Natural Remedies And Community Care Can Change Lives with Nita Watson

A garden can do what four walls never will. We sit down with Nita Watson to share the real story behind a Health and Wellness Day we’re building at the Gardens of Hope in the Inland Empire and why “restoration for mind, body, and spirit” is more than a slogan when you can feel nature working on your nervous system in real time. If you care about holistic health, community wellness, and practical healing tools, this conversation lays out what we’re creating and how you can plug in. 

Nita also takes us through her mission-driven work, including the Free Indeed Reentry Project and the impact of helping people clear past records through expungement and dismissal. We talk about how justice, stability, and health are connected, and why coalition-building matters when a community is trying to climb out of stress, chronic illness, and systems that profit from keeping people stuck. 

From there, we get into cannabis wellness and clean skin care in a way that stays grounded. Nita shares why she relies on Willow Creek Springs CBD products day to day, and we unpack the difference between masking symptoms and supporting the body’s natural balance. We also preview a new white label product line through Black Gold Urban Grow Hemp Care Consulting, designed with melanated skin in mind, plus why reading ingredient labels matters when so many “beauty” products are packed with petroleum-based fillers and harsh additives. 

If this resonates, subscribe so you don’t miss the monthly updates leading into the October event, share this with a friend who needs better options, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show. What would you want to experience at a true community wellness day?

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Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Well, hello, and welcome to the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, and today we've got a very special guest. Her name is Nita Watson, and I have known Nita for, geez, I think it's been more than 10 years. And for those of you who know my past, I've been involved in the cannabis medicinal side of the world for a long time. And I have been involved with activist organization called the Human Solution International for since 2009 is when we organized that. And Nita and I met somewhere along the road in that venue. And boy, we our paths have sort of woven a beautiful little tapestry. Nita, welcome to the show. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Thank you, Joe, for having me doing just fine. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well, I I gave an introduction that's a little vague. I always like to hear it from our guest point of view. Why don't you just share a little bit about how we came together? And we've got some exciting things we're going to be talking about, but we got a lot

How We Met Through Activism

SPEAKER_01 1:30

to talk about. So this is probably the first of several interviews we'll be doing.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Yes, actually, I met Joe through Joe and Liz through Mutual Friends, and we were able to put together our first event to talk about uh cannabis, and that was at a workshop at our church at Loveland in Fontana. And Joe and Liz came out and were the keynote speakers for our event. That was back in 2019.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

So it's been a wonderful, wonderful journey with this family and these folks ever since.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

I love it. And that's when I heard or learned about you had at the time an organization called Free Indeed Reentry Project.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Yes, that is correct. Uh Free Indeed Reentry Project, it was uh formed in 2014, and the entire goal of that organization was to assist folks who have criminal pasts with their petitions for expungement and dismissal of their charges. And so we have continued that uh mission and we still we we we actually are celebrating I want to say 100% success rate with our clients.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

So yeah, and so we we're still out here trying to help people get their lives back on track after you know run-ins with the law.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

I love it, I love it, and that's where our sort of activists' lives sort of began to intertwine. And you know, the human solution had a prison outreach program at the time, and we were working on putting workshop together. But meanwhile, at the same time, you became acquainted with our product line of Willow Creek Springs and working with Rochelle and Jerry, and and you got to experience some of the stuff that we've been making for a long, long time. And we talked about you know working together, creating a brand for you, and then you come up with this other project. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Well, yes, indeed. I am a very, very strong user of the Willow Creek Springs products. I use them daily. And at 63 years old, 64 in a couple of months, I don't have any prescriptions with my name on the labels. Wow. These products are my medicine, and so I'm so grateful for Joe for formulating these amazing products. And so, not just myself, but my family and friends, we we use these products and they are helping us to deal with the illnesses and things that just come this part of life, right? So, but but that brings us back to why we're here, and that is to talk about the Health and Wellness Day at the Gardens of Hope that we are planning for um the first part of

Reentry Work And Expungement Wins

SPEAKER_00 4:50

October.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Uh October is exciting. You came to me about a week and a half ago. I can't believe it was really just that quick that it's all come come about. We hadn't talked in a little bit, and you said, Well, I'd like to propose an event. And of course, my wife always cringes when we I say event, but when we talked about doing this, a one-day sort of a health and wellness symposium, it was perfect. And to do it in the garden is just what the garden was built for, really.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

It's what it was built for, and the feeling in the atmosphere speaks to wholeness, wellness, just total, you know, just wellness, by mind, body, and soul, as our flyer says.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

This is not just something that we just, you know, decided one day. No, this has been something that you and I have talked about for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Finally, we have the opportunity, the time, the time is perfect, the timing is perfect, and uh, we're ready to go. We're ready to start pushing this event.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Well, and it's kind of cool because you know, you bring in a coalition of individuals and organizations into this, and we've built over the past three years a community of like-minded individuals and a number of practitioners and healers and facilitators that have all come to the garden and experienced, you know, the value of, you know, when somebody is a practitioner, maybe they do massage therapy or Reiki or yoga or sound baths or meditation or even a prayer group,

Why The Garden Matters For Healing

SPEAKER_01 6:50

you know, you can do it in a building, you can do it in your house, you can do it in an office, and it works fine, right? You go to a clinic and you go and get a massage, it's great. But you go to a garden where the nature's just all around and it's green and alive, and the breeze is blowing through you, and butterflies are flying around, and hummingbirds are zipping by. It's just a whole different experience.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Oh, we love coming to the garden. You and Liz have done such an amazing job, and your volunteers and your staff have done an amazing job preparing us for this time. I'm telling you, time is now. And speaking of our coalition, we've been working very, very diligently in the community. I have an organization now that I formed three years ago called the National Volunteer Council on Freedmen Affairs, where we fight for a deeper understanding of the historical impacts of slavery and the things that we are needing redress for. But more importantly, in this space, my organization of Black Gold Urban Grow Hemp Care Consulting. And we will eventually put on an expo. That's in the near future. And I definitely want Willow Creek Springs and the Gardens of Hope to be a big, big, big part of that. And so we're we we have other coalition partners. We have the women of Inland. I'm now a resident of the Inland Empire, never lived here, but like I said, the timing is perfect for everything we've been talking about all these years, Joe. And so uh we have Rochelle, who is our dear mutual friend, and Jerry, they have Be Made Whole, that's their CBD company. We have Be Ending and Brandon, their mother and son team, and are extremely gifted in so many ways. They bring all the nature, the natural, the food, the eating. They they're they're big on the dietary side.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

We pull these coalitions together. I got chills, Joe. Coalitions together, we're going to be able to help each other be restored because that's what this event on August 10th is called. Restoration for mind, body, and spirit. And we're looking forward.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Yeah, I think that you know we've come really quite far really quickly. You brought some amazing partners into the into this from the get-go. We've reached out, we've already got people that are doing energy work, we've got a woman who does sound bath and yoga, we've got massage, we've got we're working on food. That looks like we've got that at least partway worked out already. We got music, we've got you know a number of workshops that are without even putting a whole lot of work into it. We've already got presenters. We're putting together right now the framework for sponsors and collaborative partners, and we're getting ready to put out our first flyer here already. And again, this is going to be in October 10th, which is a beautiful time of the year.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

My favorite time of the year.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

It gets you know pretty warm in the middle of summer out here in the inland empire in you know, Paris, California. And even though we've got a lot of trees and it's a lot cooler out here than it is outside of here, it's still pretty warm. But in October, it's almost like springtime. You know, the air gets crisp in the morning, and the daytime's usually really beautiful. The leaves get a little bit of color on them. I mean, it's really kind of a magical time of the year.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yes, indeed. It's 10 days after my birthday, which is where it begins for me as far as that part of the year that fall on into the holidays. And so I understand that is it it really is my favorite time of the year. So I'm looking forward to even the weather joining us.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

I love it. Well, you know what's funny is a little more than two years ago, or coming up on two years, I should say, in 2024, we had the holistic health symposium. And that was an event that was put on by a neighbor of mine at my business, and he had a mushroom-focused business. And so we had a bunch of guests, we had a lot of speakers, we had a lot of workshops. Most of the vendors were related to mushroom medicine and that sort of thing. And to

Building A Wellness Coalition Lineup

SPEAKER_01 12:10

me, that was okay, but I'm not so much about that. I think mushrooms are good medicine. There's a lot of wonderful things that we're learning about mushrooms, and a lot of great stuff. I'm not opposed to them in any way, but I've never been the mushroom guy in the sense of, you know, where I've spent most of my work. And I wanted the that event to be more about health and healing and food and all the things we're talking about doing. So it's kind of neat that your offering, our offering, is gonna be really the event that I wanted to put on all along. And it's not that we can't have some mushroom people there, but it's gonna be a well-rounded, it's gonna be a holistic event rather than more of a one-sided thing that we did before.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Yes, indeed. And so we spoke about the the potential of the future, I'll say, Expo. And I will just like to take this opportunity right now to you know call the attention the cannabis companies, the cultivators, the processors, the vendors, the dispensaries, just all of our industry partners. This is your invitation to be a part of something groundbreaking in the in the empire. And we will definitely uh be bringing you more information in the coming podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah, this is really just the tip of the iceberg. You and I are finally launching a partnership on a number of levels, and it's it's really great to be working with you. I it's refreshing, you know. I'm an innovator and a visionary and an entrepreneur, and that has brought me into the arena of so many flaky people in my life. And a lot of times dreamers are just that, they're dreamers but not doers. And I've just run into so many people that have talked about doing things that never happened, and you know, I plot along with what I'm doing and I, you know, make things happen. But finally, to engage you on this level is just so refreshing. You bring a level of professionalism and and thoughtfulness that frankly I don't see enough of these days.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Thank you so much, and I agree that you are truly a visionary, and you inspire us, everyone that works closely with you, that call you a friend to you and your beautiful wife, we appreciate you and we thank you for your consistency and we need you.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Well, I plan on being here a good long while. I plan on outliving most of the people I know. That's sort of my general plan here.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yes, indeed.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

So, here from the time that we met until now, you've had a chance to experience some of the things that we do, and that's caused you to recognize you know the importance of quality natural offerings, whether it's cannabis infused or herbal or CBD or any combination of their. And you talk about not having any prescriptions, and I frankly don't have any prescriptions either. I have immunotherapy treatment that I do, I guess that's a prescription, but short of that, I I have no, I don't go to the pharmacy, I have no reason to. And the the remedies that I make are the remedies that I take. And so I always tell people, I make this stuff for myself and my wife and my loved ones, and we happen to sell it to other people too. But, you know, if I didn't sell anything, I still make this stuff for me because it works. And you've had some experiences with some of our offerings that have caused you to want to, you know, introduce your own brand. And and I'm really kind of curious to hear about your experiences that have brought this, you know, caused you to feel this way.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Yes, indeed. But we gotta cause for the we gotta pause for the cause right here, Joe. Okay, no problem. Yes, indeed. As I stated earlier, I am going to be 64 years old on September 30th, 10 days before our illustrious event there at the gardens. And I don't have any prescriptions with my name on on it, on them. I I have been using Willow Creek Springs products, everything from the salve to the tincture to the topical, the oh my goodness, for my bug bites, I use the the uh disinfectant spray or or what is it called, Joe? What does that say? First age spray, yeah. I send products across the country to my elderly family members, my grandson, who is a professional basketball player, he's in Chile right now playing on a professional basketball team up there in the Euro

Lessons From A Past Symposium

SPEAKER_00 17:30

League. And so I've sent those products across this country. He was injured, as a matter of fact, and a serious back injury that stopped him basically from playing for a while, and those products we would massage him with those products, and he's back at it and very, very healthy. And so it's a part of our lives now. It's not just a cliche, it's not just a sales pitch. We use Willow Creek Springs because they make our lives better. They help us with pain and they help us with inflammation in our organs. That's where it starts before it gets to the ankles. And so uh it's just been a tremendous blessing meeting you, Joe, and then absolutely being able to use your products for our health.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Well, and I think that you know, the goal with some of these things are some of it's symptomatic, but it seems like most of the pharmaceutical answers and they cover up symptoms rather than go after the problem. And I think working with natural herbs and the CBD and some of the other ingredients we work with, the goal is, and you know, I believe we accomplish it in a lot of levels, is to actually facilitate the healing, you know, to help it to, you know, your body does the work. God gave us an amazing body that has the ability to repair itself and and and fix whatever's wrong. But a lot of times, whether it's our diet or stress or sleep or whatever the reasons, these systems don't work, you know, as well as they might. And we find, you know, these problems continue or persist or get worse. A lot of times taking, you know, a natural solution, if it's done right and it's taken right, can just kind of help get you back in alignment. You know, they call it homeostasis, where your your body finds a balance of the things it needs and allows it to kind of function at the level that it was designed. That's kind of what we're all about. And it's wonderful to watch other people talk about their experiences. You know, I've been through plenty of experiences myself. You know, I'm a little clumsy apparently because I've sliced myself up and bashed my head and done all kinds of things that caused me a lot of wounds and injury, and and good thing I had all these first aid products because they've kept me from being mangled. But I think you know, a lot of the stuff, even the anti-anxiety, even just the just the the oils, you know, when you take something into your body that helps your body find balance, I think it's it can be miraculous if you know, if in the right circumstances. Yes. And that takes me to kind of the next level of things. And this is something that we do for a number of clients, but you and I are getting ready to embark on a new venture. Yes. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what that is?

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Well, this is another thing that we have talked about for a very long time. And uh again, you know, everything happens when it's supposed to, I believe, in its own time. And so we've talked about white labeling products for my urban, you know, for our urban black gold urban growth consulting and expo business. So we want products that you know that are especially made for our skin, our skin, and our meaning, you know, black Americans. We we have melanated skin, and so you know, we have a need for these products and these oils and these ingredients that you and Liz use to create the form formula. So I'm so excited that we are finally

Invitation To Cannabis Industry Partners

SPEAKER_00 21:50

here where we will have an actual product line for our community. Not that the products as they are are not fine. They are, but we do want to use this as a drawing card for other members of our community to know about the Willow Creek Springs family. family and their products.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Well I love a specific target, you know, many of our products have come about as a result of somebody saying, hey, I've got this need, whatever it might be. And you know, to have a target that's very specific this way to me, I love it. It's it's a challenge and and I'm looking forward to putting it to the test. You know, when we develop a a new product for somebody, there's a level or you know the proof of concept part of it where we'll make a version of it and you'll get it out there and get it on some people and see what they say. And you know when we get enough good feedback we will say okay let's lock and load this thing. But we've never we've never had a a specific demographic target like this before. So it really makes me happy it's always been more of a narrow target like you know somebody else say well I've got this one problem I've got you know whatever eczema or I've got a neuropathy or you know some specific thing that isn't necessarily a demographic issue but just a whatever everybody can have that that problem anxiety or depression or whatever it is I'm really you know to me this is something that is gonna carve out another level of of what we're capable of and and so I'm in the research phase of this right now we're talking about doing a beard oil a foot cream and and some some other products that are going to be you know very purposefully formulated for you go yes indeed targeted yeah yeah exactly market yes in in the black community and I feel like because you know one of our missions across the board all of the coalition partners uh know that you know working in the community being you know from our community we know that health is a major major major problem for a lot of us you know you know big pharma they they they keep us with lots of pills lots of medications you know don't leave those offices when you go see the doctors without a prescription but there is a better way and so this is the purpose of us white labeling not just to you know not for the commercial side but for for for for really health crisis in our community and

Real Stories Using CBD Remedies

SPEAKER_01 25:47

mental health as well so the the way that the CBD works for you know benefits as far as you know benefiting anxiety inflammation you know all those things where you know it it starts in our major organs and then it works its way out into diabetes and heart you know problems and you know all these things.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

And so yeah we definitely need to make sure our community understands that there is a better way.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

And um and even with things like like skincare people don't realize like if you go to I don't know Walmart or or even you know Ulta or or one of these you know higher end beauty supply places and you grab a bottle of lotion or a cream or whatever the treatment is and you look at those ingredients the chances are unless you pick a you know very specific all natural brand which most of them are not you're gonna see words you don't even know how to pronounce you're gonna see things that are made out of petroleum you're gonna see things that are made from chemicals that are not necessarily good for you but they serve some purpose in a formula that causes it to be more stable or to last longer or to do a certain thing but at what at what cost? You know just like the pharmaceutical drugs if you've got a problem and they say well here go take this drug most of the time there's gonna be some side effect and you're gonna take that one drug for this one problem and you're gonna say well okay I worked on this one thing but now I got this other problem. And the same thing with skin care. You know a lot of times something that's supposed to moisturize you in the short term can actually dry your skin out in the long term or deplete your your skin of of of moisture and nutrients things like sunblock or things like you know some of these anti-aging things if you don't know what's inside of them I don't know why we're putting this stuff on our skin it's just like eating just like drinking you know people will go and drink some you know energy drink and they don't have any idea what the heck's in it. And you know truth is some of the things can be pretty toxic to people. And so to get it the results that you're looking for your skin being healthy your skin looking pretty your skin moist and and soft and and supple and not you know like you were talking about you know your feet and you know feet are such an important part of your body and they get neglected to hell you know we stomp on them we squish them into little shoes we we we walk barefoot and get calluses and blisters

White Label Products For Melanated Skin

SPEAKER_01 28:57

and just we're horrible to our feet. We are and you know to have something that you can go after a hard day's work and and just relax and go and put this on it maybe something to soak. I mean there's all kinds of places we're gonna go with this but it's kind of exciting to think that we're gonna be able to help a a group of folks that you know we we haven't specifically targeted before.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Well there's a a saying in our community good black don't crack we say that all the time but at the same time we still have to take care of our skin and so and I'm and that's one of the products that I'm gonna be so excited to present and that is the the anti-aging formula.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Absolutely and see to be frank i've I've always been a little envious i i've known a lot of elderly black folk in my life and I'm like where the heck are your wrinkles like you just don't have them and uh you know us white folks man we wrinkle up like proofs pretty fast and I go I don't know what I don't know what happened there but somehow you got something we didn't get yeah and we love it we love our feet too and we love keeping them pretty and yeah secured and so we we gotta keep them moist as well. I love it. I love it. Well this is an exciting new adventure on all these levels you know we've just touched based on a lot of elements from the social equity side of things to the holistic you know wellness side of things to the cannabis side of things and and now to this custom formulas and and this new product line we I I feel like we got a lot of work in front of us. Exciting exciting times I love it I love it well you know you and I share a lot in common including a faith including oh yeah um a commitment to excellence including including an element of justice in our hearts you know that that things are important to us that a lot of folks maybe don't even know about and bringing awareness to some of the problems you're just becoming aware of um a lot of indigenous problems and possible solutions and that's something that I've been working with for a little while and it's just exciting to lock arms with you absolutely the feeling is mutual well Nina you are quite an incredible human being we didn't even touch on your you know your law side of things your mom side of things and now your foster mom's side of things I mean you you're you're just an incredible human being thank you I would like to see if you've got a thought that you would like to leave our listeners with we've covered a lot of things but just something that that is important to you that you'd like to share as a sort of central thought oh yeah well I I I could say a whole lot of things but I'll just say that I'm grateful that we have continued to pursue our goals no matter how long it has taken we've stuck with the vision we've stayed the course we've gone through the trials that we need to go through to grow in our faith and all kinds of other areas in life and so here we are and I believe that the time is come for us to realize the the the the goals and the vision that we have set forth to do and time is right stick with my my my my word of wisdom today is stick with your dreams and never let them go I love that some might call that integrity yeah basically goes a long way it goes a long way well that's wonderful so Nita you've got a lot of places that you could send us to

Clean Skin Care And Foot Recovery

SPEAKER_01 33:27

as far as how to learn more about your projects and efforts and causes and businesses why don't you share what what you would like to with us well first of all black gold urban grow consulting that's our cannabis business and we're on all major social media platforms Twitter Facebook Instagram as well as the National Volunteer Council on Freedman Affairs that is our organization that fights for reparative justice and remediation for slavery.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

Again all major platforms we are entertainers as well so we have actually made our singing group a corporation the Ladies of Soul corporation we we are a tribute concert we pay tribute to the women in the industry music industry whose whose shoulders we stand on like Dinah Ross and you name them Stephanie Mills you name them you know those are our role models and so and then also we have quite a few educational programs that we have authored and gotten patented so that we can put them into colleges and universities particularly HBCUs because remediation and restorative justice should be understood by everyone and so that's just a couple of things that we got going on. But like I said earlier you know you stick to those dreams and they will become a reality.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

I love that I love that well I'm looking forward to making change in the world with you my friend and um just want to thank you for joining me today and I know we're gonna be touching base on a monthly basis until this event and updates and talking more about these things that we're working on. So I just want to thank you for joining me today and I'm looking forward to this thing moving forward. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful wonderful rest of your day wonderful this has been another episode of the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host Joe Grumbine I want to thank all of our listeners for making this show possible and we will see you next time