Bob O: I really, I really love this guy, being a here, Chris Wilson. A good morning to you, how are you... This morning.

Chris: Good morning, I see here.

Bob O: Oh yeah, I... Now, this right here is right up my wife's ally, it's up mine too with what you do and you know what, we go right ahead and tell everybody what you are doing right here, in the Hudson Valley and have been for the past six years.

Chris: We're LunaGrown jam and jelly and we make jam we make a reduced sugar product, and so that everyone can enjoy it the whole family we grow a good portion of our fruits, the stuff that we don't grow we get from local farmers like peaches, apples, those here in the valley, and we put it together, and it's been six years. That's been great so far.

Bob O: Now this is your brainchild.

Chris: This is my brainchild, yes...

Bob O: Wow, what but whatever made what happened there. I mean, what would give you the signal.

Chris: I have friends that got land. They have farmland. We had dogs and we let the dogs run. And the one pup Luna, that's the company name. Got a lost... And we found her and she was in eight acres of blueberries. Just picking them off the bushes.

Bob O: Oh, you're kidding.

Chris: So no, I'm not kidding. And we said, "Well what are we gonna do with all these blueberries? And we started making jam.

Bob O: I'll be darned... Yeah, I will be a dog-gone yeah.

Oh, no, getting that is crazy. That is really, really crazy, it and I mean you do marmalade... Do you do jellies?

Chris: We do a few jellies. As you mentioned earlier, there's a Chipotle jelly for this season and our Candy Apple, which is only available during the holidays.

We have marmalades are here in touch and go with us because we're picky about our fruit because we don't grow the citrus but usually in December, will come out with blood orange and raspberry marmalade so which is usually gone really fast, but we try to make enough to keep everybody happy.

Bob O: So now I'm a marmalade type guy, I really am. I love when my step-mother, I used to make home-made preserves. They lived down to West Virginia.

Oh, it was so good. She used to make fresh blueberry preserves because they were in a very rural

area very, very remote their property was surrounded by the Shenandoah mountains, they lived in the Shenandoah Valley to give you a little bit of a brief idea right across the dirt road from them, and they were basically the only house on the road, they called Blueberry Hill, and she would go over there and pick all the blueberries.

I mean, you're like 20 years behind the times down there, but I know the flavor I know that the taste I'm very much alive, with salivating right now. When you say the blueberry... Blueberry jam, you make...

Chris: Yeah, so it's got the whole fruit, it's got the skin, it's got the pulp... It's all there.

Bob O: Oh, how awesome is that? It's nice, but now where are you located? You have a store where you located.

Chris: No, our farm is in Wurtsboro, but we're not open to the public, so we sell to retailers, we sell to its about 24 stores in the tri-state area, most of which are in the Hudson Valley. Because this is our home.

Bob O: Oh wow, so... So I can't just walk in your front door and say, I want this to one to to do an that.

Chris: No, you can't, you can order it online and I'll send it to you but you can find at one of the incredible local retailers here in the valley, you can pick up your cheese at the same time, because some cheese shops carry us, there are butchers that carry us, so you can really put something together. That's beautiful, it's all right there.

Bob O: Oh yeah, absolutely. But I mean the purity of all of this is what really attracts me to everything.

Chris: And that's our goal, is so I just keep the garbage out of it because there's no sense in that... Not for us, and we don't wanna give it to our customers we want it clean we want them to taste it, we want them to enjoy the layers of the fruit, and what it has to offer.

Bob O: Oh, yeah, now, there... Is there something on here that's really sparked my curiosity? You have a spiced fig jam. A spiced fig jam.

Chris: Yes, it's spiced actually, with cinnamon and Bourbon.

So you get the fig and then you get that nice little hint of cinnamon and then you hit a layer of bourbon which isn't a strong bourbon Bourbon flavor but it's there you go. Oh, that's nice, that's different. It's warm. So it's very inviting.

Bob O: Wow... Oh, now, now, now, I have to ask you the art. Is this something that maybe your grandmother did or your ancestors did? And enjoying this stuff with the recipes?

Chris: No, these are my recipes, really...

Bob O: Do you have a background in culinary with this or...

Chris: My background actually is in the bar business, Yeah it was Bar and in some restaurants but that's my background.

Bob O: No Kidding, I be damned. I'm not kidding you, this, this is great. So how do we get to your website?

Chris: Lunagrown.com. L-U-N-A-G-R-O-W-N.

Bob O: Oh wow. Now, now, these batches of these preserves or jams, jellies that you make is all of this in a limited number.

So in other words, if I go online to your site, and I order like three jars of this, two jars of this and three jars of that, do have production limitations on what you do here, I guess.

Chris: No, I... Whatever flavors we have now will run through the holiday season and when we run out, I just make more and that's just how it goes until the season is over. And then we change varieties again, come January because we try to stay seasonal so we can remain fresh, keep our fruits fresh, keep everything fresh.

Bob O: And it's only you doing all this. Wow, did you ever think about really getting out there and set in a world on fire with this...

Chris: Well, sure everybody does. And I think when I hit the right age, and the company grows to the point that I'm ready, then you look at selling or having somebody else take over the responsibilities like any business does, and I don't care where you are in the United States, but that's the goal of most businesses is to grow in a healthy way to leave your mark on the world in a positive way.

Bob O: Oh, oh no, we absolutely... And let me tell you something, now you get to a point in your life where it's all about the food. When you get up in the morning and you have a little piece of toast or something, but yet the delectable of all of it is...

Chris: So you have a little piece of chocolate with some "Cranbury jam on and you're good you. That's breakfast, you're good to go.

Bob O: Give us your website address again.

Chris: LunaGrown.com L-U-N-A-G-R-O-W-N dot com.

Bob O: Well, I and, people can request a brochure, or do you naturally mail that out with every order?

Chris: Can they request what?

Bob O: A brochure?

Chris: No, we don't send that out. That's actually the one that I gave you is actually our wholesale catalog.

Bob O: Oh wow, wait till my wife sees I seriously folks check it out. LunaGrown.com Really, all I'm telling you, people you gotta go there, you gotta go there, check this out, alright. LunaGrown.com and it was really good having you in the studio a seriously it.

Chris: Thank you it was a pleasure to be here with you as well.

Bob O: Thank you and you know what the story but the dog is just, "that's crazy.

Chris: It's the truth.

Bob O: Wow, so can I ask is Luna... Is still around.

Chris: No, she left us last year and her, her buddy, or best boy, left us the year before, that's the two. If you look on the jars, there you see two dogs and our logo on the back of the catalog, that's Luna & Ben.

Bob O: You almost made me have a tear in my eye.

Chris: They started us and they carry on.

Bob O: Oh my gosh, I've always heard that people can learn from their animals, they have something to show us. Boy, here's some positive proof right here. They touched your heart enough for you to name your company, after Luna.

isn't that amazing, great job, thank you, "great job, absolutely and thank you for being with us this morning.

Chris: Thank you, "My pleasure.

Bob O: Alright, alright, let's see what are we gonna do now?

I gotta tear my eye over Luna, right, and boy, I'm telling you these jams and everything look absolutely sensational. Folks don't forget. LunaGrown.com.

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