#124 - Mary Landrum Pyron

Ever wondered what it takes to make the perfect custom hat? Well, prepare to be amazed as we journey into the world of hat-making with Mary Landrum Pyron, a Mississippi-based custom hat maker with an intriguing story. From an intern at Senator Cochran's office to a stint at a guest ranch in Wyoming, Mary Landrum's path towards becoming a renowned hat maker is nothing short of inspiring. We dive into her struggles, her inspirations, and the meticulous process of creating each unique hat that truly reflects her artistic prowess.

Mary Landrum opens up about her life and business back in Mississippi. She gets real about the struggles of managing her custom hat business, ML Provisions, in the face of a high cost of living. Offering an intimate tour of her hat-making process, Mary Landrum shares the importance of nurturing personal connections with her clientele, explaining how this has contributed to the growth of her business. If you're curious about what happens when art and business intersect, you'll want to hear her story.

But wait, there's more! Mary Landrum's life is not all work and no play. She takes us through her adventures, including vacations and Cape Buffalo hunts, and how she manages to incorporate her hats into her travels. Towards the end, she shares her profound love for Mississippi and her desire to help her generation tell their own stories. So, buckle up and get ready for an enlightening conversation that beautifully captures the magic of art and passion, all through the lens of a hat maker.

ML PROVISIONS OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://mlprovisions.com/
ML PROVISIONS INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mlprovisions/
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(0:06) Custom Hat Making and Motivation

(7:03) Moving West, Cost of Living

(12:18) Journey of a Custom Hat Maker

(20:58) Custom Hat Business in Mississippi

(25:50) Hats, Vacations, and Cape Buffalo Hunts

(35:32) Mississippi's Special Appeal and Business Connections

(43:11) Hat Shop Collaboration With Philadelphia Visitors

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Mary Lendrum Pyron.

Speaker 2: 0:08

Lee Carl. What's up?

Speaker 1: 0:09

and Elizabeth Pyron yes, first and foremost, I'd like to say thank y'all for having me at Cherry Grove here in Crystal Springs, mississippi, the one and only location in Mississippi where these custom hats are handmade. Is that correct?

Speaker 2: 0:26

Yes, we take a raw felt. It takes about eight hours. It's a beaver and rabbit blend and you've been seeing us kind of work through the hats. We constantly keep these things rolling. It's a typically a one appointment process and we don't ship hats, so people travel in from all over the world to this little one horse town.

Speaker 1: 0:47

So you don't do any shipping whatsoever.

Speaker 2: 0:50

I realized after my first Christmas it was really stressing me out. Nobody was measuring their heads right and for a custom hat to truly fit you the way it should. It's me seeming it, blocking it, sanding it with you right in front of me.

Speaker 1: 1:06

So what issues were you running into when people were sizing themselves?

Speaker 2: 1:11

They were just they were.

Speaker 1: 1:12

The hats were getting back and they weren't fitting. They weren't fitting correctly.

Speaker 2: 1:16

They didn't measure correctly. You could either be around or along oval and depending on what you are, it's going to affect the comfort of the hat. She's around.

Speaker 3: 1:25

I'm along oval and when you steam a hat before she hands it back to the person, like the final go, she gets it really moist. So when you put it on, it forms to your head and some people have a crooked nose, uneven ears, so she kind of tweaks each hat for that person, whereas if she was shipping it off she wouldn't know about these features of a person.

Speaker 1: 1:47

We all. Pull your mics a little closer to you, please.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Yes, sir.

Speaker 1: 1:50

Or you can scoot up either way. So, first and foremost, let's talk about the motivation behind the hat making process and what ultimately initially led you into this field. How did you become interested in it?

Speaker 2: 2:07

So let's rewind a good bit. I knew growing up that I wanted to major in hospitality management. I had a lot of people, a lot of influential people in my life, tell me no, you don't need to do that. You should get like a real major at Ole Miss. It's kind of considered a MRS degree. I knew that I wanted to go to Ole Miss, learn it, study it. All my friends were getting married right out of college. They were going to law school, med school, audiology school. I wasn't checking any of those boxes and I interned for Senator Cochran going into senior year of college and they sent a slideshow around with all the interns to the staffers and you had to say where you saw yourself in five years. You know everybody wants to be the president or this or that. I said I was going to go out west to find myself, even though I wasn't lost. Well, I thought, yeah, I got very lost out there. I thought I'd be there for six months.

Speaker 2: 3:06

I took a job on a guest ranch, graduated from Ole Miss on a Saturday the next day, drove out and my parents rode with me out there and then they flew back. But the ranch I worked on is a 30-minute gravel drive, 100,000 acre ranch in the absolute middle of nowhere. But I had to wear a hat as part of the uniform, so that's kind of where it all started. Bought my first hat April 6, 2016 from Boots and More and Jackson. My mom said oh, I'm not going to get you a really nice hat because it'll be like a swap party and you want to actually wear a cowboy hat. Well, I really just dove head first into the whole western lifestyle and came obsessed with it. I worked on that ranch for three seasons.

Speaker 2: 3:50

Started on how much bacon you were and more hats. I was the expedition chef in Cater and I would cook 18 pounds of bacon on the top of the mountain. How many eggs Can you crack with your hands? At that point in my life, I could crack four eggs at once, two in each hand. Just boom, boom, boom.

Speaker 1: 4:07

No shells, were you fried or scrambling.

Speaker 2: 4:10

I would Sorry, I would crack them and then I'd scramble it in a cast iron like you know that big we do. I can't remember. It was just like tenderloin after tender beef, tenderloin for days, bacon, potato salad. I'd make chili for 150 people. That would take 30 pounds of ground beef.

Speaker 1: 4:32

So it's safe to say that you could. You could run a restaurant if you had to.

Speaker 2: 4:35

Basically work yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:37

Did the? Anything that you learned in that process? Have you applied to your hat making business?

Speaker 2: 4:42

Yes, I laugh because we used to have to pack for the cookouts and Justin Howell, the manager of the ranch, who I'm very close with, he was very precise, I guess you could say, and he was very organized and he liked it to be that way, and my dad is also that way. So I've kind of been around people like that my entire life. But we'd get all the tupperware's lined up and we'd pack everything, have a checklist. And I still laugh when I get ready for the trunk shows. I kind of use that same method when we go to pack the hats the ribbons and everything.

Speaker 1: 5:21

And then so at what point, and during your stay and while Oming, did you begin working for a hat maker out there?

Speaker 2: 5:29

So, like I said, I worked at the ranch for three seasons and after my first season I called my parents and said, hey, I'm actually going to stay for a winter and then I'll move to DC, get a big girl job, and quickly realized that I was not going to move away. I became obsessed with, while Oming and worked in the ski shop, played year three I was still buying custom hats, or buying hats and thinking about what I wanted to change on the hats, and I was working out a florist. I also worked at the airport. I'm a big turkey hunter and my parents told me that I was too old to fly back and forth for turkey season. So I took matters into my own hands, worked out a florist and then she wanted me to sign or the florist had me polishing 500 forks, 500 knives, and I was going crazy. She started an event rental company.

Speaker 3: 6:20

What happened at the airport, though?

Speaker 2: 6:22

At the airport. I went in to quit, but I got an employee of the month, so I had to stay on an extra month.

Speaker 1: 6:28

Why did you have to stay to enjoy the benefits of getting an employee of the month?

Speaker 2: 6:31

Well, I just couldn't leave them high and dry after I got an employee of the month.

Speaker 1: 6:35

Y'all think of me like this, so I'm going to stay another month.

Speaker 2: 6:37

Yeah, yeah, and then working at the florist. I got tired of that and so I reached out to a lady in 2019, worked for her for a year and a half, trained under the guy that trained her. Then she wanted me to sign a non-compete and I already knew I was going to do my own thing. It's a lot of wear and tear on the body that you don't see when you just see the hat on Instagram.

Speaker 2: 7:03

Originally, I thought I'd live out there forever. I quickly realized I would never be able to afford a house, especially at the rate that I was playing, and decided Mississippi doesn't sound so bad and there's no one else in this area doing what I can do, and my nieces got two precious nieces, wanted to watch them grow up very close family and I made the decision and I also felt like I could do more than what I was doing. Like I said, we played all the time, five nights a week, had a huge social agenda. It was college without school work, and I woke up and I realized that I could do more and I should maybe really pursue hats.

Speaker 2: 7:50

So I decided, instead of signing that non-compete, went in the next day and said thank you, this is my two weeks notice. That was January of 21 and then I just babysat until I moved home. I want to stay there until my lease was up in May. Fish every day, ski hike really enjoy life before real world started.

Speaker 1: 8:14

Is there a different, a market difference in the style and the flair between your customers in Mississippi or the South compared to customers you had in Wyoming?

Speaker 2: 8:26

The difference is the dollar signs. I'm a whole lot cheaper than they are out west.

Speaker 1: 8:31

So you can make your hats cheaper here than up there, or you just charge less.

Speaker 2: 8:36

I just charge less. There's now five hatters within three blocks each other in Jackson Hall.

Speaker 1: 8:45

And that's all. It's tourist strobing yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:49

So that was going to be one. So I try to get people before they go out west.

Speaker 1: 8:52

Or most of the people, because you mentioned that it's expensive out there and, Liz, you spend a lot of time out there too. Still do, don't you?

Speaker 3: 8:58

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:59

So is it mainly tourists that are out there that drive the prices of everything up? You mentioned the house being too expensive for your liking.

Speaker 2: 9:09

Is that what drives the prices up? We lived in a house Um, granted, it was right prime location between the cowboy bar and the local snow king mountain. We always had people over. We even had the Philly boys over when they came out to town.

Speaker 1: 9:27

Bush your heart.

Speaker 2: 9:28

Yeah, but I had a garage. She lived in a garage. I had to walk through her garage to get down to my basement room. It was one bathroom. We did not have any heat. One true bedroom. It wouldn't be a hundred thousand dollars in Mississippi and pre-COVID it went for like 1.3 pre-COVID His bestest mold right on.

Speaker 3: 9:55

You name it, we got it.

Speaker 1: 9:57

It was negative outside.

Speaker 3: 9:58

It was negative in the house.

Speaker 1: 10:00

I imagine it's very clean.

Speaker 2: 10:02

So clean, beautiful. We basically got to live vacation every day of our life. People, what we did on a daily basis is what people dream about.

Speaker 3: 10:13

So I would say the tourists are running the hat prices up and just like that, but the cost of living is due to from the pandemic. These billionaires are running out the millionaires because they're trying to make that their full-time home and they have homes all over.

Speaker 1: 10:28

Hmm, a similar thing is happening in New Orleans, but they're not moving there for obvious reasons, but they're buying up. The rich people are buying up the real estate because they recognize that New Orleans is obviously a tourist destination and so people who are living in New Orleans, where that is their home, can't afford to buy a decent home because of that same impact that the millionaires or billionaires or whatever from the outside are scooping all the real estate up. What would you say to somebody who's about to graduate college and thinking about going down a similar path that you did following graduation from college? Would you recommend it 100%?

Speaker 1: 11:12

for how long, and you know what are some of the benefits that you gain both of you, from having that experience.

Speaker 2: 11:19

I definitely had no clue what I wanted to do with my life when I moved out there. I just thought, oh, let me go out West. I didn't know a single person in the state of Wyoming when I moved out there and it made me get out of my comfort zone. I'm definitely the shy one in my family and I used to be a whole lot more outgoing than I am now, but I had to kind of figure out who I was as a person and what direction I wanted to go. I think if I was only out there for those six months that summer season I would be working a typical nine to five and probably very unhappy. My parents were really supportive in the sense that they let us just. We paid our bills and did what we had to do to survive, but we also got to grow up and got to experience life and had different opportunities that we would not have had if we would have stayed in Crystal Springs.

Speaker 3: 12:18

But I think like the best thing if someone doesn't know what they want to do, work on a ranch, work in an environment that the housing is included, the meals are included, and you're just benefiting from being there and learning a work ethic and learning from other people that are like-minded, just finishing school, not sure what they want to do, and you all just kind of like come together.

Speaker 2: 12:40

You don't have phone service, so you really get to know each other. On a personal level. I'm closer with some of those people from that stint in Wyoming than I am from high school college. You work six days a week.

Speaker 3: 12:55

You don't know what days of the weekend, like every day, you're hustling. Our boss always would say if someone asks you to do something, it is your job. Do not ever say it's not my job, I'll go get someone, it is your job. You figure out a way to make things get done.

Speaker 2: 13:11

I feel like a lot of times people now, unless it is a bullet point on their job description, they won't do it, and that's one of the things that led me to start my own thing. I don't get along well with lazy people and I'm very like to check the boxes and get things done, so I sometimes would find myself frustrated when I was working with coworkers and going out on my own.

Speaker 1: 13:43

Has that experience as a working for someone else informed how you treat employees or?

Speaker 2: 13:52

people that work alongside you or under you. I know what it takes to make a hat, and I know what it takes, or what it feels like, when you are appreciated and you are valued, versus when you're just the hired help.

Speaker 1: 14:06

So these hats? Let's talk about the actual makeup of the hats, or all of these hats. For those of y'all listening, we're in Mary Landrum's shop in Mel provisions in Crystal Springs, mississippi, and we've got hats all around the room, or all of these hats of the same material.

Speaker 2: 14:22

Yes, they're 50 X Beaver and Rabbit blend. It's pretty much water resistant. You're 100 X pure beaver, which I make those per request that you can wear in the rain, the snow, sleet and it will never change its shape. But if you take care of the 50 X, it'll last you a lifetime and pass it on for generations.

Speaker 1: 14:43

What's the, what's the distinguished? 50 X between 100 X? What is?

Speaker 2: 14:47

that the dollar sign $100, $50, $50.

Speaker 3: 14:50

X is Beaver and rabbit. Yeah and the 100X is just beaver, I see yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:58

And everything that we try. If you're just wearing a fashion hat, want it to look cute, go to brunch or hang out at the hunting camp, 50X does the ticket as of today, really, as of now, custom 50X hats start at $550. Gotcha 100X hats are $1,000.

Speaker 1: 15:21

Right.

Speaker 2: 15:21

So it's just a little. It's a higher quality material. But what we do with the hats? You can still wear either of them forever.

Speaker 1: 15:33

Is the cost. Some people may hear that and say, oh my gosh, I'd never pay that for a hat, but they're at that price point for a reason. It's a combination of material and labor, right? So is it more labor-intensive or is the source more difficult?

Speaker 2: 15:46

The felt has gone up over 140% since I got started. I started buying felt in January of 21.

Speaker 1: 15:58

So you source that from where All over?

Speaker 2: 16:02

Can't tell you all my secrets.

Speaker 1: 16:04

Find you a redneck around here to start killing me.

Speaker 2: 16:07

We found them. It's so much more than that. Felt is the process of the fur hair working together. I've got some pics I'll show you after this, but it goes through about 20 hands in the factory before it's even shipped to me. You're talking equipment that is just old, old, ancient. One of the pieces of equipment we used was built in 1860.

Speaker 1: 16:30

What if we invented some new equipment?

Speaker 2: 16:33

Well, my dad, being the entrepreneur that he is, has suggested it and suggested it. But if I am producing the felt which I don't like to say can't, but I will never be able to I am fulfilled by making the hat, by the whole process, and that's where I get my joy and my passion. So if you could tap into that market, it'd be a good one.

Speaker 1: 16:58

I might look into it, if podcasting doesn't work out, the process of creating the personalized version of the headgear. What does that look like?

Speaker 2: 17:10

So you come in, we have about an hour and 45 minute time slot and you start. I'll show you the process of how we make the hats and then pick out your size and color. People say, well, how do I want it to fit? You want it to be comfortable. You don't want it so tight that your eyes feel like they're about to pop out of your head or the wind blow it off. I do say if you're jumping on the back of a horse, you want it tight. Most people aren't Then we'll decorate it. You'll choose your crown style, your brim shape. My signature is a teardrop. Pencil curl through the back just says hey, I'm custom, and then usually a slight little dip in the front.

Speaker 1: 17:48

So you said you hadn't had to do any marketing so far mostly word of mouth and things such as this. But it sounds like people have been reaching out to you, not vice versa. Do you foresee outgrowing your current operation?

Speaker 2: 18:05

We've been lucky enough to double our equipment since we got started. We're a small hat shop but we produce pretty large scale. I don't want to outgrow this barn because there's something special about it. It's the connection that you get. When it's a private appointment, it's just you in here or whoever you bring, and it's not mass produced next person, next person. We really connect and that connection ends up showing up in the hat shape and the style and the bands that you choose. I don't see myself Some people say it's narrow minded saying that I don't want to expand and open up a lot of shops, but I like what we have going here.

Speaker 1: 18:48

Well, I mean, you've got a personal touch here that can't be duplicated or replicated. I mean, if you wanted to go open up another shop, just one other shop, maybe you could put Liz on it and it would be similar to having that touch. The problem with Liz we had to schedule this. There's no problem.

Speaker 2: 19:06

We had to schedule this podcast around her being here. I would love to say it and I always say now, liz, you need to learn this because if something happens to me, this is your castle.

Speaker 1: 19:19

Every queen deserves a castle but I don't have a barn.

Speaker 2: 19:24

But Liz likes to pick up and go, so I can't count on it.

Speaker 3: 19:27

I can take a hat wagon owner for too much.

Speaker 2: 19:31

I can take the hat wagon.

Speaker 1: 19:32

You like the globe truck, don't you? Yeah?

Speaker 2: 19:34

We do a bunch of hat shows all over though. We have a seven by 14 trailer, load up this side of the barn and we how about.

Speaker 1: 19:43

Those are fun. Oh yeah, I bet it's a lot of work, but-.

Speaker 2: 19:45

Oh gosh, I don't know why I want to be upstairs. Those hat stands are really heavy, carrying them upstairs, downstairs and then into the event. But we've been from South Carolina all the way to Wyoming.

Speaker 1: 19:58

One of the biggest things that I take away from what you're doing here is you're doing, it seems, what you want to do.

Speaker 1: 20:04

You found a way to monetize what you enjoy doing and by my estimation, that's very rare. A lot of people not just in our generation, but people that came before us just went along to get along, so to speak. Graduated college, went immediately into the field that they got a degree in, whether they like it or not, and just went along with it, as opposed to someone like yourself, where you're like, okay, I'm gonna go to Wyoming and spread my wings a little bit, and then you found something out there that you really enjoyed and you've been able to make your livelihood out of it, and that's an example that I wish a lot more people would take notice of, because I think there's I know there's more fulfillment day to day and overall in life when we get up every day and we're getting paid to do something that we love to do. Has that been so? You've had a couple of jobs out there in Wyoming. Is this the only occupation you've had since being back in Mississippi?

Speaker 2: 21:09

Yes, when I first got started I thought I would sell about four hats a month, pay the bills and then I'd work for my dad part time and, thank you Jesus, this thing really picked up and I've been running pretty much full speed. I made my first hat under my brand July 21st of 21. And it just blows me away that people are still wanting the hats and that we've been as strong since the beginning as we have.

Speaker 1: 21:38

You mentioned someone earlier who has multiple hats. Do you have a lot of repeat customers?

Speaker 2: 21:43

We have a ton of repeat customers, that's a good sign. Yeah, some people get frustrated with my weight list but I try to feed back in the returning customers. With first time customers we work pretty much if we're in town. We're working six days a week so we really try to get these people in and out and satisfied so they can wear it all football season all winter, and then some people wear them year round into the summer.

Speaker 1: 22:08

So how do y'all go about managing your inventory? Obviously, it's all right here, but is that something that you have to update, often as far as just the blank canvas itself, so to speak.

Speaker 2: 22:20

You can't get a blank canvas like you won't. I have orders since I got started that still aren't filled.

Speaker 2: 22:27

Anytime I get a hat shipment, it's a good day no matter if it's a maroon red, whatever the color, I just write a check, say thank you to the supplier. Nobody's working in these factories anymore and the price of fire coming in from Europe so expensive. That's. One of the toughest parts is still having supply chain issues and not being able to get the felt, and there's so few people producing what it takes to make a hat that you can't kick and scream. You just gotta say thank you when you get something.

Speaker 1: 23:00

Always like asking business owners this, particularly somebody that has very personalized operation like you've got here. You've been doing it long enough. Now you started to recognize who your customer is. What is the demographic? What is the target market? What does the target market persona look like for ML provisions?

Speaker 2: 23:21

We're priced to where people can save a few paychecks and get a hat, and then we have customers that will walk in and buy two or three during that one appointment. We fit everybody.

Speaker 1: 23:35

Whether you're a child Old school cowboy.

Speaker 2: 23:37

We have a lot of families come in. The grandparents will bring the grandkids. Everybody leaves with a hat. We can do your traditional Western hat. We can do your trendy hat. Most hatters pick one style, but we cater to whatever the customer wants.

Speaker 1: 23:56

People in Mississippi particularly, I would imagine really like coming somewhere like this, because we like to talk to people all day long Connections, networking. That's all we do, and it's out in the woods and it's different, obviously, then, wherever. I don't even know where else you'd get a hat like this, but somewhere that's more commercialized. People like having that personal connection, knowing whether it's a trip, it's a treat.

Speaker 3: 24:21

It's an experience.

Speaker 1: 24:21

You're not just going to get a hat.

Speaker 3: 24:23

We're going to see Liz and.

Speaker 1: 24:24

Rosa and Mary Landrum and stay a little while Right. Do you see that as a?

Speaker 2: 24:32

differentiation.

Speaker 1: 24:33

For you, that's a huge selling point yes, in comparison to your competitors, if you have any.

Speaker 2: 24:37

We really connect with people and then I'll see them out and I say you come as a customer, but you leave as a friend.

Speaker 1: 24:44

Very wise saying you have there, Mary Landrum.

Speaker 2: 24:47

Cheers.

Speaker 1: 24:50

So, liz, what does your role look like here at ML Provisions?

Speaker 3: 24:54

Well, some days I get the trustee assistant, and then they. I'm just, she's the talker.

Speaker 2: 24:59

She's the entertainer. I don't like to talk, I like to work. We have a stocked fridge and I say it's a different drink for each of her moods, depends on how she comes. She came out pretty hot and fiery this morning.

Speaker 3: 25:11

No, no, no. We're all to a great start, but I can run all the equipment. She doesn't let me on the black sewing machine, which is fine, and her name's on it.

Speaker 2: 25:23

You haven't made it to that level yet. No, if that thing goes down, nobody works on sewing machines anymore, so I'd rather be mad at myself instead of as we would all want it to be Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:33

Steer clear from that one, Liz.

Speaker 3: 25:35

Yeah, but our mom told me early on when she started this it's her name, her brand, her business. You help out, but at the end of the day, it's hers her name.

Speaker 1: 25:46

No doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 3: 25:47

I just do things that she could redo if I messed up.

Speaker 1: 25:50

How many hats do you have?

Speaker 3: 25:53

Elizabeth, I really only have like three. No, I really only have like three On that wall.

Speaker 2: 25:58

Half of those hats are hers.

Speaker 3: 26:01

She always, but it's good, because I always want her in a hat If I'm going somewhere, she's packing my bag with five hats, so you know what I travel like. I have no room for no hats, and she can rock a hat.

Speaker 2: 26:13

So that's free marketing for me. But sometimes when we're trying to go somewhere, she like does that have a hat? I don't have a hat, I need a new hat. And I'm like Liz, you've got 15 on the wall, it's not all about you.

Speaker 1: 26:28

It's just something new, you know, especially when you got a whole barn full to choose from.

Speaker 3: 26:33

It just makes you feel good.

Speaker 1: 26:34

How do you travel with these hats without messing them up?

Speaker 3: 26:38

We just stack them on top of each other and then I'll carry a big carry on lug that through we can travel with about five hats. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:46

And a carry on, but we've got it figured out.

Speaker 3: 26:49

But we also put these hats through a lot of heat and steam and stuff, and I've had a horse.

Speaker 2: 26:54

They're a lot more durable than people. Some people buy the hat and they're scared to wear it because it costs them a lot of money and they don't want to mess it up.

Speaker 3: 27:03

But I've had a hat, stepped on by the crown, stepped on by a horse, it popped back out. I mean we put so much steam and heat on it and then I've had hats that I've spilled some wine on, or mascara or something. Just sandpaper gets it right out Most of my hats. I just originally go on a dirty up. I'm not the easiest on things, so, but yeah, they travel easy, sandpaper.

Speaker 1: 27:27

That's how I buy my tennis shoes, except for these. I like them to be worn or look worn.

Speaker 3: 27:32

So you go to the thrift store for them. Well, I can't ever find my size at the thrift store. Okay, but if they're already worn.

Speaker 2: 27:38

Do you not feel like that's fit to somebody else's shape?

Speaker 1: 27:41

to. I like them to appear already worn.

Speaker 2: 27:43

So you're into golden gooses.

Speaker 1: 27:45

What is that?

Speaker 2: 27:47

Fill me in, they're already worn shoes. Basically, they're all tattered up.

Speaker 1: 27:53

Are they new and just look tighter?

Speaker 2: 27:55

Oh yeah.

Speaker 3: 27:56

You know, like Elizabeth's jeans. Oh, thank you everybody.

Speaker 1: 28:00

Holy jeans. She's holy yes.

Speaker 3: 28:04

Yes, I am.

Speaker 1: 28:05

So moving forward, we're going, we're getting into holiday season. I would imagine. Your workload increases exponentially, so you'll be busy for the next two months.

Speaker 2: 28:17

Hopefully it'll roll into February. We really try to get these people in. This is our busy season. We don't take much time off between now and February and usually in February I have a snapping point, hit a break and I take a vacation.

Speaker 1: 28:37

As you should. I do think that that's one thing I have had to and I'm still working on it make myself do.

Speaker 3: 28:45

Yeah, I can help, I agree.

Speaker 1: 28:50

Take time away from whatever I'm doing on a daily basis, because we get in this and subconsciously we don't realize it, but we get in this rut and we just start going to the motions and things become monotonous and we fall into it after a period of time and we need that week or two weeks away from whatever it is to just have that reset. And Liz seems like she's on it constantly.

Speaker 2: 29:15

Yeah, liz needs to reset back in the work, grind back on routine. She's a gypsy. She keeps the bag packed at all times.

Speaker 1: 29:26

No, no, no no.

Speaker 2: 29:27

If you got it.

Speaker 1: 29:28

Like that you got it like that and she got it like that.

Speaker 3: 29:31

No, I do work hard when I am in here, but I have realized things that work and things that don't work for me. I need a lot. I feed off other people, but I got to recharge myself so that I can keep going, which I feel like you're a lot like that.

Speaker 2: 29:45

When I grow up, I want to be Elizabeth.

Speaker 1: 29:49

She's just got it figured out she does no I don't. I mean you make hats, get a Wyoming, go to. Where else are you going? Surely you got somewhere else lined up.

Speaker 3: 30:01

Well, I Nanny for a family and I was full time with him until she called and she was like I need help, I need help, and it was always, and I was just going back and forth. And so I went part time last March and now I go to Wyoming summer and winter when I would love to be out there, I love to hike and fish and love to ski, and so I get the best of that world and then help her when she's really busy. And then I'll go to Oklahoma take family trips with them.

Speaker 2: 30:32

Yeah, we try to take a trip during the summer to. We went to South Africa this past June.

Speaker 3: 30:37

We went to Mexico. That was your favorite.

Speaker 2: 30:39

We went fly fishing in Mexico in February. That was our reset then.

Speaker 1: 30:45

Y'all went to South Africa. How was that? Wow, I think I saw pictures.

Speaker 2: 30:51

Yeah, it was wild. Next time you come to the barn, the whole place will be covered in animals.

Speaker 1: 30:55

Oh, you got them at the taxidermist.

Speaker 3: 30:57

In South Africa, we hadn't been hit with that yet.

Speaker 1: 30:59

I was going to say.

Speaker 3: 31:00

I'm going to need to work a little bit.

Speaker 1: 31:03

What did y'all capture?

Speaker 2: 31:05

Cape buffalo. Tell them about that. It was wild. I told the guys I wanted the safest Cape buffalo. Do you know what they look like? They're huge. They're massive animals.

Speaker 1: 31:16

You tube them.

Speaker 2: 31:17

They're one of the deadliest animals. They kill a lot of people every year. But I told them I want the safest Cape buffalo hunt. So the first day I was in a cinder block hunting blind and I thought now, this is kind of cheating, didn't work out that day. Next day she had just killed a cudu and they were like hey, we got time, let's go try to get a buffalo.

Speaker 3: 31:36

And we haul it. I'm like scared in the truck.

Speaker 2: 31:40

I told her we have a better chance of dying in this car ride to kill the buffalo than we do by the buffalo killing.

Speaker 1: 31:47

Why were y'all going so fast?

Speaker 2: 31:49

Because we were trying to get there.

Speaker 3: 31:52

And I'm, I'm nerv down from this car ride and I'm like, just trust me. I'm like I can't trust anybody.

Speaker 2: 31:58

I tell her every time we leave the country to just trust me. And I'm sitting there all stressed out like she hadn't done any back work.

Speaker 3: 32:05

I know where we're going and what we're doing. She hadn't done any back work.

Speaker 2: 32:07

When we landed, our guys were like why are two females in South Africa hunting alone? We're like, oh, can't find anybody else to go with us. When we went to Mexico fly fishing, they're like why are two females going five hours in a car through Mexico alone? We would not recommend that again now to go with this, but anyway we get there, get set up.

Speaker 2: 32:31

Barely gets that up, yeah about 100 yards away, there's this 43 inch Cape buffalo and my heart's just like out the chest beating shooting a 375. First shot. It kicked me all the way back to Crystal Springs.

Speaker 1: 32:47

I believe, it.

Speaker 2: 32:48

It was so strong and then, after that, my adrenaline was pumping. It was the hour chase.

Speaker 1: 32:54

Do you hit it on the first shot?

Speaker 2: 32:55

Yeah, it was a long shot. Started bleeding out of his nose.

Speaker 1: 32:59

How far was that first shot?

Speaker 2: 33:01

100 yards. But I had a customer come in at one point and his guide he had gone hunting in South Africa killed a buffalo, but his guide told him to shoot again. We told him, oh yeah, OK, but he told him a different animal the second time. So he got to pay for two Cape buffalos and so I knew that was not going to be me, because we don't have those type of pockets.

Speaker 1: 33:29

Well, did the gentleman not recognize that?

Speaker 2: 33:32

It's the most intense, scariest thing. Elizabeth is crying.

Speaker 3: 33:35

I'm the only one without a gun. Oh, is she still? I would not do any good with a gun.

Speaker 2: 33:38

The tracker didn't have a gun either, and she was.

Speaker 3: 33:42

Were you on foot after you shot this thing In another climb.

Speaker 2: 33:45

You're going through the bush. We were running around in circles for an hour. They brought in dogs.

Speaker 3: 33:51

OK, but listen. Another customer told us so fast shots. Another customer told us about this time that he was doing this and he had to run to. The guy told him shoot. And then we're going to run to this tree. And then we're going to run to this tree and then we're climbing that tree and there were no trees around us that we could climb. We're just straight, bush, I'm like.

Speaker 2: 34:10

I'm about to die.

Speaker 3: 34:11

I'm about to die.

Speaker 2: 34:12

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 34:14

And at this point.

Speaker 2: 34:16

she's crying behind me, she's standing behind the tracker who doesn't have a gun. I said, Elizabeth, please tell me you have more sense.

Speaker 3: 34:23

I wouldn't run at this part, I would never die.

Speaker 2: 34:25

Someone with a gun, and preferably not me, because I'm scared to death too. Get behind the guys.

Speaker 1: 34:32

So you free handed the shot on this Cape Buffalo or, you know it, on your stomach.

Speaker 2: 34:37

No, no, no, I was on sticks with the first shot. Then, 10 yards away, I'm trying to get my cute shirt out of the massive thorns. She pushes me like that.

Speaker 3: 34:50

I saw it.

Speaker 2: 34:50

That thing is like raring back at us Trying to charge us 10 yards away. It took me two solid days to come down from that. I didn't sleep. All I could think was we're about to die. One of us will not make it back to Mississippi, and how will we be able to live without the other one?

Speaker 1: 35:12

Well, thankfully that did not take place and y'all both did make it back to Mississippi and hopefully both of y'all decide to stay in Mississippi long term.

Speaker 2: 35:21

It was the best trip. We learned a lot about each other on that trip.

Speaker 1: 35:26

Like what.

Speaker 2: 35:28

Like that next trip, she just wants to go drink wine somewhere. No, no, no, no on that adventure.

Speaker 3: 35:32

I didn't say that I like to fish and we have a great time fishing. I'm not a huge hunter. I don't mind to go hunting. That was an intense week of hunting. We did not have hot water at our lodge, so we're taking cold showers.

Speaker 1: 35:46

We're in and out.

Speaker 3: 35:48

Ok well, we're taking cold showers. We're waking up. 5 AM.

Speaker 1: 35:51

It wasn't a vacation.

Speaker 3: 35:52

No, which is fine. I live on vacation. Elizabeth, you watch the sunset?

Speaker 3: 35:57

Well, you watch the sunrise and sunset every day. We were on the back of this buggy just beating around Me and my mom got sick one morning. I thought she was joking around. We had to pull over at 6 AM Leaving camp Malaria medicine. She gets sick and we took the bill and they kept saying don't drink the drink and we're like it's a bill, so that was funny to me, anyways. So I think she's just being sarcastic. The next morning I start throwing up everywhere. My name is like get on the back of this buggy, so in the back of this car, getting beat up all day when my stomach is sour. I did not pay for this, but I did.

Speaker 1: 36:33

So before we wrap it up, I know you've got another customer coming in- we can keep talking. I want to ask y'all, first and foremost do y'all see yourselves staying in Crystal Springs and or Mississippi long term?

Speaker 2: 36:46

Yes, I love it. Everything I want to do is right here. I can ride around on the land, enjoy life. Mississippi is really cheap. You can travel wherever you want to. This is home. Five years ago, 10 years ago, I would have said I am never moving back to Mississippi. That is in my rear view. I am over that place.

Speaker 3: 37:11

I love it here and Mississippi's really been good for this business. The connections I mean we are the hospitality state, people are coming in, making great connections, becoming friends with people that make this place and this state even more enjoyable.

Speaker 2: 37:28

Mississippi gets a bad rap, but this is a very special place, very special state. We have a lot going on here and we have a lot of stuff to be proud of.

Speaker 1: 37:39

Yeah, I agree. I think what we've allowed to happen, particularly in generations before us, is let somebody else tell our story, and I think that's why it's so important. I think it's very important for us, our generation and those coming behind us, to ensure that we put our stories out. We tell our stories, as opposed to allowing a legacy media outlet from New York or Washington or California or a movie made in Hollywood depict how we think of ourselves. Because I do think that that has happened.

Speaker 1: 38:11

I think I'll speak for myself Watching I'll give an example of my dog, skip Mississippi burning movies that are telling a story about where we're from, but at the same time, they're not telling it wholly and truthfully. Are there some bad things that have happened in Mississippi? Absolutely, we have a dark history when it comes particularly to race relations, but the current day and present day is much more positive than I think people realize. Look, we're America's best kept secret. They can keep thinking we're the dumbest and the poorest and all that, which. All that may be true, but, to your point, there is a special thing about Mississippi and I think people do resonate with it when they actually come here and speak with the people and experience Mississippi, whether it be on the coast or in central Mississippi, wherever it may be. We've got to do more to keep the people of our generation here. So that's music to my ears to hear y'all say that y'all are going to stay, and I hope y'all do.

Speaker 3: 39:21

She definitely will.

Speaker 1: 39:22

I tried to get her.

Speaker 3: 39:24

I tried to get her? I don't know, but I will say to touch back on that when Mary-Lidia moved home, my mom and dad just knew of our friends in Wyoming. They'd met a few when they came to Wyoming. But since she's moved home, my parents are like everybody has to come through Mississippi, because everyone has made a point to come, stop by, spend a weekend, spend a night, and all of our friends have thoroughly enjoyed their time here that otherwise would never have come to Mississippi and they're like, wow, it really is a great state.

Speaker 1: 39:58

Are most of your customers from Mississippi.

Speaker 2: 40:01

We get a lot of out-of-state customers.

Speaker 1: 40:03

And they travel from wherever.

Speaker 2: 40:06

All over. We've had a group from the Netherlands. I was really scared about that when I thought it was a scam and they were here for six weeks sabbatical. But I told Elizabeth. I was like all right, here's the alarm, here's the gun. Call 911 if something goes south 911 would never get to us Takes forever out here, Forever, but New York, California, Alabama.

Speaker 3: 40:30

Florida.

Speaker 2: 40:31

Chicago, Arizona, Louisiana.

Speaker 1: 40:35

How in the world do just word of mouth? That's how these people find out about you in other places.

Speaker 2: 40:40

My cousin created my website and it's very good.

Speaker 1: 40:43

It is very good. Who is that, by the way?

Speaker 2: 40:46

Laura Doty.

Speaker 1: 40:47

Shout out Laura, Great job on the website.

Speaker 2: 40:50

And then Instagram.

Speaker 3: 40:53

But the couple from the Netherlands had been in Texas and had been in Nashville and they were looking at hats and no one was willing to customize it with them there, because the lady had collected some things along the way and had brought them from the Netherlands that she wanted to put on this hat and so she was getting turned down, turned down. They had two extra weeks and she just said she googled best custom hat maker.

Speaker 2: 41:19

Not best.

Speaker 3: 41:20

Or just like custom hat maker that will customize it. And so she'd researched some and Mary-Anne Williams was in it. And she reached out to Mary-Anne Williams and was like I'm not going to make a hat without you here and I will do whatever you want on it when you get here. And so she came in and she was balling, crying. We see that a lot People come in crying.

Speaker 2: 41:39

We get emotional up here because it's meaningful to. Yeah, we really step back, slow down and just enjoy life. And when you come to the Hatshop it's kind of a retreat for some people. Everybody stays busy. There's so much hustle and bustle, but we really try to make you feel special and create a great experience.

Speaker 1: 42:02

How did you decide on a name?

Speaker 2: 42:05

That was kind of hard. So my name is Mary Landrum, Pyron, ML and then provisions. I decided on that because I like to do a ton of different things. I'll plant over 700 tulips this fall and I thought, well, maybe if I start a flower farmer, start catering or doing different things, I could just run it under one umbrella.

Speaker 1: 42:26

You were looking ahead.

Speaker 2: 42:27

Yeah, I didn't want to limit myself to ML Hat Company or something. Hat Company.

Speaker 1: 42:33

So how do we get a ML hat on top of Lainey Wilson and have that be her signature hat?

Speaker 2: 42:38

Let's do it. I keep trying, and I keep trying.

Speaker 1: 42:42

How have you tried thus far?

Speaker 2: 42:44

Reached out to the guys with Mossy Oak. They're well connected with her. Rached out to her boyfriend, devon Hodges, and I think that is her boyfriend. Devon Hodges Dot.

Speaker 1: 42:57

Hodges Football player. Yeah, yeah, he plays football at um. He plays in the NFL.

Speaker 3: 43:05

Yeah, he was he doesn't anymore. But she has a signed deal. Yeah, she's got a deal.

Speaker 1: 43:10

She's already got a deal. Yeah, that don't mean nothing.

Speaker 3: 43:13

But they look just like our hats, yeah, or a hat that we could create, right.

Speaker 1: 43:19

Well, y'all, you can have the signature hat of the county line.

Speaker 3: 43:23

Yeah, doesn't matter. Yes.

Speaker 1: 43:25

All right, well, I know you got stuff to do. I appreciate y'all sitting down with me and having me and those of y'all listening. Please, if you need a hat come see me. Come to Crystal Springs, Mississippi, to email provisions and see Mary Landrum and Liz and Ms Rosa and they will get you hooked up.

Speaker 2: 43:42

Yes, right, I do want to say uh, we've been running around with these Philly boys for a long time. We met them at Hank Williams Jr Back in the day. Y'all were wild, y'all still are. But every time somebody's from Philadelphia and they come to the hat shop, I always say I have never been with somebody from Philadelphia and not had fun.

Speaker 1: 44:05

Y'all heard it here, y'all are good, never had a bad time with y'all yeah. Well, once again, thank y'all very much, and I sure hope that we can do this again.

Speaker 3: 44:13

Yes.

Speaker 2: 44:14

Yes.

Speaker 1: 44:14

Anything else you want to add?

Speaker 2: 44:15

No, thank you for having us and y'all follow the podcast. Reach out by hat and let's make things happen.

Speaker 1: 44:22

Roll that Peace.