A Hemp Children’s Book & Colorado Hemp Farming With Blue Forest Farms

Speaker 0 00:00:00 I'm at balm. And this is the ministry of hemp podcast brought to you by ministry of hemp.com. America's leading advocate for him and have education. Speaker 1 00:00:07 <inaudible> Speaker 0 00:00:17 Come back. And today on the show, we're going to be talking to Zach Dorsette. He is the chief growth officer for blue forest farms. But more importantly than that, he wrote a children's book about him, and we're going to talk to him about it amongst some other things. But before we get into that, some pretty big governmental news coming down the pike here, the FDA submitted their CBD enforcement policy draft guidance to the white house. Speaker 0 00:00:46 That's Wednesday, July 22nd. The FDA submitted their CBD enforcement policy document for approval, which means we could have some long awaited industry guidance on the way as of yet. Nobody really knows what that guidance is going to be. And while CBD enforcement policy. Sure. Sounds kind of scary. It's actually a good thing upon approval. We could have rules very quickly, like in the next couple of weeks. So what does this mean? It means rules could be coming to the CBD business standards, practices and rules as set down by the federal government, which CBD companies that are doing it right. Have been screaming for for years now, when it is approved, the public release of the enforcement policy could come very quickly. Like a matter of weeks, no one is really sure where the FDA is going to go with this, but it looks like it's going to go one of two ways. Speaker 0 00:01:41 And that is they're going to put out rules that are claimed based or standards based. Claims-based meaning they could crack down on CBD companies that are making false claims, which is good. We need to get the snake oil salesman out of the way. So people that are doing it right can represent CBD well and get a good product to the public. The standard side basically means that everyone will be expected to produce CBD products in a safe and effective way. Basically setting up good and safe manufacturing practice requirements, which again, this is a good thing. It's better for everybody, whether you're in the production business or you're a consumer buying CBD, this is the story we're going to continue to follow. And of course, I'll try and keep you up to date on it, but this is a great first step. And this is something that CBD producers all across the United States have been looking for rules cause wants the government establishes federal rules that will also help States get in line. Right now we have different regulations in almost every state and that is not helpful for anyone. So fingers crossed this new policy draft guidance will pass and U S CBD providers will finally have some rules that they can look to to make sure they're it the right way. Speaker 0 00:03:06 Before I get into my weekly conversation, let's do a couple of corrections from last week. My buddy Kelly, who I talked to he's officially my buddy now. So we got along really well. I don't know if he knows that, but deal with it. Kelly. He wanted me to let you know we needed to make a few corrections from our talk last week. One, Candace was first in the nation for hemp bushels per acre in 1863 to Kelly served on the department of ag I H R a B as an appointed member. And three Kansas has actually increased its number of hemp licenses from 2019 by 11, all good things. And I'm glad we got that straight now. Thank you, Kelly. Speaker 0 00:03:51 My conversation today is with Zach Dorset, as I mentioned earlier as the chief growth officer for blue forest farms, but he's a lot more than that. And he has a very interesting story. Not only that Zach tells interesting stories, he wrote a children's book all about hemp that is coming very soon. And of course I'll have more about that in the show notes, but here is my conversation with Zach Dorset of blue forest farms. So before we go into the children's book that I want to talk about, because I know it's a weird intro, but I do want to get into that. Tell me a little bit about blue forest. How'd you get involved in this? Like where did this start for you, but for you personally, that is yes. So, you know, my, Speaker 2 00:04:39 But you haven't been history for a few years now since about 2016. And I started, you know, in, on the marijuana side and the pushed CBD was really pretty strong for me. I didn't, you know, it's funny to think back on it, cause I didn't really know much about CBD, um, or you know, the endocannabinoid system or some of the things that I really, um, I'm excited about, you know, Speaker 0 00:05:11 Crazy, cause like four years ago, nobody did 2016. Nobody knew anything about this it's nuts. Speaker 2 00:05:17 Seriously. We were all just baby. Um, but, uh, yeah, so I, I had been doing some like direct patient work, um, and you know, in addition to doing some consulting in inside the cannabis space. And so the, what the consulting looked like is, was primarily centered around extraction, which was, um, still pretty new, um, you know, in 2014, 2015, even in 2016, um, you know, and it was really powerful for the cannabis industry. Cause we took this at the time. It was really about utilizing the waste stream, um, this trimmings or flowers that weren't going to, or weren't as appealable to sell and being able to take that and turn it into an alternative revenue stream and you know, in concentrates now I think in that, you know, journey, I mean, I'm sure I locked you up all kinds of reasons for getting involved in concentrates, but for me it helped me understand, you know, the reasons why people need concentrates and why there's such an essential part of, you know, our community, um, in our, in our, in our tool belt toolbox. And, and it really helped me kind of understand some of the chemistry behind extraction and um, solving extraction and how that all worked. Um, so that kind of goes back before hand and then, you know, in, in 2016 as doing a little bit direct patient work. So I had a few patients that I was caregiving for. And so one patient had ms. Um, Speaker 3 00:06:48 I mean to stop you, but tell me about this when you were caring for patients. What, I don't know if this answers, Speaker 2 00:06:54 Sorry. So that is a term commonly used in cannabis in the cannabis community, basically you're, you're providing cannabis to, um, a medical marijuana patient. They're not my patients. Speaker 3 00:07:09 Yeah. I was like, Whoa, I didn't see that part in the bio back up like, Oh yeah, I got my doctorate a couple of years in between there. So, Speaker 2 00:07:18 So these are their medical marijuana patients. So that's why I don't, you know, it's kind of maybe not the best verbiage, but you know, that you're using marijuana for medical purposes. And, um, and so they, and, and they just kind of get to know him through the community one. Um, one of them was, it was a neighbor. One of them was a friend that I had found through like political activism and volunteer work. And then another had found me, I think, through a Craigslisting or something, or maybe I found him through Craigslist, but so he had ms and he was, he wanted just to leave. So I had a small, you know, um, grow for myself, medical marijuana, grow for myself and he just wanted the leaves to juice. Right. Um, it was really, yeah, it was really giving him great relief. Um, and he, so he would come and pick up these garbage bags would care. Speaker 2 00:08:14 I would see when we leafed, you know, or pull down the plants, we would kick all those leaves and freeze them immediately. And so I had a chest freezer pulleys, and then he would take those and he would juice them and, um, he'd pick them up now, what's Vermont or something like that. So I caught up with him a few weeks ago and he's, he's doing really well, but, um, and then there was another gal, this, the gal through the political activism work and she had fibromyalgia and she was taking, um, cannabis, you know, to help relieve her symptoms presumably. And, um, and just, you know, we kind of geeked out on just like learning about planned and, you know, and I had this grow and, you know, so I was helping given her, giving her some of the medicine I was growing and, and I always found it really interesting to just kind of hear people's experiences. You know, I, you know, canvas has been essential to my growth and development and it definitely provides a level of, you know, support to my health and wellbeing that I think I take for granted a lot, but I'm not one of those folks that has like a debilitating illness where I use cannabis and it gives me this life changing I'm with you. I always love, yeah. Speaker 4 00:09:34 I think I'm in a very similar space, so where, I mean like aches and pains and whatnot, but I've never debilitated and I've found it's helped me a lot as well, so Speaker 2 00:09:43 Yeah. Yeah. It's um, it's cool. You know, it's one of those things that I, I took a step back and I thought about a while back and I was like, well, maybe that is a big part of why I'm so healthy, you know? Um, and you know, you can't really use cannabis and not get the ma you know, the benefit, right. So, you know, everything is medical, but anyways, all these guys were pointing me into CBD day, all set, I need CBD. Um, you know, Oh, the third was my neighbor and he had Tourette's and so he was using cannabis to control his, um, tread syndrome and, um, you know, um, they, um, but yeah, so they were all pushing me into CVD asking me if I knew about CBD, where to get it, what made it different, better, et cetera. And they were all very attracted to it. Speaker 2 00:10:37 And I think it was the, my neighbor friend first that got a hold a Psalm and, uh, found like a dispensary that specialized in it. If you're in Colorado Springs called it, um, natural mystic, and they were one of the first kind of medical dispensaries to start offering, uh, CBD marijuana, dominant marijuana, you know, roughly, um, there's like maybe 2015, um, right before, right before I kind of got into the hemp space. Um, and yeah, they were all kind of leading me towards CBD what's CBD, you know? And so I started looking at what CTE, blah, blah, blah. And I was actually out on a vacation in Florida visiting my sister. And, um, she lives there in Miami and I had walked into a head shop and they were selling all this CBD stuff. And I just started talking to the guy that ran the head shop about, you know, what, what the deal was, you know, because this was before they had medical marijuana in Florida and he kind of explained how it was all through the hemp laws. And I had heard about, you know, him being legal, but never really connected it to cannabis. You know, I'd always thought, Oh, great. We could grow our own. Speaker 3 00:11:56 Yeah. We can make our own parachutes. Cool. Speaker 2 00:12:00 Yeah. Like, cool. But I'm not going to have a, uh, industry, you know, in the industry. Um, but this was like kind of brought it all together for me. And it was like, I had just been learning about the endocannabinoid system, I think too. And when I learned about it, which was like, Oh, we have what I learned, what I learned was we have a system in our body that utilizes it makes its own cannabinoids. And I was like, that's amazing pots, obviously for everyone, Speaker 3 00:12:30 We just solved the, like all the, like mysteries of the universe right there, you know, like dude, Speaker 2 00:12:36 Yeah. Click. Um, yeah. But then, you know, there's people and people, certainly people in my life that never wanted to get high, you know, of course, um, were tolerated the high at best. And, and so, so yeah, I just, when I learned about CBD, it kind of made everything click and I was like, Oh crap. This is like answer. This is for all the people that don't want to get high, but need the cannabinoids. And, and I was like, cool, this is cool. I want to learn more about this. And, um, so I started to get involved, um, just making edibles, you know, and we were just, um, me and a roommate, well, you know, in Colorado, you've got cottage law and, you know, um, you can, you can make edibles in your house or make, make, not edibles, but you can make, um, non marijuana products and sell them, you know, to the general public or even to stores and stuff. And so that's what we started doing. And we started making like some chocolate bars. I had this real family friend, friend of my dad's had, um, been going back and forth to Jamaica, to this like old growth cocoa farm, um, Clarendon and like, yeah, yeah. It was like magical chocolate that he was bringing back. And so we were doing that. We mixed that with the CBD and we were, we actually got a few dispensers in, you know, before they could, could sell him stuff. Um, and now they can, again, right. Speaker 3 00:14:16 It kind of blows my mind that Colorado cannabis guy had to go to Miami to find CVTE, it's just <inaudible>. And this was just a few years ago, you know, and now CBD like Colorado and Oregon are like the CBD capitals of the United States basically. So Speaker 2 00:14:35 It's true. You know, and, but, you know, I would say, I tell you what, I would say that in 2016, um, the consumer marketplace for CBD products was far larger in, um, in Florida. Yeah. Because the thing is, is that in Florida, they didn't have marijuana, you know? And so this whole, yeah. A whole group of people that need and want, you know, cannabinoids and, you know, it works directly with your physiology, you know? Right. Speaker 4 00:15:09 And you've got a massive geriatric population down there too. So, I mean like, Hey, makes sense. So from there, you, from there, you decide to go into your own CBD business. Speaker 2 00:15:21 Yep. Yeah. And we, you know, it was for pretty small time at first, you know, and then we ended up renting this coffee shop out on the weekends, you know, cause one of their customers wanted us to be in a commercial kitchen environment. So we rented this coffee shop out and we were just, we would just use it on the weekends because they were closed on the weekends and in the evening, you know, and we would rent out, we'd just go in and you have to keep everything perfectly clean. So they come in the next day and start like nothing ever. Speaker 4 00:15:49 I've done that same gig with like catering. So I know all about it. It's a nightmare. You spend more time cleaning than you do cooking anything. Speaker 2 00:15:58 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It definitely limits your, your ability to produce. But, um, but eventually, you know, we actually, um, bought the coffee shop. Um, it was, it wasn't profitable. So we bought it for a pretty modest amount of money. Um, it kind of took off the guy's hands and Speaker 4 00:16:18 That's nice of you because I thought coffee was like a billion coffee shots. It's just like printing money. Right. Come on. Speaker 2 00:16:26 You know, it was, but it was so interesting cause it was in the old folks home or Sarah center, senior center in Colorado, in Colorado Springs that had like 150 unique seniors come in there a day, you know? And so he's got to expose all those guys to CBD CBD yeah. And start selling it. And then the landlord ended up kicking us out, not knowing really what CBD was. Speaker 4 00:16:51 Of course you were drug dealers, you were, you and you were brought these horrible drugs. And of course, Speaker 2 00:16:56 Yup. And so when our lease expired yeah. They declined to renew it actually, I guess they didn't kick us out. Speaker 4 00:17:01 Okay. Well they respectfully asked you to leave. Got it. Speaker 2 00:17:08 Um, you know, and at that time I had, um, been starting to, to think about going into the processing, basically starting a lab for hemp, you know, and I, in my, you know, wide-eyed, um, naive, Speaker 4 00:17:28 How hard can chemistry be? I mean, come on, we all took it in high school. Right. Speaker 2 00:17:33 And my question was like, how different could this be than marijuana? Because I was like, I already know how to do this for marijuana. That can't be that much different. Speaker 4 00:17:42 Was it a huge chip? Was it like a massive job or does it make pretty much sense? Like if you can do this, you can do this. So Speaker 2 00:17:50 The thing is, is that the process is largely the same, but when you're doing the process on five pounds, you know, it's so much different than when you're doing it on a hundred pounds. Right. You know, when you're doing it on a commodity that's 50 cents versus the commodity that's $10 or $5, it's just a lot tighter. Sure. Um, so that was the learning curve. Um, but that's how I met blue forest farms. So we, we, I had, uh, started this processing facility it's called Ecclesiastes extracts in Colorado Springs with a hemp farmer. Sean Putnam, who had is from New Mexico. And he's also an old, old family friend. And, um, we had started this thing all gung ho you know, and it was just this massive humbling Speaker 3 00:18:44 As it should be though. You know, you either, you're either humbled and you succeed or you're not humbled and you fail and you decide it was everybody else's fault, not mine. Right, right. Speaker 2 00:18:52 No, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. Those are the two options. Pretty much. Yeah, that's funny. Um, but yeah, blue forest farms is one of our first customers and they were, are, are, um, they are still our biggest and best. And um, since I've started working with them, it's become a little bit of blurred lines, but it's, you know, it's been really good, you know, blue forest farms kind of one 22 acres in 2017. And we were opening our doors at ecclesia in September of 2017. And, um, you know, labs were in sorts supply. There were just very, very few people doing extraction at that time. Um, and, and then I kind of took some of my product development experience, um, with cannabis. Um, and just coming from, you know, being a long time, enthusiastic marijuana, enthusiastic, Speaker 3 00:19:58 All the CBD guys are, you know, every one of us, as a matter of fact, if you had to bump into one, it's like, Oh no, I never smoked weed. No, I just, not for me. No, no, no judgment. I'm hosting this podcast because I was an enthusiast. So I'm with you, you know? Speaker 2 00:20:15 Totally. It's so funny that then, um, yeah, and then we all went, we all just wanted the same things, you know? Um, so, you know, and we needed each other, you know, the farm needs, the processor, the processor needs the farm relationship. Speaker 3 00:20:33 Yeah. It's the same with, you know, uh, farm to table restaurants, movement that has popped up where people are like, look, I want that beef every time. Or I want those carrots every time, you know, like it just makes sense. Yeah. And you know, Speaker 4 00:20:48 Where it's coming from, you can control it. Is this how you got into like the farm aspect of it basically, and like learning about the genetics or did that all sort of carry through from marijuana as well? Speaker 2 00:21:01 Um, no, no. I didn't really know much about the genetics from marijuana. You know, I didn't, I didn't have any breeding parents. I, and I still don't, you know, I mean, but what I did have in what I have got that a lot of breeders don't have is through a cliche is extracts. We process for over 60 farms and we have done product development for 30. And so I've really been able to see a lot of material, you know, come through of varying quality that was, I've seen material that was grown, you know, in Southern Colorado and North Colorado front range, um, you know, Western slope, I've seen all of that. You know, I've seen all the strains you can imagine. I mean, it's rare that something comes up that I, I haven't seen process and, and I, and I, and I've seen it, you know, drip versus pivot versus flood, you know, versus, you know, so I've seen some of the distinctions between the different methodologies and yeah, and so that's kinda what helped me hone in on the genetic piece. Speaker 2 00:22:08 And I really drew heavily from, and to really, to be a hundred percent honest, you know, the breeding program relies on so many extraordinary people. I do so little, I mean, um, compared to the people that are moving these plants every day, um, and handling them and caring for them and making sure that they're healthy, um, to the folks that are collecting the data and running the analysis and, you know, to, to the genetics team that it's going in and, and doing, um, sequencing and looking through the sequencing data and trying to unlock, um, the genetic markers. And so the only thing I really did in the breeding program, um, well, as far as creating hot blonde and Queens dream, which are just phenomenal strains and, um, in the hemp scene right now, um, it really makes making waves is just select those parents. And I drew heavily from those that experience through extraction. Um, when I, when I, when we selected those, um, families and the unique Finos that we used, um, you know, for, for that breeding program, Speaker 4 00:23:21 Start having other farms asking you about this, like, Hey man, your guys' product is kicking ass. What are you using? Like, does it, did it go the other way too? You know what I mean? Speaker 2 00:23:31 Um, yeah. I mean, I feel like that is, um, that's always redo hear that. And that's like, always super, just like, um, it's just flattering when you hear that from another farm. But I think that that's, there's a big of comradery in the hemp industry, you know, and everybody that we've worked with, like whether they're, you know, even, and I would say almost everybody we work with is like a competitor quote unquote in one sense or another. Right, right. But there just isn't that feeling at all. Um, at least when I'm, you know, meet with folks or meet folks and it's, it's a lot, you know, we're trying to solve the problems, you know, we are all, I know almost everybody that I know in the Sam space is just working so hard and it's just a constant battle. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's, you know, I think everybody's driven by the, the same inspiration. I mean, most of the folks that are here now at least, but you know, the money's gone, Speaker 3 00:24:32 We weeded out the losers, you know? Speaker 2 00:24:36 Right. But yeah, I know, but we're, people are really driven by that. Um, you know, passion to create positive change, to empower one another, to like create healing. And those are just like profound intentions, you know? Speaker 3 00:24:52 Definitely. And like, like you said, you can have the best genetic strains in the world, but if they're not handled, if they're not grown right. If they're not watered, right. If they're not handled properly, if they're not identified, right. Like any step of the way that can break down, you have garbage. Speaker 2 00:25:07 Yeah. Yeah. And queen dream and hotline do really, really amazing in a lot of, a lot of the prime grilling regions. But the, you know, there's always gonna be room for improvement. There's always going to be strains that are like better acclimate. Well, I would always, but you know, there's, there's, there's strains that are better acclimated for some communities. Speaker 3 00:25:29 Just like you said, like, you, you look at them and you guys talk, work with each other and you talk to each other and you go, what did you do there? You're like, what did it, what's different from that, from this. And you start to put stuff together and you go, all right, these parents, these are the new parents. I want to work with. Look what we've got here. You know, Speaker 2 00:25:45 You know, what's a big one for that is the horror stories. And they don't get told enough in our community. I think, um, they are being told right now because there's just a lot of them, but we need those. We need those to come out to talk about those. I'm ready to talk about my skeletons and the mistakes that I made and how much it costs me so that someone else can avoid that Speaker 3 00:26:11 Success stories are great, but you never hear about like, Oh yeah, this guy was a professional BMX stunt rider or whatever. Like, what was it like the first time you decided you're going to do that, move off a ramp. I'm just curious, you know, like, Oh yeah, I broke both my shoulders, my neck and my back, you know, that is the stuff I, and I, and I would love to talk to people. I feel like I talked to a lot of success stories. I would love to talk to people who like, Oh yeah, I failed Speaker 2 00:26:37 Over and over and over and over again. Speaker 3 00:26:39 Yeah. Cause that's how you learn, right? Yeah. So going from there, Speaker 4 00:26:45 Sorry, Speaker 2 00:26:45 Have been people been vulnerable, you know, like I wouldn't say it's, it's not like on the people don't wear it on their asleep, but if you, if you do talk to people in this industry and you get out there, people will get you and they'll tell you where they lost. Speaker 4 00:27:00 Yeah, definitely. Speaker 2 00:27:03 And that's as important as knowing where people are winning. Speaker 4 00:27:06 I just talked to a couple of guys on the last show, actually the Harney and sons, and they do tea infusion with CBD and they came right out and they were like, Oh yeah, well, we decided we're just gonna plant our own stuff and live happily ever after. And it sucked, it sucked really bad. We did it totally wrong. And, but they learned from that. And now they have a very successful crop going, you know, and they're sustainable because of that now, too, which is, but it took a big failure, just like anything else. Now, let me ask you, you have a successful business and you're doing great and you decide, you know, what I want to do. I want to get into children's books. And then you decide you're going to make a kid's book about him. Where did this come from? What spurred this idea, Speaker 2 00:27:50 Man. So like, this was just, I mean, I don't even know. I mean, I'm my, sister's a really big, the biggest inspiration for this. She wrote a book called the, um, uh, lion and the elephant and it is just, you know, it is just a really, really, uh, heartwarming story about two unlikely friends. And, um, you know, there's just simple, you know, just really warm messages, right? Yeah, yeah. The truth. And it's just like, um, yeah, so I just was really inspired by that. And um, one of the things she did in it is she really, in the last, it's a, it's a, mostly a read along, but it's the last part of the book actually teaches the kid, the student or reader or something, you know, I don't want to ruin it, but, um, Speaker 4 00:28:51 I'm guessing the lion doesn't need to kill it. Speaker 2 00:28:53 Yeah. And that was like, you know, children's books, not only can be these incredible tools that can like teach and Colt culture and nurture the next generation, uh, you know, is gonna inherit this planet. But, um, but it also can be this really cool tool, you know? And so that was what was really inspiring for me. And so that's what I tried to do with the book. Um, and there in the end of the, of a hemp story, there is a really, really fun activity that actually helps the student create long lasting change, you know, and, or contribute to long lasting change. Speaker 4 00:29:32 Did your sister help you with it? Are you from like a family of children's book writers or something, or like you just happen to have them Speaker 2 00:29:39 Family of children's book writers crazy. Speaker 3 00:29:42 That's not something you hear very often. You know, Speaker 2 00:29:46 I say that a little in depth because we read both written one, one, but I, I tell you, you know, I'm enjoying it. And I think I would like to write more if it's, um, if it's well received and maybe even if it's not Speaker 3 00:29:59 Yeah, yeah. You can always waste more time if it's not, you know, Speaker 2 00:30:05 The only way you get better, I guess. Speaker 3 00:30:06 So what was the idea though? Is, is it education? Is that the idea like, Hey kids, this isn't something to be afraid of, even though you're going to be told that it is. Speaker 2 00:30:15 So the biggest thing in the, and why I wanted to read the book and the message is about the story and it's the hemp has this hemp is, is, is going to be, um, it's going to facilitate this world change, you know, that's happening right now, we're in the middle of it. And, and, and it's, it's, it's just like going to change the whole fabric of our community, the way that LMS affects people, the way that we, um, it's like the reverse, I call it the reverse frog in boiling water effect. You know, we're just going to turn around one day, a couple years from now. And our world is just going to look completely different because of hemp. And we're just like, it's almost like going to be, we didn't even notice some of the things that were changing, you know, Speaker 3 00:30:59 I hope so. I hope you're right. That's all. Speaker 2 00:31:01 Yeah. But in that is, you know, this really, really violent struggle, you know, um, for existence and for, um, you know, for the right to grow a plant and for the right to, to care for ourselves and our loved ones, you know, and, and, and, and to, yeah, I mean, so, so that is, that's the big part that I don't want to lose touch with because I don't think that, you know, hemps hemps and the inevitability of hems positive change, it could go one way or another, of course. And I think we've, we've all got to be working towards a, um, open access, you know, and making this more available to researchers and to, um, people, you know, that want to use it. And to just every, every aspect of the chain, you've got to make this more accessible and continue to push forward and open up. And, and a lot of that comes from really recognizing the struggle and the sacrifice, you know, that it may get where we are today, you know, and that's a think, a hard story to tell the kid to us, to, to children. Speaker 3 00:32:20 That's what made me when I first saw this, like, I can't remember who it was a Jill possibly the pitch, this to me, and was like, yeah, he wrote a children's book about him. And I just started thinking, I was like, okay, let me just put myself in that mindset. I'm gonna write a children's book about hemp, where the hell do you start? How do you boil this down for a kid? You know, and one Speaker 4 00:32:40 Make it interesting to make them understand how ridiculous the situation is and while demystifying it and teaching them something. And I was like, I gotta see this. So where do you start? They like, tell me a little bit about the story without spoiling it. Speaker 2 00:32:57 Um, well, the, you know, the story, um, utilizes, um, some characters from, from real life. So we've got, yeah, we've got, um, some characters right here in like our, our camp community. And it starts with, um, you know, Trina's Trina Johnson, who's my partner at blue first farms. Um, and our, our strong and fearless meat matriarch. Um, there it's, it's follows her to chill, uh, two, uh, two children, um, through this story, um, with their grandpa learning about how, you know, once upon a time, you know, hemp was everywhere. And, you know, it talks about some of the early uses right. Of this plant and history. And then we talk about what happened, you know, with the criminalization, um, um, marijuana and, and, and HAMP alongside it, you know, um, and, and how some of the special interests really, um, you know, sought to and were successful in controlling, you know, definitely these various in the industries, you know? Um, and, and then how it, how it continued to how it broke free, how it broke, broke free of that, you know, and, and what, what had to be sacrificed for that to be happening. And, you know, kind of where we are today here to ask the question, Speaker 4 00:34:51 It seems like it would be so easy just to be like, well, it's a story of two kids and their grandfather and named grandfather uses him to do this. And they go, grandpa, I thought hemp was bad. And he's like, no, man, it's not so bad. Here's what it does. And you learn a lesson, but I like that you trust the kids enough that you're writing about. And to, to understand that, yeah, there was corporate greed, there was racism. There was like some really gnarly stuff that happened in this country that touches on so many other things. I think that's really important. And I think that's one of the things that when I was a kid, like I fell in love with comic books and whatnot, and it blew my mind whenever comic books would step out and look at a real world problem. And I would think, Oh man, yeah, I read about that on the news. And now Spiderman is dealing with it or something. You know what I mean? And I think children's books are an amazing way to one trust kids and impart this knowledge and teach them something at a young age that they're going to look back on and hopefully think, well, that was the silliest dumbest time in American history. I can't believe anybody had to put up with that. You know, I think it's really brave. Honestly. I really like what you've done here. Speaker 2 00:36:05 Hey, thank you so much. That is so kind of you, Matt. I mean, I, uh, I really appreciate the work that you're doing and that the ministry is doing and our ministry of health is doing. And, you know, Speaker 4 00:36:18 I think you make it easy, honestly. Like we're just trying to echo your voices. So it's, it's awesome to find somebody who came from a space, a marijuana space moved into CBD. And then instead of just focusing, doubling down and going, let's make this money, let's make this money. You're educating now, but you're not just educating. You're trying to teach kids about this. I think that's amazing. I really do, by the way, yesterday, completely unrelated. I was moving some dirt around, through my back out. Your package showed up today and I use the Broadway bomb on my back and it worked and it was great. I loved it. And it's just like, this is perfect timing. Fantastic. So I love it. I'm a fan and I love the blue forest farms, a BFF. That's great. That's really nice marketing. Speaker 2 00:37:08 So when does this, you know, it's just happened like that. It was so funny. Cause Dave Asprey, he's like the big, he's the farmer and he's trained his partner at bloopers farms. And, um, they, um, are our partner. Um, he, he came up with that name, you know, and, um, you know, I don't think he thought about that at all. Cause he's just, he's an old school farmer. I mean, it's a real, real deal farmers, but, uh, yeah, it's funny that it really worked out great. I definitely feel that way. Speaker 4 00:37:43 So tell me, where do we go to pre the book is on preorder, correct. Where do we go to Speaker 2 00:37:48 Yes, at blue forest and BFF hemp.com and that's where you can get that, um, that, uh, pain relief bomb as well. Cool. Um, is that what it's called? What is it called? Broadway box. Sorry. Speaker 4 00:38:04 That's okay. I mean, they're partners, you don't own it, so I get it. And when does the book? Speaker 2 00:38:09 Yeah, um, it, you know, gosh, um, I think we're looking at September being able to fulfill all the preorders and, and get it onto some shelves. Um, but it's, uh, we are still waiting for some of the final illustrations and, um, you know, from there Speaker 4 00:38:30 You're not handling all of this yourself. You've got help because you're a busy guy. It sounds like you have a couple jobs. Speaker 2 00:38:36 I do. I do. I have a really good health. You know, I work with incredible local artists, his name's Danny star. He's done some really cool murals around Denver and in long in and around Colorado Speaker 4 00:38:53 Stuff I saw is adorable by the way, it looks fantastic. Speaker 2 00:38:58 Oh, thank you. Yeah. So he did all the design work and then this amazing, amazing artist, Nadia Gogia civilly, but she's amazing artist. She does pretty much only children's books and um, yeah, I mean, just phenomenal. And so she's been, um, she's created all of the characters. Um, we love them and it's just a, it's a great cast. Speaker 4 00:39:24 Yeah. It looks like a riot. I I'm excited to see this when it comes out. Speaker 2 00:39:29 Yeah. I can't wait. I will. Um, I'll definitely get you a copy on, on me, please do, Speaker 4 00:39:36 Please do. What's your next children's book about, by the way, what's the next one? Speaker 2 00:39:41 You know, that's a really good question. I guess I haven't thought about that. I really want to get some feedback. Um, first, you know, I want, I know that there's things I can learn and improve on and I, I really like already some of the feedback I've got on the vision. Um, but I'm really excited to put it in some folks' hands. I'm really excited to hear what, uh, Jake and Ari and Asher that's, Trina's a little ones that are featured in the story, what they think. And, uh, there are, uh, of the most, yeah, Speaker 4 00:40:16 Definitely going to make sure you get your main characters, right. I mean, come on. Yeah. Especially when you work with them, that could be embarrassing. So yeah. Speaker 2 00:40:25 Yeah. They'll, they're on, they're brutally honest too. So they will not hold back. Speaker 4 00:40:29 You gotta have good critics. That's important. You can't have a bunch of friends blowing smoke up your bat. Yay. Come on. Speaker 2 00:40:34 That's right. You will get better that way. Speaker 4 00:40:36 Just be careful. It's if it's an instant hit, the first question, they're going to say, what do you got in the can next door? So let's hear about it. Speaker 2 00:40:43 Yeah, no, I better. I knew I need to start thinking at least some subject matter. I'm glad you posed that. Cause I hadn't even asked myself that. So fair enough. That question, Speaker 4 00:40:53 Zach, you've been great to talk to. Is there anything you want to leave us with before you go? Speaker 2 00:40:57 Well, you know, 2020 is a big deciding year for the hemp industry and yeah. Yeah. So I just want to bring a lot of attention to that and support your local hemp farm, you know, people you're going to, you're going to be seeing like CBD companies popping up everywhere, you know, even more than you've seen already. And that's because the research says that people need it. And um, so yeah, just, I would just say, go with the flow, continue to experiment a be you do your due diligence and, and, and know what you're, what you're buying or trying. Right? Absolutely. But, but yeah, but Speaker 3 00:41:47 Lucky here in Colorado, so you can support your local hemp farm I'm in friggin Nebraska, we're still fighting to have local hemp farms let alone support them. Speaker 2 00:42:00 Nebraska's one of the places that hemp still grows naturally. Speaker 3 00:42:04 And that's one of the things that was brought to the state legislature. We were like, this is not an invasive species. This has been here. It grows very well here. It's like, it is not the alien monstrosity that we think it is. We used to grow the hell out of it here. As a matter of fact, Speaker 2 00:42:21 They've been trying to kill it for 50 years. Speaker 3 00:42:24 Definitely. And it has not worked that oughta tell you something, go out and try and kill corn. It's real easy. You know, everything wants to kill corn. Speaker 2 00:42:36 So that's cool. I will, I believe that it will, will come. And I know that you're working to create that change and, um, I'll look forward to, uh, uh, having you out there and, and, and hopefully Nebraska joining in the season and 21, Speaker 3 00:42:53 We're trying, man, we're trying as hard as we can just got to get some old ideas out of the way. And I think quite honestly, it might take a new generation of kids in Nebraska reading your book to grow up and go, no, we should be doing this so Speaker 2 00:43:06 Well, here's the whole, there's a chance to read up there. You let me know. I will come up in a heartbeat. Speaker 3 00:43:12 That sounds awesome, man. I'll keep you posted. Definitely. That would be, Speaker 2 00:43:15 And that's yeah. I'm committed to do, do readings and to, yeah. To read my book, you know, I, I have a good expressive voice and I, you know, I certainly, it will be. I think it'll be fun to, to hear me read it. Yeah. So I'm going to come do bookstores. Speaker 3 00:43:33 Certainly I'll keep in touch and I hear anything. Yeah. We'll get you up here. That would be a riot man. And who knows, maybe this COVID stuff goes away and we could actually like have a beer and I can take you out to dinner or something who knows. Maybe, Speaker 2 00:43:46 Gosh, I always keep forgetting about Kobe. Speaker 3 00:43:48 I know. It's like we remember when society was normal and we're like, now we just like, feel like this is normal, but it's not, it's terrifying. But at least we're adapting. I'll say that we've adapted pretty well so far. So now tomorrow the whole thing could burst into flames and we'll see, but for now we're doing what we can. You can find links to blue forest farm and the preorder for Zach's book, a hem story in the show notes for this episode, find ourselves at the end of another episode, but there are still plenty of ministry of hemp to keep busy until the next Speaker 0 00:44:32 Show, head over to ministry of hemp.com. We've got a fantastic article about CBD and nausea and the science behind it. We're finding that it's actually very effective for treating nausea, whether it's nausea, that's induced from chemotherapy or just nausea and deuce from certain conditions, CBD is proven to be very helpful. So go check that article out. You can always follow us on all your social media backslash ministry of hemp, administry of him. We're all over the place. And we're always posting cool hemp stories and hemp links to our buddies that are doing great work in the emphasis fear. If you will. I don't know if that's a word, but I'm going with it. Thanks again to Kelly for getting back to me so we could get those corrections in here and huge. Thanks to Zach. He was a ton of fun to talk to. I hope you guys dug this episode and I hope you're digging all these episodes. Speaker 0 00:45:24 And if you are, do us a favor and throw us a star rating or a thumbs up on your podcast app, those ratings get us kicked up in search results. So other people can find this information. And if you really want to help us out head over to patrion.com, backslash ministry of hemp and become a ministry of hemp insider, any amount, get you access to podcast extras, like the video we just posted of the Harney brothers, who I interviewed two episodes ago, planting their own hemp, early access to articles and Patrion exclusive articles too. Plus it really does help us to spread the good word of him. So if you like what you hear on this show and what you read on our site become an insider. It is the best way to help us spread the word here at ministry of hemp. We believe that an accessible world is a better world for everyone. So we've got a full written transcript of this show in the show notes [email protected] as well. I gotta get out of here. And I like to end the show the same way every time by saying, remember to take care of yourself, take care of others and make good decisions. Will you, this is Matt balm with the ministry of hemp podcast signing off Speaker 1 00:46:32 <inaudible>.