Eps 626: Functional Mushrooms Demystified with Nicole Erdrich

“Joyful courage is exactly what I’m doing right now—taking this message out to the universe. It is taking my passion and my soul and shining it on everyone that I possibly can through education, and the mushrooms are a catalyst for that. I’ve always felt like mushrooms have chosen me as a catalyst for love and I take great pride and gratitude and graciousness with all that. So that’s my joyful courage.”
– Nicole Erdrich

Resources:

Documentaries:

• Fantastic Fungi – Documentary featuring mycologist Paul Stamets

Books:

• How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan – Includes a chapter on mushroom use

Experts Referenced:

• Paul Stamets – Famous mycologist featured in Fantastic Fungi
• James Fadiman – Scientist who created early microdosing protocols

Four Peaks Medicinals Resources:

• Free 30-minute personalized consultations available here
• Instagram: @fourpeaksmedicinals
• Website: fourpeaksmedicinals.net
• Email: [email protected]

Local Partners:

• Parasol Ecology – Small growing operation in Paradise, California (supplier)

Upcoming Events:

• December 6th class in Bellingham, Washington (mushroom education with Casey)

Transcription

[00:00:00] Casey O'Roarty: Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Joyful Courage Podcast. This is a place where parents of tweens and teens come to find inspiration, information, and encouragement. In the messy terrain of adolescents, this season of parenting is no joke. And while the details of what we're all moving through might be slightly different, we are indeed having a very collective experience.
[00:00:30] This is a space where we center building, relationship, nurturing life skills, and leaning into our own personal growth and man. The opportunities abound, right. My name is Casey Ody. I am a parent coach, positive discipline lead trainer, and captain of the adolescent ship over at Sprout Bowl. I'm also a speaker and a published author.
[00:00:53] I've been working with parents and families for over 20 years. And continue to navigate my own experience of being a mom with my two young adult kids. I'm so honored that you're here and listening. Please give back to the podcast by sharing it with friends or on social media rate and review us on Apple or Spotify.
[00:01:13] Word of mouth is how we grow. Thank you so, so much. Enjoy the show. Hi friends. I am coming in here today to set you up for the show. This week's interview is not about parenting teens, but it is about wellness and how we are taking care of ourselves, which I know, you know, absolutely 100% connects with how we're showing up for our family, which is why I think this conversation has value.
[00:01:42] Before we get into the content, I wanna warn you that you're gonna hear my guest and I talk about some things that might. Make you feel a little uncomfortable, or it might be things that you've never considered, namely, microdosing, psychedelic mushrooms. This show is mostly focused on functional mushrooms and how we can use functional mushrooms.
[00:02:04] To fit into our life as powerful support for wellness, and we do dabble a little bit into the benefits of using psychedelic mushrooms as a conduit for growth and expansion. So, so I just wanted to give you a heads up about that. Also, neither of us, neither my guests nor I are doctors, I encourage you to listen to our conversation, which is exactly what it is.
[00:02:29] A conversation between friends, not medical advice, and notice where your curiosity sparked and consider where you'd like to learn more or go deeper. Nicole, my guest shares loads of resources, and I will be sure that everything is in the show notes for further research and learning on your part. You with me?
[00:02:48] You into it. You ready to learn and stay curious. All right, let's get into the show.
[00:02:58] Hey listeners, welcome back to the podcast. We are taking a turn today. We're gonna explore something totally different, but absolutely relative to all humans, let alone parents of teenagers. I have my friend on today, my friend Nicole Erdrich. She is a mushroom wellness advocate and the owner of Four Peaks Medicinals.
[00:03:22] And today on the podcast, we are going to demystify functional mushrooms and adaptogens with Nicole. And Nicole's gonna teach us a few things. So, hi Nicole. Welcome to the podcast.
[00:03:35] Nicole Erdrich : Thank you so much, Casey, for having me. What an honor to be on your podcast as your friend, and then just have anybody that wants to hear my message is.
[00:03:44] Gift. So I will do my best to enlighten us.
[00:03:47] Casey O'Roarty: Yay.
[00:03:48] Nicole Erdrich : I know
[00:03:48] Casey O'Roarty: how. Yay. Well, tell us your story. That was a very short bio. So tell us a little bit about your story and what led you to start Four Peaks Medicinals, and like what pulled you into the world of functional mushrooms and adaptogens. What's your story?
[00:04:03] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah, I mean, if I'm being honest, I am a deadhead from the very get go at the age of 15 years old and discovered, you know, the magic mushroom, psychedelic mushrooms, you know, at a dead show at Shoreline. And from that moment on I was like, these are amazing, amazing organisms. Um, and just saw my connectedness to humanity through all those various experiences.
[00:04:26] And I just wanted to orient people to this organism as a whole. And how can I teach about it? How can I connect people? How can I, uh, you know, take away the fears around mushrooms? I think people just classify it as a whole, as these psychedelic mushrooms and they're scary. And so I just think they're all extremely fascinating.
[00:04:44] And if you have this psychedelic component and these various types of mushrooms, imagine all the different benefits you can get from all the various types of mushrooms. And how can I speak about them publicly? Really?
[00:04:55] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean you, when I talk about you and I say, oh yeah, you know, my friend, she's got this company and she does all this stuff with functional mushrooms.
[00:05:04] I don't even really know what I'm saying. I don't know what a functional mushroom is. I don't know what an adaptogen is. So will you start the education process right now with that?
[00:05:13] Nicole Erdrich : Great. You're not alone because I think that functional mushrooms can fall under this big category. You know, they're medicinal.
[00:05:18] They're all medicinal, right? They all have this medicinal value. Functional mushrooms are a group of mushrooms that have health supporting benefits. They're good for, I mean, overall for your immune system, for inflammation, you know, your gut health for cognitive function. For sleep, you know, stress relief.
[00:05:35] The list goes on and on for ho hormone balance, they may fight cancer, they can help, you know, lower cholesterol levels. They just have like endless properties that we can utilize them for. And so just determining the difference between a functional mushroom and a psychoactive mushroom that has a psychoactive component, a KAA psychedelic mushroom.
[00:05:54] So Four Peaks is a functional mushroom company that provides extracts, capsules, and powders. In various stores. We have them online. And then we also now are, you know, you know, broaching this topic of teaching all over the place. 'cause I find so many people like yourself are like, I don't know. I hear they're good for me, but why?
[00:06:13] So,
[00:06:14] Casey O'Roarty: yeah, I mean, I ordered from you. I've got some coffee blend or some drink blend. I've got some tinctures. And you know, when I look on your website and I see like lion, like there's all these words like lion's mane. There's another one that's like Charya or I dunno. Yeah. Uh,
[00:06:33] Nicole Erdrich : Chale. There's Chaga. I think. I think what's great is lion's meat is really kind of like captured really everybody, you know?
[00:06:40] Yeah. Like, oh, okay. Lion's man. I know that. And that's like the big cognitive function, brain health. And it's interesting 'cause if you look at a lion's mane mushroom, it looks like a brain, kind of an intriguing aspect of that particular mushroom.
[00:06:53] Casey O'Roarty: Mm-hmm.
[00:06:54] Nicole Erdrich : With an adaptogen too, is considered a botanical or a plant and some mushrooms are adaptogenic as well.
[00:07:00] That just means that this botanical, such as Ashwagandha or Rhodiola. Ashwagandha is kind of a buzz word. It knows how to adapt to your stress response in your body. So it's called an adaptogen because it adapts to each person's needs differently. Oh, wow. Which is kind amazing.
[00:07:15] Casey O'Roarty: That's totally amazing.
[00:07:16] That's super amazing.
[00:07:18] Nicole Erdrich : You know, it helps in combat high levels of cortisol, so if you have higher levels of cortisol, it adapts accordingly. And for me, that was one of the first noticeable things. I was like, oh, I'm just like calmer. I'm just, I didn't have these anxious moments that I would kept, kept catching myself.
[00:07:35] I'm not as reactive.
[00:07:37] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Well, and I feel like mushrooms are having their day right now.
[00:07:41] Nicole Erdrich : They are
[00:07:41] Casey O'Roarty: like,
[00:07:42] Nicole Erdrich : they're going crazy. I am in the perfect situation, but I saw all that intuitively.
[00:07:48] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. And
[00:07:49] Nicole Erdrich : the mushrooms to me that
[00:07:51] Casey O'Roarty: Right. So there's these like medicinal, well like you said, the umbrella of medicinal mushrooms kind of fits all, but you got the adaptogen and then the psychoactive ones.
[00:08:00] So I, I wanna kind of just highlight
[00:08:03] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah. Is different than culinary because although they have functional components, no wonder it's confusing. Not all of them can be chopped up into food because it'd be like eating a tree bark. Oh, you know, they're really hard and you wouldn't use them like Chaga, you would not cook Chaga soup.
[00:08:17] You know. Okay. You'd be like, you'd be losing teeth. So, yeah. So yeah, it's confusing. Yeah. And that's weird. Demystify
[00:08:27] Casey O'Roarty: mushroom. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. And I know, I mean, I feel like there's probably a lot of, I'm guessing about my listeners, I'm guessing there's a lot of listeners who initially heard you talk about psychedelic mushrooms, and that's kind of now planted in their heads.
[00:08:42] So what do you, you know, when we talk about, uh. Mushrooms and you know, whether it's adaptogens, functional, medicinal, like when we're talking about Lion's mane and these other things, are they getting people high? Like what are the biggest misconceptions that you encounter doing the work that you do? And what do people need to know if they're, you know, thinking like, okay, yeah, I do wanna explore some of like, yeah.
[00:09:10] You're talking about?
[00:09:11] Nicole Erdrich : Yes. Our products that you see, you know, on our website and stuff are not about getting high. Although we do educate people on microdosing. We do offer mushroom therapy. We do have free consultations that you can get on our website by going to the Contact us tab, there's a way that you can sign up for consultations where we educate people about microdosing.
[00:09:30] And we also have a therapist on our team that does that. But for the, um, for this conversation today, we're strictly talking about the functional mushroom products, and that's, you know, our capsules extracts. Powders and growing, you know, we're working on menopause blends. I'm in this constant state of creating.
[00:09:46] I'd say a lot of that is from taking mushrooms all the time. Like, I mean, there is marked differences in my cognitive function from taking, from taking.
[00:09:55] Casey O'Roarty: Well, and so I kind of actually wanna dabble into educating about the microdosing. I want more information on that. That's my baby. Can we talk about that?
[00:10:03] Nicole Erdrich : Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, that's, you know, how I became so fascinated with mushrooms and just, you know, all the various components that they, or, you know, benefits that they offer, you know, began with taking psychedelic mushrooms. And so we, you know, we do pride ourselves on. Microdosing therapy is kind of where we're at, you know?
[00:10:21] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. What does that mean? What does that look like?
[00:10:23] Nicole Erdrich : We just teach people about how to micro dos safely on their own about various protocols that are put out there by Paul Stats. You know, he has his, he's a famous Mycologist. Many people have heard of Paul Stats. He's part of the Fantastic Fungi documentary.
[00:10:38] That kind of, I think that's what really put him on the map. In fact, if you really want to do some homework after this podcast, watch that documentary. Read the book, Michael Pollen came out with How to Change Your Mind, and he's got a whole chapter within his book and also I believe on his documentary about mushroom use.
[00:10:57] So, yeah, they have various protocols around microdosing. You know, microdosing is supposed to be a sub perceptual amount of mushrooms. What that means is you're not really supposed to feel anything, and everybody's like, well, why would I do that? You know? How do I know? Because it's supposed to be like nature, Xanax, like you're supposed to be able to take this.
[00:11:12] If you're taking a proper dose, you're not supposed to feel anything but good. You know, just lighter. Mm-hmm. You know, it's just, it's not supposed to be, oh my gosh. So we're demystifying fear. Around the use of psychedelics as well. You know, the mission of Four Peaks is, you know, this mushroom education company like that is our drive is sharing the power of mushroom and spreading joy and love through mushroom medicine.
[00:11:36] And all of our products are kind of a byproduct of that mission. So, um, but anyway, I kind of digress, but there No, I
[00:11:42] Casey O'Roarty: like it.
[00:11:43] Nicole Erdrich : There are various protocols that are in place. If you are saying like, Hey, I really wanna get after something that you're really working with, you know, or you know that you're having trouble with major anxiety, you can do a deep, you know, work with microdosing and follow again, you know, a month to three month protocol.
[00:12:01] Again, there's the pulse stats. I don't wanna mess this up. I think he's like three days on, four days off. James Fatman, I wanna say, was the first one to put microdosing protocols into place. And he's also a famous scientist, I believe. You know, again, I'm not, I always tell people this, I am not a scientist.
[00:12:19] I'm not a doctor. I'm a mushroom enthusiast. I'm an advocate. I'm not a mycologist. Right? It is a major science that's pretty intense. In fact, I just have to say this, there's over 14,000 different types of mushrooms. Oh my
[00:12:33] Casey O'Roarty: gosh. That's
[00:12:34] a
[00:12:34] Nicole Erdrich : lot. So like it's a big world and I'm just like the fun person, sharing the fun components and learning every single day.
[00:12:43] Every single day that I prepare for a podcast or to speak in front of a group, I'm like, oh, there's one more piece of information that I was unaware of.
[00:12:51] Casey O'Roarty: And what does protocol mean? Like the plan that you follow
[00:12:55] Nicole Erdrich : could be like, um, like a one month plan. You know, I'm gonna go into. Take a sub, you know, I'm gonna take my microdose, which is ideally a 10th of a gram or a hundred milligrams,
[00:13:05] Casey O'Roarty: okay?
[00:13:05] Nicole Erdrich : People can be a little bit different. I mean, you know, everybody's built differently. You're a different size. You're, you know, a 250 pound man versus a smaller woman is gonna have a different response. Um, and I tell people when you're, you know, trying microdosing, perhaps you do it on a Saturday when you can kind of just feel into it and kind of find your soft spot with it.
[00:13:25] Casey O'Roarty: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:26] Nicole Erdrich : I also tell people, don't go in nervous. I think, you know, everybody has this like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna be freaking out because we a did an eighth to ourselves as a 15-year-old. In high school. Yeah.
[00:13:37] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah.
[00:13:38] Nicole Erdrich : Won't have the brain power to even understand what we're doing to ourselves. Right. And just, and so they have this fear and then we were taught to be afraid of it.
[00:13:47] And so some of my big teachings with people is like, these mushrooms are on this planet for a reason. I mean, at the very root of it all, they are here to teach us things. They are, I mean, why would this small little organism. Have so much impact in our brain and our bodies. Our DNA is more comparable to mushrooms than it is to plants.
[00:14:06] Like we are more closely related to mushrooms, and mushrooms are to plants. So there's a similarity in our DNA, which I find super fascinating because to me it just makes sense that when you're ingesting something that is that closely related to your our own DNA, no wonder it has these powerful benefits, be it lion's name, be it psychoactive, psychedelic mushroom.
[00:14:35] Casey O'Roarty: Well, and it's so interesting too when you think about the laundry list of medications that people are taking for a variety of reasons, and you can overtake any number of those medications and have a kind of. Overwhelming experience. And I'm hearing you, you know, it's interesting to be talking about psychedelic mushrooms because there is the whole storyline of like, ah, we're getting high, we're hallucinating, we're this and that, and the other thing.
[00:15:02] But it's like, well, yeah,
[00:15:03] Nicole Erdrich : blood. Yeah.
[00:15:04] Casey O'Roarty: I mean, but that's the, that's the, that's the big dose. That's the overuse of what you're looking for. Like what you're talking about is a little bit of an uplift or just a more focus or feeling more contained in your body and in your experience than there are different doses that can actually support you, and it is medicine.
[00:15:27] Nicole Erdrich : It's such a difference between taking a minute amount of psilocybin versus a bigger dose, which has its purpose as well. Mm-hmm. Those scary components can become from facing your subconscious, things that you don't wanna face, but yet if you wanna get to the bottom of that pain or whatever, sometimes you have to face it head on.
[00:15:44] So it can feel a little crunchy at first, you know? Mm-hmm. You people that come out at higher doses, like, I don't really like that. I did that. And then they're like a couple months later like, oh, there was a lesson. Now I'm moving through life differently because it showed me things I didn't really wanna see.
[00:15:58] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah.
[00:15:59] Nicole Erdrich : You're protected that way. That's what that subconscious, you know, keeps you safe. Where even like microdosing, you know, I do hear some people have a little bit of that, but sometimes that's what you need to get on the other side of what it is that's causing you that pain.
[00:16:13] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:16:14] Nicole Erdrich : Then it can help reframe those neuro pathways in the mind, which I find so intriguing.
[00:16:19] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah.
[00:16:19] Nicole Erdrich : In conjunction with Lion's Mane, it's like a power pack for your brain. So the reason that you fire an anxiety is 'cause your brain is just used to going, I'm nervous today, and you wake up and you wanna be nervous. Right? 'cause it just knows to do that. When you're doing a protocol and you say, I don't wanna be like that anymore.
[00:16:34] I wanna move through this anxious feeling. That's part of that protocol is like recognizing. You know, your weak spots are places that don't feel good in your day-to-day life and saying, I wanna change that. So you would journal and you would set intention. Mm-hmm. You would always look at the medicine with respect.
[00:16:50] You know, when you're taking a microdose, be aware, set intention around it. You know, be grateful for it.
[00:16:55] Casey O'Roarty: Mm-hmm.
[00:16:56] Nicole Erdrich : Because it helps guide the medicine in the mind.
[00:16:59] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah.
[00:17:00] Nicole Erdrich : And I truly believe that these other. Functional mushrooms have similar properties. You know, I don't know if I do a blessing over my lion's mane every day, but I certainly am grateful for it and, um.
[00:17:10] And I mean, I noticed a marked difference. You know, I did a month of travel in Europe about a year or so ago and didn't bring any of my extracts with me. And I'm always like, am I doing the right thing? I mean, I'm putting my whole world into this business and do they work and, you know, come back from Europe.
[00:17:25] Started taking them again and I was like, wow. Just in a couple of days of like routinely taking, you know, I mix and match my extracts. We do a variety of extracts for that reason. Mm-hmm. So you can do one, one month and kind of switch 'em up just to change tolerance and reactions to different things. It's good to maybe switch it up.
[00:17:42] Although cumulatively mushrooms can work well too, taking them over time. This is just what I do for myself, but I was like, whoa, I'm way more on, and especially when we talk, I mean, I might be skipping forward, but with menopause, I'm pairing. Yeah. Something's going on. I'm gonna blame it on something. Um, I just definitely am like kinda all over the map.
[00:18:02] I think we're all distracted and I really feel like when I like kind of high dose, I create my own coffee drink in the morning and we can get into that. But take my lion's mane. It just, it works. It's effective.
[00:18:13] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Well, and talk more about the benefits. So what are those tangible benefits from having a protocol of adaptogens?
[00:18:21] Let's talk about the kind of functional mushrooms and adaptogens that listeners might be curious about trying.
[00:18:27] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah, I always tell everybody, you know, people will be like, well, I didn't feel anything. I go, well, how long did you take it? And I mean, I think we're all guilty of this, right? You buy your supplements, they sit on your counter, you take 'em for a few days and you expect some reaction.
[00:18:38] Well, they're cumulative. Like your body has to get used to it and start putting it to work, which I find interesting though, with our revive and thrive. I've noticed that working within a couple of days. And like I said, I noticed that when I came back from a trip and not, not having taken it. And I was like, oh man.
[00:18:54] I'm like zipping around because within our revive and thrive, you know, we have the, um, you know, it's a combination of different things. I has always have to look 'cause we have so many different products and different things in there. But, uh, we have the lion's mane and then you have Cordyceps, which is really good for like sustained energy.
[00:19:11] So you'll get the linesman, you have these various mushrooms that give you this energy. Now the cortis ups helps maximize that energy. So you don't have that crash.
[00:19:19] Casey O'Roarty: Mm-hmm.
[00:19:19] Nicole Erdrich : Not all like cordyceps up and then, you know, it helps maintain this energetic place. And if I have my facts correct, they used it in the Olympics in China to help with stamina.
[00:19:30] People are, say, to take corsets before you work out. It helps with respiratory function, um, and circulation. So it's good to take before a workout, helps open up the lungs so you can breathe better and work out harder. And then you've got MAA in our revive and thrive. I'm just referring to that right now.
[00:19:45] Yeah.
[00:19:46] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Do it.
[00:19:47] Nicole Erdrich : So the MAA is good for hormone balance. And in Turkey tail, I mean Turkey tail. One of the, my favorite, again, I'm gonna refer back to Paul Stats and I just listened to a talk from him this morning. I believe he said that his, so if you watch Fantastic Fungi, and this is what really got me wanting to follow the mushroom life, is he talks about his mom had cancer and she started high dosing Turkey tail extract.
[00:20:11] And she was in, in with other 50 other people that had cancer and, and all 48 of the people died from cancer that were part of this group and two lived, I don't remember what the other person, how, what their story was, but she was the other one. And he attributed Paul Stats, who's a genius, in my opinion, to dosing Turkey tail.
[00:20:29] Casey O'Roarty: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:29] Nicole Erdrich : I tell you what, someone that comes from a family of breast cancer and the fear around getting breast cancer, I do our sacred immunity every single day, and that's our Turkey tail. That's just straight Turkey.
[00:20:40] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah, and I bought that for Ben too. I bought that for Ben. So he's taking it as well.
[00:20:44] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah, so it's good for preventative.
[00:20:47] So prevent cancer prevention, but also they say may reduce existing tumors. Mm-hmm. So I'm like, I'm, I'm coming at it. Like I don't, I don't want cancer, you know?
[00:20:56] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah.
[00:20:57] Nicole Erdrich : One thing that's super duper important is, you know, a lot of products that you would find on Amazon, you know, many people go to Amazon, you have no idea what you're getting.
[00:21:06] When it says Lion's mane, a lot of it comes outta China. There's no regulatory body and it can have just a percentage of lion's mane within. You know, the product, you know, and the rest could be, you know, fillers. So what we do differently with our products is we do our best to source our mushrooms as close to Chico as possible.
[00:21:25] We get a variety of our,
[00:21:26] Casey O'Roarty: Chico is where Nicole lives, by the way.
[00:21:28] Nicole Erdrich : Yes. Chico, California. I'm in California. Or we get it from a place of mom and small growing operation called Parasol Ecology out of Paradise, which is super cool. Because paradise is part of those big campfires, like the major fires in California, I'm sure many people know.
[00:21:45] And so this is helping support the economy up there, which is all. And then the, I always say this, the, the waste that comes from the grow operations goes back into the soil, which is helping with the burn scar. So it's this cool cyclical relationship that we have with our growers too. Anyway, we did some testing of our mushrooms compared to other like high-end well-known growers.
[00:22:06] And we the, we are tested high in the constituents that you want like percentages higher than some of the other growers that are even good growers too. So that just means they're more bioavailable. It's a higher efficacy, bioavailable meaning, you know, getting into your system. Mm-hmm. Better. They don't sit on trucks.
[00:22:23] You know, we are trying so hard to keep our business this small. Apothecary feel so that we can have our hands in the products and with our customers, like, because then you start losing your customers, you start losing quality. So we're really trying to keep that, that together still. So none of our stuff is sitting on trucks and.
[00:22:44] You know, cargo ships coming from China or anything like that.
[00:22:46] Casey O'Roarty: Well, I think today that matters. That means so much living in the global world situation that we're inside of and you know, just feeling like it's so easy to jump on Amazon and it'll come tomorrow, or you know, but without really thinking about quality or footprint or things like that.
[00:23:07] So I really appreciate hearing that that's important to all of you. And I think that's. Something for everyone to take away, regardless of what they're in the market for. You know, how is that affecting small towns and small businesses and the world that we're all sharing? So I love that. I wanna jump back into what you said you kind of alluded to with menopause.
[00:23:27] So of course you know my show typically I'm talking about parenting. Parenting teenagers. Yeah. And so many of my listeners were all, you know, we're all of the midlife. Variety, right? So perimenopause, menopause, hot flashes, brain fog, energy crashes, sleep. Talk more about how functional mushrooms and adaptogens specifically support women through this transition.
[00:23:54] Nicole Erdrich : I just think from like an overarching place, they're really great for inflammation, right? And then you've got, you know, it's good for your gut health. You know, I think, you know, as we know, wait, what am I talking about? Brain fog. So, you know, lion's vein is great. That. I mean they say it. I keep using the word may 'cause I'm trying to be FDA compliant.
[00:24:12] Sure, sure. That Lion's, Maine. See, I forgot. I'm talking about brain fog and
[00:24:18] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Hi everyone. Welcome to
[00:24:19] Nicole Erdrich : menopause with all time or dementia. That's hilarious. Wait, what am I talking about? Anyway, so dementia prevention, that sounds like it's, Rishi, is called the, it's the queen of immortality, mushroom. It's great for sleep.
[00:24:32] Um, oh
[00:24:33] Casey O'Roarty: really? I need that.
[00:24:34] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah. Yeah. So that's a well-known, well-respected mushroom. They used it to me like back in the Egyptian times. It was a well-known mushroom that they found in the tombs. What else? And then you've got chaga and the Turkey tail for the cancer prevention. Yeah, they're just. They don't like all encompassing, they're ancient Chinese medicine, right?
[00:24:55] Mm-hmm. It's just we haven't really bought it to the forefront until now, until we've had people like Paul stats come up and start speaking about the effects of them, and there's, there's some major science coming out about how effective they are for new building materials too, and just, there's all kinds of new research.
[00:25:12] It's, it's, we were just touching the scratching the surface.
[00:25:16] Casey O'Roarty: That's exciting. Are they the kind of thing where. Like you could look at medicines that are widely available and if you drill down, there's like bits and pieces of mushrooms inside of them.
[00:25:29] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah, possibly. I mean, I don't know that for sure, but I mean, they are one of the first organisms on earth.
[00:25:34] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah.
[00:25:35] Nicole Erdrich : Um, they say they're a sentient being, meaning they kind of have their own brain, you know, mycelium so
[00:25:39] Casey O'Roarty: cool
[00:25:40] Nicole Erdrich : system of. Mushrooms are part of everything. They call it the wood wide web. It's like the, the internet of the, you know, organisms under the, our feet. Yeah. They're involved in everything. And you know, one thing we pride ourselves onto with our products is we use just the fruiting body.
[00:25:56] So you just see that little, the mushroom that comes from the earth. The, the fun cool looking part is the fruiting body. So you're getting. All the benefits of that mushroom, because oftentimes if it is in mycelium, it's grown in a substrate or grain. And so you might get fillers and additives mm-hmm.
[00:26:12] Within your product. And in fact, we did a, a testing, like an iodine testing of our products against other big players in the game. And I won't say names because I have, I, they're all great products, but. Ours tested more pure, like if you, if it changed colors, it showed that there was additives in, in this test, you'd have to look at it through our PowerPoint, but ours did not up against these major companies.
[00:26:34] And I was like, all right, that's amazing. Just making sure we're doing the right thing. So
[00:26:39] Casey O'Roarty: what about safety? So are there things that people should know about when they're considering looking at kind of folding in mushrooms as a supplement into their life and. Are there medications that aren't great to put them alongside?
[00:26:55] What about that?
[00:26:56] Nicole Erdrich : Again, like I said, you know, I'm not a doctor, but I always tell people, consult with your healthcare provider or physician anytime you wanna take something.
[00:27:04] Casey O'Roarty: Nicole, I'm gonna pause you right there. Like,
[00:27:06] Nicole Erdrich : I know I'm not, I'm
[00:27:07] Casey O'Roarty: in my doctor. She's a naturopath. And I'm constantly shocked when I'm like, well, what about this?
[00:27:13] And I feel like it's off the beaten path and I'm ready for her to be like, oh yeah. And she's so dismissive. Like, do you find that doctors. I mean, if we consult with our doctor, which yes, please everyone, consult with your doctor.
[00:27:24] Nicole Erdrich : I mean, I'm personally not gonna be going to my doctor and being like, can I take, you know, if you're gonna eat shiitakes and you're gonna have, and you're, you know, but, well, and, and that's a great question.
[00:27:33] I'm not on medications, so, right.
[00:27:36] Casey O'Roarty: Okay.
[00:27:37] Nicole Erdrich : So I'm not the best person for that. Very good question though. I taught a class the other day and I do know, so one of the reasons we created. A variety of extracts and one that doesn't have ashwagandha or any like, or Rhodiola is 'cause some people do have reactions based on whatever medications to ashwagandha I've heard.
[00:27:54] Casey O'Roarty: Okay.
[00:27:55] Nicole Erdrich : I think it's just like an allergic reaction where they might get a little bit itchy or something. Again, I don't know that for sure, but that's a great, you know, if you're on a variety of different medications, then it, I would, it would be who of you to ask.
[00:28:06] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Do some research. Definitely. Yeah. And you've already touched upon like quality matters.
[00:28:12] Nicole Erdrich : Quality.
[00:28:12] Casey O'Roarty: Quality matters
[00:28:13] Nicole Erdrich : is like the efficacy matters. So like, if you're using Lion's name that has all these additives, you're just paying to, you're getting a placebo effect, which might be great, you know, maybe you're getting what you need out of it. But like, you can tell when you're taking a high quality lion's vein, A, you're not gonna need as much, you know?
[00:28:30] Casey O'Roarty: Mm-hmm.
[00:28:31] Nicole Erdrich : Of the product. And you'll, you'll just, you can tell.
[00:28:42] Casey O'Roarty: So what about, and honestly, like I'm saying this and I'm realizing I'm feeling a little un, I'm just gonna be honest, like a little uncomfortable just because there, this is, it feels like, I mean, it's ancient Chinese medicine and I, I'm recognizing my own Western condition conditioning showing up with asking this question.
[00:29:02] But I wanna know, 'cause parents, you know, we, especially with our kiddos, with our teenagers, we wanna do whatever is gonna be helpful.
[00:29:10] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah, absolutely.
[00:29:11] Casey O'Roarty: So is this something that could be, and right now everyone, we're not talking about the psychedelic side of things, but the functional side. Okay. Yeah. Is this something that's safe to perhaps bring in as a supplement for our teenagers?
[00:29:26] Nicole Erdrich : I mean, again, I don't have teenagers, but I a hundred percent from my, you know, just use of them and from seeing friends using them with their teenagers. I mean, how can it hurt to start introducing the mind to something that's like gonna keep it, you know, firing better, right? Yeah. Like, and from a, you know, I'm in a college town and I'm often vending at various events.
[00:29:48] College week, you know, a lot of the clients that we have. Our parents wanting their kids to take the lions made for studying and helping 'em keep 'em. Mm-hmm. It's a hell of a lot better than taking monsters or, yeah,
[00:29:58] Casey O'Roarty: yeah. Or we're giving em Adderall all the time. We're gi I mean, there's, so, I have so many clients with kids who are taking Zoloft or Wellbutrin, all these really heavy medications, which, I mean, I feel like there's a percentage of humans that that is saving lives and.
[00:30:17] Remembering my own experience, parenting through some tough times. I was ready to try a lot of things before, for whatever reason that felt heavy. Like those big prescription ssis and, and things like that felt really heavy. And it was like, well, let's see if we can't navigate this with some, you know, what felt like natural remedies and supplements.
[00:30:41] And then, you know, we, we went down our own path on that. Yeah.
[00:30:45] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah, I don't blame you because then you start introducing these medications and they can block things, you know, they're, they're, yeah. Blocking receptors. So that's a good question too, is people are like, I'm on an SSRI. Can I take
[00:30:56] Casey O'Roarty: ss? RI, what did I just say?
[00:30:58] RSSI. SSI. Thank you.
[00:31:00] Nicole Erdrich : Reminds me, take a couple
[00:31:02] Casey O'Roarty: professionals here. Okay.
[00:31:05] Nicole Erdrich : No SSRIs, you know, are blocking receptors. Now, again, I'm not a doctor, but this is just my
[00:31:11] Casey O'Roarty: Sure.
[00:31:12] Nicole Erdrich : So they say from a psilocybin standpoint or psychoactive mushrooms, apparently you might have to go a higher dose because it's blocking your receptors from receiving the benefits of the psilocybin.
[00:31:25] So some people have to go a higher dose, and that might be the same with any kind of mushrooms, you know? Mm-hmm.
[00:31:30] Casey O'Roarty: Okay. If the SSRI is already in the system, uhhuh, it might require. A bigger dose to feel the effects or to recognize the effects of the supplement.
[00:31:40] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah. The point it, those SSRIs is to block these feelings a little bit.
[00:31:42] Right. If you're super anxious or whatever.
[00:31:45] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah.
[00:31:45] Nicole Erdrich : They also say that you can up dose on psychedelics and taper off. Of the SSRIs. Again, that's kind of how you can move out of taking SSRIs mm-hmm. Into using mushrooms instead. But that's just hearsay from
[00:31:59] Casey O'Roarty: mm-hmm.
[00:32:00] Nicole Erdrich : My research and, you know.
[00:32:01] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think these are important conversations.
[00:32:04] I mean, I think the broader population doesn't understand. The wealth of value that exists in these little organisms. And so really, listeners, what we're doing, yeah, what we're doing right now is just having a conversation and I invite all of you that are listening to continue to do your own research and just, you know, obviously you get to decide for yourself, what do you wanna try, what do you wanna see?
[00:32:33] What happens? I love that you have a therapist on your staff, you know, as far as the psychedelic side goes
[00:32:39] Nicole Erdrich : podcast on Microdosing too. Like she's Yeah,
[00:32:41] Casey O'Roarty: maybe I'll have her on.
[00:32:42] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah, I'd love for you to have her on. So we team up on stuff. Katie Laue, she is my best friend and she's a psycho educator and has all kinds of credentials and she is my, I mean, I'm lucky I get free therapy from her all the time because she's constantly, I
[00:32:56] love
[00:32:56] Casey O'Roarty: those friends
[00:32:57] Nicole Erdrich : wrangling messages and she's like, this is what I would do and I hear me.
[00:33:01] Now in the way that I approach people through her language, and I'm super grateful to have her and I really honor her. Her schooling and her intellect and her care about people's mental health. It's very, and uh, yeah, we team up on stuff, you know, and the fact that, you know, doing this today is just a step into what Four Peaks is becoming and where I'm personally going.
[00:33:22] I've never been like, I can't wait to public speak and I'm kind of there right now because I feel like. My nerves. I gotta get through those because people need this so badly. I mean, we could not make a time where we need wellness and ways to keep our heads straight and our immune system strong and ways to find joy outside of drowning ourselves in alcohol or whatever else.
[00:33:41] People, yeah. It's time to level up and like my big belief is that the plants are our hope for humanity. Like they are, like what's happening? Like they will come in and they're our biggest teachers and allies and I'm just on a mission to get mushrooms in the hands of everybody I can meet and talk to and educate.
[00:33:59] 'cause I've just seen my personal benefits and I think it's needed more than ever.
[00:34:03] Casey O'Roarty: Well, okay, so let's talk about the first timer, right? Some of the listeners that might be like, Hmm, this is interesting to me, but I have no idea where to start. If someone wants to try functional mushrooms or adaptogens for the first time, like what's the, what's a stepping stone in.
[00:34:19] Nicole Erdrich : Well, their stepping stone is listening to this podcast right now. Yeah.
[00:34:22] Casey O'Roarty: Good job. Step one, listen to the pod.
[00:34:24] Nicole Erdrich : Step one. Step two is one of the things, so when I was talking earlier about really wanting to pride ourselves on this small business feel, so what's really cool is we're women owned and operated.
[00:34:32] There's only three of us that run this company, and this summer was the biggest summer of our lives. We were sponsors for major music festivals, which is cool. Yeah, cool. Golden Road and growing. But we offer these personal consultations, so my general managers, as long as we can handle it. You can go, you know, onto our website, under the Contact us tab and you can set up a personalized console and we'll talk you through.
[00:34:54] We have like 30 minutes, you know, we're not gonna cut that off.
[00:34:57] Casey O'Roarty: It's generous. Yeah.
[00:34:58] Nicole Erdrich : It take to talk to you because beyond like selling products, like I never came at this like I'm gonna get rich and I can't wait to sell a bunch of tinctures. It was more like doing something I love and it fit. Can let me travel to go visit you in Bellingham and see music that I'm doing it right.
[00:35:14] So we offer these consults and then we also do, um, you know, my friend Katie LaRue that's on our team does do, um, consultations on microdosing as well and weaves in the functional mushrooms within that. So she's up charges because obviously she needs to and she's worth it.
[00:35:29] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Yeah,
[00:35:30] Nicole Erdrich : stepping the starting point is set up a consult with us if you really want a personalized regimen or routine.
[00:35:36] Me personally, like my daily is I, you know, everybody has all these mushroom powders, you know, I'm sure you're seeing them all over the book. Yeah,
[00:35:43] Casey O'Roarty: totally.
[00:35:43] Nicole Erdrich : Like some people don't, you know, ours are handcrafted, you know, we make them, we call it farm to bag, so we're making 'em every like couple of weeks, so they're really fresh.
[00:35:51] So again, the efficacy. Go ahead. So
[00:35:54] Casey O'Roarty: what does that mean? Like do you have a laboratory where you bring in the mushrooms and you dry 'em out? Yeah. You turn in the powder. Like what does that mean?
[00:36:00] Nicole Erdrich : Well, no, we source our mushrooms from our growers. So we have relationships with our growers, but we create the powders in our own like kitchen.
[00:36:06] Casey O'Roarty: Awesome. Yeah.
[00:36:07] Nicole Erdrich : But yeah, so I like to do, some people don't like coffee powders and so what I'm really trying to teach people, 'cause I think this is kind of fun. This is gonna get me into another topic that's pretty cool. It's creating your own mushroom drink. You're like, okay, today I wanna go heavy on the lion's mane.
[00:36:21] Or, today I'm doing a hardcore workout and I'm gonna hit it up with cords. So I'm gonna do that harmony blend. I'm gonna make my own like power packed beverage. And so, you know, you might do a teaspoon of this and then add extras or maybe you don't like powders and you'll just do extracts into your coffee or tea.
[00:36:37] And it's kind of fun, I feel like. You have some control over this drink so it works better. Right? You're like, okay, I really feel it. 'cause I put this energy into it and as you know, I'm gonna be teaching a class with you. Mm-hmm. Here December 6th am I unplug the date, right? Yeah.
[00:36:54] Casey O'Roarty: December 6th, Bellingham, Washington.
[00:36:56] Reach out if you wanna.
[00:36:57] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah,
[00:36:57] Casey O'Roarty: get a Facebook invite.
[00:36:59] Nicole Erdrich : Yeah. So I want to teach people about how to do mocktails, you know, using all these people are into mocktails now and then my whole theory is like, well, if you're gonna be drinking a little bit extra calories or a little bit of fun, and even if it's not that, why not make it like a powerful drink?
[00:37:12] So
[00:37:13] Casey O'Roarty: yeah, useful.
[00:37:14] Nicole Erdrich : These adaptogenic drinks are coming out like the canned drinks, but I think it's more fun, especially for people that still wanna have a. Like a bar experience or, or go out with their friends. They can have a little fun and make their own drinks. Mm-hmm. So we have these mocktail bars at parties that I'm at and stuff, and they've been a hit, a big hit.
[00:37:31] Casey O'Roarty: What I love about what you're talking about is like holding the power of your wellbeing in your own hands versus waiting, you know, versus this feeling. It kind of reminds me, this is so off topic, but it kind of reminds me of. I had two different birth experiences and we're recording on my son's birthday, so happy birthday Ian.
[00:37:50] Oh, cool. But I had, you know, my daughter who I had in the hospital and with all kind of the western situation is what we ended up with, which was all good. She was born and it was great.
[00:38:02] Nicole Erdrich : Okay. Yes.
[00:38:03] Casey O'Roarty: And you know, I had to spend two extra days in the hospital. It was very much, I mean, I remember feeling like, well, I'm really glad that I'm here and there's people checking my baby and there's people checking me.
[00:38:14] And I'm really glad that other people are checking me. And then I had Ian and I had Ian at home on purpose. And the midwives, you know, we, his birth was totally different and
[00:38:26] Nicole Erdrich : more connected.
[00:38:27] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah, I mean, I was pretty connected, but just the, what would, the biggest difference to me in the early days of having this newborn was they were like, okay, great.
[00:38:37] Here's the packet. Here's what you look out for. You've got this. Bye. Right. Yeah. And so this idea, and I don't think it's, I think we live in such a medicalized society, and so we're really sent the message of like, you can't handle this yourself. You need a professional and granted a, yeah. And there's plenty of things we need professionals for.
[00:38:58] I'm not discard, disregarding professional opinion, but there's also a lot that we get to that we can lean into. Yeah, our intuition. You know,
[00:39:11] Nicole Erdrich : is that your body's in a less stressful place going.
[00:39:14] Casey O'Roarty: Yes.
[00:39:15] Nicole Erdrich : And the whole experience around all that is less stressful. Yeah. I really respect that. I mean, yeah. You saw in our mission, and I think in one of the questions that you, you must have looked at our mission is like, you know, we want wellness to be a journey best shared with others.
[00:39:28] Like
[00:39:28] Casey O'Roarty: yeah,
[00:39:29] Nicole Erdrich : a community of wellness together and like supporting each other to have that mocktail or whatever at an event and just using the same products and talking about it and you just feel a connection to it. Yeah. Ordering a bottle of who knows what from who knows where off Amazon. That's all I'm saying.
[00:39:44] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah, totally. Well, for the people that are now completely intrigued. By all of this, where can they find you and find your products?
[00:39:54] Nicole Erdrich : Okay. What do we got? No, um, you can find us on Instagram. So we're four peaks medicinals.net, and you can find us. Obviously there's Instagram, Facebook. We're working on TikTok and Reddit and YouTube.
[00:40:04] Oh
[00:40:04] Casey O'Roarty: God. God bless you. Um,
[00:40:06] Nicole Erdrich : yeah, I mean, those are the main sources. You could email us at [email protected]. You can message us on our Instagram. We are really excited. You know, where I'm at in my life and with this company is I'm really finally stepping into this place that I've always wanted to step into, and that is educating.
[00:40:22] I come from like a training and team building background. It's like in my soul as a person. Um, I mean, I speak from my heart, so if you have any interest in doing classes with me, I'm gonna go on like a tour and I'll be. Cruising up through like potentially Oregon, Washington, or, I mean, I live in Northern California, so if it makes sense, I'll travel to people or we can set up zooms and you can bring me into your home.
[00:40:45] You know, we can, I'm gonna be in Seattle at yoga studios, so if it's, you know, if it makes sense, I will come and do stuff in person. This is a growing, growing. Mission, big time that we are. Love
[00:40:57] Casey O'Roarty: that. Love it.
[00:40:58] Nicole Erdrich : And music festivals, I believe are gonna be a Golden Road music festival. And I'm also bringing this concept of, we have a mushroom lounge.
[00:41:06] This is not set up yet, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen. And then within our lounge you would come and we would have a mushroom talk. So it's like, sure, go have a great time at a music festival, but also have some balance. Mm-hmm. How to maintain coming out of a festival, feeling enlightened in all the ways and maybe not so drained.
[00:41:23] And that's kind
[00:41:24] Casey O'Roarty: of, yeah, be an adult, you guys Okay.
[00:41:29] Do music festivals like an adult, like the adult that you are,
[00:41:32] Nicole Erdrich : we'll just have your hangover maybe last one day anyway, just like finding balance, right? Yeah. I'm a, I'm in this constant, like, am I crazy or am I a Libra, I'm gonna call it, or is it menopause?
[00:41:45] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Anyway,
[00:41:45] Nicole Erdrich : just. How to have a really damn good time.
[00:41:48] 'cause my God, we need it more than ever. Yeah. And taking care of ourselves through that place.
[00:41:53] Casey O'Roarty: Yeah. Having a good time. And feeling the good time. That's what I'm really hearing you speak into is like just. Something that's been been offered by the earth for us to learn to use in a way that enhances our life.
[00:42:06] So I'm just super stoked that you came and hung out with me and shared about this. I always end my interviews with the same question, Nicole, so you're getting it too, which is, what does joyful courage mean to you?
[00:42:18] Nicole Erdrich : Joyful courage is exactly what I'm doing right now and not, yes, taking this message out to the universe like it could make me teary-eyed.
[00:42:25] It is taking my like passion and my soul and shining it on everyone that I possibly can through education, and the mushrooms are a catalyst for that. I've always felt like mushrooms have chosen me as like a catalyst for love and I take great pride and like gratitude and graciousness with all that. So that's my joyful courage.
[00:42:45] Casey O'Roarty: Oh, I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. This is great.
[00:42:54] Thank you so much for listening. Thank you to my Sprout partners. Julietta and Alana, thank you Danielle, for supporting with the show notes as well as Chris Mann and the team at Pod Shaper for all the support with getting the show out there and making it sound good. As I mentioned, sharing is caring. If you're willing to pass on this episode to others or take a few minutes to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it helps other parents find this useful content.
[00:43:22] Be sure to check out what we have going on for parents of kids. Of all ages and sign up for our newsletter to stay [email protected]. I see you doing all the things. I believe in you. See you next time.