Browsing: Growing

College students looking for courses next semester may have a new option, as Denver-based Cannabis Training University’s curriculum on the burgeoning pot industry is now offered in two and four-year institutions in the United States, with plans to expand into Canada.

Online Cannabis Education, CTU’s online set of courses for cannabis entrepreneurs, growers, chefs and more is already offered at Mount Wachusett Community College and Worcester State University in Massachusetts, where recreational cannabis was legalized in 2016. But CTU CEO Jeff Zorn says he plans to expand the course to more colleges in other states.

Growing cannabis at home is legal in Colorado, but some of the weed we’ve seen harvested from basements should be outlawed. Seeds, pests, mold and larf are all common challenges faced by inexperienced cultivators, and can result in poor smell and taste, as well as waste a lot of time and money most of us don’t have.

Tyler Morley and Jeremy Deale, two commercial cannabis cultivators in Colorado, believe they’ve created an online cannabis curriculum, the Chronic Method, that will help home growers avoid those costly, buzz-killing issues. Similar to the Three a Light method, the course gives growers step-by-step instructions from seed to harvest, and the duo makes pretty bold claims on the strategy’s success rate.

We recently sat down with Morley and Deale to learn more about the Chronic Method, and how growers can maximize their yields.

I once received an email from a woman who claimed to have worked at a cheese shop across from Cheesman Park in the ’70s where employees allegedly sold weed under the counter. I couldn’t find much to confirm that story, though I did find that a place called The Big Cheese won a Best of Denver award for Best Cheese Shop in 1984, the first year Westword produced that edition — and maybe that bonus helped sway the judges.

Sad to say, the Big Cheese isn’t around anymore, but when I came across a strain by the name of Cheesy Rider at a dispensary in Cap Hill, it seemed like a fitting time to honor a cool place that might or might not have existed. An old head in the bud room told me that Cheesy Rider was actually a motorcycle-riding rodent mascot for Cheetos before Chester Cheetah took over, so the toking connection was too strong to pass up.

If there’s anything I miss about school, it’s bartering at the lunch table. Nothing was more satisfying than trading a limp PB&J and apple slices for a Lunchable and Hot Cheetos. (I hear prison offers a similar rush, but I don’t miss haggling that bad.) Rich, spoiled kids flaunting their junk food were always an easy target, as their friends selling Herbalife products have subsequently found out.

Although candy was still a rarity at school even for the rich and spoiled, other sweets weren’t. Twinkies, Fruit by the Foot and Squeezits were all hot commodities, but one dyed, sugary treat outranked them all: Gushers. The immense amount of corn syrup and colored goop was an instant draw for kids. So naturally, some of those same qualities are an instant draw for stoners.

Once you reach a certain level of regular cannabis consumption, your tolerance doesn’t always allow your body to react to strains as sensitively as less frequent users might. So a hit of Super Lemon Haze won’t make my mind race like it once did, nor does a small bowl of Banana Kush knock me out with the same efficiency. I can still experience the intended effects from particular strains, though I usually have to consume more.

But any little bite of Chemdog will shoot up my spine and zap my brain no matter how big my tolerance and ego get. Whatever it is about Chemdog and the family of chemical-smelling, brain-dicking strains that it has produced over the years, my mind sure can’t handle them.

“Sustainability is important in every sector of every type of economy, and we are proud that Colorado set a good bar for the cannabis industry,” said Governor Jared Polis during a visit to the 2019 Cannabis Sustainability Symposium.

But the symposium’s organizer, the Cannabis Certification Council, is always looking for ways to shrink the new industry’s environmental impact. Held Friday, October 4, the annual conference hosted industry executives, sustainability advocates and business owners to learn more about what they can do to create a sustainable future for cannabis, and how to start planning for the future today.

“Tang” is one of the more difficult flavor concepts for me to grasp. Is it sweet? Savory? Sour? A mix of all three? Calling something “tangy” at a family dinner table will often lead to an argument from someone who thinks tangy and tart are the same thing, thanks to powdered-drink-pushing chimpanzees. In actuality, tang is supposed be slightly sour while adding another fresh or zesty characteristic, as with plain yogurt, sourdough bread or certain tomato sauces.

Tangy cannabis strains are even harder to pinpoint, because the trait doesn’t really exist in most outside of Cannalope Haze and some peach- and apricot-leaning strains. Sour flavors in pot usually come from terpenes found in citrus fruits, which are clearly more sour than tangy — but when matched with light pine, herbal or floral notes, the tang is there.

Sustainable business practices go far beyond recycling cans and turning the lights off at night. Efficient water use, biodegradable packaging and knowing your partners’ ethics are all important steps to cutting your environmental footprint, according to Ben Gelt, chairperson of the Cannabis Certification Council.

Dedicated to sustainable and healthy business practices in legal cannabis, the CCC will hold its fourth annual Cannabis Sustainability Symposium on Friday, October 4, in downtown Denver. To learn more about eco-friendly pot and how consumers can find their voices, we caught up with Gelt before the symposium starts.

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