen in 2003 because I really know the difference between Canada and the United States.
However, the United States has changed, of course.
But I chose to be an American citizen because I love this country.
I love what the Founding Fathers believed in in this country.
And I stand for that.
That's why I signed up.
I come from a family of veterans, and we know the sacrifices our veterans make for us.
And if they hadn't made those sacrifices, we wouldn't be enjoying what we enjoy every single day.
So we want to step up for them because they've put their lives on the line for us.
So it's our turn to do something for them.
So what's going to be your next donation or project for veterans?
What do you have in mind?
Well, we give them jobs, so we're encouraging them to give them jobs at our facility.
We give 10% back, and we're actually giving 10% back for folks, if you have a veteran in your family, Yeah.
So for like landscape maintenance, as an example, I reached out to a company last week that's a veteran-owned company.
We're teaching them how to do regenerative landscape, and they'll be using our Patriot Green products, and then there'll be signs on lawns that say, this is a Patriot Green And so we're showing them how to conserve water.
It's non-toxic.
It's good for your pets to be around, your kids.
So it's all good all around.
We feel good about it.
That's very cool.
Yeah, I'm really glad that you're giving back to the community and encourage you to, you know, share stories with you because, you know, you're welcome back here on a frequent basis.
Give us updates on what's going on.
Give us some photos and share some stories and we can even have maybe one of your veteran customers call and talk about what they're doing with their home food situation.
Yep.
In fact, my neighbor, three doors up from us, is a veteran, and we did his lawn for him last year.
We just donated all the product to him, and we brought the equipment in and did his lawn.
And I told him, you know, you have to do this.
You have to top-dress your lawn twice a year.
The first year you had to airify it, but you have to top-dress it twice a year.
And I overseeded.
Well, my lawn in my neighborhood is...
Like, stark difference from everybody else's lawns.
People are going to me, what do you do to your lawn?
I'm like, well, it's a long story.
But he now wants to do his lawn again, and he's wanting to put raised bed gardens in his yard, so we're going to help him with that.
Yeah, I'd absolutely get you connected with him, so he can come out and talk to you.
Sure, no, that'd be great.
With you?
Yes.
We'll bring him in via Skype or something while you're here.
Or I'll bring him in.
I can bring him into the studio if you want.
He lives up in Killeen.
Oh, yeah, sure.
So I can bring him down with me.
See if you can get him in.
Yeah, I could do that.
That'd be awesome.
And bring some stuff, like bring some okra or whatever he's growing, you know?
If it's the right time, you know?
Yeah.
It'd be awesome.
We can do that.
Absolutely.
It was springtime.
Now's the time to be planting, so.
That's, yeah.
And I'm way behind on planting, by the way, because I spend too much time here and not enough time working.
In the fields.
Me too.
I've been filling trays full of mitts and sending out compost tea brewers and everything.
But it's all good.
And I thank you very much to all of your viewers for your support.
Oh, absolutely.
They love you and your company and everything that you're doing.
So the website, folks, is patriotgreenproducts.com.
And are you catching up?
Are you still a little bit behind on shipping?
What's the wait time right now?
We expect that everything should be shipped up by next week.
Everything.
All of the bulk orders are all shipped.
We were waiting on parts, which is one of the reasons.
Like the tea brewers, you have to have an air pump to make them operate.
So we were waiting on the pumps.
So supply chain issues are causing issues for us as well.
Please be patient with us.
We love you all and thank you all.
And we're going to get to every single one of you.
And I've even called a lot of them myself.
I've called them.
My wife has called them.
So our team of people are calling them back.
That's awesome.
Yep.
All right.
Nobody gets left behind.
Yeah, exactly.
Especially when the food supply chain is, in a sense, collapsing.
Breaking down.
Yeah, breaking down.
It really is.
But also food inflation.
So, you know, a lot of people, it used to be that gardening was a hobby, where it would cost you money.
Now, I think actually growing food saves you money.
Right.
So, whatever people are spending with you, you know, hey, okay, I know it's not free, but it's an investment.
Right.
Right.
In soil media that can grow year after year after year.
Exactly.
Once you condition your soil, beyond that, it's tea.
If you manage it with biological tea, the tea brewers that were selling them, then you're going to be able to grow food over and over and over again.
Absolutely.
Well, I'll tell you what.
So, folks, check out the website, PatriotGreenProducts.com, and we'll have Kevin back with some success stories.
Again, just bring us photos.
Bring us...
Yes.
Just show and tell, basically.
I mean, you don't have to give us anything.
We just bring it and then go donate it to somebody.
But show what people are doing with your products.
And I have one more thing I want to run past you here that I think you'll love.
So...
You know, we have an ICP-MS laboratory.
We do food analysis for metals, and normally it's heavy metals, but we also test nutritive elements such as zinc and copper and selenium and so on.
And what I wanted to do with you is Maybe you can do this with your friend who's a veteran.
But whatever he grows in your soil, like bring a sample.
Let's say it's a tomato.
Bring a tomato and then go to the store and buy a tomato.
Compare it.
And then we'll take them both to the lab.
I love it.
And we'll analyze the zinc and the copper.
Nutrient density.
Right.
Magnesium, everything.
Because we're doing those anyway.
So let's see if we can actually do a homegrown versus store-bought Nutritive element comparison.
That's a great idea.
Yeah.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
And actually, speaking of your lab, I've had people requesting to have their soil tested.
Some of the people were 150 miles from Palestine.
Yeah.
And they're looking for somebody to test their soil.
Well, okay, two answers on that.
Number one, we recently received the dioxin testing equipment, but the install happens next month, and then there's training after that.
Okay.
And then there's method validation, so we're still maybe 60 days out.
Before we can do dioxin testing.
But for the heavy metals testing, we used to offer outside testing.
We don't because we're completely occupied with our own raw materials.
So we have, I mean, I don't know if you've seen, sometimes we get a shipment of like 20 pallets of lentils.
And the way that works for laboratory analysis is you can't just take one sample and say, oh, that's good for 20 pallets.
There's a mathematical formula for sampling, so we might have to take like 20 samples or 40 samples or whatever.
The composite testing.
Right, because you have to test, you know, you have to spot check, but it depends on the volume that you're getting in.
So our lab is running hundreds and hundreds of tests per week right now, and so we don't have excess capacity to help other people do testing anymore.
But for dioxin testing, we do want to connect with especially Amish farmers in Pennsylvania.
Oh, goodness, I heard about that.
Yeah, we want to get some Amish farmer samples, and we will do those tests for free, but that's because it's on a different instrument.
Sure.
Versus ICP-MS, the dioxin testing is on actually a triple-quad mass spec GC instrument.
So we want to do that for free.
So if you run into anybody that's got samples from Pennsylvania or Ohio, we'll do those tests for free, as long as you give us the permission to share that publicly.
Absolutely.
Yeah, and the other thing that I would recommend to everyone, and I've talked to a lot of people, is testing is really important.
Because you need to know what you're planting into before you plant.
And so it's chemistry and biology and physics.
And so if you don't do testing, and testing is not that expensive, it's insurance.
It gives you a roadmap to understand what you may need to add.
If you want success with your planting, then you should do some soil testing.
Yeah, 100%.
We can help you with that as well.
Okay, yeah, great.
There's a lot of labs.
There's a lot of soil labs that specialize in soil testing.
Absolutely.
Okay, well, very cool, Kevin, for you to drop by and give us an update.
We wish you the best with your business.
Thank you for helping.
Our listeners and readers with getting squared away in their gardens and their food production, this is the time.
You either learn how to grow food or you're going to get real hungry probably coming up.
Our pleasure.
Thank you for having me.
Absolutely.
Thank you, Kevin.
All right.
PatriotGreenProducts.com is the website, and I'm using their products, and I'll be showing you what I'm growing.
I haven't planted those yet because I just got your stuff today.
But give it, I don't know.
Give it like 60 to 90 days.
We'll have some stuff to show you, and then we'll have you back in.
We'll do some more tests.
Yeah, we'll do some more.
It'll be a lot of fun.
We'll have a lot of fun with the science here.
But thank you for watching today.
Mike Adams here, brighttown.com, and also naturalnews.com.
Of course, our store website, healthrangerstore.com, for the tested products that we sell.
Or better yet, grow your own with patriotgreenproducts.com.
Thanks, Mike.
All right.
Thanks for watching.
Take care.
Take care.
Thanks.
Thanks.
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It's free.
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