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mar. 2018
issue #93
SUSTAINABILITY
SPECIAL ISSUE PG. 40-55
inside STONER OWNERS Q & A 28 how cannabis helps lupus Profile 30 REMEMBERING ACTIVIST DENNIS PERON Highly Likely 32 CANNABIS-INFUSED ST. POTRICK’S DAY DESSERTS Recipes 58 concentrate of the month Reviews 62
Strain of the Month
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This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children. Marijuana products may be purchased or possessed only by persons 21 years of age or older.
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MARCH 2018
24
CHRISMCKEE |BUD HUT Northwest Leaf Budtender of the Month
30
PATIENT PROFILE
Battling Lupus through the power of Cannabis
GLASS ART
64
Created by Trill Glass
pg. 40-54 Buddy Boy Farm in Eastern Washington
SUSTAINABILITY Stories by Northwest Leaf staf f | Photo by Kristen Angelo
11 12 16 20 24 28 30 32 36 40 41 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 58 62 64 66 70
EDITOR’S NOTE NATIONAL NEWS OPINION TROLL THE POLICE BUDTENDER OF THE MONTH STONER OWNER PATIENT PROFILE HIGHLY LIKELY STRAIN OF THE MONTH THE SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE ECO FIRMA FARMS CASCADE HIGH PUFFIN FARM BUDDY BOY FARM JARED MIRSKY IAN EISENBERG MORIAH LACHAPPEL DRAGONFLY EARTH MEDICINE TASTY CANNABIS RECIPES CONCENTRATES REVIEW BOOK REVIEW BUDSHOT GLASS ART
ON THE COVER Double Lemon Cheesecake Grown by CannaSol Farms Photo by Daniel Berman Strain of the month pg. 36-37 BACK ISSUES/OREGON//ALASKA
WWW.ISSUU.COM/NWLEAF
MARIJUANA PRODUCTS MAY BE PURCHASED OR POSSESSED ONLY BY PERSONS 21 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER.
contents
St. Potrick’s Day
By Laurie Wolf | Photos by Bruce Wolf
58
NORTHWEST LEAF
the truth about the plant you thought you knew, IN every issue.
editor’s note
MAR. 2018 ISSUE #93
We want to hear from you
Sustainability means more in the Pacific Northwest
FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Northwest Leaf’s first Sustainability issue
Please get in touch to place an ad or become a drop-off location to display our magazine. Feel free to share feedback, pitches, story ideas and hot news tips. This is all our plant!
Wes abneY | Wes@NWLeaf.com | 425-219-6155
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Daniel bermaN | Daniel@Bermanphotos.com
ADVERTISING NATE WILLIAMS | NW SALES DIRECTOR nate@orleaf.com | 415-717-6985
CONTRIBUTORS Steve Elliott, National News Simone Fischer, Features Sean O’Neill, Illustration Quinn Russell Brown, Art Eric Skelton, Design Pacer Stacktrain, Features Laurie & Bruce Wolf, Recipes Nate Williams, Production Annika Wolters, Editing
FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF FOLLOW US @NWLEAF FREE DIGITAL ARCHIVES ISSUU.COM/NWLEAF WWW.N W L EAF.COM Please email or call us to discuss print and online advertising opportunities in an upcoming issue. We do not sell stories or coverage. We are happy to offer design services and guidance on the best approaches for promoting your company’s recreational, commercial or industrial product, event or pursuit. We are targeted. Department of Corrections
A caption in our Tattoos That Toke feature of The Lifestyle Issue misidentified the couple in a photo showing tattoos across their wrists: they are Lori Duckworth & Russ Belville.
takes an inside look at how companies are working to stay sustainable in the Cannabis industry. Personally, sustainability means a healthy marketplace as much as it does reducing the carbon footprint of the Cannabis world. Washington’s pot market is over taxed by a greedy system that doesn’t support the businesses that provide the revenue. Forty-seven percent is too much tax, period. The economics behind the tax structure are a major contributor to the two producers a week that fail in the current marketplace. Here at the Leaf, we want to fight to see everyone succeed. But with the current economics of pot, failure is imminent for many companies.
Our biggest goal for the future of the Washington marketplace is to find a balance between craft and quality, small and large agricultural scale, in a form that benefits businesses and consumers. I hope you enjoy this issue, and all that it represents. Each company we have featured risked investment, energy and time to make a brand or product they hope is sustainable, just as we here at the Leaf spent our time working to find advertisers and supporters to make our model sustainable. It is an honor to publish the Leaf each month and serve this amazing emerging industry. I want to thank everyone who reads, advertises or supports our model of free Cannabis journalism. Together we can help to make the industry, and world, a better place.
EACH COMPANY WE HAVE FEATURED RISKED INVESTMENT, ENERGY AND TIME TO MAKE A BRAND OR PRODUCT THEY HOPE IS SUSTAINABLE, JUST AS WE HERE AT THE LEAF SPENT OUR TIME WORKING TO FIND ADVERTISERS AND SUPPORTERS TO MAKE OUR MODEL SUSTAINABLE.
—Wes Abney mar. 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
/11
national
STEVE ELLIOTT is the editor behind tokesignals.com, an independent blog of Cannabis news and opinion.
U.S. Attorney says Oregon produces 3 times more weed than it can legally consume Alaska’s Marijuana Tax Revenue Reaches $4.5 Million for 2018
Now that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has given more discretion to U.S. attorneys when it comes to marijuana enforcement, some of them are making worrisome statements. Take U.S. Attorney Billy Williams of Oregon, who is now saying Oregon’s Cannabis industry has a “massive” overproduction problem. Williams in February told a summit of law enforcement and Cannabis industry representatives that he wants to do something about the amount of Oregon weed that ends up on the black market. The state produces about three times more pot than can legally be consumed, according to former Oregon State University Professor Seth Crawford. “Make no mistake about it, we are going to do something about it,” Williams said during the summit. The summit was called due to Sessions rescinding Obama-era guidance that adopted a hands-off policy for federal enforcement in states that have legalized Cannabis. “Here’s what I know in terms of the landscape here in Oregon, and that is, we have an identifiable and formidable marijuana overproduction and diversion problem,” Williams said. Williams, in an editorial written for The Oregonian, wrote 16 states had reported Cannabis seizures from Oregon. According to Williams, 2,644 pounds of marijuana in outbound parcels was seized by Oregon postal agents in 2017.
WE HAVE AN IDENTIFIABLE AND FORMIDABLE MARIJUANA OVERPRODUCTION AND DIVERSION PROBLEM.
Bill Introduced in ALASKA To Seal Past Cannabis Convictions Senator Tom Begich introduced a bill, SB 184, to seal the convictions of past marijuana possession offenders in Alaska. The bill prohibits the release of past records
12/mar. 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
The state of Alaska collected more than $4.5 million in marijuana tax collections in almost six months of fiscal year 2018, according to the Alaska Department of Revenue. This number is almost three times higher than collections for the entire fiscal year 2017. Taxes are levied at $50 for every ounce of flower, and $15 for every ounce of trim. From July to December 2017, cultivators paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in excise tax every month. The number of total tax revenue reached $953,591 in October. After the state started collecting Cannabis tax in October 2016, the total revenue for fiscal year 2017 came to $1.7 million. When Alaska first started collecting marijuana taxes, there were only four taxpayers affected in the state. By the end of fiscal year 2017, that number had grown to 44. There are now 82 cultivators in Alaska who work with retailers. More than 50 license applications are pending review by the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office.
for any Cannabis offense that is no longer defined as a crime under Alaska law. Its intent is to reduce barriers to employment who have been convicted for low-level possession that would today be legal. Those with criminal marijuana convictions often are denied opportunities in the workplace and elsewhere. “We should not continue to punish individuals whose actions are no longer defined as criminal under Alaska’s state law,” commented Alaska National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Legalization (NORML).
Quoted
Willie Nelson’s Cannabis Empire Raises $12 Million and Enters California Not only is 84-year-old Willie Nelson still outdoors “by independent farmers in in the music business, his Cannabis states where Cannabis is legal,” according brand is a big hit, too. Nelson’s Cannabis to the company. company, Willie’s Reserve, just raised “I’m glad a lot of these guys can come $12 million to fund expansion. His brand out of the shadows, back into the sunlight,” of weed plans to enter the Nelson said. “Cannabis California market this year. is creating some good CANNABIS “Willie has been a opportunities for American IS CREATING defender of cannabis and farmers.” SOME GOOD people’s individual rights Willie’s Reserve will be for pretty much as long as OPPORTUNITIES releasing new products in he’s been making music,” Al FOR AMERICAN February, including strains Foreman said, a partner at of packaged flower and FARMERS. Tuatara Capital, an investor. ready-rolls in a variety of Amidst the excitement over California “terpene-rich strains.” Nelson’s wife, rolling out retail sales, Willie’s brand Annie, will also expand her product line, plans to launch a new product line Annie’s Edibles. The brand’s wholesourced from earth-friendly, sun-grown plant infused chocolates will reach retail marijuana. The craft Cannabis is grown outlets for the first time in Colorado.
“THERE WAS NO REASON WHY HE SHOULD HAVE ENDURED SEVEN YEARS OF PRETRIAL INCARCERATION FOR A ONE-WEEK TRIAL. THINGS LIKE THIS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN.” — ATTORNEY GARY STEIN, on the U.S. Appeals Court’s handling of Joseph Tigano’s case. The man waited 7 years in jail for trial.
Quick Hits! $4.5 million collected in marijuana tax by the state of Alaska in the first half of 2018 fiscal years. This number is almost three times higher than collections for the entire 2017 fiscal year.
$7 2,644
the average retail price for a gram of recreational marijuana in Oregon, compared to $10 a few months ago.
pounds of marijuana in outbound parcels was seized by Oregon postal agents in 2017.
mar. 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
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opinion
WEED WOES OREGON IS FACING A GLUT OF MARIJUANA ON THE MARKET - WHAT'S A STATE TO DO? By WES ABNEY
O
versupply threatens the sustainability of the Cannabis industry in this state. It has implications for future regulations nationally, as the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) decides what to do with a problem most would welcome. What do you do when you have too much Cannabis?
The economics of pot have always been skewed by the illegality of the product. Risk equals reward, and the Black market price of pot has always been in the thousands of dollars per pound. In the decade of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP), Cannabis retained a higher value as growers shifted toward craft and medical values. Fast forward to a recreational market driven primarily by profit and scale, and it has become a recipe for disaster. The price of Cannabis per pound sold between producers and processors has hit an historic low point in 2018 of $50 per pound, with tested and trimmed pounds fetching as little as $400 from licensed retailers. Simply put, there is very little to no profit to be made at those price points. It has already began putting farms out of business. Oversupply starts at the bottom, with plants in the dirt. Oregon has 906 licensed and operat-
16/mar. 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
ing to the East Coast in flat-rate boxes and U-Haul ing producers according to the OLCC website, vans. It created an economic bubble among growwith 858 more pending approval at time of print. ers, which transitioned into a rush of licenses in Current statewide Cannabis inventory is tracked the recreational market. When the switchover to in Metrc, the seed-to-sale tracking system, which recreational created a temporary market restriction shows three times as much Cannabis as was conand prices fluctuated artificially high in 2016, it sumed by the entire state in 2017. threw fuel on an already raging fire of high hopes. But the problem extends beyond an excessive Oregon has the most competitive and saturated amount to smoke—there’s no way for this pot to be marketplace for producers, processors and retailers sold in the legal market, at sustainable prices, and in the world. Oversaturation is driving the price the glut threatens to disrupt the entire economic of products to unsustainable levels, and the abunbalance of Cannabis. dance of retailers will lead to a failure rate more Not only is there too much pot, there are too typical of restaurants than pot shops. many dispensaries due to the unlimited license There is no easy answer. As Cannabis in general structure of the market. Portland has four times as is still being produced and sold like an illegal commany recreational dispensaries as Seattle, which has modity, not an agricultural mass produced product, 1.3 million more people in metro population. that shift is coming extremely quickly. Should the The situation is even more drastic in towns such state limit canopy space like Washington, adjustas Eugene, which has more than 50 operating dising based on demand? pensaries on Weedmaps alone with population of Should retailers be allowed to open and close as only 166,565 people. But it gets worse, with roughthey start and fail, without a limit on number? Will ly 30 licenses still pending in the college town for the market correct itself, as a dispensaries. natural flow of growth and So, what is a state to OREGON HAS THE MOST COMPETITIVE AND SATURATED constriction squeezes the do with too much pot industry until it naturally to sell, and too many MARKETPLACE FOR PRODUCERS, PROCESSORS AND the right saturation of dispensaries not seeing RETAILERS IN THE WORLD. OVERSATURATION IS DRIVING hits producers and retailers? Or enough revenue? Either THE PRICE OF PRODUCTS TO UNSUSTAINABLE LEVELS should the state step in and regulate, or turn a blind allocate licenses based on eye. Oregon US Attorney population, a situation that led New Jersey to liBilly Williams held a meeting with prosecutors, cense no more dispensaries than Taco Bell’s? regulators and industry stakeholders to address the The answer is yes, to all or some of the above. “massive marijuana overproduction problem,” that Which is the best way? That’s not for us to say. But is leading to diversion and other criminal activity we are willing to help with the oversupply problem in the Oregon Cannabis market. There is no easy in a more direct way, one toke at a time. solution to this problem. Diversion is what made Oregon’s Black market and diversion portion of the medical market We welcome reader submissions and story ideas. sustainable pre-legalization. There was always too Please send unpublished writing and opinions to much weed being grown, but the excess was headNorthwest Leaf for consideration | NWLeaf@gmail.com
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opinion
By MIGUEL MIGGY | PHOTO by @BERMANPHOTOS
TROLLING DA POLICE I
don’t believe all cops are bad. In fact, I want my children to love and respect them for the human beings they are, not to fear them due to some bullshit law that can fuck them when caught with weed. The real reason you pulled me over is cause I’m 5 feet 11 inches with dark skin, I fit a description with those “criminal indicators,” not because I was a threat to society. Within the first week of February, there were three “narcotics” busts being boosted on social media by police authorities. This is when I knew I would not run out of material. I will have endless material until the drug war and ignorance is won over, unfortunately.
So, the first petty crime committed by the people here to protect us occurred not in the Americas, but Ireland. A Reddit post led me to this atrocity and I couldn’t help myself from mocking the evidence bag that was taken from some innocent individuals. Another idiotic post that caught my attention was a post by the Clayton County, Illinois K9 Department. The department has a Facebook page for one of the K9s because people like dogs, and not cops. The original post consisted of the dog sitting on a table in front of his bounty of a quarter pound of weed and $821, or what I call a great Saturday night in Washington. Next up for douchebag of the day is the Ohio State Patrol. These so-called heroes are repeatedly pulling over people and arresting for “criminal indicators,” such as having out-of-state plates or being too dark-skinned to drive. Twenty-three shops were raided in Tennessee over CBD products or as they referred to them, “laced” edibles. The bigger issue here, besides people of ignorance with badges and guns, is that Tennessee is a legal CBD-only medical state. So how is the vendor at fault here? I suspect “harm-aceutical” profits were being hurt by people holistically treating themselves. Thus, lobbyists with dollars got involved.
Miguel aka Miggy420
counters the negative spin from law enforcement by publicly calling them out on their Cannabis lies. He has been banned from numerous pages, but he isn’t letting a little thing like that stop his message.
FOLLOW ALONG WITH MIGGY 420 ON FACEBOOK
20/MAR. 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
Authorities in Tennessee and the Ohio State Patrol are representative of why ignorance is not bliss. We have people in power telling you what’s right for you because, apparently, you as a freedom-loving American are not competent enough to figure out when it’s time to go to the doctor. Finally, there was a raid on one of the last medical marijuana markets in Washington. This was one of the last pillars of commerce for medicine, and something to meet the needs of those in need. The raid was based off a tip of narcotics being processed. Though no one was put behind bars, there was a financial dent to many, as asset forfeiture took place. As much as I appreciate the efforts of those who have tried, marijuana is still not legal in Washington, meaning we have more work to do in America. As long as citizens can be fucked with financially, or behind bars, Cannabis is not legal.
“AS MUCH AS I APPRECIATE THE EFFORTS OF THOSE WHO HAVE TRIED, MARIJUANA IS STILL NOT LEGAL IN WASHINGTON.”
Marijuana products may be purchased or possessed only by persons 21 years of age or older.
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bud hut everett 11603 Highway 99 BudHut.net
24 /mar. 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
budtender of the month
Interview by WES ABNEY | PHOTO by QUINN RUSSELL BROWN
CHRIS MCKEE
Send your suggestions for Northwest Leaf’s Budtender of the Month, highlighting budtenders who stand above the rest!
NWLeaf@gmail.com Instagram: @NWLeaf
Chris “McDabbs” McKee is a legendary budtender who has worked in the industry for more than five years, beginning in the medical Cannabis era and shifting to the rec market. He loves budtending and dabs. He’s combining his passions to help provide the best Cannabis for customers at south Everett’s Bud Hut. WHEN DID YOU FIRST EXPERIENCE CANNABIS? It was more of an early high school kind of thing, it didn’t really have a big part in my life until later in my teen years. Around 17, the first time I really got high hanging out with an ex-girlfriend after work, and I loved it. It was the strangest thing to me, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A BUDTENDER AND WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART? I used to work in the medical industry for Conscious Care Cooperative, so I was budtending as early as 2013. I’ve been budtending for five years! Obviously, the switch over from medical to recreational has changed, so there’s a lot tighter rules, but there’s a lot better structure in the industry now. Helping the customer is my favorite part by far. A lot of our customers are still patients, they may want different products for different reasons — I’m just there to help find the product they want.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WAY TO CONSUME CANNABIS? Dabs first, but pretty much any way possible, I’m a very versatile smoker. I have so many different bongs and variations, it just depends on the mood. My favorite piece is an old graphics hookah of Kenny from South Park, a four-tube hookah. lob at end the day. I mainly dab for flavor, I like the high terpene juicy concentrates.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE STRAINS AND PRODUCTS? Oleum is hands down one of the top extractors in the industry. My favorite combination is Soul Shine processed by Oleum, from them the Narnia is a really good one. My personal all-time favorite strain is Blueberry Cheesecake, because the flavor is incredible. The high is a little unique, but it’s really the flavor, it’s so yummy.
HOW DO YOU HELP CUSTOMERS FIND THE RIGHT PRODUCTS? I ask them what they are looking for, indica versus sativa, and a lot of it is either: I have seen them before or seen them in the store and talked with them a little bit or you just get that feeling that they’ll want this. A lot of it is intuition. I miss the fact that people could look at and smell the Cannabis in medical. One of the things I always say about the medical days, I loved them, we could sell however much you needed. If you had $0.37 I could sell you that much weed. At the store now, you have to have exactly so much, you can’t break it down at all.
WHY DO YOU LIKE WORKING AT BUD HUT? I really like the people I work with. The people I work for are just awesome, we’re one of the biggest stores around, so we have more selection for the customer, which means there’s a lot more I can show them.
WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES WHEN YOU AREN’T BUDTENDING? Besides dabbing? Basically Netflix, hanging out with friends, playing video games and enjoying life. I actually have a seizure disorder, which I use Cannabis for as medicine. I wouldn’t say Cannabis hasn’t helped, but it hasn’t prevented seizures. A lot of people used to say pot will cure anything. I wish, but it definitely does help after a seizure to calm myself down, collect myself together and get back to normal.
“A LOT OF IT IS INTUITION. I MISS THE FACT THAT PEOPLE COULD LOOK AT AND SMELL THE CANNABIS IN MEDICAL.”
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NORTHWEST LEAF
“A GOOD CHEF LIKES THEIR OWN PRODUCT. DON’T TRUST A SKINNY CHEF.” -Co-founder Graham Jennings, left, with Aaron Palmer
28/mar. 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
WHAT DOES OLEUM STAND FOR AS A BRAND AND WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF BEING IN LEGAL WEED? Aaron Quality and clean meds, even if we can’t call it that anymore. Quality concentrates where you know the people who make them, smoke them and criticize them. We’re our own critics, and if we don’t enjoy it we don’t let it go out. We’re picky, quality in and quality out.
Graham If I’m not dabbing it the [consumer’s] not
GRAHAM JENNINGS & AARON PALMER
dabbing it, pretty much. We do so much refining in our lab now, we can see who’s growing good quality and who isn’t. We’ve worked with Oleum Extracts over 150 farms, not just for new OleumLabs_ strains but for quality of products. We like to work with people that are Clean Green Certified or growing as naturally as possible. We purchase a lot of material from Virginia Company, they are specialized in aeroponics and Clean Green, because we know it’s going to be cleaner and a better product.
HOW DO YOU HANDLE CANNABIS CONSUMPTION DURING THE WORKDAY FOR YOURSELVES AND FOR YOUR EMPLOYEES? Graham I take like 50 dabs a day or more. So when it comes to testing our products, it’s us. We don’t allow consumption on premise for compliance.
Aaron We leave it up to people as long as they get the job done, and we want our employees to let us know about quality and the product.
BIGGEST CHALLENGES OF OWNING A CANNABIS BUSINESS TO YOU?
CO-OWNERS/FOUNDERS OLEUM EXTRACTS Q & A BY WES ABNEY | PHOTO BY DANIEL BERMAN
Oleum Extracts is a heritage medical Cannabis company that transitioned into 502 and has helped define top shelf and connoisseur grade concentrates in the Washington market. Winners of multiple awards and known for passion from the top down, Oleum is a Stoner Owner certified company with true love for the Cannabis plant and industry.
STONER OWNER is our new
monthly section giving credit to individuals who have developed their love for Cannabis into a business. Stoner Owner celebrates owners who love and consume the plant just like we do, giving them insight into the industry’s true roots and culture.
HOW DID CANNABIS FIRST COME INTO YOUR LIFE? Aaron Cannabis came into my life through my
family, it was always around. My mom’s a hippie, and my dad too. I remember sitting on the stairs in the basement hitting my mom’s pipe around 12 years old or so, and I liked it right away.
Graham The neighborhood kids were always
smoking, and you smelled it at 10 or 11, and by 12 or 13 you get to try it. I think the second or third time I smoked was with Aaron’s neighbor, who had gotten the pot by taking it from his mom. Later we met and became friends, and I started smoking every day by the first day of high school.
WHAT BROUGHT YOU INTO MEDICAL CANNABIS AND MAKING CANNABIS CONCENTRATES AND EXTRACTS? Aaron I saw medical coming and I was like “this is going to be big,” no one was really doing anything about enforcement, and this was an opportunity to do what we wanted to really do. Grow and extract Cannabis.
Graham We started to supply shops with
extractions in 2010. At first it was being able to help other people’s ailments, mental or physical, and it was our culture. It was almost like a necessity that we produced hash and spread it around. Once we started having multiple shops come into our dispensary to purchase and sell at their own shops, we knew we had something to work for.
Aaron How fast the industry moves, and the overly
governed nature of it. There’s too many rules. They need to chill back on the overregulation.
Graham Branding and development and strategically working with partners, getting the brand out there, finding the right packaging, all these things are elements of how to be successful. It’s difficult to gauge how to grow a company properly. We’re all freestyling in a new industry.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE A CANNABIS BUSINESS OWNER THAT CONSUMES THE PLANT? Aaron It’s important to me because it engraves itself
into the company, it’s a part of it. How can you feel close to a company if you don’t acknowledge the plant? It’s a lot easier to understand Cannabis people and market to them if you are one of them. Plus, if you’re not sampling then you have no clue what the quality of your product is. There’s no quality control without it, like how a good brew master tries it all along the run to know when a beer is done perfectly. If Cannabis is all about the money, and not about the plant, then you will have trouble making money in this industry.
Graham A good chef likes their own product. Don’t
trust a skinny chef. I think smoking your own product gives you a connection to your own business and a relationship with the plant. People that don’t have a relationship with the Cannabis flower don’t have the same relationships in the industry and it shows in the end products.
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pATIENT Profile
By SIMONE FISCHER | PHOTO by @BERMANPHOTOS
How Cannabis helps for Lupus In
2005, Nina Renee Veysey was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Veysey was experiencing chronic pain due to her immune system attacking itself causing inflammation and skin irritation. Only four years later, Veysey was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2009. She visited Portland for vacation in 2013. Eleven months later she was an official Oregon resident and became a patient shortly after. Veysey moved from sunny Florida to Oregon in order to dramatically change her health. “I was on steroids for ten years before I started using full-extract Cannabis oil. I only experienced temporary relief with steroids and pills, plus it takes a few days to build up and work, so you’re still in pain most of the time. Compared to cannabis, where relief happens almost instantly. It’s a headache dealing with pharmaceuticals, and the prescriptions only cause other issues and side effects.” She said the stress of constantly dealing with multiple autoimmune diseases—all while raising children—was a major source of her flare-ups. Once her children grew up, she could focus on her health and self care. “Both diet and Cannabis have played a huge role in my recovery. I didn’t only move out here for the good weed and Cannabis oil, but also the food and lifestyle. When I eat organic Oregon-grown fruits and veggies, I started feeling so much better. I didn’t have access,” Veysey said. Diet plays a pivotal role in recovery and general maintenance and function when dealing with an autoimmune disease. A poor diet consisting of refined sugars and carbohydrates only invites pain and inflammation into the body, especially when dealing with chronic illness.
How she uses Cannabis “First, I start out with a 1:1 (THC to CBD) dose of full-extract Cannabis oil in morning and medicate with dabs throughout the day. At night it’s a heavy, sedating strain of full-extract Cannabis oil before I go to bed so I can sleep through the night. Basically, I use full-extract oil for long-term pain control and dabs when I need immediate relief. I am a big fan of CBD dabs to control inflammation during flare-ups. My favorite CBD strain to dab is Critical Mass. I also enjoy Frank’s Gift and Pennywise CBD varieties. When it comes to THC,
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Fed up with the pill and opioid epidemic in her native Florida, Nina relocated to Oregon to become an official OMMP patient and resident. She uses Cannabis to treat Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and Fibromyalgia, autoimmune diseases which cause a great deal of chronic pain and inflammation, so far without a complete cure.
Nina Renee Veysey I love my Dawgwalker and Scooby Snacks from Doghouse Farms when I need pain relief.” Full-extract oil is a common go-to for patients dealing with chronic diseases. For those who don’t wish to consume Cannabis through combustion, Veysey recommends using topicals like Golden Organics with THCA oil. “Topicals with THCA work best when trying to control my lupus flare-ups. I like topical salves over the transdermal patches, because I can put salve directly on my joints where it’s hurting. I used to use topical for fibromyalgia back when I would be sore to the touch. Since I started using Cannabis oil, my fibromyalgia is almost non-existent. However, I still routinely deal with lupus.” Not only has Oregon-grown Cannabis and produce reinvigorated Veysey’s health, but it also gave her career options. “A job in Cannabis helps me reclaim my independence. I work for Doghouse Farms and I am lucky to have understanding employers. During lupus flares, they give me the time I need. No guilt trips or drama,” Veysey said. Many of the patients I interview often end up
“Topicals with THCA work best when trying to control my lupus flare-ups... I can put salve directly on my joints where it’s hurting.”
working in the Cannabis industry because their Cannabis consumption isn’t frowned upon. Access to a decent, livable wage often requires a drug screening which puts patients in a serious bind between choosing their health or their livelihoods. “I know a lot of lupus patients feel like there is no hope because you have to take all these medications all the time. Plus, you’re dealing with other symptoms from the medications so it gets really stressful,” Veysey said. “I suggest [people] do their own research and give Cannabis a try. It might not work for everyone, but I know people with lupus and fibromyalgia might find relief in Cannabis as a natural treatment option.”
highly likely
By PACER STACKTRAIN
Column # 32
Highlighting amazing Cannabis pioneers who helped pave the way to greater herbal acceptance.
DENNIS PERON (1946-2018)
What they’re trying to do is separate us by saying there’s people having fun and THEN there’s people medicating. But people who use marijuana don’t get ‘high,’ they get normal.
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The modern medical Cannabis movement lost one of its greatest champions when Dennis Peron passed away. It’s safe to say that without his efforts, the current heyday we’re experiencing wouldn’t be possible. Peron worked tirelessly to normalize and legalize the plant. Peron was born in New York, but after serving in the military, he attended San Francisco City College on the G.I. bill. On the side, he sold Cannabis. Eventually, Cannabis became more than a hobby for Peron, who started to recognize the non-recreational benefits to the plant. Around this time, he became friends with activists such as Harvey Milk, the future mayor of San Francisco, and longtime Cannabis advocate Jack Herer. In the late 1970s he started selling Cannabis clandestinely in an actual storefront out of what was known as the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club. By 1991, he’d founded it as the first public Cannabis dispensary—all this at the height of the U.S. Drug War in California. Peron was a true medical Cannabis crusader, a person that fought for its palliative usage—and he did not accept any recreational value in Cannabis, saying that anyone using it was using it as medicine. “They’re trying to shift it from medical to recreational. I personally don’t even know what ‘recreational’ marijuana is. There is no recreational marijuana. They made it up,” Peron said. What they’re trying to do is separate us by saying there’s people having fun and there’s people medicating. But people who use marijuana don’t get high, they get normal. PERON WAS A TRUE MEDICAL CANNABIS CRUSADER, The government is trying to say that A PERSON THAT FOUGHT FOR ITS PALLIATIVE USAGE, people are getting high. They’re to demonize these people SAYING THAT ALL WHO USED IT DID SO MEDICINALLY. trying because they’re having fun.” For Peron, the main medical reason his patients came to the club were symptoms related to AIDS. But over time, more patients with an array of other diseases joined the fold. Peron responded to the change he saw in the individuals he treated with a lifetime of activism—eventually culminating in a run for governor of California. Soon after his Cannabis Buyers Club was closed by a state judge in 1998, Peron retired to a farm in the community of Clear Lake, just north of San Francisco. From there, until the end of his life, he grew—and gave away Cannabis to those in need of it for medicinal purposes. Peron was an active opponent of Proposition 64—the legislation that legalized recreational use of Cannabis. He argued that it would hurt small farmers, in favor of big business. “It’s a culture war. Marijuana has always been the symbol of our culture,” he said. Some time after moving to the farm, Peron’s health started to deteriorate, likely due to the Agent Orange he was given in the Vietnam War. At age 72, he died of lung cancer in California on Jan. 27. “No person is more responsible for the legalization of medical marijuana than Dennis,” Dale Gieringer, state coordinator of California National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) said. May he rest in peace.
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PRCWA.COM Daily Deals - Veteran Discounts - Medical Discounts - Industry Discounts Marijuana products may be purchased or possessed only by persons 21 or older. This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children.
NORTHWEST Leaf
STRAIN OF THE MONTH By WES ABNEY | PHOTOS by
@BERMANPHOTOS
roudly grown under the sun in Okanogan County, this Double Lemon Cheesecake delivers a fresh slice of sustainable Cannabis rich in flavor and effects. Bright notes of lemon hit the nose first when opening a jar, followed by creamy rich notes of berries and a pineyskunk flavor. This strain smells as delicious as the name implies, especially with the natural terpenes that come from full sun-grown Cannabis. CannaSol is grown sustainably with organic standards, meaning no harmful pesticides and only the sun as the source of energy. Not only is this weed you can feel good about smoking, it makes you feel good when smoking. Organically grown Cannabis burns clean and with minimal harshness, allowing the consumer to enjoy most of the terpenes and flavor. The Double Lemon Cheesecake is a chunky and thick bud with single foxtail tips coated in a fine layer of trichomes. The flower has the deep earthy flavor and dark green color of outdoor grown Cannabis, which is a positive compared to the light green uniformity that most commercial indoor has. This bud has character, and a high that brings the credibility CannaSol Farms and potency that only well grown outdoor provides. Snapping a bud is quick and easy, the flower is well cured from the harvest in late fall, and has spent its time in a glass jar CannaSol.net surrounded by cardboard for @CannaSolFarms minimal light degradation. There’s light stickiness and easy break down for a bowl or joint, which translates into fat rips when smoked. Lemon leads the way in the smoke, but the exhale is the best, with a rich earthy exhale that kisses the lungs with a sweet finish. The sativa-dominant effects are heady and quickly deliver a creative euphoria, along with a warming sense of well-being and physical relaxation. Like a bright burst of sunshine, the effects will brighten a day with a happy sativa high and delicious flavors. CannaSol is a great example of how sustainable, sungrown Cannabis delivers in flavor, potency and price. We encourage everyone to give them or another outdoor grower a try. Sustainable Cannabis is not only the future, it’s best for the future, so give sun-grown Cannabis a try.
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19.5% THC
Theorem Cannabis
6323 NE Bothell Way, Kenmore, WA (425) 406-6797 TheoremCannabis.com
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THE SATIVA-DOMINANT EFFECTS ARE HEADY AND QUICKLY DELIVER A CREATIVE EUPHORIA, ALONG WITH A WARMING SENSE OF WELL-BEING AND PHYSICAL RELAXATION.
Double Lemon
Cheesecake
Marijuana products may be purchased or possessed only by persons 21 years of age or older.
SUSTAINABILITY NORTHWEST LEAF
T H E S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y I S S U E
How the Northwest Cannabis industry is working for a better future Intro by Nate Williams
We are proud to offer you our very first Sustainability issue!
Cannabis growers made some incredible advancements in production capabilities in the last decade, and was only recently that we’ve start to see their efficiency capabilities begin to reach the same level of professionalism. Growers are being forced to run leaner in increasingly competitive markets. We’ve taken a closer look at some of the methods our community members took to ensure that we continue to develop more efficient, biologically friendly and sustainable businesses. As we continue to normalize Cannabis and as legalization continues nationwide, we need to focus on setting the bar as high as possible. We do so in the hopes that when entrepreneurs look to model after successful companies in the field, they are the same ones that responsibly grow their businesses.
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Two levels of growing
Marketing Director Robert Shepard, Cultivation Director Clint Harris and Head Grower Justin Lang
ECO FIRMA FARMS Q&A | Owner Jesse Peters
What steps are you taking to reduce your carbon footprint? Room full of the J1 strain INTERVIEW BY @710DENCIES | PHOTOS BY @BERMANPHOTOS
Eco Firma’s Canbyland
What is the intention behind stacking flower rooms?
On top of the wind power, we are planning to implement a 250K watt solar array on the roof of the facility to maximize the potential of the sun with indoor cultivation. We’re striving to end our garbage service. We are reducing the use of all products that do not come in a recyclable container. If we can eliminate our garbage service, we will be able end producing waste that contributes to the landfills. The following steps will be looking at our total carbon footprint and getting creative on finding ways to hit the elusive carbon neutral goal.
Efficiency, plain and simple. In order to survive, we need to look at our ability to cultivate responsibly. Every cubic foot of our space costs money and has a designated purpose. Growing indoor with disregard for that space is wasteful. It is our responsibility as humans to be respectful of the space we live in, and using that space to its maximum potential is paramount regardless of purpose.
What does sustainability mean to you?
The possibilities are endless, we just need to stay on the front edge of it. We believe we are on the precipice of an energy revaluation as a society, regardless of the current executive speed bumps here in the U.S. We built our facility with the knowledge that it will change, as technology for our industry evolves. In taking this mentality we intentionally designed the facility in a way that will make that transition easy to attain; thus, saving time and more importantly waste.
It seems today the word “sustainable” is thrown around with no real accountability. Our goal with everything we do is to stand behind our convictions with our claims. High quality product means continually seeking improvements to ensure we are producing products that are truly up to the standard of the consumer’s expectation of high quality. This means focusing on the quality of our product and on the way we produce it. Sustainable doesn’t just mean thinking about how to be environmentally conscious. It means how do we do this while also being able to stay in business in such a tough market. Eco Firma has employees who count on having a career here, vendors who count on our purchasing to keep their doors open and an entire industry that is looking for leadership in a time when cutting corners can seem so enticing. Our goal is to change the system, to strive to be different from the standard corporate culture so willing to sacrifice the environment and their employees for the bottom line; sustainability is about integrity across the board, nothing less should be acceptable.
“ IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS HUMANS TO BE RESPECTFUL OF THE SPACE WE LIVE IN, AND USING THAT SPACE TO ITS MAXIMUM POTENTIAL IS PARAMOUNT REGARDLESS OF PURPOSE.”
What innovations do you see Eco Firma Farms making to become even more environmentally conscious?
What advice would you give to farmers and companies looking to make an investment in sustainability?
Don’t give in to the easy way. As capital is scarce for all of us, cutting corners is always an option staring you straight in the face. It’s an option we can’t always ignore. If this is the case, try to look at it from an angle of, “If I can’t do it now, how can I prepare to do it later and what is my plan to accomplish that?” You don’t need to accomplish everything at once. The first, biggest step is to commit wholeheartedly. If you can only do one thing, call that number on your PGE bill and follow the steps to implement your clean energy plan. Then tell the world they should do the same. Change your home, talk to your neighbors, your co-workers, your employees. Changing the world is overwhelming, start by changing your world and go from there.
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T H E S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y I S S U E
James Schwartz is the owner and grower for Cascade High with deep roots in Oregon. After earning his nursing degree, he started growing back in the nineties when the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program was passed into law. Come 2017, Schwartz obtained an OLCC license and built Cascade High with a major focus on health and sustainability, from the ground up.
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CASCADE HIGH
CASCADE HIGH USES SIMPLE GROWING PRACTICES STARTING WITH MICROBIAL LIVING SOIL AND BENEFICIAL BACTERIA TO CREATE HEALTHY PLANTS AND IS PROGRESSING TO A NO-TILL METHOD.
Crystally close-up of Earth to Steven strain PROFILE BY @SIMONEFISCHERR | PHOTOS BY @BERMANPHOTOS
Cascade High is an excellent example of what a sustainable
adding solar energy to reduce the carbon footprint of his farm. Their IN 2017, CASCADE HIGH WON 50,000-gallon reservoir will supply sufficient water for the summer craft Cannabis farm should strive for. James Schwartz is the CEO and owner of Cascade High and he began cultivating Cannabis in 1998 THE INNOVATION AWARD AT growing season. when Oregon established its medical marijuana program. In 2017, Cascade High won the Innovation Award at the CultiTHE CULTIVATION CLASSIC FOR The Cannabis at Cascade High is grown in a hybrid light assist vation Classic for Schwartz’s commitment to sustainable cultivation SCHWARTZ’S COMMITMENT and light deprivation greenhouse equipped with radiant floor heat, practices. He doesn’t use supplemental CO2 from burners, which the most efficient double-ended lighting and an energy efficient Temp adds greenhouse gases to the environment, but instead looks for TO SUSTAINABLE CULTIVATION Cool unit for heating, cooling and dehumidification. “Cannabis cultisimple organic solutions such as fungus bags or sub-canopy benefiPRACTICES. vation is an energy intensive agricultural process and we, as growers, cial fungal vegetation which off gases CO2 for plants. need to be aware of that,” Schwartz said. People romanticize what it’s like to start licensed Cannabis grows, but it hasn’t alAs an organic minimalist, Schwartz said he chose to look for simple solutions ways been easy—especially when dealing with electric companies in rural Oregon. that are best for the plant, the consumer, and the planet. Things such as passive air Schwartz said he sources power from Western Oregon Electric Co-Op (WOEC). exchange to moderate highs and lows in environmental conditions is one example However, WOEC does not provide energy efficiency credits that are offered through of simple solutions. Using chemical fertilizers and pesticides is harmful to the planet, PGE even though it sources its power from PGE (BPA). Building hybrid efficient the plant, and the consumer, and from a business perspective, is expensive. greenhouses would earn efficiency tax credits from PGE because they reduce energy “I use microbial rich soil, water and organic methods for pest control. As a nurse, consumption from lighting. I am not comfortable adding contaminants that I know poison people and the “We can’t get any credits for LED lights, which reduces the cost of a fixture up to planet. My goal is to produce the cleanest product in the most sustainable way,” 75 percent. A farm with PGE will pay a final price that is one-quarter of the cost of Schwartz said. that same fixture for our farm in the WOEC service area. WOEC does not provide As Schwartz walked the team through his facilities, the simplicity in growing style credits for solar energy production either, which is included in the next phase of and sustainable practices were always at the forefront of his design. Cascade High infrastructure buildout plan,” Schwartz said. uses simple growing practices starting with microbial living soil and beneficial bacteOther Cannabis farms in Washington County, Oregon typically source powria to create healthy plants, and is progressing to a no-till method. Schwartz literally er from PGE and are able to obtain energy efficiency credits to offset the cost of had the fewest supplies for cultivation this writer has seen. construction. Because of the location of Cascade High, Schwartz is forced to use One of the ways Cascade High works smarter is by reducing foreign materials WOEC and there’s nothing he can do about it currently. The cost of his overhead into the grow environment. is significantly higher because Schwartz cannot obtain energy efficiency tax credits. “Contaminated soils is one of the ways pests can enter the garden. This is why Despite dealing with the adversity of rural electric companies, Schwartz still stays we are moving to no-till methodology. We are developing simple cultivation no-till true to his values on sustainability—energy efficiency credits or not. tables based on Ed Rosenthal’s osmosis irrigation method. By utilizing no-till methSchwartz uses sustainable cultivation practices and produces some of the finest odology, new plants can tap into the previously existing bacterial fungicidal matrix Cannabis flower in the state—with or without energy efficiency credit incentives. A left behind from the previous plant,” Schwartz said. personal favorite strain from Cascade High is the Earth to Stephen (ETS), which is a Schwartz continues to strive for sustainability. Included in the next stage of Harle-Tsu and Sin City Kush cross, but the bestselling strain is the Pineapple. It goes infrastructure development is implementation of his rainwater collection plan and to show how obsolete synthetic gardening will hopefully become in the future in regard to Oregon Cannabis cultivation.
simone writes “I voted Cascade High’s Cannabis as the best strain in the CBD category at the
2017 Cultivation Classic. My judging was done blindly, but I had to meet the people behind the finest CBD Cannabis in the land. I met James a year ago and am stoked to write about his farm.”
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T H E S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y I S S U E
PUFFIN FARM
JADE STEFANO How do you define sustainably grown Cannabis?
Grown under the sun, using organic methods. No one is perfect, and you try to be as sustainable as you can, but you have to make choices. In my view, the biggest issue we face as a species is the longterm sustainability of life on our planet. Global warming is the biggest threat to this. It boils down to carbon consumption and CO2 emissions and Cannabis is becoming a significant contributor.
HOW BIG IS THE ISSUE OF climate changE in the Cannabis industry?
The amount of carbon being released by indoor Cannabis’s energy consumption is so big that other sustainability concerns such as packaging pales in comparison. Colorado Public Radio just released a story on how four percent of Denver’s electricity is devoted to marijuana, and in Washington it’s similar numbers. A large amount of our grid is going to lighting and HVAC. Cannabis loves the sun and we have great lumens on the eastern side of the state, so to grow indoors seems ludicrous given the environmental cost.
What is your worldview on climate change?
Climate change is real, the science supports it. Unfortunately, it’s happening faster than predicted 10 or 20 years ago. There are major ice deposits melting, polar bears are dying as they can’t find enough sea ice to hunt from, it’s ugly. Will growing sustainable sun grown Cannabis stop climate change? No. But you can’t give up. If there’s a problem we don’t want to increase it.
SO CANNABIS CAN BE A TEACHABLE MOMENT FOR SUSTAINABILITY?
Climate change is a sad situation for everyone, and I don’t want to see Cannabis contribute to this in any way. It’s an amazing, healing and spiritual plant. It’s medicine, recreation and it’s love, and to produce it by adding to the burden on our planet isn’t necessary. A lot of Cannabis on the market is from indoor farms that are effectively spewing carbon. If consumers knew that they would choose differently.
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Jade is a naturopathic doctor who specializes in medical Cannabis education and co-owns Puffin Farm, a recreational Cannabis garden near Ellensburg. Puffin Farm grows as sustainably as possible, using all organic and natural nutrients and pest control and only the pure Eastern Washington sun to grow happy plants. She is also a board member of the Washington Sun Growers Industry Association (WSIA), a group dedicated to spreading awareness about the carbon footprint of indoor Cannabis and education around the benefits of outdoor growing. Q & A BY WES ABNEY | PHOTOS @BERMANPHOTOS
“There’s major ice melting, polar bears are dying and can’t find enough sea ice to hunt from, it’s ugly. Will growing sustainable sun grown Cannabis stop climate change? No. But you can’t give up. If there’s a problem we don’t want to increase it.”
How much energy does a full sun outdoor grow use compared to an indoor garden?
Outdoor grows use at least 80 percent less energy then indoor grows. Properly managed organic outdoor cultivation also has the benefit of sequestering carbon in the soil further reducing their carbon footprint and can actually be carbon neutral or even carbon negative.
Why is energy use important for Cannabis consumers?
People need to look at the facts to understand the situation and ask for what they want and for what jives with their values. They do it with food. While many people buy factory produced chemical laden food, there are many people here in Washington that prefer organic, naturally produced food and who are very concerned about climate change. A lot of people go into a pot store and buy indoor and they don’t think twice because they don’t know their options or understand how much power growing indoors takes. It’s hard to imagine how much electricity it really uses. I don’t think it’s on people’s radar, so educating consumers, retailers and budtenders, and marketing to the public is going to go a long way. We want to reach the end consumer and have people think about it and ask questions when they go into a store.
Is all indoor pot bad?
It’s never going to go away 100 percent. There are medical patients and hopefully in the future, home growers in Washington who want to grow personal plants in a basement or closet — they need to grow indoors — it’s
Are greenhouse grows sustainable in your opinion? Where do we draw the line as an industry and consumers choosing which model to support?
A fully lighted climate controlled greenhouse uses maybe 40 percent less energy than indoor, and that’s huge! I’d love to see indoor move to that situation, use less energy and get some supplemental sunlight too make it more sustainable. But right now, that’s hardly happening in the state. It needs to become too expensive to grow indoors, then that’s the next logical step. In my ideal world, there would be enough canopy available so all production could be seasonal, and it could supply the whole country, all flowering done under the sun. It would be such a smaller carbon footprint than the massive indoor grows.
“The sun is free, it grows great product and it’s the right thing to do for the planet.”
What is the best way to solve the carbon emission situation in Cannabis?
A carbon tax — one is very likely to happen here as a result of Washington state Governor Inslee’s carbon initiative and it will affect the Cannabis industry. If companies are held liable for carbon emissions, they will make different choices, which is fantastic.
What about the stigma facing outdoor pot?
There is a stigma against outdoor, that it’s bad and swaggy, but it’s not true. Sure, there is some bad outdoor grown Cannabis I wouldn’t touch with a stick, maybe it got moldy due to an incorrect climate, or bad post harvest treatment, but there’s some amazing dank super terpene rich Cannabis that will compete any day against indoor and taste better and smell better. Outdoor Cannabis can look different, its not what consumers are used to after buying prohibition era indoor Cannabis for the last 30 years. So, to an uneducated consumer, indoor weed may look prettier. It often has a lighter color Outdoor may look more rugged, and the color may be darker due to natural color changes that take place due to cool fall nights. The stigma is a result of misinformation, and years of hiding in the closet due to prohibition.
What is the Washington Sun Growers Industry Association and what are your goals for it?
Blood Orange Tangie AKA Tangerine
rainy or they live in the city and they need medicine, and I think that’s a wonderful thing to do. I don’t ever want anybody to not be able to grow Cannabis for personal use. Doing that indoors, on a small scale, I have no problem with that at all. But it doesn’t make sense at an industrial scale.
about their options and to consider growing outdoors and with greenhouses. The sun is free, it grows great product and it’s the right thing to do for the planet.
What is your biggest problem with commercial indoor Cannabis?
It’s hilarious. There’s a misconception that only outdoor is flooding the market, it’s really not true at all. An indoor tier 3 can produce so much more Cannabis in a year, five to 10 times the amount in fact. To suggest outdoor is what’s flooding the market is crazy, and it’s not supported by the data either.
My issue is with large scale production which is using lots of energy and releasing carbon into the atmosphere. I don’t think it’s going away. I’m not trying to shut down all indoor growers, I have friends doing it, but I want people to think about the environment when they make decisions, and for farms to think
What about the argument that outdoor Cannabis is flooding the market?
Our mission is to support sane policy that will help sun growers survive in the market and to protect the environment. We act as an advocacy organization for sun-grown Cannabis farmers. I’m on the board as treasurer. We go to Olympia and educate politicians, the WSLCB and the Governor on issues important to sungrowers. We also sit on all of the Cannabis advisory groups at the WSLCB to make sure sungrower’s priorities are heard.
What is your final message to the industry & consumers?
Most Washingtonians are really freaked out by climate change and don’t realize that the weed they smoke contributes to it. They need to make good choices based on facts. It’s just going to take a little time. Look how long it took for organic food to catch on [nationally]. It’s a matter of getting people to understand the situation and then to try some high grade sungrown Cannabis.. They won’t be disappointed.
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T H E S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y I S S U E
BUDDY BOY FARM Q&A | Head Grower Nicolaus Bopp
Buddy Boy Farm is a tier 3 producer in eastern Washington, located on a farm that’s produced organic blueberries for more than 40 years. They added Cannabis to the crop selection when legalization passed and built a sustainable, LED-lit greenhouse operation that is producing delicious Cannabis year round. INTERVIEW BY WES ABNEY PHOTOS BY @APOTFARMERSDAUGHTER
How did you get started with Buddy Boy Farms?
I’ve been with Buddy Boy for almost three years now, they’ve been going at it for four. I came in one year into their operation. I came to work in the 502 industry in Spokane and had helped another operation for the first portion of the year, and it was indoor. I didn’t like the indoor facility scene, no windows, so I decided to check this place out. It’s been a really great experience.
How is your greenhouse model more sustainable than indoor Cannabis?
At an agricultural level, the greenhouse model has so many more advantages. Any day, square footage wise, you are better off with a greenhouse than an indoor situation. It’s sustainable because our greenhouse Cannabis is not too much different than what indoor is doing in terms of quality, but we use about 40 to 50 percent less energy to grow larger yields. If we can use less power throughout the year and in the summer, we don’t run the lights at all during the day, we’re not even using 20 percent of the power of indoor for five to six months of the year, and that’s a huge sustainability point for us. We also have a natural water source on the property, and we irrigate our blueberries and Cannabis with the same water!
how much Cannabis are you producing each month?
Nicolaus Bopp Photo by Lauren Walker
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Right now, we are harvesting a couple greenhouses every month, with about 150 pounds per crop in winter depending on strains. During summer, we hit 200 to 250 pounds per greenhouse because of the airflow and the sun and how it all works out. We grow 500 to 600 plants per house in seven-gallon pots on irrigation systems, and we are always testing new nutrients and trying stuff. We have a really simple low organic fertilizer with fish and worm casting. We don’t use pesticides but we will spray essential oils and we stick to all the 100 percent essentials, eucalyptus and rosemary and cinnamon bark and canola to help. I also use a lot of kelp and foliar sprays.
“As long as it’s above 32 degrees we open the houses and take advantage of the sun every day we can.” IS THIS A SUSTAINABLE MODEL FOR CANNABIS? What was the key on the business side?
As prices dropped on Cannabis we had to figure out how to compete in the market, and they were able to figure out a formula where we get by. The actual property owner has 35 years of agricultural experience, and he had a lot of key ideas and was able to lead and oversee the buying of the equipment. He spent a tremendous amount of time sourcing prices we could afford. There were times where we had to choose the most competitive piece of equipment, buy the one at half the price and focus on growing year by year. We’re always asking how can we do this quicker and more efficiently. I have the same amount of people on the grow team I’ve had since the beginning of this when we had three greenhouses, and now we have 12. The people who oversee the way we spend money have done a really good job of putting it back into the company and employees. That’s one of the reasons we have survived as well.
What are your favorite strains grown by the team?
How big are the greenhouses, and what are the advantages of building so many?
We have 12 greenhouses total, 125 feet long by 30 feet wide, all fully equipped. These days we have about 120 lights per greenhouse with three industrial dehumidifiers, and propane heating systems at each end to maintain temp and humidity level. There’s a lot of different advantages— we didn’t have to spend as much money as building indoors to start. We like to utilize the sun for a good portion of the year, and as long as it’s above 32 degrees we open the houses and take advantage of the sun every day we can.
What challenges do you have with growing year-round & cold affecting the greenhouses?
It’s complicated to grow when it’s zero degrees out, you have to pay attention to every factor. Just exchanging zero-degree air that has no humidity turns into condensation when it hits warmth, so it’s a constant struggle to maintain the right environment. But we’re still producing a beautiful product even when there’s snow on the ground.
I really love Sour Diesel, it’s my favorite strain we grow, along with Acapulco Gold, they’re both sativa style plants. It’s easier for the crew to keep up when de-leafing on the sativas. I love the indica strains, and we have about 50/50 mix of sativas and indicas. I do like growing the indicas in the greenhouse, they develop better as the light gets to them. We grow some of the old traditional strains like Blue Dream and Black Cherry OG. And we do have a really cool high CBD strain, the Amazing Grace, which was mislabeled from Cloner’s Market but turned out to be a wonderful strain!
What’s been the secret to the success of Buddy Boy Farms?
A lot of success with Buddy Boy Farms happens outside the grow team as well. We’ve been able to improve in every department, and it’s a big team effort. It’s definitely not just me, the owners provide me with what I need, and it’s a very big deal. Everybody counts who does their job here, and it takes a team! It’s a really beautiful farm out here, with super good vibes in the middle of the country, surrounded by mountains. It’s a legit farm and makes me feel great every day when I come in to work.
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T H E S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y I S S U E
CREATING A SUSTAINABLE CANNABIS BRAND
WICK & MORTaR CEO AND FOUNDER
JARED MIRSKY 48/MAR. 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/NWLEAF
The Cannabis design guru with his dog Blazey, at the company’s office in Seattle.
Jared Mirsky is a creative Cannabis pioneer whose original business, Online Marijuana Design (OMD), helped shape the face of the Cannabis industry as early as 2009. Now under the name Wick & Mortar, Mirsky discusses the importance of proper branding in an age when discerning consumers have many options at their local Cannabis retail shop. Q & A BY WES ABNEY | PHOTOS BY @BERMANPHOTOS
Should branding be part of a business plan for investment?
What motivated you to get started in cannabis design? I saw the Cannabis industry starting in medical and it was new and untapped and fun. A good friend of mine gave me a great piece of advice early on that if I ever had an opportunity to take something I was passionate about and focus that on a niche, in that would lie a path to success for myself. It felt right. I was a bit of a bad boy then, so being able to design and feel the air of the industry that was and is so taboo still was exciting and what I’ve always looked for.
How has the cannabis industry changed since you originally started OMD?
What’s changed is that cultivators want to be known now more than ever. In 2009, they didn’t want to be found, although the alias they used to hide their identities was something they were quite proud of. The only way to tell how good a brand or grower was at the time was by grading the quality of Cannabis they grew. Today we’re not just creating brands for dispensaries, we’re creating brands for every sector of the legal market.
How important is branding in the Cannabis marketplace?
If people are looking to build sustainable businesses, now is the time to focus heavily on creating a brand. [Business owners] must understand perception and the way the brand communicates itself through emotional and rational decisions, and create product lines based on emotional and rational decisions as opposed to strain specificity. Blue Dream means nothing to a new consumer but energetic or creative means a lot to a brand new industry. People need to stop living in the dark ages of pot, and live in now. Remember we need to be treating this like a commodity like coffee or any other products that have their own global packaging systems.
If you’re looking at how to establish a brand with respect to best practices, make sure you are budgeting properly. What I mean by that is no consumer sees your equipment or lights, so if you can create the same level of quality with more inexpensive gear and spend the money in the brand, that’s where people will see the value. They want to see something they are attracted to. It helps with retention, so if you want to find a way to be as cost effective as possible, invest money into your brand and you will save so much more money in the process because you won’t be polishing a sub-par product.
How do consumers relate to brands? Is it the same with normal products as it is Cannabis?
When you go into a store and you get to choose one bottle of wine versus another, how do you choose? People pick the one with the most attractive label, because it feels like it has the best chance of tasting good, given the price point. The same thing applies to Cannabis. It’s not just a package, it’s the promise you make to the customer. It’s the story, the way you engage and communicate your brand tone. No one wants to communicate with you if you don’t look good.
What are things to avoid with Cannabis branding?
Often companies gravitate to what they think and feel is most comfortable, adding a Z instead of an S, having a pot leaf in the logo, using the color green everywhere, etc. People are buying product from a pot shop, so brands don’t need to enhance the image of Cannabis more so than it already is. We destigmatize the plant by creating packaging and brands that speak to lifestyle. Yes, pot is in there, but you don’t need to make it as evident. Most companies also come to us last minute, so they pay more because we have to speed up the timeline of the product. Companies so focused on growing that branding became an afterthought. Branding should be the first thing you think about when you start a Cannabis business.
Do you think Cannabis branding overall is in a place that matches the pace of industry growth?
Here’s a fun statistic: Ninety percent of brands in the industry today are so poorly branded that they will not survive the future. But right now, the industry is so immature and demand is so high that the vast majority of companies will see sales no matter how poorly they brand. But three years from now, when the industry becomes oversaturated with great brands, it will be much more difficult to stand on your own.
“It’s not just a package, it’s the promise you make to the customer. It’s the story, the way you engage and communicate your brand tone.”
So, is now the time for brands to shift and begin focusing on building a sustainable market share?
Right now is perfect timing to get a brand done right, whether for the first time or as a rebrand. It will only be more expensive and competitive in the future.
Why did you choose to rebrand OMD to Wick & Mortar?
We rebranded because we were literally telling people to do everything we hadn’t yet done. We had a pot leaf in the logo, green as our primary color, and the name was Online Marijuana Design. It was chosen 10 years ago with SEO as the main reason, and our name spoke nothing of who we are and where we want to be. Although our branding as a whole was good, it felt like we were missing out on an array of opportunities based on the limitations our brand had versus what we have now. If we strive to be a better agency and look to create more meaningful relationships with more qualified clients, we needed to change way we looked in order to attract people we want.
Was it uncomfortable to toss out an established brand for something new? Was it worth the risk?
Yeah, but as things started to progress forward, I started to see the light, and realized this was definitely something we needed to do to be able to grow. I can’t imagine OMD being recognized as a global leader in Cannabis design, so we needed to step it up. Since stepping it up, we’ve seen 45,000 new followers on Instagram in less than four months. We’ve created a Docu-Series about the experience, which has given us a bit of notoriety and brought a new connection with our clients. There are so many more things we’ve been able to do since rebranding, which we couldn’t do before.
What services does Wick & Mortar provide clients?
We provide full branding services, from full brand development to logos, packaging solutions of all types, web design and SEO service, app development, advertising development and more. Visit our website, and see how we can help take your Cannabis brand to the next level.
What’s your advice to people preparing for a rebrand, or thinking about launching a company or product? Really understand your market, the products you want to sell now. Don’t feel like you need to jump in, you can do it slowly and build brand loyalty. Be mindful of what packaging solution to choose, not only understanding how long it takes, the brand cost and what customers care about most, but be able to project how much you can afford to spend and the quantities needed. Do your due diligence and look at the data. Plenty of good companies provide support like Headset or New Frontier, they have really good data to help you make those decisions. Finally, have really good sales collateral—we recommend having a cleanly created pricing matrix, even I go cross eyed when I see a spreadsheet. Take the time to create something that says this company is willing to put passion in their product.
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T H E S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y I S S U E
IAN EISENBERG
Ian Eisenberg is the owner and founder of Uncle Ike’s, one of the first recreational Cannabis retail stores to open when Washington legalized. His store on 23rd and Union in Seattle is in the heart of the Central District, which has seen massive change as the city grows, gentrifies and searches for an identity. We sat down to talk about the sustainability of Cannabis retailers, how he views the current system and to talk about what it means to be profiting from pot in a historically minority area. Q & A BY WES ABNEY | PHOTO @BERMANPHOTOS
“I remember buying dollar joints on that corner as a teenager, and today we still have joints for a couple bucks.”
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Eisenberg’s growing presence at 23rd & Union What got you interested in the Cannabis industry?
I had friends in medical and I never wanted to go there, it wasn’t worth the risk. I owned this property since 2010, and my lease with what’s now the glass shop had previously been restaurants. Both previous owners were shot and killed, this literally was a tough neighborhood. When 502 passed and zoning showed that Cannabis could come here, people came to me wanting to lease but nobody I wanted as tenant, so I decided to give it a shot myself.
It seems so surreal with the glut of new construction around the corner, with a Natural Foods going in across the way. What brought you into the area?
My family has lived right here for four generations, starting with my great great grandmother in 1907. Like any Seattle neighborhood redlining hurt the neighborhood. It was predominantly Jewish, then Japanese, then African American and always transitional. It got bad in the 80s and 90s when crack hit the neighborhood. Before this building I also owned the car wash on the corner, and I’ve lived a few blocks away my whole life.
When you opened up you had protests from the church next door, as well as from people who argued that a wealthy white man shouldn’t be profiting from Cannabis in the neighborhood. How did you respond, and how do you feel about those issues?
The church and I, our disagreements go back long before Cannabis—which the news always seemed to skip over. When I first bought property there’s a big flag pole out front, and I put up a big pride flag and all hell broke loose. The pastor was pretty vocal being anti-gay marriage. So, he knew what I was doing as I built the building, when 502 passed and zoning came out he was there at a community meeting when I told everyone what I was doing. The local newspaper put him in a position to protest, and I think it’s actually been good for his membership.
What about the issue of selling pot where minorities were previously arrested? Is it wrong to be doing that?
I agree. I kind of agree with the idea that it looks bad, but most people who voted for 502 did it not for legal pot, but for social justice. In King County, pot has been decriminalized for a long time, and the people who came to this corner were doing so for other drugs mainly. I remember buying dollar joints on that corner as a teenager, and today we still have joints for a couple bucks. I’d probably be in a different spot, feelings wise, if I didn’t have money to buy a license. I paid $1 million for it, so I had to make the store work. Some of my competitors close by won a license, and run stores more as hobby. I invested everything into it, so I had to make it work.
Have you ever been arrested for pot?
I had a bunch of MIPs, for beer, but for pot I never got arrested. They always told me to throw it away. That was what surprised me the most when I opened the store, hearing from customers who hadn’t tried pot because it was illegal. I always assumed people in Seattle that wanted to smoke pot would smoke pot.
What made your store different than others in the beginning and how has your model proven sustainable? I pissed off a lot of people in the pot world with advertising products and pricing and comparison pricing, and I think that people didn’t want to look at pot like any other commodity product. In Washington, without vertical integration we sell other people’s products, so price comparison is relevant. We try to have the best quality pot for the best price, and it’s worked out for us and the real winners are the customers.
How do you decide what products to sell, and how has your approach changed over the years?
We do a basic three times markup, so we leave it to producers to set their price with us, and if a product isn’t moving, it’s the producer’s responsibility to make it move or change the formula. Another thing we do different is how we purchase. A lot of stores buy product the owners like, but we let budtenders have a lot more say and let them evaluate product we bring in. We have a great team of budtenders, they’re not pot snobs only interested in top shelf, but they do want to sell to the customer the best product at the best price. When I first opened I thought I could control what we sold, push products I wanted and do incentives, but I realized I have no control. Budtenders will sell products they like and believe in, and that’s the way we have run it ever since.
How is the market changing, and do you think the current model of regulation is sustainable?
I think that the 37 percent excise tax is ridiculous, it’s too high. I think that merging medical in with recreational the industry did a deal with the devil so that patients are taxed at the sin tax level, that makes absolutely no sense. The LCB is struggling to regulate this as well, and while everyone likes to shit on the LCB, their budget isn’t great and they can’t keep up with the number of licenses they have right now. I’m amazed everything has worked as well as it has.
What do you see that is working in the industry?
My favorite part about the current market is buying from cottage farmers, all mom and pops, and now it looks like the legislature is going to pass out of state investment, and I’m scared it will all disappear. A handful of well financed producer processors could control the whole industry. There needs to be real industry trade groups. I used to be part of [Washington CannaBusiness Association], I quit after [SB5052], there’s no strong group that has enough money to hire good lobbyists, and I quit after selling out medical with the sin tax. What is going good is the number and vast array of products, it blows me away from the niche ones like pot infused lube to the variety of edibles and infused products. Plus, this year’s outdoor harvest was perfect and customers are realizing that outdoor pot is great, because they’ve never had quality pot that was grown outside, which is exciting for the marketplace.
Ikes.com
Do you think consumers in Seattle need to shift how they are buying pot?
We live in a bubble in Seattle where people choose natural food, and I always thought that would happen with pot, but the exact opposite has happened. One of our early brands I loved was CannaSol, which is grown sustainability, and our shops are in the dead central area for whole foods. But our customers don’t care when it comes to their pot, and it’s really weird. So far, the sustainable message hasn’t been a selling point. The THC is still more important, not to say you can’t be both, because most good brands focus on both. I think we are still in the Everclear phase, but eventually that will shift, but I don’t know when consumers will make the jump.
What are you most excited about for the future of Washington Cannabis?
Dealing with people in the industry, it’s a fun and for the most part it’s not corporate attitudes, it’s family owner operators. There’s not many businesses where you still do that. Most industries have been eaten up by bigger corporate players, and I hope it doesn’t happen. I would like to see Home Grow passed, delivery options for retailers and consumption lounges to become a reality. It’s also great to see Seattle clearing misdemeanors for pot. For Uncle Ike’s, we are going to focus on our fourth store, and keep working to make our model sustainable for the future.
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T H E S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y I S S U E
STORY AND PHOTO BY @NATE WILLIAMS @NATEW415
Moriah LaChapell Oregon’s resident bug expert has worked with hundreds of Cannabis farms across the Pacific Northwest and California. Born and raised in California’s big Ag hotbed, Moriah has worked in pest management, ornamental horticulture, greenhouse production and viticulture. She is an integrated pest management specialist (IPM) and regularly holds free workshops for growers at Constant Gardener.
what is a biological control agent and how does it differ from a pesticide? A
biological control agent can be a pesticide. According to the EPA, a pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest. A biological control agent (BCA) is a method of controlling pests such as insects using other organisms. A good example of a BCA and pesticide are products like Beauveria bassiana (Botanigard) spores to control thrips, aphids and whitefly.
What does the cultivation of beneficial bugs for integrated pest management (IPM) look like?
Insectaries all over the world produce beneficial insects. The beneficial insects are shipped all over the world to reduce or control pests on many crops. The best way to utilize beneficial insects in an IPM program are preventative releases before pest populations explode. My philosophy, when I consult with growers, is to find a few effective biological control agents and start on a small scale. Initially, learning about beneficial insects can be overwhelming. Success lies in good recommendations implemented over time.
How is using IPM a more sustainable method of pest prevention than spraying pesticides?
If a grower is simply spraying pesticides without considering IPM, then they aren’t considering the growing environment holistically. The entire growing environment should be considered as opposed to spraying pests that haven’t been observed on the crop. The IPM is more sustainable because less money, labor and time is spent controlling damaging pests or diseases. Successful IPM makes decisions based on observation and quantification of the potential for damage on the crop. In many cases, multiple control approaches to the life stages of pest or diseases are required.
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As it stands right now, can an Oregon Cannabis grower source an effective IPM regimen exclusively from within the state?
efinitely. There are many qualified individuD als in the public and private sector willing to consult with the industry. Consider the qualifications of a consultant before establishing a relationship with a company. Your local grow shop can be a great place to learn if they are well connected with a wellknown consultant. Strong relationships with trusted advisors is an invaluable resource. Talk to colleagues and ask for good references before you decide to use a product or work with a consultant. It’s important to trial products before implementing on a large scale. I always ask growers to try a product on one or two plants before spraying the entire facility. Much time, money and effort is spent on ineffective product.
further damage. Predatory mites released during the early stages of crop production can reduce the likelihood of major pest mite infestations later in flower.
how did you become educated on all this?
I studied biology and learned from excellent mentors who taught me hands-on approaches for identification, good research techniques and critical thinking. I also worked for a crop consultant during summer literally counting Two-Spotted Spider Mites’ eggs in hop fields in Oregon. After college, I worked for the Oregon Department of Agriculture Plant Health lab. I later worked in the technical services department at Monrovia Nursery. This experience helped me understand how to maximize plant health and crop quality with a focus on cost to market. As the industry matures, focusing on longterm solutions and minimizing cost will create true market leaders. I am fortunate to work with many excellent growers in the Pacific Northwest and other regions.
This experience helped me understand how to maximize plant health and crop quality with a focus on cost to market.
What is the most sustainable pest prevention? An extremely thorough scouting program. The most successful growers will contact me if they have observed an extremely minor infestation on the crop. We develop a plan early to stop
Learn more about her work at MLaChapell.com
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T H E S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y I S S U E
“We are creating community through joining together to represent a certification that is beyond the current organic standard,”
is an intentional action. So, the word “sustainable” describes itself. It sustains. We are looking to change the current ways agriculture is being taught and the light that the Cannabis plant is being held under. We want to be the healthy change and that takes regeneration of the current state of the world and the soil.
What advice would you give to the farms and farmers interested in regenerative agriculture, but don’t know where to start?
STORY BY @710DENCIES | PHOTO BY @BERMANPHOTOS
Dragonfly Earth Medicine Q&A | Owners Kelly & Josh
Dragonfly Earth Medicine makes raw plant based products for humans and their gardens. DEM’s regenerative agricultural approach and nutrients help to revitalize soil biology without the use of animals or animal products.
What originally sparked your interest in organic farming?
We were never interested in anything else. My job growing up in Virginia was to take care of our garden. My Mom never used anything to feed our gardens other than manure and our compost. I dug little holes for our kitchen compost and weeded the garden. My first experiences with Cannabis growing was in Alaska in 1989. There was no way we could carry anything out into the Alaskan bush. Everything was made there. We took to the hills to grow Cannabis in 1999. The hikes were long and mountainous. We carried our food and our son. We learned how to make nutrients and soil out of raw plant material that surrounded our gardens. We harvested nettles and used them all season in fermented teas that we made in garbage containers with irrigation hoses flowing through them. We grew lovely gardens with just nettles and good soil. Those gardens were gorgeous because we swaled them into terraces for tea and nutrient retention in the beds. We had the confidence that Cannabis grows well with a lot of attention and good soil. When we were able to have gardens at home, we continued to carry out the same practices from our past. We did not bring anything into our farm. We grow herbs and biomass for specific minerals and nutrients that we need in our soils. We are almost totally closed loop, with exceptions of using our own company’s nutrients as our teas in our nurseries and as tea inoculants. We also we get a naturally occurring 90 trace mineral supplement to add into our plant teas to raise our bricks reading and ultimately better plant nutrient uptake.
Why is regenerative farming important and how do the DEM products encompass that vision?
Our products have been thought out through years and years of experiments and trials. We use only human grade, organic herbs and the best quality of humic and fulvic acid and biology that the United States has to offer. We research and test every single ingredient that we use in our products,
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just like we would for anything brought onto our farm. We do the work so gardeners and consumers don’t have to. We want everyone not know that if it has hurt name on it, it ifs quality and does not contain organic certifications because they are not a certification that we feel is of high enough quality control.
What does a “DEM Pure” certification entail?
It is a community-run and monitored certification. It is free, so it is impossible to buy into it. You cannot just do a few things and be certified. It is a certification that shows the consumer that that farmer or business goes the extra lengths to grow healthy medicine and businesses through regenerating healthy ideologies and actions. The certification focuses on closed loop practices. These commercial farmers and businesses are living a regenerative lifestyle. They are communing with their soil and plants in a way that is not part of the synthetic commercial or even conventional organic commercial models. We are creating community through joining together to represent a certification that is beyond the current “organic standard” or even third-party organic standards. It can also include all countries and businesses. It is highlighting intentionally cultivated weed and intentionally cultivated businesses around the world. We are everywhere. We are like beneficial mycelium. We can colonize anywhere.
What’s the difference between “sustainable” and “regenerative” agriculture?
We like to believe words are powerful when it comes to intention. Regenerative cultivation
Get a worm farm started and add everything you can to it from your farm. Raise healthy worms. You have to think about what you are feeding your new friends. You will want to feed them healthy materials, and a lot of it. Watching your worms grow and consume your materials and making gorgeous soil that makes your plants thrive is thrilling! Often, we are more likely to take care of someone or something else over ourselves. Maybe the worms will spark inspiration to grow regenerative Cannabis just so you can feed them everything in your facility or on your farm. The rich, amazing castings are just a bonus. This simple act of building worm bins can change the world. Also learn about closed loops and how you can create more on your farms and in your businesses. The new website DEMPurefarms. com has a long list of closed loops. Many farms have closed loops and they do not even know it. Creating new loops creates steps toward biological intelligence, which means you are creating beneficial life that needs safe havens to survive.
How do you see regenerative farming practices being implemented on a commercial scale?
We cannot see anything else. We simply will not have a long future outside of GMO foods and dead soil if we do not make the changes within our own businesses and farms. Chemicals and synthetic mediums are not growing medicine that will propagate intelligence. They are growing money and archaic ideology. They are wasting their time and money because the undercutting big guys that create the chemicals, mediums, environmental controls will be here to undercut their competition. Regenerative Cannabis is not their competition. There will always be a thriving market for high quality medicine that is grown with love. So, we cannot see it another way than all the farms and businesses that are not in regenerative Cannabis will be struggling in the future. Grow the fire for the least amount of money. That can only happen in regenerative cultivation systems. We see them implementing regenerative practices by building large beds that are connected to the earth. Cover cropping for soil aeration and nutrition. Utilizing all “waste” leaf and stalk material. And pulling up a chair for the plant in every meeting so she has the recognition of being the boss. We all know she is the boss when everything gets boiled down. Promote her to the head boss lady, and you will inevitably make good decisions. Every Cannabis plant wants to be grown in healthy soil with closed loops so she can stay healthy and continue her well-earned global respect. DEMPurefarms.com
This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children. Marijuana products may be purchased or possessed only by persons 21 years of age or older.
recipes
By LAURIE WOLF | PHOTOS by BRUCE WOLF
Laurie Wolf has been a regular contributor to Northwest Leaf since 2015. Named the “Martha Stewart of Marijuana Edibles” by The New Yorker, Laurie has published four Cannabis cookbooks, contributes to six Cannabis publications and runs Laurie + MaryJane, an award-winning edible company based in Portland, Oregon.
BAKING THE COOKIES 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder Pinch salt 6 ounces butter, softened 2 ounces canna butter, softened 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 egg, lightly beaten 2 teaspoons vanilla Heat oven to 340.
1. In a small bowl, combine
the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. In a large bowl, beat the
sugar and butters until smooth. Beat in the egg and the vanilla.
3. Slowly add the dry ingre-
dients and blend. Form the dough into teaspoon size balls. Place on an oiled sheet pan at least two inches apart.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool completely before frosting the cookies and allow frosting to set before making the sandwiches.
FILLING & FROSTING 4 ounces cream cheese, softened 2 ounces canna butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar Green food coloring
1. In the bowl of a food pro-
cessor, combine all the ingredients except the food coloring.
2. When smooth, add food
coloring drop by drop until you reach the desired shade.
3. Spead a couple tablespoons of the mixture on a cookie and top with another cookie. Press together gently and enjoy.
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CANNACOOKIE SANDWICHES
tHIS SCRUMPTIOUS RECIPE SHOWCASES CANNA BUTTER IN THE CREAM CHEESE FILLING AND THE COOKIE TOPS! REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN ALWAYS CUT DOWN ON THE CANNA BUTTER BY USING REGULAR BUTTER. KNOW YOUR DOSE. LESS IS MORE. PRESSED FOR TIME? BUY PREMADE COOKIES AND SKIP THE DOTS. SO EASY.
CREAMY COCONUT
“ POTATOS” 4 ounces canna-butter, softened 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 2 teaspoons vanilla 4 cups sugar 2 2/3 cups flaked coconut 1/2 cup cocoa or cinnamon
1. In a large mixing bowl or food
processor, combine the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, sugar and coconut. Process until smooth. Chill for an hour.
2. Form into small irregular rounds that resemble little potatoes.
3.
Place the cocoa and cinnamon mixture on a flat plate. Roll “potatos” around in the mix to coat fully.
ST. POTRICK’S DAY DESSERTS
WEARING GREEN IS UP TO YOU, but when it comes to eating of the green, we’ve got you covered. I made this canna butter using the strain Irish Cream, an indica-dominant strain that marries perfectly with its uplifting notes of vanilla and caramel. These treats don’t take long to make, and there are lots of shortcuts if you are looking for a faster way to the rainbow. There may not be a pot of gold there, but we can promise you there will be pot, which is good enough for me.
VERY LUCKY CHARMS I like to use more marshmallow than most recipes suggest, it keeps the bars firm and they taste better. And three-quarters of a bag of marshmallows is never a bad thing to have in the house.
Non-stick baking spray 4 tablespoons canna butter 18 ounces marshmallows 6 cups Lucky Charms 16 ounces white chocolate Green food coloring
1. Spray a 9x13 inch pan and set aside. In a large
sauce pan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the marshmallows and heat, while stirring until the marshmallows are almost fully melted. It’s okay to have some small pieces unmelted. Stir in a drop or two of green food coloring, if desired.
2. Add Lucky Charms and stir to melt completely.
Press the mixture into the pan. Allow to set for atleast an hour before cutting into 12 to 16 portion.
3.
In the top of a double boiler, melt the white chocolate. Add green food coloring to reach desired shade. One at a time, dip the bars into the now green chocolate to cover about half of the treat. Dot with your favorite charms. Place on a piece of parchment to set.
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CONCENTRATE OF THE MONTH
Remedy
A
Review by WES ABNEY Photo by @BERMANPHOTOS
remedy for all your ails isn’t a fairytale, it’s available in concentrated dab form and completely delicious. The team behind Dab Lab premium concentrates just returned to the 502 market place after moving licenses, and they have come back with fire across their line of hydrocarbon concentrates. We went straight for the Remedy, a classic Northwest highCBD strain known for relaxing and euphoric effects and a beautiful flavor profile, and it does not disappoint. Popping open the glass jar on this beautiful golden amber sap releases a bright burst of terpenes filled with notes of lemon, sugary fruit and a fizzy lemon-lime finish that is begging to be globbed. The sap is super easy to work with, thick enough to hold consistency, but light enough to easily grab on a dab tool. Spreading and twirling the oil shows the true light color of the concentrate, a light golden honey filled with beneficial cannabinoids. First dabs release all of the sappy sugary flavor with a big blast of cherry that CBD is known for delivering. The flavor profile is beautiful and intense. It starts bright with terpenes going first in a proper low temperature dab, vaporizing in lemon-lime madness before being chased away by Kush flavored cherries and a tingle on exhale from a smooth, tasty dab. Well refined and purged, this is clean delicious oil that delivers wonderful effects for night or day, with a euphoria and mood elevation that can’t be beat. The mind stays clear while the body slowly relaxes and lets go of anxiety and stress, helping start or end a day in perfect Cannabis harmony. We loved the relaxing and refreshing nature of the Remedy, which is a perfect reset dab for pain, a long day, or to start the perfect morning without a cloudy head high. Look for this Remedy at shops that carry Dab Lab, and check out the other tasty strains they are sure to be processing.
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PROCESSED by DAB LAB The mind stays clear while the body slowly relaxes and lets go of anxiety and stress, helping start or end a day in perfect Cannabis harmony.
82.69% CBD 3.92% THC 2.24% CBG 6.2% TERPS
MARIJUANA PRODUCTS MAY BE PURCHASED OR POSSESSED ONLY BY PERSONS 21 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER. THIS PRODUCT HAS INTOXICATING EFFECTS AND MAY BE HABIT FORMING. MARIJUANA CAN IMPAIR CONCENTRATION, COORDINATION AND JUDGEMENT. DO NOT OPERATE A VEHICLE OR MACHINERY WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE. THERE MAY BE HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT. FOR ADULT USE ONLY. KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN.
Reviews
By STEVE ELLIOTT Editor, Tokesignals.com
edge of the kingdom
A NOVEL URGING PEOPLE TO LOVE EACH OTHER, DISCOVER THE DIVINE AND EMBRACE POSITIVITY
J
116 pages | Xlibris.com | 2017 | $19.99 paperback; $29.99 hardcover
ust a year ago, Author William Walker was enjoying his Friday night, smoking a little weed. What happened next, at
least according to Walker’s description, was a divine encounter with God. Walker never had an experience remotely like that before. He believed it was a calling for him to help spread a message. That message can be found in his debut fictional memoir, the genre-defying Edge of the Kingdom: A Mind and Heart Altering Interactive Novel. Walker says he wrote this story to give insight into his experience. He hopes to influence readers to transform their lives into something better, “and help them find God.” God is contained within every person, according to Walker. Only awareness, perhaps fueled by Cannabis use, is necessary to bring God to the forefront, according to the book. The novel urges people to love each other, discover the divine and embrace positivity. The interactive novel also provides suggestions on how the reader can enhance their experience to make them feel as if they are immersed in a movie. Spoiler: he wants you to smoke weed while reading it. “Ultimately, I want to show the world how faith can bring a positive outcome in your life even when it seems like your world is collapsing around you,” Walker said. “I also hope to promote the complete legalization of marijuana in all states.” Walker says his mission is to take an active role in making a positive difference in the world. Part of that is to start a global movement toward a resource-based economy. It is heady stuff, for sure, and not for everyone. But this slim volume will likely prove to be a quick read for those interested in both Cannabis and spirituality.
THE INTERACTIVE NOVEL PROVIDES SUGGESTIONS ON HOW THE READER CAN ENHANCE THEIR EXPERIENCE TO MAKE THEM FEEL AS IF THEY ARE IMMERSED IN A MOVIE.
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budshot
REDWOOD VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
BERRY
WHITE PHRESH START FARMS FOUNDER ZACHARY BROWN IS ORIGINALLY FROM VASHON ISLAND, WASHINGTON. Phresh Start Farms
INDICA-DOMINANT STRAIN PROVIDES EUPHORIA AND UPLIFTED MOOD. Photo by Kristen Angelo
@APOTFARMERSDAUGHTER
Got sweet garden/bud photos?
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Share them with us and they might appear here in a feature spread next month! Just email your top 2-3 not-taken-with-a-phoneunless-they-were-incredibly-superduper-steady high-resolution images to nwleaf@gmail.com along with the usual details on who to credit for the strain, breed, grow and photographer.
glass art
REVIEW by @NATEW415 | PHOTO by @BERMANPHOTOS
ILLUMINATI GEMINI SAKE BOTTLE
This unique Sake bottle features an intriguing mix of Illuminati, Gemini and Gold and Silver throughout. Artist Aaron Blackburn created the piece in several sections and over the span of about four hours. The piece was crafted in different colors then cut and welded together, adding UV lip wraps and a marble for accent. The piece stands at just shy of 6 inches tall and is the perfect travel companion for all your adventures.
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Presenting Partner
@TRILLGLASS1022