The Old Hemp Farmer's Wife

04/13/2026

A cute little video for The Old H**p Farmer's Wife. https://www.theoldhempfarmerswife.com

03/18/2026

Writing about Cannabis: “Virginia - The Next Green Rush?”
Dateline: 3-18-26
Right now the weather in Middle Tennessee is March weather. One minute it's almost 80 degrees F and three days later it's 20 degrees F. Regardless, the Winter crop of onions and garlic are thriving and even some arugula has sprouted. Already this year’s crop looks much better than last year’s, although this might have something to do with the fact, I didn’t have anything growing at this time last year. Because of these abnormally warm temperatures, all of the plum and pear trees have bloomed and I fear, it’s much too early, because we’re scheduled to get some freezing temperatures that are going to be real. This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve lost a crop of plums and pears, and it won’t be the last. Regardless, The Old H**p Farmer is fueling up on an organic cup of hot Coffee and noshing on some Chocolate fortified with artisanal Tennessee homegrown Cannabis extract. Wag your tongue about drugs, if you want, but that combo takes the edge off of a cold morning. Anyway, today’s musings are based on a sage observation by my Tennessee homegrown partner Lee Crabtree, which was that the only window for decent profit margin in Cannabis is the first 18-22 months of legal Recreational Cannabis sales, after that the market becomes saturated and profit margins tumble. Which is kind of what corresponded with Tennessee Homegrown, (although because of an initial ambiguous regulatory environment, Tennessee homegrown had about a 30 month period of great sales) but once the plethora of “H**p” businesses arrived on the scene in Tennessee, the profit margins started to stagnate. Eventually in every legal Cannabis market, inevitably there will be too many growers, processors and retailers than the market needs and then begins the process of racing to the bottom, where all along the “Cannabinoid Food Chain” people start to produce more and sell for smaller profit margins. Which eventually leads to a race to the bottom, which increases the amount of Cannabis businesses being stressed enough to fold, especially when investors stop adding to their initial investment and start wanting a return on their money. It’s little different in Tennessee, where a lot of us are purposely being herded towards the exit with a very restricted Cannabis market and ballooning compliancy costs. Regardless, the profit margins of Tennessee based Cannabis Companies are slim or none. Which leads back to the keen thoughts of Mr. Crabtree, “keep moving to a new Cannabis market or get use to long hours and low pay”.
Echoing those sentiments, if The Old H**p Farmer was The Young H**p Farmer, I’d head East to Virginia. You see, on January 1st, 2027, Recreational Cannabis sales will begin in Virginia. The Recreational Cannabis market in Virginia for the foreseeable future looks bright enough to wear shades. Although once Recreational sales begin, Virginia will be a more and more competitive market, the state has the power of place. A lot of people really don’t pay that much attention to geography but in this case, it means a much larger Recreational Cannabis market. Presently, Virginia is blessed to have almost a thousand miles of borders with states that don’t have Recreational Cannabis sales. The Old H**p Farmer is going to gaze into his Cannabis Crystal Ball and predict that some of the most profitable Recreational Cannabis Retailers will be lined up on the borders of Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia. And it appears that several of the states that have a border with Virginia, aren’t in any hurry to legalize Recreational Cannabis in the near future. Yup, Virginia that’s where we would be headed to, and we know exactly where we'd start and what type of Cannabis Business L'Tanya Bell and I would form but that's another story. Anyway, I’m sure there are countless others that are thinking exactly the same thing and making plans accordingly to stake out their claim to the Virginia’s “Green Rush”. As usual, the profit margins of Virginia’s Cannabis Companies will eventually taper off and start to be squeezed because of competition but until then, “le bon temps roule”, yes, let the good times roll. It will be curious to see how many of my fellow Cannabis professionals will be headed to Virginia for the new “Green Rush”? Anyway, H**p Dawgs and H**p Puppies keep one eye on the weather and the other eye on the Politicians.
Visit our Web sites to try our great products, while you can:
The Old H**p Farmer's Wife: https://www.theoldhempfarmerswife.com
Tennessee homegrown:
https://www.tnhomegrown.com

03/02/2026

Writing about Cannabis: “Expiration Date: 6-30-26”
Dateline: 3-2-26
Right now the weather in Middle Tennessee is warmer than usual with temperatures that are in the 60’s, which is totally a tease for anyone that loves to garden. So I’m going to plant some potatoes and some onions. My Winter crop of garlic actually looks pretty butch because of mulching hardcore, it enabled these bulbs to survive an extreme cold snap. It’s deeply rewarding to have something growing. As usual, The Old H**p Farmer is fueling up on an organic cup of Coffee and noshing on some Chocolate fortified with exquisite Tennessee homegrown Cannabis extract. As my organic floral pharmaceuticals begin to take hold, let’s see if there’s anything in my cranial vault about the morass that is the contemporary Legal Cannabis Industry… Alrighty everything Cannabis related has loaded into the right side of my brain, so let’s do this. The first thing that has popped into my brain, is remembering the sheer amount of people that were totally geeked up about the possibility of Rescheduling Cannabis to Schedule III, trust me, it was a gang. The only problem with the Rescheduling of Cannabis is that nothing has happened and it seems that it probably won’t happen anytime soon. Just a scant few months ago, remember when Trump was going to quickly reschedule Ma*****na from Schedule I to Schedule III? Ah… I remember it well, good times. But now, It seems El Presidente has moved onto another new hobby, which is Nation Building. When Trump did his photo-op about CBD and the Rescheduling of Cannabis, activists and publicly traded Cannabis companies were touting this event as the biggest thing in Cannabis in the last 25 years. I was berated on a couple of Cannabis sites, when I wasn’t quite so optimistic and warned everyone to slow their roll about Rescheduling, because all of the Republican politicians that had previously stopped it (when Biden tried to make this happen) were still office and still think Cannabis is a scourge to the nation and needs to be stopped at all costs. Which is a shame because Rescheduling Cannabis was going to be a needed something, something to give the Cannabis Industry, a possible life raft. At this point far too many Cannabis businesses are running on v***r. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally sympathetic towards those Cannabis businesses but Rescheduling is Fool’s Gold. The Old H**p Farmer sees the Cannabis Business, as it is, instead of a romantic notion. Far too many people still see Cannabis as some sort of noble endeavor that will heal people, clean up the environment and be a great way for small farmer’s to make a good living. It is none of those things, to paraphrase Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, “The Cannabis business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long neon lit, plastic hallway where ego maniacs, thieves, politicians and pimps run free, where good people’s dreams go to die like dogs. There's also a negative side.” Sadly, I don’t see things changing In Cannabis anytime soon. Presently, states continue to have high compliancy costs and increase tax rates, which means more and more cannabis businesses will continue folding. Yet strangely, as the Cannabis business gets tougher, there seems to be an ample amount of people still wanting buy or start a Cannabis Business? Ego or ignorance? It doesn’t matter, because right now investing in a Cannabis Business isn’t a very lucrative. Over the last couple of years the Stock Market has done far better than Cannabis investments. Honestly, I don’t see any reasons for the Cannabis Business environment getting better, anytime soon.
For this reason, Lee Crabtree and I will not renew our Cannabis Licenses. So for the first time in over a decade, Mr. Crabtree and I won’t be growing H**p or selling H**p Derived Cannabinoids. It’s a decision that agricultural companies make all over America, if the market conditions aren’t right, you let the land lie fallow. That’s what we are doing with our company, Tennessee homegrown, we're taking the season off to see if the Cannabis market conditions improve, if not, Tennessee homegrown has had a great run. For over 10 years, Tennessee homegrown has had its wonderful Cannabis products on the shelf and in the mail. Which is a long time because a year in the Legal Cannabis is like a “Dog Year”, so do not weep for Tennessee homegrown. Also I’ve also warmed to the idea of having a date that Tennessee homegrown ceases to be. A lot of businesses don’t have the luxury to decide how they will exit and end up sort of fading away without any notice. The cool thing is about ending operations on our terms and timeframe, because it means we can finish hard. Tennessee homegrown will serve as much product to our many customers as possible, with the same quality and great customer service, as always. We also want to thank the thousands of customers we have had over the last decade, seriously you guys Rock! Thank you, Thank you. Anyway the sticker on the bottom of the Cannabis company known as Tennessee homegrown now says “Expiration: 6-30-26”.

Visit our Web sites to try our great products, while you can:
The Old H**p Farmer's Wife: https://www.theoldhempfarmerswife.com
Tennessee homegrown:
https://www.tnhomegrown.com

01/09/2026

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01/07/2026

Writing about Cannabis: “While We Wait for Schedule III”
Dateline: 1-7-26
The weather in Middle Tennessee has been for the most part been abnormally warm with the exception of a few days in the teens. We’ve had enough warm days that some arugula has sprouted on its own. It will be curious to see how long it survives because we got some cold temperatures coming. Now that I’ve spread as much mulch as possible, my short term gardening will be confined to looking at Seed catalogues, which is pretty entertaining, if you know what I mean. Meanwhile, I can sip on some organic coffee and nosh on some Tennessee homegrown Chocolate (still with Cannabinoids for the time being) and mosey into today’s Cannabis topic du jour, Schedule III. Remember December 18th, 2025, when Donald Trump signed an executive order to reschedule ma*****na to a lower drug classification? Immediately, it had folks, saying this was one of the most significant changes to drug policy in decades and it would quickly change everything? The next day, The Old H**p Farmer warned everyone to slow their roll and because there would be pushback against the DEA Rescheduling Ma*****na from Schedule I to Schedule III. Yours truly thought it would take a few months for any real pushback by Senior Republicans, well it took less than two weeks. December 31st, A group of 22 Republican senators wrote an open letter to Mr. Trump urging him to leave ma*****na in the Schedule I category, pointing to worries about intoxicated driving and worker absenteeism. "We cannot reindustrialize America if we encourage ma*****na use," these senior Republicans wrote. "In light of the documented dangers of ma*****na, facilitating the growth of the ma*****na industry is at odds with growing our economy and encouraging healthy lifestyles for Americans.” Which has to be one of the weirdest reasons to keep Ma*****na from Medical and Recreational use. We can have workers under the influence of Vicodin but not medical ma*****na? As I warned in my previous writings that the same people that sabotaged Biden’s attempt to Reschedule Ma*****na from Schedule I to Schedule III haven’t went away and a recent report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) noted that the Department of Justice could theoretically decline to enact Rescheduling or start the review process all over and slow walk the process again. So unless Trump wants to use his political muscle for Rescheduling Ma*****na, any real Cannabis reform will be kicked down the road. And I’m sorry that my reality based column about the arduous process of Rescheduling and how it's actually a non factor, pi**ed off a few people but after 12 years in legal Cannabis, I call them as I see them. So until things actually go towards De-scheduling Cannabis instead of Rescheduling Cannabis, chaos will reign supreme, because Cannabis is about a $50 billion Industry and it's not going way gently. What I do know is that the machinations, in regards to Schedule III, won’t be pretty, Cannabis politics seldom are. Meanwhile, Lee Crabtree and I are starting to think 2026, might be the year that Tennessee homegrown forego growing Cannabis for H**p Derived Cannabinoids and grow actual H**p for the leafy greens and sprouts for food, at least we’ll eat well. Anyway, H**p Dawgs and H**p Puppies keep one eye on the weather and the other eye on the Politicians.
Visit our Web sites to try our great products:
The Old H**p Farmer's Wife: https://www.theoldhempfarmerswife.com
Tennessee homegrown:
https://www.tnhomegrown.com

11/17/2025

Writing about Cannabis: “Always Follow The Money”
Dateline: 11-17-25
In Middle Tennessee, a couple of days ago, it was briefly just cold enough to kill off a lot of vegetables and herbs. Our Cannabis crop had long been harvested, so that wasn’t a problem but we lost all of our kale, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes, while the oregano, basil, sage and dill fared no better. So after a few days of trying to salvage as much of the Fall crop as possible, The Old H**p Farmer is taking a break to sip on some great Organic coffee, munch on a little bit of THC enriched Chocolate and to digest the seemingly devastating news about Federally outlawing H**p Derived Cannabinoids. At the same time the “Hard Freeze” was killing our vegetables and herbs, in Washington, a “Hard Freeze” was killing our Cannabis company (Tennessee homegrown) a company Lee Crabtree and The Old H**p Farmer formed almost 10 years. So I’m taking the freezing weather, a few days ago, as an allegory, we had to scramble to salvage as much vegetables and herbs that were dying, now Tennessee homegrown will have a year to scramble and salvage what we can of a once successful H**p Derived Cannabinoid company. A year isn’t very much time to reinvent yourself and find viable revenue streams, we shall see, a lot can happen in year. So please stay tuned to Tennessee homegrown and The Old H**p Farmer’s Wife, we will try to serve our customers as long as possible.
Meanwhile, Yours truly is trying to find out, who were the folks behind killing the H**p Derived Cannabinoid industry. It was “Moscow Mitch” that tacked on the “rider” (which was totally unrelated to opening the government) on the Bill to open the government. Senator Mitch may have held the gun but I’m betting someone else pulled the trigger. So how did the killing of the entire H**p Derived Cannabinoid Industry, happen so nice and neatly? There was no pushback except for Senator Rand Paul. In fact, there was no pushback from the Democrats that voted for the bill that opened the Federal Government. Surely, there is more to this than Senator Mitch McConnell is still being pi**ed off that his Kentucky H**p buddies lost control of the H**p Industry because of the huge amounts of Black Market W**d (mostly from California and Oregon) that took over the H**p market? Once de facto Ma*****na became quasi-legally interstate, it quickly dwarfed the CBD business. So in Kentucky, where millions of dollars USD had been invested into producing massive amounts of CBD Isolate and Full Spectrum CBD started to collapsed. The largest multimillion dollar CBD businesses in Kentucky and other States started going bankrupt and put into receivership. Big Money got burnt on this, so now there is bunch of pi**ed off entities that have a vested interest in killing the H**p Derived Cannabinoid Industry. Besides the CBD Isolate folks the other well moneyed groups that hate the HDC Industry like the Cannabis businesses in Recreational states that have to compete with “H**p” THCa that’s a lot more profitable because you can cut corners on compliancy, quality and consistency. and finally, the Liquor Industry suffering from lagging sales of Alcohol because THC drinks have pushed into their sales, so they want HDCs gone as do Conservative Republicans, who hate W**d. These are more or less, the entities that want to s***f out the HDC industry. But could it be something more Machiavellian than that? Could it be that someone very, very well connected to the White House could ensure that Interstate Recreational Cannabis becomes legal and the licenses to sell Cannabis Interstate goes to select well connected groups? Paranoia maybe, but a 30 billion USD is worth a little creative Capitalism, isn’t it? So who could make this Billion Dollar Cannabis power play happen? Is it one powerful Cabal or is it like a murder mystery, where the detective tries to find out the identity of the murderer in a house full of suspects, where everyone has a reason to kill HDCs, and after the detective interviews all the “Usual Suspects” and studies all the evidence, finds out, it was everyone. Eventually the truth about who killed the H**p Derived Cannabinoid Industry will come out because there will be a "paper trail". Remember one of my favorite adages, "Always Follow The Money". Anyway, H**p Dawgs and H**p Puppies keep one eye on the weather and the other eye on the Politicians.
Visit Tennessee homegrown web site to try our great products: https://www.tnhomegrown.com
The Old H**p Farmer's Wife web site: https://www.theoldhempfarmerswife.com
Our Podcast - Full Contact Cannabis: https://fullcontactcannabis.podbean.com

09/30/2025

09/25/2025

Writing about Cannabis: “Going Full Circle.”
Dateline: 9-25-25
We are officially in Fall and fortunately we have been getting more Autumn-like weather but it's still warm enough to truck around in shorts, also it seems that the leaves are starting to change color. Normally on Thursday’s I head to the farm but because it rained last and will rain again today, The Old H**p Farmer is staying home at the factory/warehouse, to sip some extra strength organic coffee, nibble on Tennessee homegrown chocolate packed with a fair amount of THC, take a deep breath and let forth a stream of consciousness about Cannabis. After thinking about this for a couple of weeks, The Old H**p Farmer has come to the conclusion that any individual that is thinking about getting into the Cannabis Business, should look at the people buying vineyards. Despite knowing nothing about the wine business, people often buy vineyards for the allure and to have a tangible passion project that eventually turns a profit after a few years. The "vineyard dream” where people are drawn to the romantic idea of owning a wine estate, imagining a serene, rural life filled with good wine and beautiful scenery. But unlike Randy Marsh that expected that his Recreational Cannabis company Tegridy Farms would have a revenue stream almost instantly, new vineyard owners are usually wealthy enough that they don’t need immediate return of investment. People at the beginning know it might take years to get the vines to produce the best wine possible. Another big difference from Cannabis is that after the romance of owning a vineyard wears off and the demanding agricultural and business realities become apparent, the vineyards that survive, override their ego and hire the best professionals possible and pay them. Which was one of the reasons that Tegridy Farms failed, is that Randy Marsh wanted to be the “guy” and really wasn’t that good at running a Cannabis business. Another lesson that the Cannabis Business can still learn from the wine business, it’s about having a long game and realizing longevity is the virtue of being able to learn from your mistakes. Sadly, a lot of Cannabis Businesses run out of money about the same time they start getting their “chops”. Which is sad, because if you lost a lot of other people’s money, finding financing for another Cannabis company gets real tough. Which means there are a lot of highly skilled Cannabis professionals that are sitting on the sideline waiting for an opportunity to get some stable long term employment in Cannabis. There's a lot of reasons why Cannabis Businesses go belly up but with Tennessee homegrown (the company Lee Crabtree and I started) it's because of a bad law. When we started our H**p Derived Cannabinoid business we knew the job was dangerous when we took it but never saw being forced out because of a very flawed law. Tennessee homegrown is a 10 year old Cannabis company, which in the world of H**p Derived Cannabinoids, makes us ancient, so we have been blessed. So if the new Tennessee HDC rules shuts us down Tennessee homegrown, so be it. The Old H**p Farmer is working on a new Cannabis company in a Recreational state with a 25 year Cannabis Professional, Brad Crafton. Me and Brad have been fortunate to have made enough money in Cannabis to start another company, where we can grow Cannabis for the love of it, instead of having to make “fat stacks”. The reason, Brad and I got into Cannabis, decades ago, in the first place was that we loved the plant. So after all trials and tribulations in professional Cannabis, hopefully, Mr. Crafton and I can go full circle and somehow get back to why we started this journey in the first place. Anyway, H**p Dawgs and H**p Puppies keep one eye on the weather and the other eye on the market.
Visit Tennessee homegrown web site to try our great products: https://www.tnhomegrown.com
The Old H**p Farmer's Wife web site: https://www.theoldhempfarmerswife.com
Our Podcast - Full Contact Cannabis: https://fullcontactcannabis.podbean.com

09/21/2025

https://www.facebook.com/CraftonClassicCannabi/posts/pfbid02uxJ5qw7PpwqR8iZazNNFhMm4aYLmKESYb26Nrhz9ZaEXv4LYGxhyNPjjZkXDebm9l

Separating seeds from the chaff, the old fashioned way, just how we like it, at Crafton Classic Cannabis. I do believe this season's breeding project is Pure Platinum Auto X G Tooth, and if I got the notes there were phenotypes and this was the short bushy one. The other Pure Platinum Auto X G Tooth phenotype is a more classic "Christmans Tree".

08/13/2025

Writing about Cannabis: “Can Recreational THC Be Saved?”
Dateline: 8-13-25
Last night, we got some much needed rain and nature has responded with the vegetation looking great. The rain didn’t come too soon, because after this respite, Middle Tennessee will return to some killer Heat. Literally, cause when the temperatures reach the upper 90’s Degrees F with 90 percent humidity, it can lay you low. Because of the high temperatures and no rain, the soil had become much too dry for the seeds but the Cannabis Lee Crabtree planted, looks great (deep roots). The Old H**p Farmers has started a bunch of Arugula, Beets and Kale seeds in starter cubes. Because we had a decent rain, those hardy looking little plants will get transplanted into soil. Normally, I would never try to start a Beet root crop in starter cubes, but Farming in general is a risk, so we will see. Regardless, I’m taking a break to listen to some Blues, sip on some organic coffee and nibble on some Tennessee homegrown chocolate bar infused with the right amount of THC to spark a few observations about the Cannabis Industry that I’ve been somewhat hesitant to write about because they’re depressing. I’ve had a sneaking suspicion for a couple years that the present day system of Legal Recreational Cannabis makes it almost impossible to be profitable. Because of shrinking profit margins, the best and most experienced Cannabis professionals across the nation are leaving the business in droves. It’s a bad sign when the people that have the most knowledge about growing and processing Legal Cannabis are leaving in growing numbers because they don’t see the business getting any better.
Business in general is tough right now, but if you sell cheeseburgers you don’t have to worry about the rules and regulations being changed constantly or your excise taxes being raised. Oh that’s right you don’t have to pay Excise Tax on burgers because they don’t see the burger business as a “Cash Cow”. A perfect example of this is Delaware, their first weekend of Recreational Sales brought in approximate $625,000 USD of sales from the first 10 stores. For the right of being one of the first 10 Delaware “Rec" stores, they paid $100,000 USD for the privilege. But in the near future, as more and more Recreational Cannabis stores in Delaware come online, the glow of the opening weekend will start to fade. The Old H**p Farmer has high hopes for the Delaware Recreational program because they have tried to do it right but will that overcome the onerous IRS statute 280e and compliancy costs? Federal and State laws are a pain but where Cannabis companies get worn out is at the local level and right now a lot of Delaware doesn’t want Recreational Cannabis. A lot of folks don’t realize that a huge amount of the continuing hurdles that Cannabis Businesses face across the nation are local and county zoning or ordinances. A city council can wreck a Cannabis Business quicker than about anything. Because of these Federal, State and Local hurdles, a majority of the legal Recreational Cannabis and H**p Derived Cannabinoid Industry will remain on the brink of insolvency.
So can Recreational THC be saved? Of course, but not as we know it now. Because right now, Recreational Cannabis and H**p Derived Cannabinoids Industry is a totally artificial business environment that encourages bad decisions by Federal, State and local politicians because there always seems to be someone willing to get into the Recreational Cannabis business, so the revenue seems endless. Until politicians stop looking at Cannabis as a vice that society needs to be protected from by needless regulations and taxes the THC Industry will continue to be an extremely high risk business. Want to change that dynamic? It’s as simple as electing state and local officials that don’t view Cannabis as a part of the Culture War. Until then, the legal THC Industry will be a high wire act with no net. Pundits say all politics is local and nothing is more apparent of that than Cannabis. Anyway as always, H**p Dawgs and H**p Puppies keep one eye on the weather and the other eye on the market.
Visit Tennessee homegrown web site to try our great products: https://www.tnhomegrown.com
The Old H**p Farmer's Wife web site: https://www.theoldhempfarmerswife.com
Our Podcast - Full Contact Cannabis: https://fullcontactcannabis.podbean.com