Growing Cannabis
The quality of cannabis medicine is important to us at Secret Garden Inspirations. We choose to use high quality standards from seed to finish. Our medicine starts with proven lab tested genetics from a reputable breeder of CBD rich varieties: CBD Crew from Barcelona.
Our CBD does not come from industrial hemp. CBD derived from industrial hemp may be dangerous because hemp is a bio-accumulator, drawing toxins and heavy metals from the soil, and since it takes a large amount of hemp to make a small amount of CBD, these toxins can be concentrated.
We believe whole plant medicine is the most effective medicine. CBD only, whether from industrial hemp or synthetic CBD has a narrow range of effectiveness, as it does not provide the body with the choice of other cannabinoids and terpenoids that the body is seeking to re-balance itself. Research has shown that CBD rich extracts from resin cannabis plants have a much wider bell curve of effectiveness by comparison.
In gardening what we are really growing are healthy microbes in the soil. With healthy soil it’s easy to grow healthy plants. We use only organic growing techniques; no synthetic fertilizers. In fact we use the same certified organic fertilizer that Earthbound Farm uses for their organic produce. We introduce effective micro-organisms into our organic fertilizers to ensure a living soil. We also inoculate our soil with the diverse micro-organisms from our worm composting system. Our plants grow in living soil.
Harvesting
The fruit of the cannabis plant is not just the flowers, but the trichomes on the flowers. All the cannabinoids, terpenoids and flavonoids are in the trichomes. So it’s important to know how to tell when the trichomes are
mature and at their optimum. We do this with an appropriate magnifier. If the trichomes are transparent they are not quite mature. If they are amber it is beyond mature. It is when at least 80% of the trichomes are milky or translucent it is ready to harvest.
Extraction
In 2014 we began this venture using professional lab glassware by Terp Magic to do a two step distillation process. To maintain the terpine integrity we first put the plant material through a steam distillation process and then dried it and put it through an alcohol distillation (to extract the cannabinoids) second. We would then evaporate it fully leaving only the plant medicine. Then we dissolved the extract into organic coconut oil to make it easy to accurately fill capsules.
In 2019 we invested in a heat press system that does not require any distillation. This allows us to make a purer and more potent medicine. We can also make sublingual drops now in addition to capsules, which many people find beneficial.
In 2019 we……………………………………..
Quality is no secret at Secret Garden Inspirations!
