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.

Houses we can't have...and goats gettin' it on

Heard back about the great house in Saguache, which has a contract on it. It may or may not go through. Who knows. The owner wants 20% down to carry it, which is about 20K. Now, I wonder, where would one get twenty thousand dollars in this economy? Isn't everyone living paycheck to paycheck, like we are? Ha! People are saving that kind of money? Maybe they'd like to loan some to us?

The person that may buy the house is from out of state. Maybe looking for a place to grow weed. That seems to be coming up a lot lately. Everyone thinks they can get rich off the ganja. Cannabis...legal in Colorado, except some counties don't want anything to do with it, including Saguache county. No growing, no distributing, no selling, no cannabis related business of any kind.

I guess we continue on, renting, where we can. I am thankful we have a place to be with all of our animals. I like it much better over on this side of the valley anyway. Even if it is colder. We have the wild horses. And the Sandhill Cranes. Less of the massive crop circles too, which means less spraying, I'm hoping.

Today big ugly billy goat, Molet, is out "playing" with the females. He doesn't play very nice. The little girls are locked in the barn, although he may have gotten to one of them before Richard separated them.

Molet, courting Oreo

Big ugly and tongue

That male goat is intense. He flaps his tongue around, makes loud moaning noises, head butts the barn walls, pees all over himself, and all because he can't get to the female goat he wants. It's just as weird when he goes through his mating ritual with an open and willing female. Not pretty.

If Molet has his way, there will be lots of goat babies next spring. Maybe we will find a permanent place to land by then. And yes, we do have ten acres down near Taos, but the roads are horrid, and come to find out, there is a livestock tax in NM on everything from llamas to goats, to sheep. I knew Taos county had some outlandish registration fee on exotic animals. Alpacas and llamas fall into this category. $50 per head, per year. Crazy. We can't afford that. And alpacas and llamas are pretty mainstream these days, aren't they?

Well, whatever. We will continue to pay on our land and see what happens. Maybe someone wants to buy it outright? Then we could pay off our owner carry and have a down payment for another place a little more farm friendly. The right place and the right circumstances will show up. That's how it works. I have faith.