NEWTON’S LAW:

AN INTERVIEW WITH JASPER NEWTON

INTERVIEW BY BETHANY SCHLEH PHOTOS: COURTESY OF NEWTON’S NURSERY

Beth: How long have you been growing cannabis? When was Newton’s Nursery founded?

Jasper: Newton’s Nursery was founded in 2014 in Ketchikan, Alaska. I started out with 600-watt lights and some bag seed out of a buddy’s freezer. I started growing cannabis for my own personal enjoyment and the medicinal qualities that I needed. Therefore, I started growing strains that were geared strictly towards my own liking. When I moved to Maine, I started a four-light grow in my garage as a legal caregiver, and since then I have been able to expand and progress into the Newton’s Nursery we know today, and I couldn’t be happier.

Beth: What was your occupation before entering the cannabis industry? Jasper: I was a commercial diver in Alaska—ships husbandry, salvage jobs, and fiber optic cable lay. If it needed to be done under water in remote areas, we were the ones you called. Before that, I fished Pacific cod in the Bering Sea for eight years.

Beth: Why do you grow the strains that you grow? Jasper: Because I feel like they give me and others the medical benefits that we are looking for. I started growing weed to just have the best quality weed at the end of the day. Once things took off, I realized that other people agreed. Beth: What is your favorite strain you have and why?

Jasper: I have a lot of favorites but if I had to pick just one… it would have to be Item 9. She has to be at the top of my list! She’s a cross of Original Girl Scout Cookies x Scrappy OG. Scrappy OG was an unreleased strain. This strain is Dog Walker x Girl Time (Original Girl Scout Cookies x Timewreck).

Beth: Who are some of your influences in the cannabis industry?

Jasper: Pat from Heroes of the Farm because he works hard, and he has done all this on his own. He has always reached out and been very nice to me, shared genetics with me, and always gave me advice when needed. Mean Gene from Freeborn Selections because of his downright knowledge of cannabis. He is basically the encyclopedia of cannabis. Having conversations with him is crazy illuminating. Professor P from Dynasty Genetics. I respect him and his photography skills. Photographing cannabis can be difficult, and he has really mastered it.

Beth: Do you have any tips for up-and-coming growers?

Jasper: I would recommend finding your niche in the cannabis industry, whether it is working directly with the plants, seed breeding, extraction, or trimming. You need to like what you do because this is a hard, strenuous job, and if you don’t like one aspect, I don’t think you will be fully cut out for the job. Some days I work with just cloning, some I am cleaning pots and am basically a glorified janitor. Other days, I am networking and trying to make more connections within the cannabis industry.

Beth: Can you elaborate more on some of the struggles you have encountered as a grower?

Jasper: Expanding from a four-light garage to a warehouse was probably one of my biggest struggles. Adapting to a larger space costs more money and uses more of your time. I’ve heard a lot of people say, “growing cannabis is so easy, and they make so much money.” And when I hear this, I just laugh. Growing quality cannabis is extremely hard. Grow equipment and supplies cost a lot of money, so at the beginning, I was tight on funds trying to make things work for a while. And that was very stressful. If you ask any grower who has expanded to a larger space, I am sure they would assure you that there are a lot of stressors that come along with it. Maintaining a healthy happy garden is a non-stop chore. People talk about how growing weed is easy; it is just a weed. Give it light, give it water, you should be good. That’s not at all the case. Every strain I grow needs a different amount of food and water, and some strains take longer than others, so finding out how your plants act and react to what you are providing them can be a struggle. Some of my first runs were just trial and error runs to figure out how the plant liked to feed and how it did under different lights. Sometimes that was discouraging because sometimes I failed. I can admit that, and I know that almost every grower out there has experienced that. Each and every day, I am learning more and more about the plants I am working with and their environments. As much as that can be a struggle, it is also a huge reward.

Beth: What are you smoking right now?

Jasper: Brawband. When I came down from Alaska, I had a friend that asked me if I had something I wanted to grow, and I responded with Headband. I got this cut but it wasn’t actually a Headband cut. It was a Chem 91 x Northern Lights #1, which people often call Headband. People on the East Coast refer to it as Daywrecker or the Original Diesel. It was made down in Massachusetts.

Beth: Which stores carry your medicine?

Jasper: Fire on Fore, located at 367 Fore Street in Portland. We are also featured in Beach Boys Cannabis Company, located at 218 Main Street in South Portland. And we’re also in ORIGINs Cannabis Company, located at 884 Western Avenue in Manchester, and in RockSteady Remedies, located at 659 Hogan Road in Bangor.

Beth: Where do you see Newton’s Nursery as the recreational market approaches us?

Jasper: My goal is always going to be the same: craft cannabis. I don’t want to get too big where my quality diminishes because that is always my first concern. My concern is smell, taste, and how it smokes. I believe we live in a state that proves that this method works. For example, when looking at the craft beer market, companies like Bissell Brothers, Foundation, Lone Pine, and Oxbow are expanding but keeping their craft on point. In a world where anyone can still buy a Budweiser beer, the educated customers who care about the quality of the product they put into their bodies are ponying up the extra few dollars for the good stuff. I don’t want to be a Budweiser brand. I want to provide patients with quality craft cannabis.