18 Apr

Posted at 17:33h in Living the Dream

Recently, it became apparent we have added competition for the cannabinoids we grow. I should have seen it coming, but it smacked me in the face when I actually saw massive amounts of hemp biomass stored alongside my paltry 10-pound bag of high-THC sugar leaf in a licensed cannabis processing facility. Then I visited a well-stocked glass/CBD shop, finding sophisticated products well beyond CBD topicals. Decades of advocacy to get hemp fields back into production resulted in the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 that made hemp cultivation a legal activity across the United States. Fiber! Fuel! Environmentally friendly paper, plastics and...

04 Apr

Posted at 17:29h in Living the Dream

A basic need in life, I believe, is to be acknowledged, affirmed and appreciated. While our company tends to shun high-profile contests sponsored by national marijuana publications where the winners seem to mimic the list of advertisers, we instead chose to compete in local, blind contests. Last November, we decided to enter the Craft Cup organized by the Washington Sungrowers Industry Association (WSIA). We anguished over which strains to enter. It was like having to choose which of your children get to go out and play, so we ended up submitting samples from each of our eight strains. The five factors of most flower contests revolve...

07 Mar

Posted at 17:27h in Living the Dream

Washington’s legislative session will be virtual this year due to the coronavirus. Technology, when it works, will make it super easy for citizens to “attend” legislative sessions this year and likely into the future. It’s not a bad thing to get more voters engaged in the law-making process. Washington state legislative committee chairs reached out to advocacy groups back in September 2020 to explain that each legislator is encouraged to limit their bills this year and focus mainly on COVID relief and the economy. There are only four cannabis-centric bills I am aware of that will be presented this session: home-grow, 37%...

03 Feb

Posted at 18:42h in Living the Dream

In the mid-1970s, a clairvoyant told me that my soul’s past includes being a French revolutionary leader. I don’t know about that, but I seem to gravitate toward advocacy. I will advocate for what I believe until either victory, exhaustion or revision and will do my best to encourage others to join me. It keeps me engaged in current conversations and helps me stay informed. But it can also be so all-consuming that I’m learning to only take on the battles I really care about. My column in the January 2020 issue of Marijuana Venture addressed the economic impact to small businesses by...

27 Nov

Posted at 18:37h in Living the Dream

Sometimes you just have to start over; wipe the slate clean and begin again. This is where we are in Washington with our testing rules. Everyone wants their cannabis to be clean and free from harmful contaminants. Everyone wants accurate science and reporting of tests. But early on, we did a lousy PR job. There was outcry that Washington was the only state that did not test for pesticides and heavy metals, a belief that suggested to some that unregulated cannabis might be safer. That is the message medical cannabis patients picked up on when our laws ended the safe access collective gardens they...

18 Oct

Posted at 18:31h in Living the Dream

The assumption from people outside the cannabis industry is that we are making the “Big Bucks” but are likely not too savvy, meaning we are easy pickings for exploitation. This attitude crept up on us again last year when we were approached by Mr. King, the owner of the 20-acre parcel to our south. He wants to develop the land and put four houses on it, but land use codes no longer allow for new wells to be drilled and he needs water to proceed. In the early 1990s, our rural area an hour north of Seattle was slated for a massive golf course community,...

28 Sep

Posted at 18:26h in Living the Dream

We had a COVID scare within our crew, and it really put a point on how invasive this virus has become in our daily lives, hiding in plain sight and ready to accept a new host. Last holiday season, we had crew members calling in sick with the worst case of flu symptoms, symptoms beyond what many had ever experienced before. We stocked the cupboards with garlic capsules, echinacea, vitamin C and any other natural immune system support the crew felt they needed. Masks became common among the trim crew and hand sanitizer was bought in bulk. Everyone was back up to full...

16 Aug

Posted at 18:22h in Living the Dream

The saying “opinions are like a**holes, everyone’s got one” is so true. The thing about opinions is they don’t have to be based upon facts, reality or history. They can be pulled out of any dark bitterness or optimistically airy place and floated forward in the hopes that someone latches onto that particular ring of thought, just to watch it sink as others blow holes in the idea. In Washington, we are in phase “Cannabis 2.0.” Our legal industry is six years old, and one opinion all seem to agree upon is that it is time to examine and revise the...

06 Jul

Posted at 18:19h in Living the Dream

The COVID situation, political turmoil and riots for justice sure have brought out the latent stoners in the population. Our sales orders have gone up at least 20% across the board. Even though we’ve never been busier, I have had more “me” time since the pandemic began, because we haven’t been going to dinners and movies, shopping in stores, conducting tours at the farm, attending meetings in person or having our grandchildren over on the weekends. My journals that I began in the mid-1970s are calling me. I was leafing through some of them, and the stories began to flow so I...

28 Jun

Posted at 18:13h in Living the Dream

If there is one thing that unites people in the cannabis scene, it’s our ability to figure out the workaround. We’ve needed a tractor for a long time. A tractor is a key piece of equipment to manage our 10-acre pot farm. A tractor allows us the option of amending our soil, easily moving heavy pots and pallets of equipment, maintaining our road and efficiently mowing the hay field. A tractor would greatly help with general maintenance of the entire property. The issue is the heavy price tag, so a recent offer of 0% financing with 0% down for 84 months caught our attention....