Due to technical difficulties, I was finally able to recover this old project of when I was visiting friends out in Asbury Park, NJ helping with their Vertical Indoor Microgreen farm. These two young entrepreneur brothers started this operation with some interesting innovations toward harvesting their incredible yields by finding a niche in the commercial market and need for the tasty miniature plants.
A bunch of LED lights over a bed of drip fed hydroponic set up makes farming your own microgreens fun and exciting for a commercial scale.
The farm does everything from seed to sale and distributed out between New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York markets. These nutrient packed tiny plants are some of the tastiest additions you can add to any meal…
Good news is I may have avoided a run in with the law, bad news is it makes my head hurt more.
As most of you may know I am an advocate for all Alternative (Tradition) means of medication and living. However, this does not mean I am selling anything that is deemed illegal.
I made a video roughly a year ago about the Japanese Knotweed plant and how people can control the highly invasive plant that grows all over the USA by simply harvesting and eating it. Japanese Knotweed contains anti-inflammatory properties to help with arthritis and Lyme Disease.
Someone reached out and wanted to know if I would be willing to send them some seeds. At first I was excited that someone watched my video and wanted to grow some for themselves for either food or to ease some of the issue it could help with. I sent them a message asking for an address to ship them to and then it dawned on me that some States have plant/seed restrictions, so I decided to check just in case. Turns out because Japanese Knotweed is highly invasive and grows basically all over North America, so some States have made it illegal to purchase, trade or sell certain plants. As I did a little more research I found out why.
“Invasive species are problematic, and their introductions into natural systems can be intentional or unintentional. Invasive species can be animals, plants, fungi and even microbes. Billions of dollars are spent each year in the United States to control invasive species. It has been estimated that $45 million per year is spent on control of the invasive Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) on federal lands. That’s a lot of cash!”
(Source: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Habitat/WildAcres/wabadplants.asp)
Although, I can agree that these plants are difficult to control, it leads me to why I started getting annoyed again at the fact that WE need to all work WITH nature, instead of against it. The United States spends BILLIONS of dollars to control these plants by spraying noxious chemicals on them …even though they keep coming back each year. I am just guessing the chemicals cannot be good for people or the environment when you drive down the road that has signs posted informing people to roll their windows up because they spray the area. The Japanese Knotweed not only has beneficial properties, it also taste like and can be a substitute for rhubarb. Most if not all of that money could be used towards something more positive…like the education of the plants around us.
I have met people that have claimed they were approached by “agents” about certain seeds of basically harmless plants before and had to hand them over. I could only imagine getting a knock on the door from the police to be arrested on a charge of supplying the seeds for an invasive plant that isn’t on the DEA Schedule Drug list. With all the “conspiracies” and trolls out there on the interweb I felt it was smarter to cut my loses and opt out of sending them anything from the plant.
Although, I believe it was a real person who just wanted to try and grow the plants for themselves I still had to decline. I felt bad, but informed the person that this plant grows in their area and should look around water runoffs either on the side of the streets (try to use plants about 100ft away from roads) or down by river beds.
I just thought I would throw it out there that we all have to be careful of such things. I am not saying planting invasive plants in new places won’t “ruin” the Eco-system. I am not saying there aren’t people out there that will take precautions on limiting the growth of such plants. I am just saying the chemicals being used to spray and control them are probably much worse.
As long as Nature is Illegal we are not FREE. Learn to live WITH nature not against it. Together We can grow a better future.
Have you ever heard of Smoke Down Prohibition? Well, for those that live under a rock in the North Eastern Part of America, Smoke Down Prohibition is a Pro-active/Inter-active Civil Disobedience Protest for the full Re-legalization of ALL cannabis (including industrial hemp, medicinal and social use of marijuana), thus making it one of the most important events to happen each month (since December 2012). They have been currently held at Independence Mall in Philadelphia right next to where the Liberty Bell is showcased and it is being to talked about around the nation. The event is sponsored by The Panic Hour and Philly NORML, links listed below. Once the rally date is announced (usually the 3rd or 4th Saturday of each month) it starts at 3:30pm rain or shine, where everyone listens to a few activists, local politicians and comedians. The goal is to educate and spread awareness while having a good time…and of course there is a countdown to 4:20pm, where people who choose to fully participate will light up a joint to make their stand. WARNING: Some people WILL get taken to the “Freedom Cage” to receive a citation for $175, but the goal of Civil Disobedience is not to get cited…so mingle.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0asGeY-g4qs
We all know the “War on Drugs” and the “Just Say No” approach has done nothing, except waste billions of dollars each year fighting against something the Government will never win. Although, for some reason they will continue to try. The act of indoctrinating people to grow up thinking they need to fear a plant that actually has THOUSANDS of years of recorded medicinal use is the highest level of ignorance. What could be more confusing than that? The US Government has a patent on the two main compounds, Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which are found NATURALLY in the plant.
Patent: Noun- a government authority or license conferring a right or title for a set period, esp. the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an INVENTION.
U.S Patent6630507 issued October 7, 2003:
“Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention…”
Source: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6630507.PN.&OS=PN/6630507&RS=PN/6630507
Call me crazy, but there are claims that Cannabis was used first as medicine in Chinese pharmacopoeia as far back as 2727 BC and America declared independence from Britain on July 4, 1776 AD… you do the math… then in the 1970’s Cannabis was listed as a Schedule Class 1 “drug.” By the way…how did they invent something that comes from nature?
“Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence.”
Source: http://www.justice.gov/dea/druginfo/ds.shtml
Sorry, I will be doing a more in depth blog about how absurd it is to place cannabis in that class of “drugs,” but on a simple note I have 3 words to debunk that…. Medicinal Marijuana States. These are States that recognize that this PLANT has multiple medicinal uses, so it would be nice if the Federal level would look at their research again to realize the least they can do is to reschedule the plant.
My friend Vanessa wrote a post about the situation of what is going on with our good friend N.A. Poe.
“Today, one of my best friends, N.a. Poe goes to court to fight fascist pre-trial release conditions
in which the US attorney is asking that he be banned from ever going to National Historic Park
to protest anything and that he not have contact with any Smoke Down event organizers…
which means me, his girlfriend and all of his closest friends. Pretty insane penalties for someone
who was arrested for smoking a joint at Independence Mall. What happened to 1st amendment
rights in this country…freedom of speech and freedom to associate with others? This is not about
cannabis, this is about suppressing social movements and using threats and intimidation to stop people from organizing. Well, I don’t care what that judge says, no one is going to stop me from talking to my friend. And with or without N.A. Poe, these smoke downs will continue. And these oppressive laws WILL get changed! Much love and good luck to ya, my friend!! Justice will prevail.”
That to me is the definition of an insane corrupt government. Seriously, N.A. Poe (along with everyone else that comes out to support these Smoke Down Prohibitions) are some of the NICEST people you will ever meet. This just goes to show if THEY are going to step it up, WE should step it up! Let’s merge the 1960-70’s Counter Culture Movement of marching in the streets mixed with our New Age technology of social networking to set up more places to meet. “We cannot take the foot off the pedal,” lets not make the same mistakes they did in the past. Let’s get this Re-legalized! There are far more important issues than literally a HARMLESS PLANT that actually heals. I will stand by anyone’s side that feels as strongly for a positive future.
WE the PEOPLE do not wish to fight with the Local and/or Federal Officers over using or growing a plant. The amount of manpower, which was counted up to 50 officers to babysit and harass a peaceful gathering of protesters were taken off the streets or were called in for overtime instead of going after REAL criminals. Now, think about how much money was spent to have those officers there…it could be $6,000 dollars (or up to $21,000 reported back in June to support a full riot geared strike force) for an HOUR. We know that they [officers] know there are more important things they can be doing than watching a bunch of potheads burn a flower.
Do you want to come to the next Smoke Down Prohibition in Philly and stand next to those that share the same interest that this plant should be re-legalized?
Who comes out?
Surprising to some that it is not just a bunch of young potheads that come out. It is a group of PEOPLE who fall within a wide variety of ages, patients, politicians, races, and religions.
What to Bring:
See you all out there! Don’t forget to spread the awareness, and tell everyone since we are standing up for everyone!
