Welcome to Your Highness Podcast, a show where we get comfortable with the uncomfortable uncover areas of cannabis where accessibility and inclusiveness are lacking and elevate conversations about ways to affect real change in this space with a specific focus on folks who identify as women.
You're listening to Your Highness Podcast. This is your host Diana crash and today I am joined by Holly Pennington of Humboldt Seed Company How are you doing today?
I'm doing great thank you for having me Diane I'm excited to chat with you a little bit more about seeds and all that fun stuff we do.
I am as well because we really don't talk about that on the show. So before we get into that we're going to begin with a segment that we use we do every episode it's a recurring segment fav pot and Fave not pot where we each talk about our favorite cannabis related item and our favorite not cannabis non cannabis related item my words aren't working that well today so just bear with me people
here it's I like to blame it on the smoke but really comes down to it I'm just out of it these days
right I guess it's just like there's just so much going on it's just like a constant you know garbage fire of just
because my dad and I quite often use the term putting out fires for you know what we do all day every day at our jobs but lately it's actually become a literal instance where you know, everyone here is putting out fires. So Wow, times are crazy, but
yeah, yeah. So yeah, and when times are crazy, you need something to distract yourself right? That's why I'm gonna start with my favorite part which isn't about like well I guess it can help me distract myself now I can use it during the day so it doesn't I don't actually use this as a distraction. But my fave not pot is a distraction. We'll get to that in a minute. So I've been smoking cookie face, which is a strain that's high in THC a and I'm a big fan of that because I have migraines and stuff like that and thca helps a lot with a lot of my issues. So and it's like a hybrid, I think so it's pretty good for the day. I know that doesn't really mean anything anymore. It's good for me during the day.
I think a lot of the time it really just is consumer specific because you know, our Endocannabinoid systems kind of all process things differently and so if you found that thca works well for you and you can still keep you functional during the day I think that's wonderful and people really just need to take the time to find that personal perfect match for themselves. I think my favorite honestly for probably like the last five years hasn't changed from the blueberry muffin but I just love that one it's not the highest THC but that for me is something that you know I find as a highlight because I can smoke it at work I can smoke it throughout the day and you know it's hi in zip myrcene migraine I've had so many different pronunciations or sounds right but you know I have found that that terpene for me specifically definitely helps with my anxiety and it helps with my appetite and my sleep so I you know tend to find that that one is kind of one of my ideal strains that I can always have my good old reliable blueberry muffin usually gives me the perfect tie.
Yeah, I love everything that has to do with the blueberry when it comes to a strain I swear everything that has the word blueberry in it I love so I'm right there with you and I'm a very big fan of myrcene that's that was like my next favorite. I love high myrcene content
the blueberry muffin definitely packs that in there and so that one's one that I've never been able to really take from the number one position it's hard cuz you know there's so many of our strings that I do love as well but not one with you know with the flavor combined with the effects it really is just my number one and I can't deny that
nice. Well I'm glad that you found something that really works. So my fave not pot like I said it's about distraction. I was looking for something that's like going to, you know, engulf me totally so I'm not you know Do a scrolling while I'm watching so I started watching How to Get Away with Murder and it's not on it's not even on TV anymore it's like I think been off the air for a bit but that's how I roll. Anyway it is so good. I am just like 100% into this show, so I really recommend it. Especially if you really like Shonda Rhimes. She puts out I feel like this is one of her best projects so anyway
check that out honestly Yeah, I love crime related series and for some reason it just really like gets me invested
right This one is Yeah, this one is like I don't I don't want to spoil I can't even talk about it but it's just so good. It really it's like every I all I can say is when you think they're gonna zig zag you know it's one of those where you're just like oh wow oh le episode
Yeah, I can't you know I don't do well with a TV series that doesn't keep me on my toes consistently. So that sounds up my alley.
Yes, I highly recommend it. So what's your fav nap pot?
I would say lately I have been getting really into just looking into anything just about Paul Stamets is doing I've always found him very, very fascinating person. But lately the research he's been doing with mycelium extracts from these Pauling for mushrooms, and discovering this in stream immune benefits for bees. And that's something that you know if with, with my rare spare time, I would really love to start looking into a bit more because we've done a bit of beekeeping on our farm. And of course, bees are a central part of our ecosystems and our food and our biosecurity overall around the world. So the fact that you know, they have started really diving into what you can do with these funguses and lots of areas, not just the bees, but you know, it's something that kind of gets me as excited as like the new research and everything we've been discovering in cannabis in the last couple of years, especially, you know, terpene effects and numerous things that just haven't been discovered in such an under researched industry. And you know, I feel like when it comes to fungus, it's kind of in a similar place. So I've been loving the watch that all infertile.
That's amazing. And I love that you have a beehive or did you have a beehive or woody?
Fortunately, we had a bear breech, too. And our electrical fence went down, our whole entire property is powered by a micro hydro electric system. So it's just a tiny little half inch tube that shoots into a propeller and it spins and then that goes in charges, our batteries. But basically, the power up there isn't always consistent. So the bear came at the right time, and the electric fence was off. And we're bees felt the wrath, but that's nature.
But bees are so important. And we really need to spend way more time talking about the science around bs is just so fascinating. And what you're talking about to top that off, I really want to look into that that sounds really interesting.
Yeah, you know, I feel like a lot of his work doesn't necessarily get as widely published as I feel it should, at least because things that he's discovered are incredible, but particularly, you know, finding something that seriously boosts the baby's immune system is something that I think, you know, has become a serious issue in the last couple of years, I think our bee species have been declining it like extreme rates, and that's something extremely concerning when it comes to our biosecurity as a population. And so, you know, for him to actually have found a potential solution to that, that, you know, isn't even anything super crazy. It's basically just providing these, you know, polyform mushrooms, it's like Reishi and what is the other one? A Manu or something like that one of those. Anyways, you know, it's just kind of incredible to me to know that right? In this day and age, we are still making these incredible discoveries of hope as a species. As you know, we can make positive progress, although we have made lots of negative progress as well.
That's true, that is a really good message to hold on to because I mean, that's the only thing that we can hold on to right. Right now. We have all this like just, yeah, to combat all of this like toxic energy and everything that's terrible going on. It is exciting when you find out my first question is always how do we not know this already but then edit the second one's always of course we don't because why would we? Because nature is so phenomenal you know, I mean there's so much that we don't know still How could we if there's just yeah, anyway
I think it's one of those instances where I'm starting to see a shift in science and development me are so wanting to develop and work with nature rather than almost it and so finding these like symbiotic relationships that you know, you can use to improve an entire species existence just through a fungus is you know, something that I think a lot of scientists haven't even thought of to try it. And, you know, it's a little bit mind blowing, but it's also really exciting stuff.
It really is. I really want to check that out. That sounds so super interesting. So for as long as I've been in this industry and written about many different aspects of the space, I've never really explored genetics, more specifically, I don't pay attention to anything related to growing be my own cannabis because I have never lived in a state where it is legal to do so. In the moment that changes I plan to grow my own, but I don't know anything about seeds. So what do you tell someone who doesn't know anything? like where do they start?
I mean, you know, one of my go to is is just, you know, saying like, Hey, have you ever had houseplants? Have you ever grown a vegetable before because it really can be that simple. If you're not trying to produce like, you know, triple A hydroponic pot, then you can just put it in a flower pot in your backyard and still be smoking on some like great stuff. And the thing is, is when you grow your own product in my mind, it always tastes a bit better and so just to watch the whole process I think it's important for consumers to have that experience because you learn new things that you like about the plant in you know, you get to see every little detail of it you get to you know, watch the terpene profile emerge and you kind of have this bond going with what you're growing versus you know, people who are strictly getting their product from a dispensary or something there's a little bit of a disconnect it's almost like you know, when you're when you're buying a stake in the grocery store you're not really thinking about a cow it's like there's this association between the production of the product and the consumption of the product and so you know, for consumers to really like fully associate what's going on and the process behind it It teaches people what they want to look for and growing practices that they encourage in their product themselves and I think that's something important for you know, producers to want to look for when providing for consumers is to think okay, maybe people are going to want more than just a high THC content they're going to want to know that this was grown and produced sustainably or that we use this practice or you know, you've been providing what terpene profiles are in the product on the jar. And so you know, I think personally No matter how much effort you want to put in it's something that is a great experience for any cannabis consumer to have.
If only most of us could have it
that is definitely an issue is a lot of states are still kind of holding people's hands behind their back and saying Oh, like you know, you don't really have an option all you can do is go to the dispensary or I don't know what it's like if you guys even have the whole dispensary thing going but
yes, we just have a dispensary but you know, it's not like a retail store where you can go in and look at the products you have to basically know what you're going to get when you go in there or have some idea of what you're going to get I mean I ordered beforehand. But I'm pretty sure you have to know what you're going to get.
Yeah, that makes sense. And you know, California has really changed quite a lot in the last few years but I remember when it was kind of like that with the dispensaries here. It wasn't like a you know, there was a few of them and now there's probably at least like 10 within, you know, 10 minutes of me but you definitely kind of had to go in and know what you were looking for. And nowadays things are kind of shifting, but when it comes to growing your own, all you really need to start with is some dirt and some seeds and some water and I like to say less is more when it comes to a first time grow. I see a lot of people investing in you know, big baller setups and whatnot for their first time and really, you don't know what you're missing until you start with the minimum and then you can you know fine tune in Anthony And over time, but
yeah, absolutely. I think that's might be the most daunting part for a lot of people because they think they need all of this equipment. I I've always thought that myself, I mean, I have houseplants, but I always think that like, I need a whole setup to set to grow and to grow and sell that would also know but just to grow it. I'm just now starting to realize like I told you before that I threw an error. See that was in one of my things I got from the dispensary into an outdoor plant that I had on my porch. And I just wanted to see what would happen. I've done this before when I was a kid too. And when I was a kid, it grew through snow. And I mean, I completely forgot that I had grown it and my stepdad came home one day from work, it was like, why is this thing growing out of the snow and it was fully a cannabis leaf? And I was like, What are you talking about? Luckily, I could pull off, you know, you know, deniability, because it was just looked like it was just a random thing that was growing in our garden, just like you know, so but it was wild, I could not get over how it grew through that. And then on my porch, it was in a pot of a tree that was like pretty much dead. And so I couldn't believe it, but it sprouted, you know, the squirrel killed it. But like, I always feel like you need to have like a tent and stuff like that, like I always think that you need like special equipment and lighting and all of that. But I mean, it relies
on auto flower on your window. So if you really want to, you know, so it really just depends on how much time and energy you as the cultivator are willing to put into it. But it doesn't have to be that much time and energy. And I think that that's kind of a misconception that a lot of people see. And, you know, these days, everyone wants to be like, look at this new fancy light I got in, you know, look at the new big plant or whatever it is that they're buying. And, you know, that's cool. I'm all for, you know, the hobby growing and being invested in that. But I think it gets a little overwhelming for people who are just starting out, and they don't even know where to start. And as I said like, you can always start out with the bare minimum and then say, Oh, you know, what I would really like next run is to add some of this or to try to boost my yields by doing this or you know, whatever it is that you felt you're missing, you can always add that in in the future.
Right? And so you just touched on it a little bit, but your seeds are designed for the novice grower, or you have seeds that are for the novice grower. Even for someone who has no time to invest in the project, so like, essentially, someone can just toss them in the yard and forget about them. Can you talk more about that?
Yeah, so I mean, our goal has kind of always just been to provide the most stable genetics we possibly can stable and consistent is kind of key here. And as you can see in about any other agricultural industry, they've, you know, generally shifted to pretty much predominantly relying on see, you know, you're not going out and buying tomato clones at the nursery or, you know, whatever it is. And so those products, you know, it takes the time it takes stabilization for several of our strains, we've, you know, been working with them for over 10 years, our blueberry muffin is now an F nine double breeding line. And you know, we've still retained the hybrid vigor in that, but it takes a lot of time. And so our goal is just yeah, to be able to give a consumer a seed, and they can stick it in the pot, or they can stick it in, you know, any soil really, that they have as long as it's not moldy and funky, and the plant will survive and it'll do something for them. It might not be the most baller grow ever but you're still gonna have a plant, you're still gonna have some nice buds and you know, it's gonna be an awesome experience. I think either way, we also have all these auto flower lines, which I think are great for first time growers as well because kind of just can seriously shorten the period of time that you're even dealing with. Those ones are great for like a little back porch project or even a window sill project as I said, so.
Yeah, so can you talk a little bit more about the types of seeds in the auto flower thing sounds like right up my alley.
I'm like auto flowers, send them to me. Looking at my porch, like where can I put it? Yeah,
I'm happy to do that. But yeah, the auto flowers that's, you know, one that we've kind of started working with more in the last five years and those that are definitely super interesting. It's basically You know, the plant carries the straight cold ruderalis. And so it makes the plant entirely non photoperiod dependent versus just about any other kind of cannabis is relying on the photoperiods schedule or you know the sun. And so you're gonna have to wait until that Solstice when the daylight hours start declining for it to fully go into flower unless you're doing late deprivation or whatever process but you know, with the autos, they basically are going to flower from the time you germinate it within, you know, around 80 days the time does range on the different varieties but it'll be about 80 days from the day you crack it till finish which you know, you couldn't do it any time of the year, you could do it in the middle of winter, if you felt like it, you could do you know, three runs starting in March and going till the end of the season. So definitely is an advantage of doing those ones, especially for the ease factor in it. And they're getting a lot better when I first saw, you know, my couple autoflowers I, I had doubts in my mind that they would ever be able to, you know, smoke and look as good as a photo period. But I think my doubts are definitely being thrown out the window at this point because I have seen some amazing auto flowers this season.
Wow. And what about with your hemp? Do you have auto flower for that like your hemp seeds?
Yeah, we do have auto flower hemp, our hemp project is called to Snake's hemp. And that's a partnership we did with a local tribe out here, the Yurok tribe and so we basically do a lot of our distribution through them. But we have regular photo period hemp lines, we have autoflowering hemp clients, we have CBD hemp lines, we try to have a wide range there, too, it's kind of our forte is to attempt at least to have something that everyone's going to be looking for, you know, one thing that will make just about every person happy.
That's amazing, I really want to grow. That is really exciting. So before we go, how can the cannabis community best support you both professionally and personally.
You know, I think that and as the industry as a whole, the cannabis community can support us best by continuing to educate themselves as consumers and continuing to take the time to research where they're buying their product. I think you know, in keeping these craft cannabis farmers alive and well and thriving, it really does fall on the responsibility of consumers. And out here in humble those crop farmers are a community. They're the legacy growers that we've grown up with for years that have kept our economy and our entire area alive. And so I you know, continuously feel like I want to stress that consumers want to look for more than just a fancy brand name, or you know, a really high THC content, you want to get to know your grower and make sure it's coming from a good source. And, you know, I find that when I know my cannabis came from a good place, I enjoy smoking it more in the high fields just a little bit better. And I think you know, as all these big players started to come in, and there's farms that are acres and acres and acres and mass produce, but you know, it's something that is awesome to see, when you're looking at that you're like I never thought I would see this and you know, not feel like I might have to go run and hide in the bush at any moment. But at the same time, it's scary because up here, we're not set up for Ag and these people can expand to have a 10 acre farm overnight, it's you know, going to cost an extreme amount as far as permitting and you know, even if you are able to do that, like grading the land up here is something that we honestly try to avoid at all costs. And so, you know, I think we should all try to stick together and keep our Humboldt County cannabis growers alive and well because, you know, most people in the world know that the best shit comes from humble.
Right? And so, um, where can people find you?
They can find me personally, I'm just Halle pin on Instagram. And then our company's Instagram is the Humboldt Seed Company and we are severely shadowbanned right now. So if anyone's looking into our name, just make sure it's the right one. It's the Humboldt Seed Company. No weird numbers in there. And you know there's a D before the T. We have probably about 10 fake accounts of us right now floating around and it is a little scary, but you know, we just hope people have their logic with them and don't go buy seeds from strangers or anyone pretending to be us online.
So Can anybody buy your hemp seeds? Like
anyone can order the hemp seeds online? Yeah, and that is to Snake's hemp or no, it's to snake seeds, Tw o s in a ke E and then c.com
Awesome. Thank you so much for spending time with me today. It Till next time, stay high and beautiful. Bye.
Thank you so much for having me. Have a good rest of your day.
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