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GRAM: The Essence of Ganjasana; 2019
Reviving Ancient Cannabis Plant Spirit Traditions
Sitting on their yoga mats in a candle lit room in Boulder, CO, students hold their hands out as Red Wiggler worms slither across the marma points of their palms (energy points in the body). The worm’s bio slime activates these points, and the vermicompost (worm excretions) contain a bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae, that has been found to release serotonin in the brain, the chemical that makes us feel happy and relaxed—and connected to the ganja plant medicine.
The essence of Ganjasana—a Cannabis Yoga ceremony developed by Rachael Carlevale, who aims to revive the ancient practice of working with plant medicine in body, mind, and spirit, just as our ancestors did thousands of years ago—is to harness a deeper understanding, from soil to flower. Seeing ganja as a sentient being, we can heal through these symbiotic relations. When we feel and know the life in the soil, we begin to understand our purpose, and connection to nature by becoming allies with the natural world. Carlevale developed the practice from the roots of her own experience, healing her body from cancer through the cultivation of cannabis and the practice of yoga. Ganjasana aligns regenerative cannabis “Ganja” (from the Sanskrit word Ganjika) with sacred yoga methods “Asana” and is founded on the ethics of Permaculture—earth care, people care, fair share.
Anyone can grow cannabis, if you have the passion, and drive. It is a relationship we cultivate with the plant, and just like any other friendship, it takes time, practice, and presence for a successful coexistence to blossom. The question is not if, but when we make mistakes, let them serve as a lesson for the future. Keep a dated grow journal to log every input, plant responses you observe.
GRAM: Cannabis Germination; 2019
The famous words written by Greek poet, Dinos Christianopoulos, refers to the strength needed to grow and rise up out of adversities, and highlights the tremendous potential held within the mighty seed of nature. The process of germination, where a seed sprouts, and grows into a new plant, requires stable genetics, a growing medium, water, and time.
When it really comes down to it, you can throw a seed into some good organic living soil, and from it, a healthy seed starts. After all, this is how nature does it. Such as life, one can choose to make things as simple or as complicated as they’d like. I prefer to keep it simple; keep in mind, all genetics, environments, and growers are different, so results may vary.
A single teaspoon of soil can hold up to one billion bacteria, several yards of fungal filaments, several thousand protozoa, and thousands of nematodes, the essential factor separating soil from dirt— Life! To build living soil for your garden, use high quality organic ingredients from sustainable sources to create a stable ecosystem that will model nature’s rhythms. The soil food web powers the growth of the plants by making nutrients available and creates a regenerative closed loop system.
Natural soil systems allow for the organic cycling of nutrients from the diversity of microbes present. Once you have created a living organic soil, you, in essence, can just plant a seed and water it. Plants have and do grow all the time without the use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and chemicals to motivate pH levels. It happens in nature everyday. When humans interrupt these natural systems, like trying to bypass the soil food web for example, it can lead to a dependance on varying methods of agriculture based in synthetic models known to harm the environment and, potentially, the plant and end user.
Closing Loops in Cannabis Cultivation
The soil food web powers the life of plants; when we model this natural order, we can grow cannabis in a perpetual closed loop system. When we create the proper environment, we can grow the nutrients our plants need in our gardens, without having to purchase synthetic varieties of nutrients. These principles can be applied indoors in no-till living soil containers, and outdoors in living soil. They can also be applied from small home grows to large-scale operations, by way of regenerative farming practices.
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YOGANONYMOUS: Rediscovering the Ancient Power of Plants; April 20, 2016
Cosmic Sister: Leading Ladies of Ladybud, Classin' Up the Joint; May 2015
Elephant Journal: 8 Blunt Truths About Becoming a Yoga Instructor; April 24, 2013
Sexually Smarter Blog: Why I Teach Sex Ed: Knowledge is Power; April 23, 2012
COSMIC SISTERS OF CANNABIS
The Cosmic Sisters of Cannabis education initiative covers women of the cannabis liberation movement. We also include stories by women in support of cannabis reform, that are sometimes about men. We have many great stories in the works!
DEM Pure Certified Regenerative
We are proud to be a Certified Regenerative Hemp Farm in the collective of Pure Certified Farmers and Businesses who are a group of hardworking, dedicated, intentional people that cultivate clean pure hemp in harmony with nature. We go above and beyond to be leaders in innovation and intelligent land design.
A DEM Pure certificate is given out to those gardeners that are already on the path of ecological sustainability and growing of high quality healthy medicine and/or food. Having a DEM Pure cert recognizes that a farmer is utilizing sustainable practices. He/she is acting as a steward to the land, soil and the plants. A DEM Pure certified farmer is giving back to his/her community. They are leaders and teachers of beyond organics that uses nature as a guide for his/her techniques. This certificate is not comparable to any organic certification. It encompasses mindfulness and practices that derive from nature, community building and sharing of ideas and techniques, care taking patients and your workers. It is not meant to comply with any other certificate. It does not require the use of DEM products. It recognizes the highest growing practices for healthy, clean medicine
We make up all realms of diversity. We are all over the globe and we are joining together to create a powerful, compassionate voice for Pure, Healthy Hemp Medicine. Through observation of Mother Nature, we mimic her natural cycles in preparing our farms and soils. We are bringing medicine to the market in a way that is respectful to the soil, the ecosystem, the plant, and the consumers.
We are educators and leaders to our local and international communities in areas of natural systems that support biodiversity, biological intelligence and health. We work hand in hand with scientific laboratories and our intuition to better our knowledge of plant, soil and our final products.
Suelo Vivo’s Pure Certification represents our professional outdoor full sungrown, greenhouse, licensed hemp farm and company that process, infuse and sell Pure Certified Hemp. It represents our Colorado based, family-run boutique craft farm that grows food, bee pollinator gardens, save seeds, create polyculture systems, provide fair and equal pay to all employees, and grow much of our own nutrients.
We have created closed loop systems in our cultivation that help ensure the purity of our inputs and our medicine.Hügelkutur beds, swales, and many carbon sequestration techniques are used to create health and balance of soil. Local plant ferments and dynamic teas are created as liquid nutrients. Minimal inputs are needed from the marketplace. Closed loop cultivation is key to all of Suelo Vivo’s business practices from building soil to developing our botanical wellness products.
About the DEM Pure Certificate
The Pure Certificate is set to be the highest example of regenerative hemp cultivators, extractors, and vendors in the world.
Suelo Vivo Pure farmers and gardeners agree to go beyond monocropping to create a rich, biodiverse landscape that supports a healthy, biologically intelligent environment. *Food, medicine, pollinator gardens, and predator friendly gardens are present on every farm. The purpose of this certificate is to grow food and medicine in a way that is gentle on the earth, healthy for humans and healthy for the environment.
It is our goal to regenerate the earth with proper farming methods and education. Suelo Vivo farmers take into account the embedded energy it takes for inputs to come to our farms. We choose inputs that are tested organic, whole food additions that are good for our beneficial microbes, pollinators, wildlife, water systems and humans. Growing as much of our inputs as possible, sequestering carbon, and creating a closed loop system on our farm is the focus. The Pure Family Agreement, is an agreement to the regeneration of the earth and its sensitive ecosystems. The most effective and powerful thing about this certification is that it is community driven, community supported and community monitored.
Agreeing to be Pure certified is agreeing to be an example to the rest of the Hemp and beyond community and industry. A Pure certified farmer or business owner is a teacher, that can inspire others. Each farm and business is distinct, and goes the extra mile to insure practices and knowledge are pure from beginning to end. Monitoring farm, sales, marketing, education and practices so that they are wholistic in nature, seed to seed vision.(Join our Newsletter at the bottom of this page to get access to Suelo Vivo online Education Community, enjoy live informational and experiential learning events.)
A Pure certified family member agrees to share practices, recipes, education with other Pure certified farmers. We, as a group, will inspire others to make their space more biodiverse and healthy.(Follow Suelo Vivo on Social Media to Learn More.)
The Pure Certification goes beyond the National Organic Standards (NOP) and USDA. We feel the word “Organic” has been faded by these large institutions, and no longer represents the healthy environment, products and practices we consider pure. The Pure Family creates a comprehensive flow with minimal inputs, creating living soils, and nearly eliminating waste and garbage. Pure certified family never uses any harmful synthetic sprays or chemical fertilizers. We never use harmful fungicides, herbicides, or pesticides. We use all natural eco-friendly regenerative practices that enhance nature. We agree to encourage each other to learn more, do more, create more in a way that Mother Nature would approve.
Photos by Povy Kendal Atchison
At last, top chefs from across the country reveal their secrets for healthy cannabis cuisine! The Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook is an empowering guide for harnessing the herb’s unique flavor profile and medicinal benefit through mouth-watering recipes. Packed with full-color photos and recipes (cocktails too!)—including many that are raw, vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free—this enlightening book also includes invaluable information about growing, processing and selecting the finest cultivars, navigating the new retail environment, determining desired affects and comfort level, and mastering infusions and tinctures. You'll reach for this book again and again for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and entertaining—with a cannabis twist!