Years ago I was involved in a motorcycle accident. It was just after my 21st birthday and what started as a lovely autumn cruise turned into an accident that left me with a compression fracture in my back, three breaks in my pelvis, and a shattered right ankle. It could have been worse! The person driving the bike skillfully put us down into the side of the car tires first, rather than colliding with the car, which hadn’t seen us.
Some years later, I do an awful lot of yoga and have tried various pain relief for the arthritis that has developed in my poor little ankle.
I’ve found CBD taken sublingually and applied as a topical oil are the best natural remedies. So, I started making my own since it’s expensive!
Last year I ordered 10 seeds from ilgm.com, managed to germinate 4 under a grow light in the early spring, and away I went on my adventure, growing the hemp alongside my other spring seedlings:
As you can see from this photo, my hemp plants were dwarfed by the brandywine tomatoes that are right behind them in this picture. I didn’t know much about nutrients or hemp, but they grew and flowered anyway. They were forgiving.
I put these little guys in a sunny spot in my vegetable garden. They didn’t grow much, it turned out the roots were so developed by the time I brought them out that they filled the pots they were in, and when I put them in the ground they didn’t spread out. Also, they were also competing with squash. I know. It sounds silly but I put the plants in there together and let nature take its course.
I decided to clip the flowers when my son, who knows about marijuana, advised me that the flowers should be harvested NOW. So I did, hanging them to dry after clipping off a few leaves under his direction, and after they were dry I “processed” them.
Processing, it turns out, is very simple. You “decarboxylate” the flowers in an oven at a low temp for 35 -60 minutes at about 280 degrees Fahrenheit. After that I put them into a jar, covered them with olive oil, and left them sit for 6-8 weeks. I see lots of websites suggest using a precision cooker or crock pot. I didn’t.
When the time passed I strained the oil out of the hemp et voila! CBD oil.
This year I bought more seeds and am growing a bunch of plants to make into oil. It’s easy to do and I really enjoy growing the plants themselves. They are cute, and they become big and impressive if you care for them properly, so I’ll give them their own garden bed this year. 🙂
If you want to give making oil a try or have questions please feel free to get in touch!
Backyard Botanics@Miller Hill Farm 