Our farm dream has begun unfolding, with this blog post I will share the highlights of our 2021 season.
We officially closed on the farm January 28th. On day 1 we started putting in a fence and working diligently to complete our adult-use marijuana cultivation license. We got the license on June 22nd. A month prior, we became parents. Our firstborn child, Lyla, was born on May 15th.
The field was all planted up around early July. We had planned to plant mostly autoflowering varieties (definition here) in the ground, but they were gobbled up by chipmunks overnight. So, we planted a whole field of photoperiod varieties (definition here), which was a gamble because if there was an early frost we could have lost the whole crop.
Luckily, the fairies were with us, and we didn’t have a killing frost until November 2nd! We were grateful for the help of our neighbor, Todd, and a part-time nanny sister duo who worked with us through harvest. We also had the support of Ben’s parents for 10 days which was essential, as they made sure we were well nourished and watched Lyla so we could both work. The plants were huge and healthy and thanks to the help, we were able to get everything off.
Once the cannabis was all out of the field, we focused on planting garlic. Also, our neighbor hooked us up with lots of moose bones and Ben got all fired up with a big hot compost pile. This compost will be used in our 2022 season, and we are super pumped for this boost.
Beginning early September, when seed was set on the plants, we started thinking about branding, website, and packaging. We are super pleased with the work of Katie at Chaos N Control for our branding, Mikala at Say Hey There for our website, and James at JB Creative for our seed racks. Once those boxes were checked we started hitting the streets to get seed on the shelves.
We are still working hard to get seeds to the people through retail outlets across the state. And we are working towards applying for a second adult-use marijuana cultivation license, which will be a nursery where we intend to sell plants and seeds to the public by appointment. With help from our neighbor, Richard Aitkin, the land was leveled, and Ben was able to pound posts on December 17th.
Wow, 2021 was a whirlwind! We are so smitten with our local community here in Monroe and all the industry folks we have been meeting. Looking forward to seeing what the future brings!