PITMOSSⓇ it’s

• a little different
• soft
• light
• fluffy
• holds a ton of moisture

but it’s certainly not your typical bag of potting soil

so our challenge is to educate people that this isn’t your normal growing media, it’s beneficial to the plants and our planet!

Were really big on our planet and sustainablity

so any questions about potting mixes, stagnant peat moss and that.

what’s unique about our product and what areas it really thrives in

Where are you located?

Were in Pittsburg

I am a millennial

I am, it’s such a dirty word

Millennial Love

Not on my show! I think Millennials are the rockstar generation that are gonna save our planet and care about the world! The one’s I interview are people like you and I can hear your passion coming through. This guy posted this thing on FB Jackie every time I hear you talk about millennials I think of this, and it’s totally dissing millennials and the end it says imagine one of them is gonna be president someday… the millennials I talk to consistently are the hardest working, especially gardeners, and in my podcasting group that are millennials as well as ones that are my age that have been doing the 9-5 but many are kids coming out of college and high school who do not want to get a job they don’t even trust a job.

Lifestyle Design

So many people think of millennials as like Tim Ferris’ book the 4 Hour Work Week millennials are lazy but the 4 Hour Work Week doesn’t even mean your gonna work a 4 hour week it probably means your gonna work 80 hours a week and your work and your life are gonna be intertwined so your job is your passion and your life together and also he talks about lifestyle design and not waiting for retirement but putting those moments into your life as you go… 3 months here, a week here, enjoy life now while your living it and enjoying it …

and like the head of my podcasting class was in the army and Pat Flynn from the Smart Passive Income such an environmentalist and they are such humanitarians, I have to admit I’m not sure either of them really qualifies as a millennial both are right on the cusp but just the people they inspire are truly hardworking people!

Work-life Integration not Work-life separation … I’m constantly working and also living my life.

Me too, I feel very blessed to have the life I have.

Today is February 24 and I have 5 interview’s scheduled and 3 are going to talk about healthy soil!  I’m starting my day with another Rockstar Millennial who is going to teach us about how to care for our planet!  So welcome to the show Ashley Mariani!

Tell us a little about yourself.

Absolutely, I have a pretty diverse background. I started in politics working in the mayor’s office but got bored at that so I went back to college, got 2 graduate degrees.  At that time I started working for a software company and built up their marketing team. Was getting a little stale. I wanted to do something I was more passionate about be able to get up every day and really believe in my work.

I started consulting with PITMOSSⓇ about a year ago, helping with social media and marketing they were lucky and getting to know the business. They were fortunate to secure a round of funding and bring me on full time, so I quit my job, took a leap. My role is to spread the word of PITMOSSⓇ and control all of our digital assets our website, amazon, also help promote and educate gardeners and consumers about what our product is and how it’s different then a typical growing media.

I just had to cut in and tell listeners that Mike and I are both using it and love it!

It is! It’s different then anything that you would be used to grabbing off the shelves at the home and garden center or Lowes. Especially if you consider the weight of it, you’re walking down the aisle and you would almost hurt your back

yank off the bag of potting soil

If you yank off a bag of PITMOSSⓇ

not that much of a problem

• 1/2 the weight
• made from cellulose fiber. We have a propriety process where we
• grind up newspaper
• the size of the fiber is very important to us
• the process of taking the newspaper breaking it down to a blend
• that is perfect for plant growth

then we

add in organic ingredients to make it more of a growing media not just a cellulose fiber that’s ground up. We work our magic in a big mixer and that’s how we produce our PITMOSSⓇ

really unlike anything else

Has nothing in it like

• no vermiculite

• no perlite

It’s really just a product stands on it’s own and is a totally different environment then your plants are used to growing in.

Mike and I were wondering you mix this with dirt or you put the seeds right in there?

great question

Up until this past year we sold a lot of our product to commercial growers and that product was

PITMOSSⓇ prime is a

soil ammendment

soil conditioner

mix with compost would be great ideal!

2/3 to 1/3

You can mix it with

miracle grow basic soil

fertilizer

The one thing missing from

PITMOSSⓇ Prime

any type of soil

mix with something with nutrients

providing your typical soil with

• porosity

• aeration

• water holding capacity

Helps whatever soil your used to working with. We do have home gardeners who want to use it like a typical home potting soil so we did just launch

PITMOSSⓇ Performance that has a

• controlled release formula
• starter charge
• seed germination and begin to grow your plants
• grow the plants

• PITMOSSⓇ

prime… is a soil amendment.

I guess I’m confused what would your home gardener use?

PITMOSSⓇ PERFORMANCE you would liken that to

• miracle grow
• fox farm
• happy frog
• that sort of blend

PITMOSSⓇ has everything you need to get started

pot your plants

You can mix PITMOSSⓇ performance in with your garden the real thing the

material in prime and performance is going to be beneficial no matter what you mix it with it’s going to help soil be better for plants. You can’t go wrong if you  need something with a little less nutrition

PITMOSSⓇ Prime Perfect if you already have a compost or soil that your using

PITMOSSⓇ Performance you can just buy a bag and plant right in that…

easiest just like a bag of Miracle Grow.

But it’s organic right?

Yes, absolutely, so glad you brought that up. Right now we are in the process of getting OMRI certified, a process we’ve been working on the past couple of months.

PITMOSSⓇ Prime is going to be certified because it does come from all organic natural materials

PITMOSSⓇ performance even though the ingredients:

• fertilizer
• controlled release fertilizer are coming from natural materials because the are processed in a lab they are technically not organic. But we do have

PITMOSSⓇ Plentiful that’s gonna be a product right off the shelf, we’re working with Soil scientists and wrapping up with OMRI

potting soil

should be out in a few months

PITMOSSⓇ Performance is gonna be more of a made from all organic materials but because of the controlled released is synthesized we can’t claim it is truly organic. But all of it does come from natural organic materials.

How did this start? How long’s it been around? Where did it come from?

Our founder Mont Hanely worked in garden centers most of his life, involved in horticulture and gardening enthusiasts! He saw truckloads of peat being brought into the garden center and he wondered what is this stuff? What is peat?

If you look at a bag of potting soil. Most of it is peat moss

even higher end

If you google it – what is peat moss?

It says it’s

• great for water retention
• boost physical properties of mix

But truckloads of this peat was being brought in and used as an ideal material for plants

but that is really not the case. Mont did a lot of research and found out that it is imported and

mined from peat bogs that are primarily located in Canada although there are some in the UK

3% of earths. They are incredible ecosystems. Some scientists consider them just a precious as rainforests. There’s layers and layers of climate data

What Peat manufacturers mine those bogs and import the peat for gardening use. So not only do you have the transportation and the mining and destruction of the ecosystems but Peat lands contain a lot of carbon so there is a question about the concern of how much carbon is released during the mining process.

It’s not sustainable.

When you go into a store and pick up a bag of potting soil and you’re feeling good about helping the environment and you’re growing a garden and living a healthy lifestyle but all along your planting with this product that isn’t that good for the environment in fact a lot of people say is destructive

Peat is not that good of a product to begin with it’s not that good at water holding

It’s naturally hydrophobic, it hates water

which is ironic if you google peat moss people say, use it because it holds water

Once you actually get the water in it it holds water and it doesn’t give it to plants

it just has it suck it up and store it. You have to add wetting agents to peat once it gets imported to give it the qualities that are ideal for gardeners. You’re

• adding chemicals
• mix with perliete and vermiculite
• to provide porosity and aeration

product replaces the perlite, vermiculate and the need for different additives because

our product is naturally hydrophillic

• loves water
• naturually  hydrophillic
• distribute that water  and manage
• not wasting water

in a long round about way of answering the question of how we can garden.

Peat moss was really what sparked the idea that Mont had about there needs to be a better way to garden and something better to start planting with.

then this

improted to the US. It’s a massive industry. Were really trying to see if we can change the way people think about what goes into their garden.

I was gonna ask you at one point what OMRI is if listener’s haven’t heard of it?

OMRI certification

organic certification apply

to make sure your products are 100%

Organic Materials Review Institute

501c3 non-profit organization that provides independent reviews…

located in Eugene, OR

Tell me about your first gardening experience?

I grew up in the south hills of Pittsburgh. Most of my gardening experiences were probably with my grandma. She was very into containers and succulents and plants and flowers. I never got to experience my own food and vegetables. As I became an adult it became more of an interest to me because I love to cook so my first adult experience was growing basil and dill and sage!

I struggled a bit, there’s always such a learning curve but that’s...