You're listening to Only the Best Herbs.
I'm back and welcome back to Only the Best Herbs, the podcast where we dive deep into
the world of natural healing, wellness, and the power of plants.
I'm your host and let me tell you it feels incredible to be back here with you all for
the start of season 3.
If you don't know who I am by now, my name is Ryan Boulda.
Feels like I'm returning home after a long journey finding everything just as warm and
welcoming as I remembered.
This season we're reigniting our passion for herbal wisdom, sharing stories that comfort
the soul, exploring remedies that nurture the body.
It's a journey we are thrilled to embark on once again with you, our cherished listeners,
right by our side.
What a way to kick off the season.
Today we have a very extraordinary opportunity.
We're going to talk with Lori Smallwood.
She's an inspiration for those in the realms of business and wellness.
Lori coaches business owners, has developed a line of her own health and wellness products
that encompass natural healing and empowerment.
So grab your favorite herbal tea, settle in, and let's embark on this season's journey
together, exploring the profound connections between nature, wellness, and our daily lives.
Welcome to season 3 of Only the Best Herbs.
Namaste, my friend.
Namaste.
Where am I talking to you from?
Where are you at?
We are in Indiana.
What about you?
We're close.
I'm in Michigan.
Oh, wonderful.
Wonderful.
Yes, we are still in the wonderful prohibition police state of Indiana, wishing to join our
three brethren outside of here shortly.
Shortly.
Yeah.
You know, first I want to apologize.
My wife is visually impaired, and when Facebook did their great reset, it changed up a bunch
of different stuff.
So she was just used to going down a group and sharing our stuff out.
And we actually shared to you by accident, I believe.
I think it's a happy accident.
I thought, well, I could just shoot him a message and say, sorry, man, you know, accident
won't happen again.
I thought, no, man, I want to talk to Ryan.
I know.
I've seen you before.
I've seen you on Facebook before.
Pretty much just, you know, I've seen your name.
You do lives.
Obviously, you do lives.
We do two lives a week.
One on the NLK Network in Canada, which is a network of knowledge.
And then we also are partnered up with GrowFam, or GrowFam Homestead.
It's primarily a growing channel teaching, you know, about nutrient uses and different
stuff.
We're kind of the odd show out.
You got some confidence going in coming in from Indiana.
But like you said, you guys are far behind.
No, no.
We're going to be supporting some local stuff on 420.
We thought about going to Illinois or Missouri and, you know, hitting one of these big festivals
and partying it up.
And thought, no, not this year, we've got a good friend that's really a grassroots activist.
And we want to be there to support him for this 420.
That's awesome.
We got Hash Bash in Ann Arbor.
So that's always ready to work.
I have heard about that.
We have a lot of friends up in Michigan.
And they've invited us up to, you know, smaller festivals besides the Ant.
Yeah, the Ant Arbor Hash Bash.
But to other smaller festivals, we just haven't been able to get up north yet.
But mostly in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri.
And I think we're supposed to get out to Oklahoma this year.
But we've had invites to Florida, Virginia, Maine, yeah, this year, Ohio.
So, yeah, we just love getting out and meeting everybody.
It's cool and it's, do you have a business, by the way?
Yes, we do.
In fact, this whole thing started just to support the, you know, to support the business
and get our name out there.
And it's, it's taken on the whole energy of its own.
So yes, we have Master Roche's Garden and we are a LLC third party tested hemp derivative
company.
Our special, our specialty is our 1500 milligram full spectrum CBD.
We have four varieties, one with just CBD and then one that we mix and CBN and just
a touch of Delta 8 for our nighttime blend.
We have our golden medley, which is CBD, a CBD isolate and CBG.
We have another one that's our CBD and Delta 8.
It's kind of for, not to mention get you high, but you go, you just stress and anxiety relief.
So we have that or muscle cream.
We have a simple syrup that you can use for, for sweetening.
And of course, our world famous beard oils.
I love the beard, man.
I love it.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you very much.
But yeah, those are, those are our products.
Now, do you have your own product line or are you kind of, you know, do other people's
and sell that?
What, yeah, what's your story?
Man, so kind of similar.
Like I would say it's like very, very, almost 100%.
Maybe like 99% is similar to yours, you know, hemp derivatives company.
We started basically, you know, and it's hard for, it's a little hard for us because, you
know, we got dispensaries, right?
Everyone's THC focused, you know?
So that's our, it's kind of been our issue a tad.
So we've had, you know, branch outside of Michigan a little bit and really make some
friends to make it happen.
And the show, like, like you said, was primarily to push the brand and meet some people, make
some relationships and, you know, but knowledge, you know, educating the public because I've
quickly found out that a lot of people only know about CBD and THC.
Like that's it.
And what they know about both of them, if you've had the same experiences I have, it's
pretty much not true.
They have a lot of things confused and don't understand how they work separately, let alone
how they work together and why you should be taking CBD when you're on a THC regimen
and all of the other additional benefits from the cannabinoids.
And you are exactly right, education for us is, you know, is our business is education
to get people going.
Like literally.
You can't, I mean, and I'll be, I'll let you know right now, like what we do is we take
this podcast, we do, we mostly do audio only, for I would say for the most part.
However, we're starting to transition over to, you know, we're going to start doing
lives and stuff in the group.
So yeah, man, I would love to do a couple of things with you here and there.
I think it would be pretty cool.
I don't see, for me, I would say most people would think from a business perspective, you're
crazy for doing, you know, wanting to do like an interview with a fellow company, but I
don't see it that way.
No, no, I don't either.
I don't either because, you know, we're spreading, we're spreading the same message.
And as far as I'm concerned, I think everybody should be using CBD and cannabinoids in their
life.
I would love for them to buy from me, but you know what?
I want them to buy from, if they don't buy from me, brother, I want them buying from
you.
I want, you know, everybody to understand how beneficial this is.
And you know, I'm educating, you know, our show's not up there.
In fact, I'm a really wowsy salesman.
Our company like twice during the show, and I give more shout outs to the people that,
you know, send us shit that I do our own products.
But you know, it's educating the folks.
And you know, if I'm not in your area, my products aren't in your area, and you got
people right down the street from you, they should be buying from you.
Right.
Well, see, that's another huge thing, though, for us.
And this is kind of how what I try to tell people, people who aren't trying to educate
and people who aren't trying to, I would say like advance where your state is at or wherever
you're located, if you're not trying to, you know, you don't believe it.
Honestly, if you're just trying to go, then you really, you know, go sell or whatever.
You don't believe in the product because that's what the, you know, cannabis is such a peaceful
and its history is so rich.
And it's so, it's so amazing how a lot of us and a lot of the states have gotten to this
point.
And I would say I've heard a lot of people say this.
Cannabis is taking some big steps federally.
So federally, and I think they're even doing the same with mushrooms too.
Mushrooms is another big thing that has been being.
Mushrooms will be legal in Indiana before cannabis is.
Think so.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
I 100%.
Yes.
In fact, I look for mushroom legalization probably next year.
Cannabis legalization, I still think we're two or three years out.
Because of what the, what the feds decide.
Right.
The feds could federally de-schedule it tomorrow and it'll still take Indiana two years to
get their shit together on state regulations.
That's crazy.
Kind of sounds like a Texas thing.
It sounds very similar to Texas.
Texas and Indiana, you might say are almost joined at the hip on this.
And they have the identity.
While Texas has medical, Indiana doesn't, we don't even have medical in Indiana.
Really?
The only thing we have that makes Indiana a medical state is we have Marinal, the synthetic.
That's the only, I mean, we don't even have medical here.
That's terrible.
That's really, that's really unfortunate.
So I 100% support you, man.
If I plan on doing some traveling here soon, I would say by the end of the year, I'm trying
to go to some specific places.
So if I'm cutting through Indiana or anything, I have to say hello.
I can get a picture.
I have to.
Oh, certainly.
Yeah.
And if we get up to Michigan, we'll definitely, definitely hook up.
We have, so the name of our brand is CBD surgeons.
Unfortunately, marketing has been a huge issue because of having the word CBD in the name.
A lot of, a lot of platforms do not like that.
Google doesn't like it.
Like, nobody like, like nobody likes it.
So what we had to do is we just took this, we just took the CBD part off.
We said, well, now we're just, you know, we're two different things.
So here at, in Mount Clemens, which is about 15 minutes away from Detroit, we have our,
we have our store.
And then online is where we, you know, where we are surgeons.
So CBD surgeons has a, you know, has a page.
It's probably got like close to 800 followers.
I don't know, it's been maybe a year since we started it.
And then we have only the best herbs, which is why we were using it to try to, I'm like,
okay, we're going to make our own fucking platform.
You know, we're going to, we're going to, you know, so that's how, you know, that's
how it's kind of, that's how everything is birthed, but it has kind of taken on a mind
of its own a little bit right now.
And it's making, helping me meet fantastic, awesome people like you.
Oh, thank you.
You know, I love, I love the name because I'm taking man.
You know, are, are they doing, you know, I didn't know if you were a company or you
were just doing reviews and only carrying the best products and, and stuff.
I thought, oh man, is he doing something like that?
I mean, that would be, I wish I would have thought of something like that.
We are, we are eventually, we want to get our own brand of, you know, because we manufacture
our own products in, in walled lake.
Right.
So that, you know, before we kind of get into that, you know, trying to help people that
much, we want to get, you know, our own, you know, our own thing going, which is, which
is, it is, it's working out.
We're selling product across the United States.
I mean, I got orders from Oregon, Texas, Florida, Kentucky.
I mean, we got, we got, I mean, I know I'm forgetting a few, but it's pretty amazing
that it's happened.
You guys have a website?
You guys have a website where you can, because I love, you know, share it, share your website.
Yes.
I certainly, I certainly will share it.
I'll share it in messenger.
But yes, we have a, we have a full up website.
And we are, we're doing all kinds of stuff outside of, I talked about the Facebook and
the NLK network.
Now we're going to be doing, I think a third show on Saturdays for WTHC radio, which is,
which is kind of cool.
So yeah, we're, I mean, we're all about promoting full plant medicine, peace, love, good vibes
or more, you know, that more brings us together than divides us.
And we try to, try to present, you know, real life.
Well, my daughter was my co-host for quite a while and she moved on and now it's my
wife.
But you know, we try to engage and relate to real life people.
It's not about us.
You know, it's about us together, our struggles, how we're overcoming it, how we are celebrating,
how we're dealing with failure with loss.
We're right there with you.
And you know, you're living this with us.
So that's kind of our, kind of our vibe.
I love it, man.
And I trust me, it starts out, I think when you start doing things, you know, at a family
level, because you know, we're doing that pretty much as well, is that, you know, as
a family business, we have a couple, we have a couple of good relationships.
We were doing radio stuff with, oh man, what's his name?
This is edited in, but his name is Ron Cameron.
Rest in peace, Ron Cameron.
He just passed away.
Fantastic individual.
Sports Talk Radio.
Probably heard his voice.
You know his voice.
He was battling with some issues and some pain.
He was going into surgery.
It was, it was his whole thing.
And so I want to give a shout outs to Ron Cameron for being such a big part of history.
Look him up.
But he was, he just died.
And it was just really sad.
He does, he's doing Sports Talk Radio.
He'd been doing it for a really long time.
Man, I really, I, during this interview, I'll think of it.
But he's, he was really cool to do that stuff with.
Well, yeah, you know, we're doing a bit of helping support the marijuana maintenance program.
It's a 12 step program that helps people transition from opioids and alcohol, off of opioids and
alcohol by growing their own medicine.
Because a lot of times this plants the first thing, first time these folks have ever had
to take care of anything besides themselves.
Yeah, anyway, the guy that we partnered up with her collaborating with runs a clothing
shop out of South Beach, Florida.
And he does a lot of MMA fighters.
And we're finding out what this huge connection between the sports world and cannabis has
been.
And that is, that is one thing that has not been explored as far as I can see in the cannabis
community is the sports cannabis connection.
And it's huge, especially for recovery and many other things.
You know, a lot of the proteins have removed cannabis from the band substance list.
They put your body, it accelerates your body.
You know, you're activating those receptors, you're healing faster, you know, you know,
the pain management, of course, with the topical.
I know there's, I think the MLB was, I think, I can't remember the name, but I think the
MLB was the first.
And this was just recently, the, they were the first one to introduce CBD and hemp products
to their players and to the medical recovery process and whatnot.
Actually, this is the first year every MLB field will have a cannabis leaf in the, in
the outfield because a CBD company has contracted with them.
So there will be a cannabis leaf in all stadiums this year.
I did not hear that.
That's really cool.
I just heard that a couple of days ago.
I can't tell you which company it was that did this.
But man, I want to know about you specifically and how you got to where you're at.
And I know you mentioned your daughter and your wife, but I want to know about you.
I have been a cannabis advocate, hemp and cannabis advocate, not just cannabis, but
hemp also since the 80s.
I was one of these guys that was handed out the, I think they were blue and gray or gray
and green trifold normal pamphlets out in the late 80s to people passing by on the street
saying, hemp can save the world.
Check out a cannabis as an alternative.
40 years.
Yeah.
Holy shit.
It doesn't seem like that long, honestly.
And then I grew up in a rural community.
I didn't have very many friends.
I spent a lot of times in the woods and the farm or the fields and kind of the meadows
and stuff.
And it got real interested in Native American medicine and edible plants and all.
And I started exploring that and I became an herbalist as a pastime because friends
and family always told me,
you're never going to make a living being an herbalist.
You know, no, get your head out of the clouds, get your feet on the ground.
So I just basically did stuff for friends and family and for ourselves.
Well when the cannabinoids started hitting the market and CBD started really gaining
some traction, it's like my ears perked up and it's like, what is this?
Right.
And I started getting in there and my mind started working and going, oh my God, if we
could partner, you know, these cannibal cannabinoids with these natural remedies that we already
know these herbs and plants and flowers that we know have potential and we mix them with
cannabinoids, we could do some amazing stuff.
So that's where we're, that's where we kind of got started.
The whole idea of Masher Ochi's garden was going to be more of a craft, cannabis grow,
more connoisseur, well-aged, you know, top quality, small market cannabis.
And then the realization hit us, we're in Indiana and I probably won't live to see the
day that that's even a possibility.
So started to explore in the CBD market and that's kind of where we landed.
Awesome.
I have to ask you because I don't know if a lot of people are like familiar, but the
Masher Ochi, that's from Dragon Ball Z, right?
Yes and no.
I worked with a, my day job, I worked with a lot of younger guys in their 20s and 30s.
I call them the kids, but to me they're kids.
Well they started talking about Masher Ochi and kind of referring to me as Masher Ochi.
It's like, what in the hell is this?
So I started looking it up and yes, with my sunglasses and my beard and I wear the Hawaiian
shirts all summer long, sandals, so yeah, they got me.
We look very much alike.
Because like I said, I didn't know who and how they were talking about.
The more I checked up on this guy, it's like, yeah, all right, he's kind of cool.
I can deal with this, but we were sitting around the fire one night over at the house
just kicking back.
But you guys, it's got to be Master Ochi.
And that's kind of how it all came together.
My wife made me buy the damn hat that I wear.
I didn't want it.
It sat in the house for many years.
I didn't wear it.
We were trying to figure out something to do with the label.
I want to take a picture of you with the hat on and kind of get it in a 70s style or 60s
style cartoon.
But yeah, we were in a little artesian community called Nashville, Indiana.
And it's a very cool artist community.
This was the second leather shop that we had been at since we arrived, like 45 minutes.
It's all we've been in town and she'd already acquired two new leather purses.
So I think she was feeling a little guilty.
So I put this on and the shop just screwed around and she said, oh my God, you got to
get it.
No, you got to get it.
I looked at the price.
I said, like hell, I'm buying this hat.
I like it.
You can see, you can see, I won the argument.
Well, definitely you did.
That's correct.
Awesome.
That's where the hat came from.
And it's part of my artificial hair here.
Trust me, I'm there with you, man.
I understand.
I'm only 30 years old and that's just, ugh.
I was looking around for, you know, that's probably pretty close to when I started shaving
my head.
Oh, right.
About, yeah, about the only two people that were running around with shaved heads at the
time it seemed like was Michael Jordan and myself.
That's funny.
Funny thing about ending up with a shaved head.
I was working for a pretty big company in a finance role.
And I got a substantial promotion.
At that time I had a ponytail halfway down my back and trying to be professional and
all.
It's like, I got to cut my hair.
Nobody asked me to.
It was just the right thing to do at that time.
You know.
Yeah.
So I went with a hair helmet.
I couldn't do it.
I had that haircut for two weeks.
It's like, I can't do this.
It looks ridiculous.
And I shaved my head and I've been that way ever since.
And then you turned in the master Ochi.
I love it.
Obviously you're getting out there mirror making some connections and you're getting your name
and your brand out there.
What's next, man?
I want it like, what do you see happening?
What did you know?
What are some of your goals with this?
Even if they're small goals, obviously you said you might not.
I think you will live to see the day, but for Indiana, but I want to, I'm, what's your
main focus?
Well, right now, you know, it's, it's, it's when I say this, it's going to be your main
focus too, because, you know, we think of like distribution.
How do I get our product and in front of more people instead of online?
Where, you know, where can I get into those, you know, brick and mortar dispensaries or
head shops?
And are we really a good fit?
It's hard to find a avenue for our products right now because we really aren't head shop
products.
We're not recreational products, but we're looked down upon, you know, in the, a lot of
the, the health food and supplement areas too.
Well, you know, you're really guys, you're really not supplements.
We don't know what you are.
So it's finding a retail avenue that suits our products.
That's what I'm exploring right now is where do we fit in?
You know, are we a CVS of Walgreens?
You know, is that where CBD is going to end up in the future or in the grocery store?
You know, where, where are our products going to be able to reach our audience in the future?
Dispensaries in here, at least in Michigan, hate us.
Head shops that, you know, because the dispensaries, you know, like they, they clearly, they're
all about getting high, right?
You're going there, you're getting T and C, right?
Like you said, I believe it's its own, it's its own thing, I think in my opinion.
I think it very well.
We know, we know some pharmacies that carry a topicals, at least for right now.
And I think you're exactly right.
I want to talk, I want to definitely want to talk more because we're running out of
time a little bit here.
I want to, I'm going to set, I'm going to set something up for another, for another
chat with you here in the future when you, when you got some time and I know I have listeners,
I know I have some listeners in Indiana.
I know I have listeners who are close to you, even neighboring states.
So it would be really beneficial, I think, for them to reach out to you.
And because I've noticed a lot of people, you know, they're going to the, they're going
to these head shops and stuff and they're getting the Chinese bullshit.
And that's the problem.
You know, that's one thing that I said and I absolutely refused when we started to go
into gas stations.
Absolutely, absolutely refused.
And I have stood our ground.
I know we've lost a lot of sales.
We could have had products in there, but you know, there's nothing, yeah, there's nothing
worse to be compared to the gas station CBD.
And brother, we, we have to, if we can't find, we are going to have to build, you know,
our, our own community and outreach for, for CBD.
And you know, maybe we can grow a whole community that's dedicated to natural plant therapy
and, and healing.
We can get a company out there that's, that's all they do is natural soaps, hair care, CBD,
hemp, you know, products, cannabis products.
It'd be wonderful.
That is the main goal.
I'm gonna, that's where this is probably where I'm gonna cut it off, at least on the
podcast part of it.
And then I'll put my little ending in there.
But like I said, I really enjoy talking to you.
I, you know, I believe in what you're doing and not my stay, right?
Almost a yes.
We'll figure out something here in the future.
Cool, cool.
Sounds good, my friend Ryan, have a beautiful day.
Peace, love and good vibes, my man.
And look forward to talking to you again.
For sure.
Have a good rest of your day, man.
I look forward to it as well.
Oh, thank you.
Feel free to reach out to us with your experience questions or even just to say hello.
Until next time, take care of yourself and one another.
Embrace the power of nature.
Stay curious, stay inspired and most importantly, stay connected.
It's been a pleasure to be part of your day today.
If you think you have what it takes to be only the best, reach out to us.
SurgeonSolutions.org.