Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a safe, happy and celebratory time.
I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to appear at a 3-day festival over New Year, which was a great place to be for the festivities! It was a local eco-friendly music festival, with additional healing spaces, arts spaces, kids spaces, and camping.
This was a huge opportunity for my little business, and also a huge learning curve for me - it was an opportunity to find out if I was able to do it physically, as much as anything else!
I borrowed a caravan, I cooked up a storm, and I provided healthy, delicious, allergy-friendly foods and treats with vegan options. I took Green Fairy products out as well, and I provided lots of information about medicinal cannabis, and the benefits of incorporating it into nutritional medicine.
For the Green Fairy products at the festival, I made Bhang, which is a traditional indian preparation of medicinal cannabis leaves, infused into milk. This is very relaxing for the whole body as well as being calming, uplifting, and long lasting. However it does not give the ‘high’, ‘stoned’, or intoxicating effects of thc. It is important to offer different strengths of products, as everyone is different, and some people are extremely sensitive to THC.
I added saffron, ginger, cardamom, cinammon, star anise, vanilla and nutmeg to the cannabis milk infusion. I then made it into 3 different smoothies:
Green Goddess spirulina smoothie, with spirulina, banana and some aloe vera juice
Golden Blessing smoothie with turmeric
Double Chocolate Joy with almond butter
I also took my Green Fairy ginger biscuits, made especially for the festival. These biscuits contained around 6mg THC per biscuit. It is a good idea to know the strength of your edibles, for a couple of reasons:
Knowing your doseage helps you to find the right product, at the right strength for you. This helps to keep you safe in social situations, so that you can enjoy your night
In case of any ill effects, it is good to have an idea of how much product you have ingested into your system
These biscuits were very helpful for people suffering from the effects of a night’s camping, and they were also a great replacement for alcohol. The smoothies were an excellent way to stay healthy and elevated, relaxed and happy, and the effects last for a good half a day.
After having these products, people reported sleeping well, waking up with minimal or no pain, and enjoying their new medicinal cbd experience.
Edibles, and especially drinkables, are very different from the experience of inhaling medicinal cannabis. It was great to hear from people who were already very familiar with medicinal cbd, that they had a new and enjoyable experience.
Low dose THC edibles, and drinkables such as Bhang products, are a fantastic option for people who want to party without consuming large amounts of alcohol, or anything intoxicating. This is awesome if you want to wake up feeling healthy and well the next day!
I heard recently that alcohol is currently at the top of the list as one of the most harmful substances in Aotearoa. (The other most harmful substance is methamphetamine, so that puts it into context! 🫣🤪.) Therefore I believe it makes good sense to offer some alternative options, which are actually good for your health.
A huge thank you to all of my support crew, who made it possible for me to appear at the festival with my products.
A huge thank you to all of my customers, who came and listened to my spiel, tried products, gave feedback, and recommended products to their friends who then came and tried them too!
Also a huge thank you to the festival crew, who were friendly, welcoming, helpful and supportive, made sure that everyone had a safe and happy New Year, and made sure that the festival grounds were kept clean and well run.
It was a great experience for me, and it has given me a lot of clarity regarding the development of the business for the upcoming year. I will be appearing at more markets, festivals and events this year, so please keep an eye on the Events Page for upcoming news:
www.harmonygardens.co.nz/events
I hope you continue to have a safe and happy New Year. Please let me know what your goals are for the upcoming year as well!
I will be back on deck on Monday 6 January for my online customers. I am fully booked for phone appointments until the beginning of February. I look forward to helping you with your medicinal cannabis needs for another year!
Happy gardening,
Louisa at Harmony Gardens 🧚♀️
