SLV Hemp Project

Hemp is the Future:

Ever since the forward thinking voters in our state thought to give farmers and citizens the legal right to once again cultivate the non-drug, industrial hemp Cannabis species, we have been trying to figure out a way to get involved. As stewards of this planet and this special protected spot in the Valley, we have been talking about supporting the Hemp future. And as an organization -- as a center for the new agriculture and evolving eco-spirituality -- Green Desert Sanctuary is a match for the future economy that Hemp represents for all of us. Carbon negative, Hemp generally requires no support in the form of pesticides or herbicides, and only normally fertile soil. The fiber varieties can grow from 6-12 feet in height, producing massive amounts of a sustainable fiber, and the seed varieties can yield more than 1500 lbs of oil-seed per acre. The seed can be pressed to create a very nutritious oil rich in Omega's and nutrient dense, while leaving behind a "seed-cake" or meal that is very high protein.

The industrial version of hemp even provides the basis for eco-scaled forms of our modern production economy contributing raw materials to everything from paper and fiber based products like textiles to bio-plastic composite materials that are comparable to carbon-fiber or fiberglass. It can be used for creating bio-fuels and has shown great promise as a tool for phytoremediation of contaminants in everything from waste-water to the soil itself. Hemp combines with lime to make hemcrete- a superior building material which offers both structural and insulative benefits and is better in every respect than regular cement/concrete, and much much Greener!

So it has been apparent to us for a while that Hemp should be part of the future, and now we are working on a way to make it literally part of our future. We talked in the past about sending money to support people that are working to make US hemp production a reality, and now we can BE some of those people. The Colorado department of Agriculture began taking registrations on March 1 for those wanting to grow industrial hemp for this year, and we are working to figure out a way to grow hemp, as legally as possible, and as soon as possible. We've already registered our intention with the state, now we just have to find a way to actualize our vision!

So in the next week or so, we will be putting together an opportunity to help support Local hemp through a crowd-funding, slow money type project. As the state Ag folks are quick to point out, this is all (relatively speaking) brand new to everyone. One obligation of growing the hemp is committing to processing the hemp within Colorado, and it is not yet known how many, if any, processing facilities will be in existence this fall. There may not be any, so we may be working on that aspect of this project in a few months.

In the meantime, we need to get the seed in the ground, which means we need to get seed (from mysterious sources unknown, as it is still federally illegal to ship viable hemp seed across state lines) and we need to have a seed strain that can do well in our cold short growing season. Good news is that we have some good leads on a variety, which hopefully will make it safely to the farm. Even better news is that now, as recently detailed in the previous post, we have access to land, without the looming threat of bank mortgages or absentee landlords. Land which we can feel comfortable using to grow hemp. We just need some infrastructure, in terms of water resources, probably a large hoop house, that kind of thing.

Which is where you come in!

We'll be calling on you to help spread the word in the next few days, as we finalize our start-up plan and get the crowd-funding system set up. We'll be asking you to post and repost, share with your friends and twitter out to all your peeps so that we can get maximum exposure of our effort, so that we can have the most success getting the necessary funding to take advantage of this opportunity NOW! We'll also be asking you to show that you support a greener hemp-fueled future for ourselves and our communities through your contribution. And we're working to have cute, fun, and useful thank-you's for those that care about that sort of thing.

This is your chance to support the future of hemp. 
This year it is all about learning, about contributing energy to the growing hemp revolution, about being the change we want to see in the world.

Be the change! Join the Hemp revolution and contribute to the evolution of humanity and the healing of our Mother Earth.