My name is Jackson Tine co-owner of Industrial Hemp Supply. I am an entrepreneur, veteran, cannabis activist, hemp enthusiast, nature lover and so much more. I was recently introduced to steemit by a friend. He encouraged me to write. So here I am.
What I would like to do today is give you a little back story on how we started a hemp company during federal prohibition. I have been involved with cannabis for so many years now I don't even count. I became fascinated with the effects that different cannabinoids had on folks with various conditions. Over the years I tried new strains and different growing techniques. Some of which i had great success with.
Now about a year and a half ago I met a gentlemen that had his own CBD product but needed a supplier that could supply high quality CBD flower. From that point my business partner and I started a search for some of the best strains we could grow. We came across several popular strains of Marijuana that provide CBD but also provide significant quantities of THC. That wouldn't work. We needed something that didn't have THC. That led our search a bit in a different path.
We found a strain of hemp that an amazing breeder had developed. This strain was extremely potent in CBD but contained only trace amounts of THC. We purchased as many seeds as we could. They are expensive and very limited quantity. So we had seeds now what? We needed land. I had no idea how to approach someone and ask them if I can grow hemp on their land. So I put an ad on craigslist. Holy crap we got a call.
Jon a very nice guy owned some land outside of town. After a couple of lengthy conversations we agreed to meet. About a week later we drove out and met Jon and his lovely family. They showed us their land and we discussed our plans. We had to assure him that we weren't just planting a lot of marijuana seeds. After that it was set. From that point we had to get licensing and approval from all the government agencies. I filed all the paperwork for the state hemp program. That was the easy part.
To try and ease some of Jon's concerns he wanted me to call the DEA and talk to them see if I could get any kind of approval for a hemp license. I was terrified, I was calling the DEA and asking them if I can grow cannabis. After several calls and a bunch of running around I was informed to not waste my time the DEA had no interest in issuing permits for anything like that. So we just waited for our state paperwork and started to prep the field. A few weeks later we received our Hemp license and spring was coming. Once the weather warmed we were able to start the planting. Now you had two guys a rototiller and shovels moving tons of manure across the field and braking holes in the virgin prairie. We worked from sunrise to sunset. We were exhausted and I was sun burned. Word to the wise wide brim hat and sunblock are life savers. But the plants were in the ground. About 50 in total.
This after all was a test crop and seeds are pricey. We continued to improve the field by installing drip lines and simplifying the process. A couple weeks later we were given about another 70 seeds. We planted them all immediately to try and get them in as soon as possible. Then the month of rain happened. It rained everyday for 30+ days in May and June. I had never seen it rain that much here. Most of the second batch of seeds were washed out and hail damage had really done a number on some of our first plants. But we survived the monsoons and the plants we did have were big and healthy. After sexing the plants and weather damages we ended up with about 28 plants total. From this point on we were taking samples of the plants and recording data points. Just watching and waiting until the plants were ready for harvest. I can't explain how excited I was. This was probably one of the first licensed hemp fields in decades and maybe the first in El Paso county history.
As fall approached we had to select mother plants and begin preparing for harvest. Then one day in mid October we drove out and harvested.
We filled my entire truck. I had never seen a truck full of cannabis. Let me tell you it was AWESOME!!! Now the real fun begins. Part 2 Coming soon.