A New Regenerative Hemp Course, Soil Cleanup In the High Desert, and Funky Butte Ranch Terpenes

Written By Doug Fine

The seeds are fattening with Omegas by the day here on the Funky Butte Ranch, which bodes well for nutrient-dense winter superfood for my human and non-human family. I like the feeling of knowing we are at least taking steps to dial in our survival. On the ground we feel less like rugged individualists and more like midwives. Which is to say, the hemp plants have produced children.

I brought a particularly robust stalk from last year’s harvest out to the field this morning, just so she could feel the pride all parents feel upon witnessing tens of thousands of their offspring thriving. We wanted the elders to feel that they have left their future in well-intentioned hands. Eventually this stalk will become part of our hempcrete porch patch. The seeds have already provided the crunchy ice cream topping for my son’s birthday.

Even as we tend to our crop, I am pleased to announce that early bird registration is open for the immersive, online regenerative hemp course I am offering alongside the great folks at Acres USA, the 50-year-old farming organization. I’ve been working on this course for several months. If you’re interested in learning, really learning, about regenerative hemp from soil to market, registration is at https://learn.acresusa.com/courses/doug-fine-he-course-2020?ref=811aeb

The course is called “A Grower’s Guide to Regenerative Hemp: From Soil to Seed to Sales.” This is soil to product, including seed acquisition, what to look for midseason, options for harvest, the works. Ten chapters in all, accompanied by videos, photos, my experiences and those of other experts I trust.

Here’s how the folks a Acres are shouting out the course: “A holistic and step-by-step guide for small acreage professional farmers and home gardeners looking to make the leap to hemp. In addition to a broad overview of the many of uses of hemp — from food and fiber to wellness and construction material — actual hemp farmer and author Doug Fine goes deep into regenerative growing methods and soil preparation as well as strategies for building a regenerating business right down to packaging and delivery.”

You can work on your schedule, from anywhere in the world. We hope it proves helpful, whether you are hemp-curious, a backyard gardener (growing superfood for your family is a blessing) or ready to leap in and become a regenerative entrepreneur.



Before returning to the field for my next tax-deductible field-side bliss session (at this time of year, I’m checking on seed ripening progress especially), I wanted to share another piece of exciting news emerging from here in the Southwest. Many hemp farmers are aware of the phytoremediative (soil-building) qualities in hemp and other plants. I find it cool that I can confidently write, “hemp cleans up radioactive soil.” Not, “I heard it does,” or “I wish it did,” or even “someone told me they used it at Chernobyl.” It actually does, according to a study presented last month. I’m delighted to report that I provided the hemp for the study.

Researcher Hanah Rheay at New Mexico State University (under the guidance of Professors April Ulery and Catherine Brewer) reported in her American Society For Horticultural Scienceconference presentation on August 10 that she is seeing initial success in uranium uptake from contaminated mining soil planted with a hemp variety that I’ve been developing for five seasons. The plants do most of the work, actually. It’s pretty amazing.

The results are preliminary and research continues, but to see hemp confirmed as a phytoremediator of radioactive soil is certainly promising news. As I reported in my new book AMERICAN HEMP FARMER, in a first-phase study at the University of Hawaii, hemp is also removing 80 percent of the herbicide atrazine in soil, 50 days after planting.

More on both of these somewhat earthshaking (maybe the better word is earth-cleaning) studies as research continues. For now, fellow primates, just know that you, cultivating on small or large acreage, can help save humanity. You can grow superfood, rocket components, health maintenance compounds and green home building feedstock while sequestering carbon and removing toxins from soil. That is, if you grow outdoors, organically building native soil.

How to Make Bliss Your Day Job

Here on the Funky Butte Ranch at this time of year, the terpene-scented air wafting from the blankets of flowers that enfold our near-future protein leaves me, unsurprisingly, immensely grateful. I get the impression that the hummingbirds, rabbits and bees feel the same way. There’s plenty for everybody.

Each afternoon, it’s at least five degrees cooler in the polyculture hemp/vegetable garden than anywhere else here in the high desert. I like being in here to listen to and smell the plants, which is my day job. But I also find myself lingering in the field each day because the pleasant. oxygen-rich climate gives me space to reflect on the enormous good fortune I feel to be involved in hemp’s resurgence at its rebirth.

We’re a half million acres into the young hemp industry. Personally I think a reasonable, medium-term goal is 234 million acres – the amount of hemp that will equal today’s combined acreage of corn, what, soy, and cotton. Then we as a nation and as a species can truly know that superfood security is a seed away.

Thanks for reading American Hemp Farmer and my other books. They are available everywhere, with links for books, ebooks and audiobooks at DougFine.Com.

OK, I work for plants and beneficial microbes. It’s time to punch in for another terpene bath.

-Doug Fine

Funky Butte Ranch

9/08/20





Order AMERICAN HEMP FARMER The Book

Reviews of AMERICAN HEMP FARMER

"American Hemp Farmer would have been in George Washington’s library. Doug’s book is a scholarly, practical and impeccably enjoyable work and a must-read for those who cultivate hemp or are interested in leaping in.”  --J. Dean Norton, Director of Horticulture, George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate.

"With American Hemp Farmer, Doug Fine shows he is not just our preeminent hemp author, he is one of the most important authors of our time.”  –Eric Steenstra, Executive Director, VoteHemp

"A fantastic piece of Americana that shows the way to a sustainable future.” -David Bronner, CEO, Dr. Bronner’s Soaps
 

"I hope every hemp farmer and policymaker reads this book carefully. It details a roadmap for success, for farmers and the planet." —Cary Giguere, State Hemp Program Coordinator, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.

                                   Further Praise for Doug’s Work

“Fine is a writer in he mold of Douglas Adams.” —Washington Post

"Fine is Bryson funny." --Santa Cruz Sentinel

"Doug has written the best book of the year and a blueprint for the future of America."      --Willie Nelson

About Doug Fine

Doug Fine is a comedic investigative journalist, bestselling author, and solar-powered goat herder. His latest book is American Hemp Farmer: Adventures and Misadventures in the Cannabis Trade (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020). He has cultivated hemp for food, farm-to-table products and seed-building in four U.S. states; You can register for his online regenerative hemp course with Acres USA here. Willie Nelson calls Doug’s work “a blueprint for the America of the future.” The Washington Post says, “Fine is a storyteller in the mold of Douglas Adams.” A website of Doug’s print, radio and television work, United Nations testimony, and TED Talk is at DougFine.Com and his social media handle is @organiccowboy. 



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