Next to cryptocurrency, Cannabis was the hottest investment trend of 2017, and given that everyone from Whoopi Goldberg to Mike Tyson has thrown their hat in the ring, it’s easy to forget those who helped pioneer us to the place we’re at today. Thus, our magazines are beginning a new monthly section giving credit to individuals who have developed their love for Cannabis into a business. Stoner Owner celebrates owners who love and consume the plant, just like we do, giving them insight into the industry’s true roots and culture. Northwest Leaf’s first Stoner Owner is also our Breeder of the month, Kaya, founder of PNW Roots and World Wide Roots. He is an exceptional Cannabis breeder and grower whose love and passion for Cannabis has deep roots in Washington. He is managing and launching a tier 3 grow here, with organically grown fire hitting shelves this May. We sat down to talk about what makes a true stoner owner and why we should all be conscious of how we treat the plant.
Q. HOW WERE YOU INTRODUCED TO CANNABIS?
A. One of my older brothers smoked weed, and I think I smoked at 13, 7th grade, and was really into it. I got high for the first time in high school, and I had some head injuries, they put me on anti-depressants for a side effect of being concussed, and I went off to college. One day my neighbors got me stoned and said, Come back, you’re really funny,” and all week I kept coming over and I forgot to take my meds. At end of the week, I felt great and said I won’t take them anymore.
Q. WHEN DID CANNABIS BECOME A BUSINESS FOR YOU?
A. School gave me a $2,000 grant, and I bought half a pound of Canadian weed and started flipping it. I put myself through college doing that, ended up living in Tacoma and graduated from UW Tacoma. I had met this old timer on a forum, Lemonhoko was his name, and he said “Hey you can get into breeding.” My dad was a game fowl breeder, and so I understood breeding. I was hustling, selling weed for years, got into growing and then started breeding. Lemonhoko gifted mea male, and I converted my rooms into test rooms and seeded a crop about 2009.
Q. HAVE YOU BEEN BREEDING EVER SINCE? HOW MANY STRAINS HAVE YOU MADE?
A. Wow, I couldn’t even count. Numerous generations and strains, we’re actually doing wine breeding, most people are just breeding F1s. We’re working lines out to filial generations, F4s and F5z, which makes for truer breeding. That’s what he taught me. There’s only so much time on this earth, if you’re going to be breeding, do it right, always be working lines.
Q. WHEN DID PNW ROOTS COME TO LIFE?
A. I started PNW Roots in 2010, and started providing meds to patients in the early medical days. Both shops I tried to manage and create got shut down. At this point I was frustrated because they kept shutting me down, so then I focused my efforts on gardening and expanding my space and breeding program. When medical rolled over, I could see writing on the wall, I pushed even further into genetics and seeds.
Q. WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO MAKE CANNABIS YOUR CAREER?
A. I started selling weed in the tenth grade and began messing around with growing it shortly after high school. I started working on an organic farm around the age of 20 and also began taking Cannabis growing seriously. The weed game and farming career went hand in hand, and next thing I knew 25 years flew by.
Q. HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON THE NAME PNW ROOTS?
A. Celebrating the roots of who you are and our community. You think about what you want to leave your kids, not just a pile of money, a community they can be a part of that’s more sustainable. This plant gave us a great consciousness, it feeds our consciousness, we in turn need to do something for that. If your focus is solely money for money’s sake you have lost your way.
Q. HOW DID YOU END UP IN 502?
A. I went to the Emerald Cup in 2016, my investor found me, I made a list of demands and they didn’t blink. I have complete control of the facility, a total investment close to $10 million all in, in a three-phase rollout and they let me design the whole space. I built a state-of-the-art solventless hash room. I’m most excited about that and the ability to pop as many seeds as I want or can. And it’s totally family oriented, not corporate at all.
Q. YOU ONLY DO SOLVENTLESS HASH, WHY IS THAT?
A. Our growing model is all organics, building soils, using Korean Natural Farming techniques, no-till living soil beds. If you’re going to take all the time to grow something organically, why would you then pour hydrocarbons over it. It doesn’t make sense to me. Let’s keep the loop closed and keep it all natural.
Q. HOW HAS CANNABIS AFFECTED YOUR WORKING LIFE?
A. Since I was 18, I’ve been my own boss, I’ve worked jobs, I worked for Xerox in college, worked for thefood industry, but I was always hustling. It’s provided for me, for my family, it’s provided for our health. We live on a little acre farm, grow our own food, I have my own medical garden, and it’s really nice. The kids get to learn how to grow their own food, and we live a healthy natural lifestyle.
Q. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE A CANNABIS BUSINESS OWNER THAT CONSUMES THE PLANT?
A. It means that I understand the quality and the subtleties in Cannabis itself. I think that especially if you are breeding Cannabis you have to be partaking to know the effects. If you’re not doing that, you’re doing the plant a disservice and you’re disconnected from the product that you are producing. It’s good to have the money to do things we couldn’t do before, but the money has to understand that we bring the values and the knowledge. Anyone can have money, but we need the values and wisdom surrounding how we take care of the plant, that’s important. Without that, the quality of the plant doesn’t advance, it becomes a commodity, and that takes all the fun out of it.
Q. DO YOU FEEL RESPONSIBILITY AS A STONER OWNER?
A. We are rolling out the biggest cash crop in the world and at this stage we have the power to decide how to do it. Will it be like everything else, corporatized and no heart like our food and medicine? This is our one chance to affect how that rolls out and decide what Cannabis looks like in the future. You have to be that voice! It’s an important time for us to speak out and continue to claim our culture.
By Wes Abney and Ras Kay Paul FEB. 2018
This article first appeared on Northwest Leaf and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
