A Sisterhood Like Nun Other

from Cannabis by the Sea Magazine, Summer 2022

Ask a Budtender

By Dianne Armitage

The Sisters of the Valley, a group of self-described eco-feminist nuns in Merced County, California, are on a mission to heal the world using plant-based medicines—many sourced from marijuana.

Although unaffiliated with any formal religion, the sisters deem themselves very spiritual beings who just happen to be walking a physical path, which they feel is what helps them connect to others. With nearly 50,000 followers on Instagram, it appears they are likely on the right path.

For founder Sister Kate, this path had a rocky start. A devastating divorce, after 17 years of marriage and four years living together, turned her previously comfortable world upside down. Not one to let adversity stop her, in the Fall of 2009, she founded a nonprofit cannabis collective, opening for business in 2010.

In this capacity, she served cannabidiol medicine to local terminal patients. While doing this, she developed teas and tinctures so patients could experience their healing properties without needing to deal with smoking. After three years of service, Sister Kate realized the need to share these safe, non-addictive, non-psychoactive products with a larger audience. It was at this juncture, her vision of the Sisters of The Valley became a reality. During the Harvest Moon of 2014, Sister Kate developed their first line of products.

Sister Kate’s personal problems pale in comparison to what she says has been her most difficult obstacle, sharing “we experienced three years of the pandemic losses, starting in 2019 before the pandemic. We still had a break-even year in 2019, after four years of profits, but we had our banking yanked out from under us on May 31, 2019 and didn’t recover banking until October 25 of that year.”

“We kept the store open, and the sales were all going into the credit card processor cloud, but we had no bank to receive it from. We had no way to pay our people. We have always been cashless, so it really crippled us. We were just recovering from that when the pandemic hit, and sales dropped to unprecedented lows. Those have been our real challenges. We never got our business permit from the county, but now we don’t want one. We are inyear eight. They can keep their application fees and processes, we’re good.”

A challenge from her nephew got Sister Kate wearing her habit but says the fact she continues to call herself sister and still wears a habit has a much broader meaning.

“It definitely started as an activist finger to the establishment, but it grew into something much more. The veil is an ancient symbol for women working with food and medicine. For us, it is the uniform of the enclave and represents our mission, our customs, and our humility,” she explains the Beguine Revivalist lifestyle.

“We certainly qualify as nuns, anyway, because we live together, work together, pray together, and take vows. But we love the good sisters of the patriarchal religions and mean them no disrespect. Those nuns from conventional orders are often our biggest fans and supporters. It is not meant to make any kind of statement about nuns, in fact, we call ourselves sisters, and the media dubbed us ‘weednuns.’ It is meant to emulate our ancestors in the castles of Europe, who would not affiliate themselves with any one religion, because they were religious and spiritual scholars, and to do so would limit their studies and thereby, limit their knowledge.”

Sister Kate is not blowing smoke when she tells us what advice she would convey to anyone dealing with life’s ups and downs.

“It is far easier to get one hundred dollars from a poor man than ten dollars from a rich man, so don’t waste your time with those who can most afford to help you. They won’t. But don’t give up, follow your instincts, follow a path that dances wondrously in your head, and surround yourself with people who believe in you and your vision, if you can,” she advises. “I believe women heal women with words (and sometimes, there are men who can do that, too), and seek out those who will give you the courage to face the transitions, and make sure each step you take, each day, in some way, even in little ways, walks you toward that path. I find it odd that our society puts so much faith and trust in God and so little in the women because what has happened is we quickly give up on ourselves. I am so grateful I didn’t because my life is magical.”