Home Growing: The Revolution We Need

Generally, on 4/20, the sole focus is consumption of cannabis, but for a moment lets shift our focus to what more and more people are becoming engrossed with, growing cannabis at home.

After reading an article published by Jackie Bryant, we were reminded that in essence “we are nature”. Growing anything from peppers to pot has this effect on you, from seed to harvest, playing in the garden reconnects us to ourselves and the living world around us. While we here in Canada enjoy the ability to cultivate our own cannabis, there are many others around the world that are not afforded this same luxury. It is troubling that we create regulations that limit or impede one’s ability to grow their own sustenance and medicine, but it is a reality some of us are all too familiar with.

So, for those of us that can grow our own, why don’t we? It’s usually the same list of reasons:

“It’s expensive”

“I don’t have the free time”

“It’s easier to just purchase from a store”

And all of these are valid reasons given the circumstances of the individual, but cultivation is so much more than just growing something, harvesting it, and enjoying it. It is in our DNA to cultivate and develop the land around us. Humans have been doing so since the very beginning. Why deny our most basic instincts? The gardening and growing life has effects on both the physical and the mental state. It gets you outside, and using your mind to plan, inspect, maintain, and enjoy the space around you. Gardening has been found to reduce anxiety, lower blood pressure and combat depression just to name a few of it’s positive effects. It can be a bit of a challenge at first but once you’ve laid the groundwork and built your habits, cultivating your own cannabis and produce becomes second nature. Ask anyone who’s been doing it for years and they’ll tell you they barely think about it, it’s not a chore, it’s just part of their day.

A home growing revolution is what we need! When we create our own supply we are healing ourselves, we challenge what many consider to be a rigged legal cannabis industry. When you grow your own, you know what it was grown in, how it was tended, what it was fed, and what kind of conditions it was dried and cured in. No cannabis enthusiast will ever have that same level of transparency with a bag purchased from a dispensary.

I end off this post with a quote from Jackie Bryant and the article that inspired it:

“I grow because of the hope I feel as a human on Earth, one who is still chugging along. Like Orwell with his roses, I’m seeking an antidote to the pain of our created world through the plant. Smoking weed helps, of course, but growing it is a tangible connection to the land and all it provides, which is something no law or person can ever truly take away, try as hard as they might.”

To read the original article click here

Original photo credit: Philippe Pagé/Cannabonzai

Edited photo credit: Gary Khan