Today we’d like to introduce you to James Balmer.
James, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In December of 2006 I crashed my car driving home after playing a show with my band. No other car was involved, I simply lost control from driving way too fast and not paying attention. I had three passengers, one of whom died instantly. The other two were fine. I suffered a traumatic brain injury. I was comatose for a month and I aspirated which caused double pneumonia. On the Glascow coma scale which goes from one (dead) to ten (concussion), I was a four.
When I awoke, nothing worked. I remember two signs in my room. Blink once for yes. Blink twice for no. Slowly things came back to me. I spent five months in the hospital till I could get out of bed and get to the bathroom myself with a walker. Then I was discharged and spent a year at my parent’s house, who were freshly retired and instead of enjoying retired life, they became my caregivers and therapists. I’m very lucky to have such loving parents. My father became a dedicated physical therapist helping me walk better. My mother became my speech therapist and cook. One of the snacks she used to make me all the time were these candied curry pecans.
While pondering the thought of what I want to do now with my future, I knew I wanted to do some type of business on my own. I’m very lucky that through my injury I’m the same person and my personality remained. I thought of an idea to take my Mum’s recipe for those tasty pecans and start a snack food business. I’d call my company My Mum’s Nuts. My good friend drew up my logo and I start brainstorming ideas.
Not only is my loving mother an excellent cook and hilarious but she’s from England. So the name seemed fitting. My Irish father’s persistence with my walking got me from a wheelchair to a cane. So my desire to become independent lead me to North Park at my friend’s apartment. I jumped around to different apartments and friend’s houses until I found where I’m at now and have been for six years.
My kitchen is where I’ve come up with my ideas. I took the original recipe and used it as a skeleton for other flavors. Instead of honey I would use different beers and reduce them with sugar to make a sweet syrup. I started creating different flavors of candied pecans according to the flavors of the reductions I was making. I would sell them to all the breweries popping up in North Park.
When I was trying to go legit and make them in a commercial kitchen, instead of my cottage food operation in my kitchen my business changed. I wasn’t allowed to use the brewery’s beer so I went back to make new recipes. I had a lot of coconut oil and an old friend gave me some cannabis trim. So I decided to start creating my process to infuse cannabis into coconut oil.
The year is 2015, I had done it! My business changed from snack food to cannabis edibles. My niche was my products were naturally infused and healthy. Which was rare in the industry filled with gummies and candies.
I vended my canna coconut oil at different cannabis seshs around San Diego and San Bernardino for a couple of years and collected four trophies for best edible. Then one day my business took another turn.
When I was washing my utensils for my oil, I rubbed some canna coconut oil in my hands. My hands went numb! At that point, I knew I had to make a topical. I was truly excited to make a product that heals instead of getting one high.
Thru these changes, I kept the name My Mum’s Nuts the same. People seemed to find the name humorous and intriguing. I simply changed the logo to coconuts instead of pecans.
I won another trophy for best topical before the laws for cannabis changed. Then when the laws changed making cannabis “legal” I wasn’t able to sell my products anywhere and the cannabis sesh’s were not allowed. So, once again my business changed but the name remained the same.
I decided to do the same recipes but now with CBD isolates instead of cannabis. Now my healing topicals can be sold anywhere. My canna coconut oil is now CBD coconut oil which is the healthy alternative to CBD edibles on the market. For those who want a versatile CBD edible that is healthy, topical or edible. It gets you high without being high.
Now I offer wonderful CBD droppers as well. I use organic oils whenever possible and source my CBD isolate from legit sources. I sell weekly at my local street market as well as online.
I feel that my one man company is different than the thousands of other CBD companies out there because I take my time with the whole process. I make everything from scratch using good, clean organic ingredients. My CBD isolate comes with a full certificate of analysis and I lab test my products as well to verify. I’m confident that my products have what they say on the label if not more milligrams of CBD. As they say, it’s not my first rodeo.
Has it been a smooth road?
Dealing with my injury’s deficits, including walking and talking has been a bunch of speed bumps while going down this road. Not being able to drive has made it difficult to get my brand out to the public. My voice is soft so explaining my products at events has always been an issue. But luckily I have some wonderful friends and a lovely fiancé who helps me get around, get my booths set up and are my voice when needed.
Tell us about your company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
My Mum’s Nuts is now a CBD company specializing in healthy, organic, lab tested CBD products all made in small batches so I can verify that each jar and each bottle has what it says in it or more. Usually, the milligram level is a wee bit more then the label says. So if you want a CBD product that won’t give you diabetes and works then go for My Mum’s Nuts.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I’ve been doing this for quite a while now. I take my time to ensure the quality of all my products. Now in the CBD game, I know the competition is steep. I just stick to my guns and know my products are superior. My book of testimonies on my booth table is proof enough.
Contact Info:
- Email: mymumsnuts@yahoo.com
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