Do you have one story that you just love to tell over and over again? One that, every time you tell it, you get a captive audience waiting for the magical miracle moment of the plot?

Stories have an amazing ability to connect us and foster relationships between people. 

Our family loves telling and hearing stories, from Tatum and Madison’s obsession with Harry Potter books to Evan’s love for telling stories from his times growing up and in training school. 

As a family-owned small business, and as relational people, we believe sharing our stories with you will help us understand each other more. We are starting a storytelling blog post series to help you get to know us and our hearts better. We will spend the next several posts going through each member of the Twin Pines Hemp family in-depth. 

Our hope is that, when you hear our stories, you will understand where we are coming from, our true heart for this business, and our hope for your holistic health success. 

Heart Behind the Hemp Series: Madison Tate

First up in our Heart Behind the Hemp storytelling series is Madison Tate, the leading lady of Twin Pines Hemp. It’s her birthday today! She believes wholeheartedly that we are not just what you can see in the present, but the culmination of all the stories we’ve ever lived through. By sharing her story, she hopes that you will be able to boldly share yours, too.

Q: What was your introduction into wellness?

I went to college and got my Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing, and went right into being a nurse in the hospital. For a while, I was an oncology nurse and I also gained experience in end of life care. I truly loved being a nurse and caring for people. It was very rewarding work. 

Q: How did you get into alternative health?

While I was working as a nurse, I worked under one doctor who often plugged into patients the health benefits of a good diet. I was naive to natural medicine at this point, but something about what she was doing drew me to it. 

Being in oncology especially, with chemotherapy being administered as such a “normal” thing, I started to challenge western medicine practices.

You know, in hospitals, they often treat the symptoms and not necessarily the cause. In doctor’s offices, they may have more education on preventive medicine. However, as I was working mostly in the hospital, I did not see much of this. Of course, people who get really sick need the immediate care for symptoms, but I often wondered what would happen if there was a way to get people to look at the causes of illness over the symptoms. 

To put it plainly, my time in the hospital made me question the practices of western medicine. This was the start of my desire to get at the cause of medical issues and holistic health.

Q: What did you love most about nursing? Why did you leave?

Being a nurse in end of life care was definitely the most rewarding experience. Although it was the most difficult emotionally, it was an amazing experience to get to come alongside with family and friends who were walking with their dying loved one. There is beauty in the process of dying. If I were to ever go back into nursing, I would probably do something like this, with the CBD knowledge I have.

Ultimately, when I started running the construction business with Evan, and after having our second child, I could not juggle it all. Nursing was the hardest job with the longest hours and it took me away from the family more than I was willing to. We made the decision together that I’d quit nursing in order to spend more time at home with the business and family.

Q: Why hemp and CBD?

Back in 2019, we heard that the hemp industry was going to be big. Like many others, we dove into hemp farming for the first time, just to experiment and to maybe sell the hemp for good money. 

From there, I started researching more about hemp uses and CBD and discovered a whole world and deep breadth of knowledge I’d never come across before. I found out that CBD can treat so many things that I’d come across as a nurse. Since I was already wary of “big pharma,” I decided to try CBD out for myself. I found that it cured my migraines and relieved other aches and pains. At that point, we decided we’d make our own CBD oil out of our hemp crop.

When Evan and I found out more about hemp, our passions were married in it. For Evan, it’s mostly about sustainable farming and ranching, and for me, medicine and holistic health.

Q: How did you get into running your own business?

If any of you you know Evan at all, you know that he is an entrepreneur to the core. When it came to running a business with him, at first he was the main entrepreneur. It’s just who he is, and he thrived there. I just saw myself as “the helper.” 

One day, I realized (and am still realizing) I had just as much potential as him to be an entrepreneur. It’s actually in my family history. My dad has run a business his whole life, and my grandparents (together) ran multiple small businesses throughout their lifetime and my childhood. I remember being 10 years old and helping my grandma run the desk at the video store they ran. All of this has set a great example for us. 

It’s been a fun new connection I’ve made with my dad since starting this business, because now I get to call him and ask him questions about business, in addition to the usual “hey, how are you doing” kind of stuff. I love getting to involve him in our endeavours and hearing about his small business expertise.

I believe I was made for running a small business. It’s been fun getting to incorporate that into health and wellness as well.

Q: To close, what are your hopes for the future?

Wow, I have so many hopes for the future. First of all, one desire I have for myself and my family is that we will continue to live a full and free life. We will be building a family ranch starting this summer. My hope is for the ranch not just to be for our family’s personal use, but a place where many others will feel welcome and can call it home. We want to share all the knowledge we have gained over the years (in business, finances, health, and life) at the ranch. We also want it to be a place to learn, grow, laugh and build (literally and figuratively)!

In the cannabis realm: I want to learn more about the plant and all its potential for the whole human; all the physiological, mental, and emotional benefits it can bring. I also want to extend our reach in the cannabis market so others can live as full a life as I have experienced due to the healing properties of CBD.

And for my children, I want to continue to teach them a different way of looking at the world, themselves, and others, ultimately through the lens of God. I want them to learn that, with Him, they can be present and patient in all things, even difficult things.

Before you go…

Our next blog posts will be covering everyone else in the Twin Pines Hemp family. If you have a question for any of us, feel free to drop us a comment and we’ll do our best to answer!