cannabis entrepreneur finds passion in growing plant, caring for others

AURORA RAE FOR MICHIGAN GREEN STATE

An Ann Arbor local is living out his passion of growing marijuana and caring for patients in his recently opened small-scale dispensary - a marijuana microbusiness – called Winewood Organics. A micro business is a dispensary that grows no more than 150 plants, can sell only products made in-house, and cannot distribute to other dispensaries. Owned by Eric Parkhurst, the store opened its doors Aug. 28 becoming the third of its kind to open in the state. Parkhurst has a unique method for hand-growing his plants, in his store decorated with polished wood and greenery. “We take a different approach and allow the plant to thrive in living organic soil,” he said. “We use insects and other biological controls to keep the plants healthy and free of disease.” His attention to detail is evident in the flower the plants produce. Budtender and Edible Chef, Kim Smith, said customers have noticed the difference. “To grow organically in soil is huge,” she said. “Our customers are noticing a huge difference in the flavor and the feel, the effect.” Starting from the ground up Upon opening, Winewood Organics offered two strains of flower and concentrate each. They now sell nearly 20, a dozen of which are available in flower form, the rest are sold in concentrates including sauces, sugars, batters, live resin, and hash rosin. “We’re growing incredible quality,” Smith said. The hash rosin is solvent-less and has the highest terpene content out of all the extracts. According to High Times, standard hash rosin has about 0.662 percent terpenes. Smith said concentrates that are plentiful in terpenes, like sauce and hash rosin, are often low in THC. She said the terpenes are “more wholistic” and often sought by cannabis connoisseurs. “(Sauce) retains not just the flavor and taste profile,” she said. “But also sort of the healing profile that the different terpenes bring to the table.” Processing sauce turns it into sugar or batter which typically offers a higher THC content and less terpenes. The business’ focus on high-grade and versatile products extends beyond concentrates. They are developing a sauce cartridge to add to the current collection, with an increased terpene content like that of the concentrate. They offer pre-rolls as well, but unlike other dispensaries that use left-over clippings to pack joints, Parkhurst uses “whole” flower. “We pride ourselves on (the fact that) we don’t put any shake or trim in them,” Smith said. “That’s what a lot of places do is roll up the leftovers and sell them as joints… we’re using 100% flower bud.” Projects and products in the works Parkhurst’s dispensary currently has a few projects underway to expand their business. One part of that is installing a kitchen, so Smith can cook edibles and train others to do so, too. “I’ve been formulating a few different recipes and we’ve gotten to one we like,” she said. “But we have to just get our kitchen in and approved.” They hope to have the kitchen done by the end of November. Smith said they have developed an organic, vegan gummy that aligns with their health-centric theme. “Since we grow all organically in soil… we wanted to be able to offer at least one popular edible that was also organic,” Smith said. “We’ve got a couple others that will follow that.” They are in the process of establishing a delivery service and in the future, want to add a consumption lounge which would require a large space than they possess now. “I think we have to get to our fullest potential first in this location,” she said. “There are a few things to work out before (the consumption lounge) can happen and we don’t have the space on site for that yet.” Aside from physical growth, Smith said they are trying to expand their customer base but are limited due to their size. “We don’t have the big budget that big corporations do,” she said. “We don’t have that kind of marketing budget to do huge billboards and massive ads and so we’re advertising (in) some local magazines and also with articles and with word of mouth.”