In this week’s episode, Josh is talking to Bronwyn Blake from Vasse Valley Hemp Farms who were Winners in the 2021 Community Achievement Awards for Regional Western Australia.
Vasse Valley Hemp Farm is WA’s leading hemp foods brand, driving market demand for WA grown hemp seed products.
Established in 2017 by husband and wife power-team Chris and Bronwyn Blake, the brand and the business has experienced strong growth despite the challenges of an industry in its infancy.
The Vasse Valley brand has broken ground for hemp food products. Their innovative roasted, whole-hemp seed range was the first hemp-inspired food range to win awards in Australia. Vasse Valley recently won the WA Business Innovation Award for their Terpene Tonics, a cheaper alternative to CBD oil.
In this episode:
- We learn all about Hemp seeds and how they are a “tiny nutritional powerhouse”
- We also learnt that terpenes activate your endocannabinoid system to help fight chronic pain and inflammation and can be an alternative to medicinal cannabis
Links
Connect with Vasse Valley on Instagram
Connect with Vasse Valley on Facebook
For recipes and blogs go to www.vassevalley.com.au
Or visit the shop at Origins Market, Busselton
Want to know how to Rate and Review a podcast, see this article
Follow us on our Inspirational.Australians Instagram Page
Want to nominate someone? (It can take as little as 2 minutes to recognise someone making a difference)
Like some more information on Corporate Partnership?
We would like to welcome our new member this week – Kate Roberts
Transcript
[00:00:04] Annette
Welcome to the inspirational Australians podcast, where we chat to people making a difference in their communities and in the lives of others. And here is your host for today. Josh Watson.
[00:00:21] Josh
Thank you, Annette, and very excited to be recording my first inspiration Australians podcasts for 202 2. Not really a fun fact, but I’ve been, I haven’t left the house in 2022 as yet. Our family unfortunately got struck down with covid and just spread through our family one by one. And so we’ve all just kind of got it a few days apart. So we’re just keeping it home. So I’m actually extremely excited to be speaking with This week’s guest Bronwyn Blake for this episode, and this weekly dose of inspiration because it’s breaking up the monotony for me a little bit. So that too much further ado, I want to introduce Bronwyn straight away, and I’m really excited as I said, to talk with Bronwyn , because it’s a topic that I don’t know a lot about, but I am very interested to find out. So I’ll quickly introduce Bronwyn before I get your say, Hello Bronwyn is co-owner of Vasse Valley, Hemp farm. Now some people may be familiar with him and what it’s used for, I’m aware of it, but not that without knowing too much about it. But I’m really excited to hear more from you Bronwyn and I want to go introduce you straightaway. How are you doing this morning?
[00:01:35] Bronwyn
I’m fantastic. Thanks. josh..
[00:01:37] Josh
So Bronwyn, can you tell us before we get into your business, how it started and tell us more about Hemp and all of the stuff that’s involved? I want to find out how you kind of came across us in the awards. So you were nominated in the Western Australian community achievement awards last year and tell us a little bit about that and then I want to find out about your business, basically Hemp farm.
[00:02:02] Bronwyn
- We were nominated last year by an anonymous community member for both the business innovation award and the regional economic development award. We didn’t feel like we were quite strong enough in that second category, but we certainly felt that we had a good shot at the business innovation award due to a New product range that we were in the process of launching. And I would tell you about that a little bit down the track. We found the awards process. Very, very streamlined and the actual awards, not really gratifying. We had a fantastic time met some wonderful people and, and absolutely thrilled to win the category we were in the business innovation.
[00:02:47] Josh
Yes. So for those following along at home prime Super business innovation award is an exciting one for us as well. Because we partnered from Super for 10 years now as a awards sponsor and partner of the community achievement awards. And the business innovation award is a bit of a New direction for them. Traditionally they’ve been an industry fund around agriculture and they’re moving into some other areas and expanding and working with a lot of businesses and SMEs and business innovation, something they’re really passionate about. And so you’re almost the perfect inaugural winner of the business innovation award because it was previously something a bit different, a tweak their category because you’re from an agricultural, well, you’re in the agriculture industry. And as you said, Super innovative. And so, yeah, it was a really fitting award winning.
[00:03:33] Bronwyn
Everyone in the Hemp industry has to be innovative because their industry is so New and there, there’s so many end products that can be created from Hemp, say, and we don’t have the processing facilities here to create them. So everyone in the industry is innovating to try and get the industry off the ground.
[00:03:55] Josh
Well, that’s a good segue way into talking about him. So, you know, I noticed that your business started in 2017, so it hasn’t been around for that long. And interestingly from what I’ve read, you’re correct me if I’m wrong here, but it was started on that year because of some New legislation and some New laws. Is that right?
[00:04:12] Bronwyn
That’s right. We actually started growing Hemp back in 2015. I’ll, I’ll start from the very beginning, Chris and I so Chris is my husband and he’s the co-owner of West Valley. Chris and I bought a farm we. It wasn’t part of our plan, it just kind of happened. And then we thought, right, well let’s, let’s try and make a living off this patch of land. We weren’t quite sure what to do. It was a small, small acreage that 59 acres which for my experience and my background in agriculture is not really enough acreage to do anything significant with unless you value add. So there was no point growing potatoes where, where in Spud and dairy country where we’re at no point growing potatoes because you just can’t compete with the big boys who have been doing it for generations. So it needed something niche, something different, something we could value add to. And that had a bit of flexibility and something we were passionate about. That’s probably the most important thing. And Hemp ticked all of those boxes. No one really was doing it. We’re one of the first licence holders in Western Australia, one or two other licence holders at that time. And so we started growing, we grew our first crop in the summer of I think it was 2014 15. We’ve just, we’re just about to harvest our seven crop in the next month.
[00:05:30] Josh
Well, that’s quite cool.
[00:05:32] Bronwyn
Yeah, and then vasse Valley was established in 2017, as you mentioned. And that is the year that the federal government legislated and allowed Hemp seed as a food in the country. So Hemp seeds being legal for human consumption in most countries in the world for quite some time. Australia and New Zealand a bit behind and it was finally brought in in 2017.
[00:05:59] Josh
So I’m going to ask the Super basic questions. Hemp is a plant, right?
[00:06:04] Bronwyn
It sure is.
[00:06:06] Josh
Yup. And, you know, is it the plant that marijuana is usually made from, or is that right?
[00:06:14] Bronwyn
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So Hemp is Cannabis, it’s. It’s Cannabis Sativa, there’s a couple of different Cannabis varieties. All of them can have high THC content, but Hemp is different from marijuana in that it has been specifically and selectively bred to have low THC. So to give you some perspective around that, the THC content of marijuana straight marijuana is generally between 10 and 30 percent. THC, THC content in industrial, Hemp is below one percent. In many countries, it’s legally has to be below zero point three, five percent in Australia. It was that level until a couple of years ago when the state government increased the maximum level to one percent.
[00:07:04] Josh
Yeah. All right, so you’re growing the Hemp plant and in 2017, your business was established to utilize the seed.
[00:07:13] Bronwyn
Yeah, yeah, we wanted to go down the food route. We always, we were always passionate about using the seed for food. We couldn’t do it when we started growing Hemp, but we thought that’s OK. You know, we’re glass half full kind of people. We thought this would give us like we felt that it wasn’t far away because there was a lot of talk around it. So we thought this will give us a few years just to practice growing the plan to get better at growing and harvesting it. And get our ducks in a row, but then it was legislated and legalized a lot sooner than we expected. So we really had to get a wriggle on. But yeah, you can, the crop itself is beautiful. It smells like marijuana. You know, it’s got that Lovely, Lovely Cannabis smell, and it looks exactly the same, but you could smoke a whole field and you wouldn’t get high. Yeah, you’d probably just get a headache. You could smoke it and probably get some good benefits from the turbines and the other cannabinoids in there, but you certainly won’t get high from it.
[00:08:10] Josh
Yeah. So you mentioned something a word that I’ve seen. I don’t know what it is. Terpenes
[00:08:17] Bronwyn
turbines. Yes. What is the turbines of aromatic compounds from plants? And I think down the track, we will probably get stuck into turbines a lot more because that’s one of the that’s our New product range that we won the awards for. So yeah, Josh, I think we’ll maybe go with the Hemp story a bit longer and then get stuck in the chirping of the
[00:08:38] Josh
show. So you grow the, the Hemp plant and you’re using the seeds. Can you tell us where? ? And again, this is a Super basic questions for you, but for myself and anyone else wondering? Yeah, has our work on the seeds literally, where do they, where they are, they on the plant, I should say.
[00:08:56] Bronwyn
So the plants that we grow a female, you can’t get male plants too, but the crops that we select have been selectively bred to be mainly female and self pollinating. The seeds grow in the flowering head, which is the bud for those who are familiar with, with Cannabis and marijuana. People smoke the, the flower or the bud. We keep growing the plant until the bud actually set seed, make sure it’s fertilized and set seed. And then once that seeds arrive, we, we take them off the bud and dry them, and then we process them into various food products. So the Hemp seeds that most people are familiar with is actually the heart of the seed that we call them Hemp hearts to differentiate from from other seed products. They are small and white and very soft, and they’re, they’re actually very tasty. They taste nutty. I’ll just eat them up the spoon my three year old asks for them off the spoon that’s. That’s how quiet they’re a little bit sweet, I suppose, but very inoffensive in flavor. And the thing I love about them being small is that because I’ve got two kids, I’ve got a three year old and a five year old. And we all know how fussy kids are, is that you can put them into any of the meals and they can’t pick them out. They don’t actually even notice that they’re eating them. And these, these seeds are wonderfully high in Amigas. So I guess that’s one of the main reasons people eat Hemp is for their Omega profiles and not I think the seeds themselves are about 30 percent oil, 30 percent, fats, 90 percent of these fats are polyunsaturated, fatty acids, which are the good fats, the ones we want I think there’s only about five percent saturated fat and Hemp seed, so like flax and Chia people eat Hemp seed for their Omega profiles.
[00:10:50] Josh
And so yeah, as you said, that’s an amazing parenting hack when you get little bits of nutrients and vitamins and the good stuff that you need in your kid’s food. It’s amazing, like the one thing we do at home is we have very Similar kids in terms of ages three and four for us is, you know, you make a bolognese and you just, we grade up carrot and zucchini and whatever else we can to get it in the sauce, because if we put those things big, they’re probably going to eat them.
[00:11:19] Bronwyn
No, I know.
[00:11:21] Josh
Yeah, it’s a great tip. And yeah, I was looking through your product range earlier and there is a lot of really wide range of things. And so yeah, that’s cool to know that that’s what that nutty kind of flavor because that would help me to think of what I could cook with it. What are some of your favorite uses or the products that you have?
[00:11:40] Bronwyn
Well there are also different vendors but such different uses. We like the Hemp hearts, for example, I have them in my muesli every day. I also put them in every smoothie I might make has hip hearts going into it. I even have sprinkled them on my kids ice cream and it’s nice sprinkles. But I try and get them in just about everything. You can use them in baking. And for example, with protein bowls, you can roll them in Hemp hearts instead of coconut, they’re very, very versatile. Some people even make milk out of the Hemp hearts. Like a nut. No.
[00:12:14] Josh
Yeah, wow.
[00:12:15] Bronwyn
And we also have a protein powder that contains about 50 percent protein proteins and other asset of the Hemp seed, Hemp seed. It’s called people have likened it. So they’ve called it a tiny nutrition, a tiny nutritional powerhouse. Because it’s, it’s not only rich in those Amigas and I want to talk a little bit more about those soon. It’s Rich in protein. So one seed contains about 30 percent protein. And when you reprocess it like you remove the husk and some of the oil. And you get this protein isolate that can be up to 50 percent protein. And this protein, it’s not just, you know, you’re not just getting a good quantity of protein, but the quality is far superior to a lot of other sources on the market. So you’ve got all the essential amino acids in there that our bodies require. Not many plant based proteins have all the essential amino it’s. It’s also highly digestible protein. So the protein you’re eating in the Hemp seed is more likely to actually be able to be used by a body than a lot of other protein sources. Yes. And the beauty about Hemp protein and other plant proteins is the fats that they do contain unsaturated. That generally unsaturated fats, whereas meat is mainly saturated fats, and they contain fiber. So I think that’s about 20 percent fiber and an approaching Hemp protein isolate. So you’re getting more of a like, if you, if you’re into your proteins, protein supplements, you’re getting a more balanced source of nutrition when you have plant based proteins and Hemp protein in particular than if you’re having your whey protein and traditional protein sources.
[00:13:56] Josh
So and so is that a particularly popular with people on a plant based diet because they can get that protein from a plant based source?
[00:14:07] Bronwyn
Absolutely, particularly the vegan market, we find according to their Hemp and your gym, junkies. As well as fitness conscious, people really get into the Hemp protein and I recommend the hearts as well. The heart’s up 35 percent protein, which is pretty high and they contain their full fat. So they contain all those Amigas too. And the Amigas and the protein, they’re absolutely vital for a normal functioning body. Your body cannot grow and repair and maintain itself without these these essential nutrients.
[00:14:40] Josh
So I’m a big survivor fan and so if you watched it in the last season in the Australian survivor, there’s a guy named Emmett who called himself the plant based Superman. And I’m sure he would have been on the Hemp protein powder for short.
[00:14:55] Bronwyn
If he wasn’t, he was missing out. Exactly. Would you like me to talk about the rest of our product range?
[00:15:01] Josh
Yeah, so what I was going to ask you is you’ve got very good insight that I want to know about some other products. What you love to use them for, and also you’ve mentioned some of the, you know, the health benefits. And there was one that I was sneakily. Very, very interested in which was improved sleep. So they’re kind of the questions I want to ask. So yeah, let us know about some of your other favorite products.
[00:15:23] Bronwyn
Okay, so we’ve got, we’ve got to have range, which I’ve mentioned the hearts of mentioned the protein, and we also do a Hemp seed oil. A lot of people take that therapeutically for general wellness. It’s, it’s an anti natural anti-inflammatory and I’ll go into the mechanisms behind that a bit later. But we also have, and this is, this is more unique to West Valley is our roasted range. One of the reasons why we won the innovation award was for our roasted Hemp seed crumble, that’s the first product we brought to the market. The problem in Western Australia, when Hemp food was legalized, was that there were no Hemp seed processing facilities. So a lot of people wanted to do Hemp foods, but couldn’t because the facilities to make your traditional heart’s protein and oil weren’t around and it required a massive investment to, to get them up and running. So we sort of thought outside the square and just thought what we could do with the whole seed. So we found that by roasting it and then milling it, we had this beautiful, it completely changed the flavor profile and the paramedics of the seed. And it became more like a hazelnut toasty flavour. Really Dark and crunchy, amazing texture. Not everyone’s cup of tea. Not everyone likes the crunch, but a lot of people do. So it became a whole New product, and that was the first product we brought to market. And it allowed us to have a saleable, Hemp, was grown and processed. Hemp food for that reason we became the first wa business to get a Hemp food to market. And we, we weren’t quite ready with our product at that stage. We didn’t launch that product until 2018 end of 2018, which was a year after Hemp seeds legalised. So to get something to market. While we worked on our own range, we collaborated with a local brewery. We really wanted to do beer because why wouldn’t you honestly, so we
[00:17:26] Josh
got it right. It makes sense to me
[00:17:28] Bronwyn
that lost so much sense so. So William, there was a Newbery starting off up the road called rocky ridge brewing Co.. Have you heard of them?
[00:17:37] Josh
Oddly, I haven’t. One thing I didn’t mention the top is, but anyone who doesn’t know that Valley is correct me if I’m wrong place from when it’s down the bottom of Margaret river region. Is that right?
[00:17:47] Bronwyn
It’s north of Margaret river, but the only problem is it’s in that area. It’s sort of between between Bess and komaram up in the farming precinct in there. So we knew of this business that was just starting off up the road and they were literally at the same point of business, maybe a little bit further ahead than us. And we approached them and asked if they wanted to do a Hemp beer. They said yes, so we gave them some of our roasted Hemp, said crumble, and they did some experiments and we went ahead with it. We called Dr. whereis Brown ale. That’s
[00:18:23] Josh
going to say it with a darker beer. So yeah,
[00:18:24] Bronwyn
, yeah, yeah, yeah, it kind of has to be with those flavor profiles. So Dr. 80s was launched on the 17th of November, no 12th of November 2017. That is the day that Hemp seed was legalized while in Australia. So the timing was impeccable with that lined up with a beer festival in Fremantle. So that was a big launch and a lot of fun. And that was a great way. We got a lot of media attention to that. It’s a great way of launching both of our businesses and launching Hemp, like introducing Hemp to the world and what better way to do it through beer. I mean, it kind of over road the health benefits, but it was a good way to get the concept of Hemp out there.
[00:19:05] Josh
Yes. That’s amazing timing and the innovation. Yeah, I can see why you were the award winner because it’s a very cool thinking at this way. For sure.
[00:19:15] Bronwyn
Yeah, yeah, it was, it was a very good experience and we got a lot of that really kicked off our social media profiles. Got us a lot of followers and it was a great way to launch our business. In hindsight, I would have done a lot differently, but we really didn’t have the skills and the knowledge and the, and the assets at that time to capitalize on that exposure. But it was a good way to launch a small, inexperienced startup.
[00:19:40] Josh
So you mentioned your social media, can you just let people know if they’re wondering right now where to find you and connect with you?
[00:19:46] Bronwyn
Yeah, thanks for that josh.. We’re on Facebook and Instagram. Our handle is best Valley VA, WC VA, L E,Y
[00:20:02] Annette
Hi listeners. I’m just going to take a moment to interrupt and talk about our membership program. But how interesting and informative is this chat with Bronwyn. I’m really riveted and want to know more, so we’ll be back to hearing that shortly. The membership program or membership payments go towards prize grants to assist our award winners to make a real difference to their community work. And only $50 a year, which is something like 14 cents a day. The benefits are huge. We offer so many benefits to our members, which you can check out at WW dot awards Australia dot com slash shop. For one of the fun benefits is a shout out on our podcast. And this week we’ve got just one New member who’s joined us over the New Year’s break. And we’d like to thank Kate Roberts for joining us and look forward to giving Kate value for her membership over this coming year. Now to get back to our chat with Bronwyn and Josh.
[00:21:01] Josh
Lovely, sorry, what were you saying?
[00:21:03] Bronwyn
Oh, so we’ve got a couple of other products in our range that we’ve won. We’ve won an award for our dzokhar. So this is the roasted range that the Hemp save crumble was the first product. And then we followed that up with the roasted, Hemp seeds, dzokhar. That’s won a silver at the Sydney fine food awards and a bronze at the Perth food awards. And this was the first year we were the first business in Australia to win awards for Hemp inspired foods. Wow. But that was back in 2019, I think. And then we’ve recently launched a salad. Sprinkle featuring both the Hemp seed crumble and Hemp hearts, and native pepper Berry. And that is selling like crazy. It is absolutely delicious, a real flavour bomb that’s not just amazing on salads, but on fish and chicken on noodles. It’s the seasoning and it’s very healthy. We call it guilt free flavour. Lovely
[00:21:58] Josh
that things like, you know, with salads, you know, especially people trying to eat a bit healthier, maybe now that we’ve post-Christmas and any breaks and sometimes salad can be a bit plain. So you do need those things to, to make them a bit tasty. That sounds fantastic. And is a little bit crunchy because it has the, the roasted.
[00:22:17] Bronwyn
Yeah. A tiny bit. It’s not enough in there to really notice the crunch with that one, but the flavor. People just ate it up the spoon, they tell me straight out of the packet. It’s very moreish my three year old’s. He wants spoons spoonfuls of it all the time. And it’s the only way I can get my boys to eat their salad. We had it on abalone the other day that was wonderful. Yeah, it’s very versatile flavor. So if you’re looking for something to spice up your foods a little bit, it’s not chili or anything. It’s just, it’s just all natural flavors and get some extra vitamins and minerals and you then yeah, I recommend giving it a go. We’ve got some recipes on our website as well. If I can direct people to our website. Yeah, it’s a full range of products. There is a great little collection of recipes.
[00:23:00] Josh
Yeah, I’m there now actually, so Vasse Valley dot com dot au and it’s a beautiful website and it really is. It’s very easy to use and lots of information on there. So for anyone who’s hearing this and just wanting to dive in a bit deeper, even I suggest heading to the website there. So we’ve talked about some of the nutritional benefits and the vitamins and all that stuff. What are some of the, I guess for people like me who I know those words, but what does that translate into?
[00:23:29] Bronwyn
OK, let’s, let’s stick with Amigas for now because this is really the most important aspect of Hemp, but also the general population. You notice that a lot of us, a lot of people out there aren’t that, Well, there’s a lot of autoimmune diseases and, and arthritis lots of inflammation and inflammatory problems. There are a lot of this and look, I’m not a medical doctor. This is all from my experience. I do have a Ph.D., so I do have a doctor title, but that’s an agricultural science. I guess the point is, is that I know how to do my research. My experience from what I’ve seen from us selling mainly Hemp seed, Hemp hearts, and our Terpin range is that a lot of people are responding to Hemp seed due to its Omega three profile. And that is because a lot of people have an Amiga three deficiency. So the benefits of taking Omega 3s. People know that that they’re good for you, but I don’t think they always understand why. So Omega 3s are anti-inflammatory. They help with mood and sleep regulation, but they’re actually Omega 3s a scientifically proven to reduce symptoms of ADHD in children. And they also scientifically shown to improve symptoms of anxiety and depression. They are very good for cardiovascular health and a joint health as well. Good point, arthritis, also shown to help with diabetes and a long list of other problems as well health ailments that I just can’t, I can’t remember the full range of the top of my head. The important thing to note is that a lot of people are eating quite a lot of images, but not in the right balance. There’s Omega six and Omega three. They’re the main essential amino acids. We require. A lot of people are eating way too much Omega six and you’ll find Omega 6s in your vegetable oils, especially your highly processed vegetable oils. We, our bodies need Omega three to six in a ratio of about. So I’ll do it the other way around. We need to make it a six to three in a ratio of about three to one. Most of us are getting that ratio like Omega six to three in 16 to one. So we’re getting way too much Omega six. And that is pro-inflammatory. Hemp seed, the fats and Hemp seed are in the right balance. It’s in that around that three to one ratio that our bodies require. So that’s why a lot of people respond well to Hemp seed, just boost their Omega 3s and helps to decrease inflammation in the body and help neurological function. Think of your body as a collection of Cells. That’s what it is. It’s a billions of tiny little Cells, and each of these Cells has a fatty acid membrane and without the right fats, to create that membrane. Cells cannot communicate and function properly. And that’s when things in the body start to go wrong. A lot of the hormones as well, hormone regulation, or hormones are synthesized from fatty acids and neurons as well. So you absolutely need them for healthy bodily function
[00:26:44] Josh
so you can see why people call it a nutritional powerhouse. These little seeds, they sound amazing.
[00:26:51] Bronwyn
Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:26:53] Josh
Yeah, one thing that nothing you mentioned that piqued my interest as well, is that about the vegetable oils and using them with the seed, the Hemp seed oil, I noticed on your as one of your products, can you cook you cook with that oil as well?
[00:27:07] Bronwyn
You can, it’s recommended that you don’t cook with it, you use it raw, it’s got a low smoke point, and cooking generally do natures. Some of the fatty acids, so it’s always recommended to use it raw. You can’t, people do bake with it and put it into brownies and things and I think and that’s OK, but I wouldn’t cook on a very hot fry pan with it the best off adding it after you’ve served your meal and then drizzling it over the top yes, and actually has a Lovely flavor. It’s Lovely on pasta. Has it just brings out all the flavors of your pasta sauce? I find Lovely drizzled on bread with like a bruschetta type meal. And
[00:27:45] Josh
how would that took out? You’re talking about
[00:27:48] Bronwyn
Yeah, I, yes, but with the Dukkha, of course. Yep.
[00:27:51] Josh
I play now that sounds, that’s amazing and it just sounds like an incredible product and you know how, how awesome that now goes in and finally legalized it and made it accessible. And there’s companies like yours, like Castelli that are again I just, I’m struck by the timing that you were the foresight that you and Chris had in 2015 before it was legalized and he wouldn’t grow it now. And just the platform you set for yourself is so impressive.
[00:28:20] Bronwyn
We got Lucky, I think it was. We’re strong believers in destiny and everything pointed us towards, towards this crop. And this as our future. A series of events. So I bumped into yeah, we were thinking about Hemp I’d seen. Yeah, I’d seen someone an article in the newspaper, a grower, In-N-Out which is about an hour away from us. But he was growing Hemp and talking about it and I thought, gosh, I really need to talk to this guy. I wonder how I can get hold of him. I did my Googling and everything I just couldn’t find. And then Chris and I were in Busselton walking down the main Street and I bumped into a very old friend who I hadn’t seen for about 20 years. And I was asking how he his going and where he was living. He said, I live in Nana. I said OK, do you know this guy? And he said yes, I’m living on his property and the stars aligned, he put us in touch and, and, you know, we haven’t looked back since. So it was meant to happen. Yeah. And we’ve taken taken the bull by the horns and just just run with it and we are now. I still work for the government a little bit because I really enjoy my job. But Chris, this was our exit strategy for Chris to get him out of the mines. He was doing fly in fly out. We had a baby and we needed to get him out. So this was his exit strategy and it’s very hard starting up a business. It takes a long time to make a profit, but very happy to announce that from the last few months we are actually paying both of ourselves a salary now and invest Valley is supporting our entire family. So that’s good. Yeah, we’re doing well.
[00:29:55] Josh
That’s great. And you know, we haven’t got Chris here, but has he been finding it, making that switch because that would be a huge change up. Obviously one that is probably good for the family, but a baby change.
[00:30:09] Bronwyn
He’s a very, very happy man. He’s home every day. Home on his farm with his boys. And look, it’s been really tough. We’ve had to tighten our belts that, that drop in salary. We were on two full time salaries to a very small part time salary. You know, we’ve just had to make a lot of changes in our lifestyle and go without a lot of things. But we’ve had each other, so you know, it’s been OK that the sun has been shining and, and we’ve, we’ve gotten through now we’ve gotten through the hard
[00:30:38] Josh
part. That’s a beautiful story because, you know, I’ve, I hope it’s okay this. I’ve heard that story. Not go that way, whether it’s in the defence force, whether it’s fly in, fly out, there’s those jobs that are high pressure away from family. And it doesn’t always work out as it was planned to. And it’s, it’s very heartwarming to hear when that goes well and the family that is flourishing as a result. It’s
[00:31:06] Bronwyn
beautiful. Yeah, yeah. It’s been, it’s been a five year journey and it’s, it’s had its ups and downs, but lots of lots of ups and downs. But we just kept persevering, and it just got to work really, really, really hard. You know, we’ve sort of given up our social life. We’re starting to socialize again now, but you know, social life for a few years, just head down, bum, up, and work extremely hard to make this, this lifestyle work for us.
[00:31:33] Josh
Yeah. Now circling back to the start a little bit, but we’re on the topic when you said you bought a farm and you know it’s a big change. Was it in a New area for you? Obviously it sounds like you’re down South of rwa anyway. But yeah, was that a move in terms of location too?
[00:31:50] Bronwyn
I was already living in I was living in Bunbury, but Chris was from down South and he actually grew up in this area and his best friend is five kilometers away from our farm. So its prime location, he was extremely excited about it.
[00:32:03] Josh
But still bumper is how far that’s too little. Just an hour. Yeah. So yeah, probably not much for you guys, but a and now it’s, yeah.
[00:32:14] Bronwyn
Yeah. It’s nice. I don’t mind the drive because that’s my thinking time and my downtime. Yeah.
[00:32:20] Josh
Now, earlier you mentioned turbine at Turkey. Am I saying Right,
[00:32:23] Bronwyn
tip-ins
[00:32:24] Josh
that means a couple times and that I’m interested to find out what that is. I don’t know what that is. I’ve seen that the term let us know a bit more about that.
[00:32:32] Bronwyn
OK turbines are there the aromatic compounds from plants? So when you’re smelling lavender or eucalyptus, or pine, you’re smelling Terpenes. Cannabis is a particularly aromatic plant, so it’s absolutely full of chirping. Cannabis is, it’s unique in that it has compounds called cannabinoids and there’s, I know there’s over 200, I think there’s quite a lot more different cannabinoids in Cannabis. The main one main ones being THC and CBD. But it’s also abundant with or rich in Terpenes. Not sure how many checkpoints are in Cannabis, let’s say about 200 as well. Both cannabinoids and turbans are highly therapeutic and through various mechanisms in our bodies. If you want, because I want to talk about outer pain range. That’s the main reason we won the innovation, the prime Super innovation award. But I want people to understand the mechanism as to what happens work. So can I, can I get a little bit technical for a
[00:33:38] Josh
while? Yeah, I think so. We’ve got, you know, one of the great things about the awards that we run is that they’re not industry awards as different fields. And in some of our awards across the various states, we actually had science and STEM committed award categories. And so we’ve had some guests over the year the last year or so that we’ve run the podcast extremely talented and mind blowingly intelligent individuals in STEM fields. And I actually love hearing about this kind of stuff because it’s so interesting. So please go ahead.
[00:34:11] Bronwyn
Brilliant, because this is something that everyone needs to know. It affects every single person in the world, and it’s very powerful knowledge if you want to maintain your health throughout life, it’s a very important step. So I want to talk about the endocannabinoid system. Have you ever heard of the endocannabinoids just
[00:34:34] Josh
I don’t know what we’re talking about now.
[00:34:36] Bronwyn
- All right, so the endocannabinoid system, like the immune system, like the cardiovascular system. It’s a system within our bodies. We’ve all heard of the cardiovascular system and the nervous system. And the lymphatic system, why haven’t we heard about the endocannabinoid system? It was only actually discovered in 1994, so it’s relatively New, but I don’t know why it’s not being taught in medical school yet. Well, I’d actually kind of do know why, but let’s not go there. That’s a whole other discussion. Horton part right now is that you guys all become familiar with this system in our body. So the endocannabinoid system, it’s like the body’s master regulator of Homeostasis. Homeostasis means balance. So it, it keeps all of the other systems in check. It’s actually very closely linked with the immune system and keeps our body in balance. There are three major aspects of the endocannabinoid system, and I will abbreviate it to X on the odd occasion, but I’m going to try and keep repeating the word so that it’s ingrained in your memories there’s these receptors. So the two main receptors in the access, cb1 and CB2, and then there are endocannabinoids. And then there are enzymes that synthesize and break down the endocannabinoids. So the endocannabinoids are synthesized within our body and then they bind to the CB2, CB one receptors and stimulate a response, biochemical response. I’m going to, I’m just going to jump across right now to put this all into perspective for you to medicinal Cannabis and give a thought. Why? Like why does medicinal Cannabis work for so many different health problems like epilepsy, Chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, and so many different like tremors, so many different health problems. Why or how can a single plant help with such a vast array of health problems? It’s because the cannabinoids in Cannabis very Similar in structure to the endocannabinoids our bodies produce. So if you have some Cannabis and it helps with your pain or inflammation, or it helps you to sleep, or it helps with your autoimmune disease. It’s because you have a deficiency in Your body isn’t producing the endocannabinoids it requires. So that’s where medicinal Cannabis comes in as supplements like if you’ve got a vitamin D deficiency and you have some vitamin D supplements, then it’s going to help you feel better if some Cannabis acts like a supplement. When something in your endocannabinoid system is not working properly. Now, one of the main, the main nutrients required by your body to synthesize endocannabinoids is Omega three essential fatty acid? And that’s one of the fundamental reasons why when people eat Hemp seed, or flax or Chia, they start to become healthier. And notice a reduction in symptoms depending on what their condition is. If you have an Omega three deficiency, you will benefit from eating Hemp seed. But there are other reasons why we’re not producing enough endocannabinoids, or maybe there’s a problem with your receptors or problem with the enzymes. This is a story I quite like. There’s actually, I don’t, I don’t know where it is, but there’s actually an isolated population in the world. This is something I read on the Internet that they, they, they produce too much ananda, amide, which is one of the endocannabinoids in our bodies. And that’s the bliss endocannabinoid. It makes you happy. And this population, sorry, that I produce too much of it, but they had the enzyme that breaks it down. There’s a mutation that reduces the amount of enzyme that breaks it down so they have more and their demand floating around their system. So this population of people are all on average, happier than the rest of the world. Do you have any friends that are always reallyhappy?
[00:38:48] Josh
Yeah, I suppose so. I can think of
[00:38:51] Bronwyn
just ridiculously happy all the time. I think one presumes that Yeah, yeah, extremely optimistic. Chris is like that. He might simply these people might just simply have more an intimate in the system than the rest of us. And maybe the enzyme isn’t breaking it down as quickly as, as it normally would be. So they just naturally happier. Lucky them. Huh. Yeah. And so there are things that we can do to stimulate our endocannabinoid system. I want everyone after this podcast to take the time to learn about the axe and what they can do to stimulate it. A lot of people are turning to medicinal Cannabis. You don’t always need to go down that route straight away. It’s expensive. It requires prescription, it can cost $100 a week, you know, and a lot of people simply cannot afford that. There are things you can do without going down that expensive path. One of them is Terpenes and this is where the development for our award winning product range has come in. It’s taken us a while to get there, but yeah, what, so what all of this research and we’re trying to figure out why medicinal Cannabis was so effective, learning about the endocannabinoid system and then learning how else to stimulate, stimulate it because I thought, surely it must be dietary, there must be things we could do in our lifestyle. We shouldn’t have to turn to Cannabis to medicinal Cannabis to be healthy. So Terpenes was one of the main things that I discovered in my research journey. And that’s why that’s what’s led us to develop our Terpin range. Now trappings, a lot of them are Similar in structure to the cannabinoids and they can bind to the receptors in the X and that’s how they work. There are other things that you can do in your diet. You can have a Dark chocolate is very good. Yeah. Dark chocolate herbs and spices to drink. Organic herbal teas include spices in your cooking. Cinnamon in particular is fantastic. It’s got it’s Rich in beta. Carry off lean, that’s they call that the dietary cannabinoid. So it’s a term pain, very Similar. Similar in structure to CBD. So Cinnamon black pepper cloves, there are three main spices. Again, herbal teas put black pepper and everything. Dark chocolate and Terpenes. If you’re after a quick and easy supplement in your diet, try to point out her pain range targets for different lifestyle challenges. Chronic pain is one of them. So that’s how you blend Chronic pain and inflammation, mainly caused by inflammation. So we’ve had a lot of success with this one, a lot of people coming back saying that it’s reduced their pain from a seven to a three. They can function again. We’ve got a client with Ms who takes our southern and siesta. She said she can get out of bed now she can do the dishes, she’s got some quality of life back. We’ve got lots of elderly people coming in for the tooth as well for to manage their arthritis. And a lot of sports injury sufferers as well. So the deceived is by far our best seller. There’s also siesta, which is great for sleep, just improves your sleep quality, puts you into a deeper sleep and you wake up feeling a lot more rested in the morning. We have calm, which is great for stress and anxiety. The last one is energized, which helps with concentration and gives a bit of a mood lift as well.
[00:42:10] Josh
Awesome. So what does it look like? So you’re talking about your New product. Is it something you ate, or is it a, a medicine? What exactly is it?
[00:42:18] Bronwyn
We have it in a dropper bottle. So it’s a sublingual application. The carrier oil being Hemp seeds, oils course. And it’s three to five Drops under the tongue once or twice a day, depending on your needs. Ms. Client, she, she has a lot more than that. She’ll have up to 10 Drops twice a day. But for most people, three to five Drops is enough. And yeah, just regular use is the best way to go. It just helps to activate your endocannabinoid system and get your body balanced again. The longer you take it, the better, and you’ll find that your body will, in some instances, rebalance, and you’ll be able to even wane yourself off it.
[00:42:56] Josh
Yes, that’s very interesting. I’m just having a look at your website. Now I’m going to up in front of me and you know, exactly as you said before, I’m aware of Cannabis and medicinal Cannabis. I have some friends with them, some, some issues and as a prescription. And yeah, I’ve heard from them directly how expensive it is. So this is, this is a much cheaper option, right?Yeah,
[00:43:20] Bronwyn
a lot of people are trying CBD, is familiar with CBD,
[00:43:25] Josh
a little
[00:43:25] Bronwyn
bit. Yeah. Also cooking oil, not to be confused with Hemp seed So Hemp oil, or CBD oil is it’s the non-psychoactive. So this there’s THC dominant, medicinal Cannabis, and then there’s CBD, dominant medicinal Cannabis, and a lot of people, CBD is all over the world. Now it’s not legal in Australia yet, but that of really well. They have changed that regulation so you can actually buy it over-the-counter, but there aren’t any tga approved products available yet. CBD is expensive, it’s hard to get hold of. It can cost $200 for a small bottle like a $30 bottle, whereas our turbines have a Similar effect, and they’re only $55. So we’ve opened it up the market to a lot more people. And I recommend, if you think you need medicinal Cannabis, or CBD, try Terpenes first, or even just try Hemp seed oil. If that’s all your budget can afford, because the Hemp seeds will help your body synthesize those endocannabinoids. So maybe start with Hemp seed oil, then go to turbines, and if, if you need something stronger than you look for your CBD and your other medicinal Cannabis, what tentatives?
[00:44:30] Josh
That’s definitely been a very enlightening chat to me. I’ve learnt a lot and there was something I was really interested in, as I said. And yet it’s just Super cold that, you know, there’s people like you who are able to have this as a business, but it’s actually a really life changing product agricultural products. And I think now before we do finish up, was there any other kind of stigma or misconceptions that you wanted to mention because I think that’s probably in my, you know, remove from the situation in my kind of understanding is would be the only thing not having these products as being Super mainstream and just in, in widespread use by people.
[00:45:11] Bronwyn
Yeah. There’s a lot of people come up, but we get all the jokes. You know, am I going to get high, or am I going to a lot of actual genuine, genuine concerns about people testing positive in drug tests? Can I drive on this? Will I test positive at work on this? The answer is no. Hemp does not contain enough THC for you to register positive or feel any psychotic effects whatsoever. It’s completely safe. Our government is extremely conservative. They would never ever legalize anything that could jeopardize people’s health. Or Yeah, make them test positive drug tests. Our government simply does not work like that, so Hemp is completely safe to eat. It should be, it should form part of everybody’s daily diet. I recommend a tablespoon of Hemp hearts every day for overall health and well-being. If you’d like to learn more josh. and to everyone listening, I’ve got some really great blogs on our website on the endocannabinoid system. There’s one called target your endocannabinoid system and restore health. Sorry. It’s very Wordy. That is a good place to start. And then that just gives you an overview of what I’ve talked about what the endocannabinoid system is about. And then there are other blogs that follow on from there. There’s also a couple of blogs on Terpenes, a very basic one called what our turbines, that’s a good place to start as well. Yeah, just do some reading, educate yourselves. Because with this knowledge you can improve your health and quality of life.
[00:46:48] Josh
Sure. And if anyone is down South in your area in that Margaret river area in Bunbury, I understand you’ve got a shop front now and you’re kind of coming to us from the shop front.
[00:47:00] Bronwyn
Yeah, I’m in origins market in Busselton. It’s just opened up in November, 2021. So it’s brand New, we’ve been going for a couple of months. It’s been a game changer for christiania. We’re getting a lot of sales here. A lot of people buying the turbines and coming back and telling us how effective they are and telling all their friends as well. So we’re doing really well, but origin’s is a great place to come for it. You know, a little day trip it’s, there’s a lot of great food here. You know what I’m looking at now? ? I’m looking at a Mexican bar, an oyster bar, Vietnamese kitchen. There’s jerky there’s bubble tea. There’s, there’s arts and crafts. There’s wine tasting. And yeah, there’s a little playground for the kids as a tavern. It’s a great place to just come in and come with the family and spend a couple of hours.
[00:47:50] Josh
That’s beautiful. Yeah, it certainly got my attention with all those photos. So that sounds great. And lastly, I just wanted to get people to remind people where they can connect with you either personally or through business basically.
[00:48:04] Bronwyn
Yeah, best way to get hold of us is just pop on to our website. Vasse Valley Hemp Farm – vasseyvalley dot com dot au and use the contact us form. So you can connect with us through Facebook and Instagram as well. But yeah, if you want to contact me personally, go through our website place.
[00:48:23] Josh
Beautiful, well thank you for your time today so enlightening for me and I’m sure that many of the listeners to learn more about this incredible natural products. Yeah, thank you for your time and look forward to catching up with you and hearing how things are going down the track.
[00:48:40] Bronwyn
Thanks. josh.. Thanks so much for having me along And thanks to awards Australia for the amazing awards that, that you’re presenting to Australians out there, the publicity and the whole process is, is fantastic. And it’s nice to be recognised for all our hard work.
[00:48:59] Josh
It’s an absolute pleasure and it’s just so rewarding for us to have this opportunity to chat with you. You know, the awards exist purely just to promote positive stories. And when we get to hear more about those stories in this podcast format, is that Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing for us to say. Thank you.
[00:49:15] Bronwyn
Thanks josh..
[00:49:17] Josh
I hope you enjoyed that interview. If you liked it or any of our other episodes, it would be great if you can write and review the inspirational Australians podcast. It really helps us out if someone you know, needs a little dose of inspiration. Why not let them know about this podcast? And if you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe, so that you won’t miss an episode. Join us each week as we talk with ordinary Australians, Achieving extraordinary things. You can always head to our website at awards, Australia dot com slash podcast for more information and details on each guest. Now before we go, I’d like to thank Annette our producer. Here’s a fun fact. Annette is my mum and our other host, Jeff is my dad. This podcast is brought to you by awards, Australia, a family owned business that proudly uncovers the stories of people who make a difference for others. We can only do this with the support of our corporate and not for profit partners as they make our awards programs possible. So do you know someone making a difference? If you’d like to recommend someone to be a guest on the podcast, get in touch through our Instagram page, inspirational Australians, or maybe your business might like to sponsor the podcast or get involved with the awards. We run head to our website awards, Australia dot com for more details until next week. Stay safe and remember together we make a difference.
[00:50:43] Annette
Thanks for joining us today on the inspirational Australians podcast. We hope you enjoyed listening and have been inspired by ordinary Australians. Achieving extraordinary things, so it’s goodbye for another week. Remember together we make a difference.
