Today on Grounded Wellness, we are coming to you from the lush
healing landscape of Kawaii, where I have the honor of
sitting down with Doug Walcon, the owner of Kawaii Pharmacy.
That's pharmacy with an F, not APH.
Doug's story is a powerful one, trading a fast-paced life in New
York finance for a slower, more intentional path rooted in the
wisdom of the land. Doug and his team have built a
thriving herbal sanctuary that grows over 80 varieties of
plants, all rooted in regenerative permaculture based
practices. Hawaii Pharmacy is more than
just a farm, it's a living, breathing embodiment of
ancestral knowledge and the medicine that comes from
reconnecting with nature. In today's conversation, we
explored Doug's personal journey, the healing properties
of various herbs, and what it means to live in harmony with
earth right here on the Garden Island.
Let's dig in. Aloha dog.
I am so excited to be here in Kauai with you.
Thanks for making the drive over to Anini Beach to record with me
today. Aloha, Bethany, thanks for
having me. Of course, you made a massive
lifestyle change when you left a life in New York finance to
start a regenerative herb farm in Kauai.
Tell me a little bit about that journey.
So that was in my early 30s. I was doing private equity real
estate in Connecticut, New York area.
And I can't say the the shift was all that conscious at the
time. It was kind of just moving
through it. I had, I left that world behind
me, but it was really, it wasn't easy to dissolve that identity
as I'm still dissolving that finance identity, if you will,
that I was so attached to. So yeah, Kauai is one of those
places where an an island living, you know, where people
people don't see you for that identity.
So yeah, that was tough. That was tough to come here and
no one see me. Did you like visit one time and
you were like, OK, I need to be here more or what did that look
like? Like what led you to make that
decision? And so the feeling of the
acceptance of this island so that it's just a diverse place
where, you know, the, as far as the way people live and, and
lack of judgement in terms of, you know, raising family and
school systems. And there's a lot of openness to
people's willingness to accept. And I felt that and I was
wanting that for myself and my family.
So that's was one of the reasons, obviously, the
waterfalls and ocean and place to heal.
The healing piece, I think was something that was, you know, in
my gut, but I wasn't that conscious of that.
I had some generational healing. I had some, I had some real
healing to do here. And it's been a blessing to tap
into the plants, to the water, to the air.
It's not the story that, you know, I moved to this island.
It's, it's has, it's been challenging, you know, it's been
quite challenging in ways that I could never have imagined.
I mean, growth and expansion comes with, it doesn't have to,
you know, it can be easy and graceful, but for me, there's
been certainly lots of periods of pain and suffering, you know,
that come with growth and expansion.
What changes have you noticed health wise in your own body
since moving from New York to Kauai?
So I would say just there was a lot of numbness in my body.
I didn't even know what feeling healthy and vital felt like
really at that point. I was in my early 30s.
I had probably 3040 lbs heavier than I am now.
And now the concept of, you know, feeling light and limber
and standing in a strong conscious posture.
We just talked about having joy running through my body.
I mean, those are all aspects of my journey that I've worked on
cultivating. And would you say in New York it
was more just like fast-paced, head down kind of lifestyle,
Just go, go, go? Like no time to really consider
how you're even feeling. Yeah, You know, the idea of
taking responsibility, it was new to me and I needed people to
like explain it to me a lot of times to fully get it.
Of just like as I got older, my responsibilities, children, work
aspirations, ambitions were, were increasing and my
well-being was sort of stagnant or even coming down.
And so to me, they're they run in parallel paths.
And when I was working in that finance space, my ambitions were
infinite. And I didn't see it as, you
know, as being parallel to my to my well-being.
So I kind of realize that truth through my own suffering, you
know, through my own, like, why can't I have all these ambitions
come true? And then I'd be like, ah, my
neck hurts, you know, that's why.
Because I had pain in my body and pain in my, then my thoughts
weren't clear. And I'm, you know, obviously
still working on all of it. Right.
It's amazing how much feeling good can contribute to the goals
that people are trying to reach that they sometimes neglect
because they want to get there. But yeah, like you said, like
taking care of yourself is so important in order to do what
you want to do in life, whatever that is.
Yeah. I mean, you bring up a great
point. Like the even in the goals, are
they aligned? Like how do you know that's what
you want? Yeah.
Like is it what you want, or is it what you think you want, or
what society tells you that you want?
'Cause you get what you are. How do I find alignment?
And you find alignment through ease and grace, right?
When there's ease in the body, when you're experiencing grace,
that's when the alignment comes through.
And ideally, all the goals and aspirations that you have will
then unfold accordingly, as opposed to all these desires
that are outside of you that you're trying to grab onto.
And it's, it can be elusive. Yeah.
Discerning between the two, what's really in alignment, what
you've been trained or or institutionalized to go go
after? I would imagine that it was such
a big shock to your system moving here and living a slower
life. Did you ever have like
withdrawals of like just living this fast-paced life and feel
like you had to detox from that at all?
It's. A great question.
I still have withdrawals for sure.
You know it's. I know sometimes, like when I
come here, 'cause we come here a couple times a year and it
usually takes me a few days to kind of settle in and like ease
up. Yeah, I mean, being able to
observe yourself, this is a place where you, you know, the
mirror is powerful. So there are self reflection,
you know, is is necessary and almost required.
And as far as cultural, you know, so much that I still yearn
for in my old life. And I still would love to move
further into and bring back some of some of the work that I did
and integrate it into my life again, some of the skills that I
had and also culturally, you know, and then it's, it's just a
question of I grounded so hard on the farm.
I'm trying to soften that a little bit.
The grounding, if you will. I just, I mean, I, there was a
time with three kids, I couldn't even go down the street.
It was like I, I couldn't move. It was, there was so much
responsibility on the farm. We bit off way too much, you
know, and it didn't. It was only four acres, but we
just the ambitions and the products and the alchemy and the
people that worked there and we just had no clue what we were
doing. Diving into something new,
starting a new endeavour is no joke.
It's like amazing and beautiful, but lots of ups and downs.
I can definitely relate to that in like the early years of
starting primarily pure. It's kind of all consuming.
It's all consuming and yeah. And then so there's aspects of
it being here on Kauai where I didn't, I, I went to this farm
experience because I thought it would liberate my journey in
terms of business and having the space where I could do the
alchemy and heal and not have outside powers affect it so
much. But at the same time, it became
so kind of secluded, if you will, the experience in order to
get it off the ground that we had to like, focus so deep.
And we dug ourselves such a hole that we, you know, we couldn't
get out. So we kept, you know, we kept
going. And yeah.
Kept digging out, you know, and, and still to this day, I mean,
there's it's a big, it's a big four acres of herbal medicine
gardens that. Yeah.
Tell us a little bit more about Kauai Pharmacy for anyone who
isn't familiar with it. Yeah.
Talk to us kind of about what you guys have going on, what
you've built, what you offer. So Kauai Pharmacy is an herbal
medicine farm that started in early like 2012.
Thirteen. Somewhere in there we grow plant
medicine for teas, salves, serums, oils, tinctures, honey,
hydrosols, so every all different modalities.
And we have over 100 botanicals on the farm.
It's a, it's a backyard garden, but you know, on 4 acres and
it's kind of turned into a medicine forest.
It's it's head high and, and above and there's ground covers
underneath and it's all medicine.
And it's, it may be the in terms of like what it is, it may be
one of the most diverse collections and of medicine on
the planet in terms of, you know, intentional medicine
growing for production. So on the farm, we take these
plants that, you know, it's canopy, it's, you know, tiered.
We're using permaculture systems throughout the throughout our
practices. So all the grounds covered and,
and in order to, and then we craft everything on the farm as
well. So we're harvesting all day and
then putting it into our oils and tinctures and, and curing
herbs. So we have big solar dehydrators
in our kitchen. And then we'll do the alchemy as
it relates to the the teas and then package it and ship it
right off the farm. So super fresh.
The alchemy, you know, it's not the big witchcraft that that
people think it is. It's really us getting out of
the way. You know, the plants are
brilliant in their medicine and we use medicines that have been
used for thousands of years. So, you know, ginger, turmeric,
cinnamon, black pepper, tulsi, lemongrass, those are the
plants. Moringa, soursop leaf, noni
leaf, those are the plants. Cacao every, they're, they're
kind of household names for thousands of years.
They're what the spice Wars and trades were kind of founded on.
Were these herbs, cardamom, nutmeg.
Yeah, they're all on the farm. So it's amazing.
And. And the, for me, my journey was
I was heavier and I started and I came here and I struggled and
I thought I'd just grab a surfboard and like, I had my
finance life and. And that treated me well enough
in my early 30s that I could come here and take some time.
And I thought I was going to live this life.
And next thing you know, my lower back sore and I can't even
hold the surfboard, you know? And I'm trying to go to yoga and
to acupuncture and get some willpower, but nothing really.
I couldn't really make that much transformation until I found
these teas. So I was making a lemon balm,
tulsi mint sage tea. Wow.
And it was just raw leaves from my backyard garden at a place I
was renting. And we're also using the Noni
leaf and I was detoxing and my diet was shifting.
And the alkalinity of the herbs, So we talked about it before,
was the radical alkalinity of these herbal medicines that, you
know, if you look at the pH we're looking for, you know, to
mimic spring water, we're 72% water.
So we want to be in this mid sevens.
So how do we do that when the diet, the American diet's so
acidic, which acids are fine? You know, the, but the, the
acids that we consume every day, the, you know, the roasted
coffees, the synthetic sugars, the meats, gluten, dairy,
nothing wrong with any of them. It's about balance.
So how do we balance? Well, the herbal medicine is
radical alkalinity. It pulls the system to that 7.6
pH if you will, and so that we can fall into a beautiful spring
water like pH. So that tea blend that you
mentioned was that instrumental in your healing?
Yeah, so for me, I couldn't like people, like doves from
willpower, Like it doesn't work like that, you know, mind over
matter. Like, no, it doesn't.
Like maybe for some people it couldn't.
It didn't work for me. You know, I kept eating.
You're like, I was willing myself to feel better and it
didn't work. It didn't work.
Yeah. Do you offer that tea blend now,
the same one that like help you we.
Don't for different reasons. We can't grow the sage to that
level. OK, maybe we should do a trade
because we we have sage on our farm.
Oh. That'd be cool.
Well, yeah, Southern California's a great place to do
all the sage. Yeah, I mean the Mediterranean
herbs that you have in Southern California, that would be a game
changer if people really leaned into the herbal medicine that
can be grown in Southern California, like Rosemary, sage,
lavender. You mentioned those herbs
before. And if people just, I mean, the
way they honored those herbal medicines and kept them by the
bedside and made tea out of them and had them in ceremonial, you
know, events and experiences, it's they're potent.
So so yeah, for me, the IT became an interceptor.
So I was it starting to attract to better foods, right?
So once you alkaline the system or become more alkaline, you're
going to be attracted to more alkaline foods, which are
fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, watery foods, foods that
are mostly water. Fruits are 90% water, vegetables
are 70% water. So we're going to be attracted
to more watery foods, which are much easier to digest, right?
And they're going to hold that ratio of 72% water in terms of
the five elements in the system, right?
Fire being 4%, air being 6%, earth being 12%, right?
So when we eat a big bowl of pasta, how do we maintain the
72% water ratio when we just eat, we need to drink like 2
gallons of water. That's why everyone's carrying
around water bottles. There weren't, people weren't
carrying around water bottles back in the day.
You know, we just grabbed a hose once a day, right?
You know, so it wasn't like that.
We're now there's no water in the diet or very little.
And so how do we alkaline the system to be more attracted to
fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds so we can.
So that's what the herbal medicine does for people.
I've been fascinated by that lately.
Like hydration is not just about drinking enough water.
And like you mentioned, so many of the fruits and vegetables I
love like gel water fruits. I've been really interested in
that lately. And I know Kauai has so many of
them, but they're more biocompatible for like more
similar to the water in our bodies.
And therefore, like we need that in order to be adequately
hydrated. We can't just It's not just
about drinking a ton of water. Yeah.
I mean, that's that's the easiest way to go is through
those types of foods. You mentioned the term, which I
loved. I think you said medicine
forest. Is that what you said?
What would you say to anyone who is skeptical about the healing
power of herbs? Yeah, so the reason why they're
skeptical, in my opinion, is because they ransacked the Spice
Islands. You know, they, they monocrop,
they fertilized, they they made it so that what we what black,
the black pepper that exists on the table today isn't medicine
anymore. They used to travel for 18
months, 24 months to get black pepper.
Christopher Columbus would leave for ginger, black pepper,
cinnamon, allspice. And he'd come back and he'd have
the the loot, he'd have the Hall of Spices and he'd lose half his
men on that ship. And it wasn't the black pepper
that's sitting on the table today.
So what we grow and what you can grow in your backyard garden is
true herbal medicine. And that's what, in my opinion,
was intended for us to find mindfulness in consciousness in
our lives as a foundation, right?
So once those herbal medicines come in as a foundation of
alkalinity, but also mindfulness and diversity of vitamins and
minerals, the diversity is off the charts.
Like when you start blending cinnamon with allspice and lemon
balm and tulsi, the diversity of vitamins and minerals, just
trust it. Just trust the magnesium, the
potassium, the vitamin C, the iron, right?
And, and stop worrying about, oh, I'm deficient in this and
I'm deficient in that. Like just eat purple, green,
orange, yellow, blue, rain colors of the rainbow and you
will be fine. It's a lot more simple when you
think about it that way. How, from a medicinal
perspective, how do herbs differ from traditional
pharmaceuticals? Yeah, so they, they keep you,
they keep you honest, you know, self reflection, like you can't
hide. You take the herbs and you feel
yourself. So if you want to, if you want
to lean into your truth and you want to hold yourself
accountable as opposed to play the victim and talk about my
knee as if it's not my doing. And a part of the whole system,
right? Everything is connected. 30 lbs
on extra on the knee, but I'm talking about my bad knee as
opposed to my belly. That's £30 extra weight on the
knee that wasn't designed for the 30 lbs.
And so the herbs hold you accountable.
So whether you eat poorly or stay up at night or have certain
relationships, your consciousness is rising, your
mindfulness is rising, your you're getting more in tune with
your circulation, your diet, your alkalinity.
So that's how it holds you accountable.
And the pharmaceuticals, you know, which are all, again, most
of that's plant medicine, but it's, you know, like opium.
I mean, that's the majority are opiates, but there's others
plants and then they just add chemicals and cook them, right?
And that puts you in an acidic space and you can't really tell
you're never going to find the root.
Like that's what to me, like it's our responsibility to go
back and find the root and just it might take lifetimes.
Yeah, I think we need to see these symptoms that pop up as
opportunities to find deeper healing rather than just trying
to make them go away at whatever cost.
Yeah, I mean, I the words that we've used to classify, you
know, pain and suffering, the the words like, you know, with
all respect to like, like cancer, that it's just a bad
thing, you know, and it could be a really, really bad thing going
on. But how do we take
responsibility for what we put in our bodies and put in our
mouths? And so the herbal medicine makes
you feel it right and hold you accountable and those you know,
and no longer can we play the victim as if, you know, it
happened to me because nothing, it doesn't happen to you.
You you don't, you know, get food poisoning.
You order it off the menu. I love that.
Yeah, we're all active participants in our health.
That's right. What are some herbs that across
the board everybody should be taking?
Well, certainly ginger, you know, for the fire and digestion
and metabolism circulation is, you know, it's the most popular
herb in the world ginger on, you know, on the daily.
The the yin Yang in the ginger family is turmeric for
inflammation, boosting the immune system and and supporting
the liver. Those are and also that you know
that root shock or the root herbs are going to really help
with the lowest area in the digestion.
Our teas are comprised mostly of you know our Our foundation is
ginger, turmeric, tulsi, which is the elixir of life in
Ayurvedic medicine used for calming of digestion and
respiratory Again, holy basil or tulsi.
What do holy basil and tulsi do? So I said, as I mentioned,
calming of the respiratory and digestion, but it's it's also
renowned as the awareness herb and so really help self
reflection and take responsibility.
But you know, the Tulsi was that in that four herb blend that I
initially made, the tulsi helped thin the blood so I could get
some circulation moving. A lot of times we just need a
little support and you know, we, you know, blood thinners.
Well, the herbs are they thin blood, they detox.
So how do they deep? They scrape and they claw right
at the toxin. So we're looking to cleanse at
the same time we're looking to starve the toxins.
If we have ailments or cancers or anything of the sorts, we can
come up with thousands of names at this point to describe what
it is that we have or, or associate with or identify with
in terms of these symptoms. And then the last component is
we want to nourish. So like moringa would be a great
herb to nourish. That's big on the islands,
right? Yeah, it's huge.
The Filipino community has has brought it here and celebrated
it and made sure that we all it grows really well.
So the the herbs that grow well, easy to harvest, easy to cure,
really easy to drink. And, you know, the side effects
of herbal medicine typically are rest in water, you know, and
when you and breath work, right? Because what happens in, you
know, you can dumb down almost any sickness into hydration,
lower that earth body, right? Lower that food body from 12%.
I mean, from, you know, excessive food body or poisons.
The people are carrying 1518% food body or earth in them when
it should be like 12. So what do we do when we lie in
bed and be sick? We are lowering our food body.
We're typically not eating. We're drinking tons of water.
We're doing all kinds of breath work with all kinds of
respiratory issues that we're being that we're identifying
with. Like literally like breath work,
sometimes for days or weeks or months, people will do and call
it pneumonia. And as, and then we, and then we
sit with ourselves and we either become aware that we, we created
this experience for our own healing, 'cause that's what most
times that when, when I get sick or see people that are sick, in
the most instances, it's really their opportunity to heal,
right? They're taking a break, they're
taking care of themselves. They're lying in bed, they're
resting, they're drinking water, they're doing breath work.
So are you saying that people get to that point or the body
forces you kind of to reach that point of sickness so that it can
do some deeper healing? It's.
Been sick? Yeah, and it's.
Just been numbing and numbing and the body says no more.
You will lie in your bed, you will breathe and you will drink
water and maybe juice and, you know, hopefully get some tea in
you at some point, you know, but that's and and detox you're
going to the bathroom a lot right at that point.
And and ideally you, you sit in it long enough where you can
find alignment. But we also find ourselves rush
to get back to work, rush to get back to our responsibilities.
So it's really, it can be really elusive.
Big perspective shift when you think about sickness in that
way. You mentioned moringa.
What is the nutritional profile of Moringa?
Yeah. So it's, it's got pretty much
every amino acid, positive amino acid that you can find.
It's got more calcium pound for pound than milk.
It's got more potassium pound for pound than banana.
I mean the list goes on and on. In terms of nourishment in
Africa, it's given to Mamas that are breastfeeding, pregnant
Mamas as well. So in terms of anyone looking
for plant based muscle, that would be the the plant would be
Moringa. Yeah, if you're looking for
plant based muscle. Which herbs have the best skin
healing nutrients or benefits? Yeah, so the my favorite oil in
the world is Kikui nut oil. I like Kikui nut.
We use that in a few of our products.
It's got the, it's the candle nut.
So it burns for minutes on end. The nut itself, that's the the
oil. So the consistency or the
characteristics of that oil will burn of hold of fire.
They used to say I'll be back in a couple of nuts and they would
light the nut on fire and then you'd know that, you know, in a
couple minutes they'll be back. The Hawaii, this is the
Hawaiians. They brought it over on the
canoe. So it was one of the canoe
plants. So I love the I love that for
the skin. I love calendula infused in the
Kikui. I love the blue butterfly pea
that we have here for the skin. How do you how do you use this?
We have it infused in one of our oils.
OK, yeah, I, I'm one of those. I love the Noni.
Right. So the Noni fruit.
Oh, I want to talk about. Yeah, Aloe, I would.
I in, I in like, like to submerge myself in plant
medicine. So I'm certainly one of those
that like wants to rub everything from clay to
macadamia, that oil to flowers on me and see what happens.
Tell us a little bit more about Noni, because I lived with a
Samoan family for a little while in high school and they drank
Noni juice. And every time I come to Kauai,
I just feel like, OK, I've got to got to get some Noni.
And I've seen it in like dried fruit leather form, in juice
form. Tell us a little bit about like
the different forms of noni, different types of noni, and
what it all does. So noni, NONI and most people it
comes in from the fruit in most products.
We on the farm utilize it mostly with the leaf, but we also have
a few product. We have a cleanse formula where
we use the fruit and we have a honey.
The fruit is difficult to get through the flavor of it.
They have a juice, they ferment the fruit in a juice and it kind
of looks like brain and it tastes like fermented cheese.
Like it's, it's pretty. It's.
Really potent. I don't mind it, but I know a
lot of people can't stand it. Yeah, it's tough to like, we
were going to have like a Noni eating contest at one point.
It would be pretty funny. But the leaf is more palatable
and in my opinion, a little more sustainable, more balanced.
We use mostly leaves on the farm to make our teas.
Does it have similar benefits? I find it, but more I find it to
have similar benefits, but not as potent or acute, right?
So the, a lot of the medicines like if it's acute, it has acute
power, we have to kind of dilute it, if you will, with other
herbs like lemongrass and turmeric and ginger that are
going to be more tonicy in their delivery and more daily
consumption herbs. So the noni's going to, you
know, I think if, if there's one word to describe noni, I'd say
circulation, right? Because like in the body, you
just want circulation, right? That's going to bring you
vitality, right? And that's going to help move
things around and keep anything from being stagnant, right?
So the Noni's really strong circulation.
It's very cleansing, detoxing. So anyone looking to get to, to
par, if you will, like once you've cleansed, I think Noni's
one of those plants where we're kind of taking with a little
more mindfulness in terms of how much because we've done the
cleansing, we we're now looking for more nourishment through our
foods, right. But I look at herbal medicine,
like when I say foundational, I don't really consume a lot of
herbal medicine anymore. I've done that work in my life.
So now I get my medicine through my food and my nutrition and I
find myself still, I still have plenty of battles with going
below. You're dipping below par in
terms of energy levels. But yeah, the noni's going to
help circulate and detox in like a very profound way.
And ideally we have this Noni in the retreat centers and the yoga
studios and the hospitals. And it needs to because it's so
versatile too. There's, I mean, if you ask me
what do I do for this? I would say this, Oh, Noni and
turmeric. I would just say it and I'd be
pretty much 100% confident that whatever you have, with the
exception of maybe if it goes in your eyes, noni and turmeric
will be bull's eyes. Now there's other herbs that are
great too, but those two will help cleanse, ground the system,
circulate alkaline it, clean the liver.
So those are good for anyone who is kind of like new to all of
this and just wanting to get to a good spot.
Yes, noni and turmeric and ginger would be ideal. 3 herbs
externally and internally. What about specifically for
detoxification? What are the some of the most
detoxifying herbs? So detoxifying of the of the
organs versus detoxifying of our like joints, right?
So people wanted to, I think mostly they think about the
organs, right. So I would say for the organs, I
like soursop leaf for the colon and the intestines.
Again, the noni's going to be great for the whole organ
system. The turmeric for the liver as I
mentioned. And then the ginger is going to
increase the fire. So we'll be able to, to burn,
you know, the foods and the thoughts.
And I mentioned moringa soursop. I like Mulberry leaf for
balancing blood sugars. I like papaya leaf for for
cleansing. So papaya leaf is going to be
kind of the pro prebiotic, so really help bring in the enzymes
to break stuff down. And I you know, I if Joe the
list of lemon bombs going to calm the system.
It just, it really moving through the, the diversity is
ideal because some people the lemon bombs going to calm the
system and all they need is a deep breath, right?
Where other people need kind of more, more aggressive or more
acute medicine like like turmeric might be more
aggressive on the liver where the lemon balm's going to help
you get a good night's sleep. And a lot of times, you know, so
often, like with let's say, for example, a respiratory issue,
all we're looking to do is is try and find that one breath.
Once we catch the one breath, then we can get the second
breath right. So like a lemon balm or a tulsi.
Tulsi is very calming as well. And I feel like I want like an
herb pharmacy at my house and I want to have you on speed dial
just to ask you like, OK, I'm feeling this way.
What should I take? But I would imagine like
eventually it kind of becomes second nature figuring it all
out and deciding like what you need in each moment.
Yeah, I mean, backyard, backyard gardening is, is old times, you
know, like, and if and if you keep it simple, if all you have
is mint, you know, in Morocco, that's, that's their medicine,
the mint, right. So where's the mint in, in our
culture? Where is it in, you know,
breakfast, lunch and dinner? Where's the lemongrass in our
soups, right. So it's, it's way simpler.
And obviously the mainland, it's tough to grow roots like ginger
and turmeric. So you grow what you can grow.
And, and in Southern California, the Rosemary, like I mentioned
in, in, you know, the Mediterranean in Roman times,
the most powerful empire in the world, you know, they were, they
were bowing to Rosemary, lavender, thyme, sage, and those
plants alone can, can do wonders for our culture.
OK. You brought you brought the
cacao plant and we were trying it earlier.
So this is what This is where chocolate comes from, correct?
Correct. So that's called cacao.
It's a This is a cacao pod and I sliced it down the middle I.
Never would have thought it that this is what it looks like.
Yeah, it does. It's it's not something that
people see every day. Yeah.
Can you explain just like this? What do you call this that I'm
holding right now? So that is a cacao bean or a
cacao seed. And what do you call like the
filmy squishy part around it? We call it the nectar of the
Yeah, but it's. A chocolate is made out of the
bean itself. They ferment so they I am not a
fermenting. I don't know much about
fermentation, but I'll give you what I know.
They ferment this in banana leaves for weeks on end.
Most of the cacao is coming, I believe from the African, from
the Ivory Coast. And so they'll, they'll ferment
this in banana leaves for weeks. And a lot of that fermentation
process, I believe is to preserve it, but it's also for
flavor. So when you ferment it, I mean,
I, we just put it in, we just cure it like immediately out of
the pod and try and preserve the original intention.
Because obviously when you ferment something, you know,
there's stages of taking a fruit, then you ferment it and
that's what forms different stages of, of fruit products,
which include vinegar, wine, alcohol, right?
Those are all different stages of fruit products.
So the fermentation process moves through those different
fruit products. And what are the benefits of
just eating it raw like we were doing earlier?
It's the perfect blend. The squishy nectar part is like
so sweet and then the the bean is bitter but all combined it's
like a great snack. Like I would just chow down on
this. It's really nourishing, Yeah.
So I understand it to have all three carbohydrates, fats and
protein, which very rare. I don't really know any plant.
I'm sure they are. I just don't know them.
So that in of itself does make it a true superfood, like a food
of the gods, that in of itself but the jewel of the garden, or
that if there's two jewels, they would be magnesium and
manganese. And this plant, as far as whole
magnesium, I don't know of another plant in the garden.
You can see it from this like kind of red yellow vibe, the
magnesium shining through. Oh, that's the magnesium that
gives it that hue from. What I understand, yeah.
Yeah. Who, like you, just want a lot
of magnesium. Almost everyone's deficient in
it. Yeah, well, it's like saying
you're deficient in gold. You know, it's like the most
like you must want a lot of magnesium.
Yeah. Or deficient in iron.
People say that, you know, you're deficient in iron.
Like maybe like, yeah, I want a lot of iron too.
You know, like Superman wants iron, right.
Everyone wants iron and magnesium.
So instead of like just flipping that story like I'm deficient,
like I just ideally it's. Good for us.
It's so good for us that we want a lot of iron and we need a lot
of and magnesium is a, is a jewel.
Like if we can put magnesium in our bodies, then we're just
grateful and thankful we're we're not.
I think it's the 5th or 6th most if the body, the earth elements
12% calcium, I think is 1% of the body.
What calcium is the #1 mineral in the world?
I'm sorry, in the body, most prominent mineral.
And I think magnesium might be 345 somewhere in there.
And you were touching on earlier too, about the benefits of
consuming magnesium in whole food form versus supplementing
with it and kind of like how it it's more synergistic with, you
know, how it was meant to exist in the natural world versus
being like extracted. Yeah, there's information in
these plants. You know, there's like profound
information that's well beyond the scientific, you know,
constructs that we can imagine in our little minds, right, that
we think we've like broken down the nourishment in that plan.
We have no clue. Yeah, there's way more to the
picture. It's way bigger and epic.
And so when we can find an experience, what is called
magnesium in holistic form in the food, and that includes our
whole diet, like if we can find our nourishment through Whole
Foods and not through supplements, if you will, that
have been extracted, right? Because theoretically, I don't
know. I just don't know where they
would find extract magnesium. You'd have to go to like some
pretty valuable earth and just extract it.
And then you're giving it out. And it seems cheap the way they
sell it. Like, I don't know.
Yeah, but it's this is, this is. So interesting to me because I
do take supplements personally and I wish that I could consume
these nutrients more often in whole food forms.
But like with this, for example, how would someone like maybe in
Southern California like me or somewhere else that where cacao
is not grown? Like how would you suggest that
that we can like still benefit from the whole food form of
magnesium or any other nutrient? Like if the access isn't there
as much like do we need to, are we not looking in the right
places? How do we approach that?
It's a good question. You know, I don't, I don't
necessarily have the clear answer for that.
There's great magnesium products out there.
I'm not going to say there aren't there's I mean, you know,
when you use it, you feel good from using it.
So I think we just do the best we can, you know, and what?
About chocolate, does does like actual chocolate still have some
of that bio available magnesium of?
Course, I think what we want to do is, is get ourselves to the
point where we know those answers.
Yeah. So we need a lot of things when
we when we're constantly trying to consume a lot of things.
Thoughts. Like slowing down, learning more
about what your body needs, tuning into that, and like
actually slowing down enough to feel the difference of the
different, like supplements or herbs that we're taking in.
But when we're constantly just in consumption, consumption,
consumption mode, it's like hard to even tell what's going on.
So, so lowering our consumption, this aspect of healing that
we've all been kind of thrown into, which is what do we put in
our mouth to heal? What do we put in our mouth to
heal? Is there has to be the polarity
of that or even is what? How do we sit in stillness,
right? How do we stop the consumption?
How do we sit in stillness and silence?
And when we lower our consumption and our production
stays, stays on par, all that we gain all that, right?
We're not becoming a lost art, just having the ability to do
that. To drop our consumption, yeah,
to sit in stillness and silence, specifically our thoughts,
right, because those can be so draining and our and our
emotions that are attached to those thoughts can drain us.
You know, why are we so tired typically?
Because what I experience is I exhaust myself in my mind.
Yeah, I mean, I found myself this last week.
I was just listening to so many podcasts and eventually I'm just
like, this isn't I'm not enjoying this anymore.
And I think it's because I've been like over consuming
information and I just need to to chill and like sit with
myself instead. But it's uncomfortable when
you're like, used to living a fast-paced life.
And it's like something that I have to intentionally, like,
remind myself to do. Even just going for walks.
It's like, so easy to just put on a podcast and, you know,
going from one thing to the next and then work and being with the
kids. And it's like, why not just walk
with nothing? It's yeah, it, it doesn't always
come naturally, but I think it's really important.
Leaning into the being right. So like when we go for that
walk, we could experience a podcast that's going to
cultivate a lot of joy. Totally.
Sometimes it's the right mood. Totally.
Yeah, there's some podcasts out there like that.
That's exactly what I needed to hear.
Especially if it's grounded Wellness.
Exactly. And it's true that like there
are things that you're in alignment with.
So it's about. So can we trust that joy that
we're cultivating to find our alignment as opposed to our our
mental trying to figure it out? Like can we, if I, if I'd listen
to this podcast, this podcast and that podcast, then there's.
So much information out there, I have to learn it all and retain
it. All if we can lean into the joy
of the experience, then the podcasts are going to find us in
theory, right? And they'll be easy to discern,
right. So the more joy that we're
experiencing and trusting that joy that it's going to, that's
going to allow us to, to find more abundance within ourselves.
And then the alignment that we talked about earlier, like
finding the podcasts that are for us, like really for us,
they're, they're synergistic, like the synergy.
So that's another piece of, of sitting in silence and stillness
and dropping our consumption. We're able to, to find an
experience and, and observe and play witness to the, the
synergistic aspects of our experience, right?
Because once this, once those come through the
synchronicities, you know, once the synchronicities come
through, then we're styling, right?
You're just, you don't have to think about anything, right?
It's just all synchronicities everywhere, right?
I mean, this only happened, I got a call last week.
This is super synchronistic. I know.
I love how this worked out. Yeah.
I'm curious, what is the biggest or craziest transformation that
either you have experienced personally or that you've seen
someone else experience from the healing power of herbs?
I, I can't say it's, it's all that like glamour, glamour, it's
just not. But everyone that comes to the
farm that works on the farm has what I would construe or
describe as an enlightening experience at some level.
So, you know, getting rid of the blockages, getting rid of the
excess and and finding you know more of who they are.
That's a huge contrast with people who work on conventional
farms. I mean, they are some of the
most sick people, most riddled with disease because they're
constantly in contact with these chemicals that have been proven
to not be safe for humans. But that's their job and they're
forced to to work with them, so I would imagine that being in a
farm like yours would allow for so much more healing and peace.
Yeah, so much of our mission is about creating an economy that
works for people. You know, we, we have a
responsibility as humans to create work for ourselves that
is in alignment with the culture that we want to experience.
So how do we do that? How do we create jobs and work
that people in like really enjoy and can heal and can show up and
be themselves? And yeah, the, the, the way we
farm right now is not ideal for, for that.
And, and a lot of the economy is not ideal for people to find
jobs that allow them to heal and, and dissolve their issues
and, and evolve. What makes the soil in Kauai so
special? You know, I don't really know
that answer everything. What doesn't make it special?
Everything, I mean, all the, all the minerals and nutrients are
in that volcanic soil. You know, we talked about
magnesium, calcium, phosphorus. I mean, there's aspects of, you
know, it's a tropical environment.
I think it's a it's really a question of going with it
meaning, you know, we can grow amazing fruit and we can grow
amazing herbal medicine. Some of the vegetables require
amendments. So we, a lot of vegetable
farmers bring on amendments and I understand that because what
does? That mean what's an amendment?
Different types of minerals that they need to add to the soil.
It's also because they they're growing on scale.
Like if we had a backyard garden, they wouldn't need an
amendments, you know, we would just need compost that comes
from the garden. So what makes it so special?
It's it, you know, on the North Shore here it's, it's, it's
super rootsy, it's diverse, it's jungly, it's got all the
minerals and vitamins that I love to experience.
So I feel the nourishment when I consume the Kauai grown soil
through the plants. Are you barefoot on your farm?
Often no. I wear boots, yeah.
I protect my feet. A lot of people are barefoot,
but I I've had my feet kind of beaten up through different
things on the farm, so I do wear boots on the.
Farm probably the best soil to ground on though for sure.
Do you see a parallel between the microbiome of the soil and
the microbiome of the gut or the human body?
Yeah, it's one and the same. That's what we what we consume
through our soil is what we experience in our gut.
For anyone listening who may not have access to land, what's 1
simple practice that they can implement to reconnect to
nature? Well, we talked about drinking
lemon balm tea, mint tea. So at the farmers market, you
know, going to your farmer markets and and buying what
attracts you and then consuming it in simple form, whether it's
raw tomatoes or cucumbers or big salads.
So remember, yeah, putting that nature within you, obviously as
much ocean and mountain hiking and fresh air, all the things
that we all know, just making sure that we hold ourselves
accountable and and being in nature as much as possible.
You are raising your family on this land.
What do you hope that your children or any future
generations of herbalists will do to carry out your work into
the future? Honoring the plants is, you
know, a humbling act. It's and it and it drives
connection. It drives connection to other
humans, it drives connection to the land.
So fostering that, fostering this plant revolution, if you
will, where our economy is based on it, our lifestyles are based
on it, our housing is we live amongst the plants and we as a
result, we connect with the land and we have what in Hawaii they
refer to as Kuleana responsibility for and they call
Malama Aina. So Kuleana responsibility and
malama Aina would be care for the land.
So responsibility for the land. And then as we care for it, it
cares for us. And it's easier said than done,
but it requires connection. And so that connection is so
like for me, it's been a gnarly experience.
Like I've been just like, no, I don't want to connect, you know,
No, you will connect, right? Like I told you, I dug the hole,
you know, we dug this hole and it's like forces connection and
you're like, it's enough connection.
It hurts. You're in it.
It hurts, yeah. No.
Connect deeper. And so that connection holds
responsibility, right? And that's that responsibility,
like allows us to be responsible for everything and everyone.
Not just the little things around us, not just our little
families, but everything and everyone.
Once we find that Kuleana and that Malama Aina, then we're
responsible for everything. Doug, thank you so much.
This conversation has been so insightful and I can't wait to
incorporate some of these herbs into my daily routine going
forward. Where can people find you and
learn more about Kauai Pharmacy? So we have a website
www.kawaiipharmacy.com, so KAUAIFARMAC, y.com and that has
all kinds of information and has all our products there.
And then we have a YouTube as well as Instagram.
As you would imagine, Hawaii Pharmacy T is our Instagram and
tomorrow we're going to see you on the farm as well too.
So you can come see us, if you can find us on Kauai.
We're on the North Shore in Kilauea and we do do tours and
such. So if people want to come along
with us and tour Kauai Pharmacy, they can check that out on the
vlog, LinkedIn, our show notes. Awesome.
And just if you begin to use like the tea, for example, the
Super foods, once they're within you, all this information that
I'm sharing is kind of not that it's much more impressive to
experience the plants and it's it's profound.
Thanks, Doug. Thank you so much.
It's been an honor. Yeah.
Thank you so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed this
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