BRAVO BOTANICALS

BRAVOBOTANICALS

>> Co-owners Ben James, above, and Andy Loughney, right.

BOTANICALS

GUILFORD, VT

Andy Loughney is always looking for signs. It might be the monarch butterfly that landed on his lips or the Great Blue Heron that flew low across their lush Vermont hemp field, his iPhone fortuitously handy to capture the moment and post to Instagram.

To Andy, co-owner of Bravo Botanicals, the butterfly was a sign of personal, transformational energy. And the heron, a harbinger for a bountiful harvest season. It also reflects his connection both to the spiritual and modern ways of serving the plant. In return, the plant has served him and co-owner Ben James well. An online ranking of CBD oils put Bravo Botanical’s offerings at number one out of over 2,000 products from over 600 companies - but more on that later.

Ihad done my research on the company and as I drove up from the city early one Saturday morning in September, I wasn’t quite sure what I was visiting. Was it a farm, an entrepreneurial venture, a contributor to environmental happiness? Maybe a temple or church honoring Mother Nature and the Gods of Cannabis?

Or maybe all of the above? Here, I too got in the spirit of looking for signs.

I see a wild turkey out the corner of my eye flying heavily through trees beside the Merritt

Parkway. That bird, as I discovered on Google, is a sign of thanksgiving and abundance! Then a real sign on ‘91 - Massachusetts Welcomes

You - upon crossing the border into a state where Cannabis in all forms is legal to its citizens. I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but the air just feels freer in Massachusetts!

But I was continuing to Vermont, where the previous night the Vermont House of Representatives passed S. 234, a bill that goes further to ease Cannabis laws and restrictions, and expunges records for lower level Cannabis offenses. It wasn’t yet law, but that was another good sign! / Continues pg. 30 /

<< The aroma of their harvest lot - set on a breezy hillside in a small Vermont valley - was intoxicating.

BRAVO BOTANICALS B

ravo Botanicals is only 15 minutes or so across the border from Massachusetts in Guilford, and as I entered the state I noticed some of the trees starting to turn shades of yellow and orange, signaling Autumn’s return. It was harvest season for hemp.

Andy and Ben’s plants, which had been seeded May 7th, on the day of the Super Flower Moon, were deep into flowering. The aroma of their harvest lot - set on a breezy hillside in a small valley - was intoxicating. Some rows of plants had already been cut down and were drying in a converted cattle barn. The remaining plants would come down in the next several weeks and continue their journey towards becoming a consumer product in an unsettled marketplace.

Instead of the word product, though, Andy prefers calling Bravo’s CBD offerings a service, enabling a physical, neurological interaction between plant and consumer. It’s heady stuff for a simple purveyor of CBD oils and salves, but simple can be deceiving.

Dr. Robert Portman, CEO of CBD Validator, aims to be the Consumer Reports of the CBD industry and claims to have the largest database in the world ranking sublingual CBD oils available to U.S. consumers. “We chose oils because they make up the bulk of the business,” said Portman. “It’s the best absorbed, the most bio-available for consumers, it’s easy to take and has the highest level of quality control.”

So, how did a small company like Bravo Botanicals come out at the top spot, above much larger companies with greater resources? In this David vs. Goliath comparison, Portman said it’s a question of culture, motivation and most importantly, transparency.

“I see healthy living soil as a matrix that can facilitate communication between the air, the elements and the plant, and ultimately into our bodies.”

C O - OWNER ANDY LOUGHNEY

BRAVO BOTANICALS 161 YEAW RD, GUILFORD, VT (802) 251-0599 @BRAVOBOTANICALS BRAVOBOTANICALS.COM

“We did not know Bravo,” said Portman. “We’re just picking up every single product we can and when we analyzed their claims, their pricing, the strength of their product, it scored very highly. The principals were so dedicated to quality assurance in growing, processing and providing transparency to the consumer.”

Kria Botanicals, based in South Burlington, turns Bravo’s hemp into oil using subcritical CO2 extraction - a technique noted for resulting in high quality full spectrum oil.

Kria co-founder, Bill Lofy, offered an assessment of why Bravo’s product is so good, saying, “They grow great hemp! They are transparent about how they grow, test and extract their hemp, and if I may, they use a quality extraction lab. And I’d add a fourth factor: Ben and Andy are really quality individuals and they’ve built their brand on relationships and doing right by people.”

When speaking with Andy, however, you might come away thinking that the plants should get all the credit. After all, as a Bravo Botanicals bumper sticker states: “the microbes tell me what to do.”

And that is just the beginning of the rabbit hole you might go down during a conversation about his plants and vocation. “There’s a deep intelligence here,” says Andy. “I see healthy living soil as a matrix that can facilitate communication between the air, the elements, the plant and ultimately into our bodies.”

“The more I learn about it, it’s a miracle plant,” says Andy. “It creates a connection with nature, when it’s grown in a certain way I feel like it informs. Even

>> An online ranking of CBD oils put Bravo Botanical’s offerings at number one out of over 2,000 products from over 600 companies.

if it’s like sublingual/subliminal, you know something happens - there’s a certain shift in consciousness, a transformation. I think the care we give it at each step of the process gets amplified. And the feedback we get from people makes it so worthwhile!”

Andy then recalled a story of how things came full circle. The woman who brought him into the fold of farming years ago at a nonprofit dairy farm had a daughter who had recently suffered a serious concussion.

“She started using our CBD oil and got tremendous results that they had not gotten with other CBD brands. Something like that, what more could you ask for?”

Bravo Botanicals is small, truly a David in a land of other Davids and Goliaths. Their first full year of sales in 2018 brought in $50K, tripled in 2019, and they were hoping for another 50% sales increase in 2020. Due to the pandemic, this is not going to happen. “Store sales are down in general,” says Ben. “However, our sales model has shifted to about 50% direct online sales, which has substantially increased our profit margin. So despite the craziness of 2020, and thanks to our bootstrapping, hands-on, if-you-want-something-done-doit-yourself approach, Bravo is seeing good growth. But it’s not just about the money. We are glad to be able to get this important medicine to those who are looking for an all natural, plant-based solution to their ailments. It’s a very satisfying endeavor.”

In these uncertain times, Kria Botanical’s Lofy thinks Bravo is well positioned for the future. “The hemp CBD market continues to be a topsy turvy world,” says Lofy.

“Prices are down across the board, but a new emphasis on quality is emerging. We see a lot of opportunities for businesses, like Bravo, who put a premium on quality - from being certified organic to using the cleanest extraction methods.”

Andy would add that Bravo puts a premium on their connection to the natural world. “I feel that Cannabis is here to remind us that we are always welcome to return back to our home, this wonderful Earth, a place of forgiveness where we may be healed.”

BRAVO BOTANICALS is currently sold in approximately 25 large New England natural food stores, as well as online. The most popular offerings are their 1200mg CBD Drops at $70, 500mg CBD Drops at $30, 320mg CBD Lemongrass Shea Cream at $35, and their original product, the 240mg CBD Coconut Oil at $30. Bravo is also about to release The Easy Roller with CBD and arnica for instant pain relief at $20 - so keep an eye out for their latest and greatest when searching for your next CBD experience.

ANANDA

Homegrown Hemp by Homegrown Heroes

ANANDAFARMS

Jennifer Stenuf and her wife, Sarah Stenuf.

ANANDA FARMS

In the Sanskrit language and Indian Hindu philosophy, the word Ananda refers to the bliss one feels when released from the shackles of the body. It is a higher awareness achieved through meditation, yoga and inner peace that can be hard for anyone to accomplish – but especially harder for Combat Veterans and first responders suffering from post traumatic stress, as well as physical and mental injuries. With this in mind, Sarah and Jennifer Stenuf founded Veteran’s Ananda Homestead and Retreat, a 22-acre hemp farm where volunteers can work, heal, and receive treatment and training.

Sarah Stenuf served in the US Army for four years. As an Apache Helicopter Crew Chief from 2010-11 in Afghanistan, she knows firsthand the pressures of recovering from trauma. Sarah’s service, like most Combat Veterans, did not come without a price. Her first years “back home” were filled with isolation, drugs, alcohol and even thoughts of suicide. Without help, Sarah found herself at her wit’s end and did not know which way to turn.

With traditional treatments for Vets emphasizing pharmaceutical medications, she soon found herself taking over a dozen different types of pills, including antidepressants, anti-psychotics, sleeping aids and more. Sick and tired of barely living in a cloud of funk, she decided to integrate a plant-based and holistic approach to her treatment and is now seizure-free and off all 13 prescriptions. She credits Cannabis and CBD (cannabidiol) with saving her life.

After her medical discharge for epilepsy and PTSD, she vowed to do something to help other Veterans.

“Working in the hemp fields makes them feel whole again and gives them a purpose that they crave. And because we understand them, we’re not just trying to help get them back on their feet. We want to empower them to be leaders of the industry!” SARAH STENUF

<< Veterans, first responders and their families are welcome to stay free of charge in micro-homes on the property.

ANANDA FARMS ANANDAFARMSNY@GMAIL.COM 315-399-6469 @ANANDAFARMS VETERANSANANDA.ORG | ANANDAFARMSNY.COM

Before long, she and her wife Jennifer, an LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker) and therapist, purchased a 22-acre farm in Upstate New York and proceeded to create their vision for a plant-based program of short duration and high impact retreats.

With Sarah’s understanding of the issues faced by people seeking treatment – as well as her training as a mechanic and Jennifer’s experience with alternative healing therapies – they combined to create Veteran’s Ananda and Ananda Farms, becoming a part of the solution to the problems they’ve encountered.

Jennifer calls it aggro-therapy – or the act of growing plants and taking charge of creating your own medicine. She sees the direct results of this type of work in the healing that occurs among their guests.

Veterans, first responders and their families are welcome to stay free of charge in micro-homes on the property, built by school kids through the Tipp Tiny House program out of Tippecanoe High School in Tipp City, Ohio. Homebuilding students design and produce the houses that are then donated and transported to the Veteran’s Ananda farm.

The guests can choose to volunteer to work on the farm or just decompress and relax on their own time. Other activities include four-wheeling around the grounds, evening bonfires and working on cars in the garage. There are ducks and chickens to care for and eggs to collect – with plans for even more animals as they expand.

For many who arrive here, this is the first place they feel any sort of serenity or calmness, hence Ananda.

Sarah explains, “Many of them show up here addicted to opiates, depression meds and alcohol. We see people suffering from PTSD, MST (military sexual trauma) and much more. Working in the hemp fields makes them feel whole again and gives them a purpose that they crave. And because we understand them, we’re not just trying to help get them back on their feet. We want to empower them to be leaders of the industry!”

I mention to Sarah that many of the large grows I’ve visited hire Veterans due to their work ethic and she says, “Vets solve problems. People say, ‘Since we hired Vets, we have less problems.’ But that’s not true – they still have problems, but the Vets solve them. They show up early and work hard because that’s how they’ve been trained.”

The nonprofit Veteran’s Ananda is powered by Ananda Farms, their CBD brand of high-quality products made by Veterans from hemp plants grown on the farm. This is only their second year growing hemp plants.

The first year, they only grew cover crops – clover, ryes and soybeans – in order to improve upon already healthy soil.

The previous owner was a Mennonite farmer, so everything was already organic and all-natural, but Sarah, Jennifer and their volunteers also added foop (fish poop), mushroom compost and a bunch of additives donated by Coast of Maine. In their second year of hemp farming, they are growing 12,000 plants on their main property and 8,000 more nearby at their Red Creek satellite location. They put their Berry Blossom hemp seedlings out two weeks after Memorial Day and hand-watered them for a full summer of vegetative growth.

At the end of the day, it’s the overregulation and hoops they have to jump through that slows things down the most. Sarah sighs as she explains, “Growing hemp is two-thirds paperwork and one-third actual farming. And as hard as taking care of thousands of plants is, it’s the ever-changing rules and requirements that frustrate us the most. In this state, you either give up, go broke or become a millionaire. I’m a disabled Veteran lesbian woman and I can’t get a loan!”

UPON HARVESTING at the end of September and early October, the hemp plants are processed on site and the CBD-rich MCT (medium-chain triglyceride) oil is turned into warming and cooling rubs, a 1500mg tincture and a super-powered 4000mg tincture, as well as infused massage oil. The products are now available throughout the country and four more micro-houses are on the way to help Veteran’s Ananda continue growing.