The air is different up here. Something we’ve all said when getting into nature after a long time spent in the city. The air is certainly different at Rancho Ecomar farms where I’ve been spending several weeks farming cannabis. The biosphere that they’ve created is nothing short of medicinally miraculous. The generosity of the amazing people is astounding, and they have allowed me to embed myself completely in the harvesting process during the month of October 2018. I have chopped plants down, I have bucked plants into totes, trimmed plants, and I have certainly sampled many of them. For someone as passionate about cannabis as I am this place is paradise…
I am in a tent camping out about 150 yards above the main section of the farm, where there are several hoop tents full of various strains. Woven within the tents are perfectly grown outdoor specimens of cannabis. Blackberry Paka to Larry OG and Mother’s Milk. They are growing several amazing flowers here each one as uniquely special as the last. The plants sit in a valley soaking up the sun and all the nutrients this carefully managed biosphere has created. Each morning when I ride the four wheeler down from my campsite, I am immediately struck with the powerful smell of expertly grown cannabis. I love coffee, but this smell is the next best thing. For a veteran who has been through the things I have this place does wonders for me. Having a farm like this for veterans to come and heal is my ultimate goal. I want to share the feelings that everyone who works and lives at this farm wakes up with. The sense that cannabis is there to help us. Always. And if we help ourselves we can help others.
Rancho Ecomar has attracted some of the best people in the world to come work and learn at their farm. The crew is made up of an amazing cast of cannabis lovers. That’s what this is all about. Love. Love for cannabis. Love for oneself. And love for the world. Where as some farms hide their secrets from outsiders Rancho Ecomar is open and willing to share knowledge with their peers. There is so much to learn and everyone here is eager to experiment. Cannabis is a great unifier of people, as well as the catalyst for so many to get back to the life they deserve. Those of us who have found answers in it need to know that our medicine is being grown responsibly and with love. The biosphere grown aspect of Rancho Ecomar provides natural pest repellents and several hundred-year-old Oak-trees are still standing where they could easily have been torn down to make room for more plants. Doing this would disrupt the ecosystem in ways that would certainly disrupt the way the cannabis is grown. The owners and managers of this farm will not have that, they see the value in growing cannabis the right way.
My love for this farm is clearly very personal. I have never been so passionate about anything as I am about cannabis. It is my great calling. And I have fallen in love with the air here. The air that helps the medicine that helps me be a father. The air that is truly different.
This is part one of an ongoing series Colin Wells will be doing on cannabis farming.
Colin Wells is an Army Infantry Veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and the founder of @veteranswalkandtalk, a group of veterans who hike, provide outreach, and advocate for the use of holistic remedies. He sits on the Advocacy Board of the Veterans Cannabis Coalition @veteranscannacoalition and writes for www.laughterunderfire.org
Colin Wells