Planting Cannabis

Yesterday I saw a lot of stuff about it being 4/20 Day, so I looked it up to see what that was about.

Seriously?  A 'holiday' for marijuana?

~sigh~

But I have my own story about 'weed'.

A while back the local Agriculture Extension Office offered an informational workshop in Kentucky  on industrial hemp.  And if you didn't know... industrial hemp is a plant in the cannabis family, the same as marijuana, of a variety that is low in the compound delta-9 tetrhydrocannabinol (THC) aka as 'happy juice' to weeders.  There can be no more than .03% on a dry weight basis.  

That is not going to make a person or a parakeet high.

But ALL plants in the cannabis family are illegal to grow.  You can possess parts of the industrial hemp plant but you cannot grow it.  

Who can grow it?

China.

~sigh~

All sorts of people were there for the program; farmers looking for a crop that could be produced on a small amount of land, people who were interested in the commercial end of the product, and there were a few dope-heads too.

Industrial hemp has many uses;  the hemp fiber makes an incredibly soft material...

...food items...

...cosmetics...

...skin lotions and balms...

...supplements and remedies...

... and food for people and livestock!

Plus a lot of other things.

They fed the participants a free lunch that offered "Kentucky Dawg" hot dog.

So of course we tried them!  (Did you think we wouldn't?)

I found them to be very much like a summer sausage.  They definitely tasted different than regular hot dog.  Can't say if it was from the hemp or some regular seasoning they used so it would be different.  Himself liked them, I didn't care for them.

This is the form of cannabis that is in the news right now trying to be made legal for medical use.  It's already been proven to dramatically help with epileptic seizures, especially in children.  And it shows great promise for treatment of chronic pain.

The second part of the program was a visit to a farm that grows industrial hemp.

It's done basically the same way that tobacco is produced.

It is a really pretty plant... something that would make a great looking house plant.

I got bored listening to all the farming production details, so I headed down to watch this man for a while.

He was taking puny seedlings that were left from transplanting and putting them back into the grow trays.  They would get babied so they would grow into healthy plants for the next time around.

We visited for a while, then he asked if I'd like to try it out.

Hmmmm... does this mean I've helped to grow WEED?

😉