- Billee Sharp

Autumn brings a change in the weather, the leaves on the trees transform the landscape, giving us the season’s satisfying hues, reds and oranges, yellows and browns. In Northern California as the hillsides turn golden the cannabis crops come to fruition and harvest time has officially arrived.

The harvest is the final crucial stage of the growing cycle and has its own unique protocols, the timing and conditions of the harvest vary depending on the particular strains: a CBD-rich strain may not necessarily be harvested at the same time as a THC-rich strain or CBG-rich strain because of the unique cannabinoid profile that is desired. The weather at harvest time is a major factor too and has to be carefully monitored: early frosts and heavy rains can ruin the delicate flowers and it goes without saying that wildfires and smoke-damage are potentially devastating.

Cannabis cultivation has a very long history in human culture, the archaeological record and textual evidence show us that the benefits of the plant were known 6,000 years ago in China. In western medicine cannabis extracts were widely used to treat digestion upsets, tension and spasms until the early twentieth century.

Modern science summarily dismissed the efficacy of cannabis and it wasn’t until the grassroots cannabis culture of the 1960s emerged that the reputation of cannabis regained traction. Gradually the scientific community began to study the uses of cannabis and this scrutiny has led to a deeper understanding and acknowledgement of the therapeutic values inherent in cannabinoids.

While white western society dithered on the possibilities cannabis might offer, the pioneering cannabis farmers of Northern California were honing the art and methodology of cannabis cultivation.

There are many individuals that deserve to be credited for their contributions to the rehabilitation of cannabis medicine, for example, Northern California”s much-loved, late great Lawrence Ringo. Ringo developed several notable CBD-rich strains now in widespread therapeutic use. The last CBD strain that Ringo created is aptly called ‘Ringo’s Gift’, the product of a cross-fertilization between ACDC and Harle-Tsu, the latter also being one of Ringo’s own strains. The high CBD content of ‘Ringo’s Gift’ combined with its gentle floral profile makes it one of the world’s most popular and effective CBD strains, not to mention a huge favorite with our membership.

The harvest links us back to the agrarian roots of our society when each community sustained itself for another year on a successful harvest. Through millennia, the harvest festival has celebrated the bounty of the crops and land and the labor and ingenuity of the farmers. Nowadays our lives are not so intimately connected to the earth and yet the harvest time is still close to our hearts and the symbolism of the autumnal cornucopia still resonate.

At this time of year Synergy Wellness is energized with the promise of the rewards and surprises the harvest will bring: this year the first crop of “Stem Cell” a new CBG-rich strain is anticipated with excitement as Leonard’s quest for beneficial cannabinoids continues.

In a larger sense we are now harvesting the culmination of many people’s efforts to bring cannabis to the center stage of modern medicine. Courage, ingenuity and hard toil characterize the many lives that have been devoted to the cause of cannabis medicine. Harvest time reminds us of those who have inspired us and made it possible for us to continue to provide, to learn and to grow.