Craft Cannabis: East Fork Cultivars
Craft Cannabis: East Fork Cultivars
with Nathan and Aaron Howard 🌱
Meet brothers' Nathan and Aaron Howard from East Fork Cultivars. High on their list: climate change, sustainable practices, and nurturing happy employees. Check out the video below to hear the craft cannabis specialists discuss their passion for plants and sustainable practices, and to get their perspective on big weed and small farms.
Harvest season begins in late September and runs through October. East Fork Cultivars farm is located in Takilma, Oregon, tucked between the pristine waters of the East Fork of the Illinois River and the Siskiyou Wilderness, just four miles north of the California border. They offer a huge variety of CBD:THC ratios, as well as supplying most of Oregon’s high-end brands with CBD.Â
East Fork Cultivars Sustainability Highlights
Native Soil: It’s more sustainable than importing soil and it lets the characteristics and unique expression of the land and cannabis speak for itself.
Korean Natural Farming: The fundamental insight of KNF is to strengthen the biological functions of every aspect of plant growth to increase productivity and nutrition. The cannabis plant will ‘prune itself’ or allow the inner foliage to die back and fall to the ground. This act of dropping unproductive plant material not only provides the soil with a mulch but it also recycles the nutrients back into the soil. The focus is on naturally feeding the soil, which is what feeds the plants.
100% USDA Organic: One of seven to receive 100% USDA organic certification for hemp flower and the first to receive 100% organic certification for clones and seeds.
Practice Plant Diversity: This year EF will be planting potatoes in with all cannabis, further increasing diversity in their cultivated spaces.
Compost teas and ferments are produced on site: Natural and organic alternatives to many nutrient additives that growers use. A compost tea, is just as it sounds, tea made from compost material. A large amount of water is added to smaller amount of compost and steeps. The resulting ‘tea’ is used to fertilize and water the plants.
Water Preservation: Water is preserved by using drip irrigation systems.
Preserving Natural Surroundings: Large swaths of EF land support native flora/fauna, in efforts to bolster growth of the natural ecosystem of the region.
‘Clean Green’ and ‘Sun and Earth’ Certified: Using the word ‘organic’ is against the law for THC cannabis (but not for hemp - CBD producing plants). ‘Clean Green’ and ‘Sun and Earth’ stamps are another way of saying ‘certified organic’.Â
East Fork Cultivars Employment Highlights
‘Our team here at East Fork is everything. We try to instill a fun and safe working environment that promotes growth, security, and overall well-being for all our employees. No one makes less than $20 per hour and everyone is employed full time for a 40-hour work week with paid time off each year. We were recently able to add employee health benefits as well, with East Fork paying half the premium of each plan. Members of our core crew are able to change processes, start new projects, and generally shape the way the business is run as a whole, with everyone's input being taken into consideration. Every person who works with us gives this place a large part of their life every week. We believe that on top of being paid, the reward for that should be a sense of fulfillment and belonging. A feeling that what you do everyday matters.’
— Nathan Howard
East Fork Cultivars is hiring an account manager and digital content manager. Check it out here.
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— Stoner epiphanies, anonymous