Marijuana Business Magazine September 2018

Sacred Flower, for example, gets almost all its ingredients for soil nutri- ents and pest and contaminant control from a diverse army of plants and flow- ers, as well as five alpacas. “We’re constantly striving to close as many loops on our farm (as possible), and what that means to me is to be self- reliant and have as many things growing onsite that we can use for our cannabis farm,” Simpkins said. While Simpkins grows season- ally outdoors, he said many of these techniques can be used indoors or in greenhouses as well. Securing Water For Simpkins, the first step to establishing Sacred Flower was finding property where he could secure water rights.The solution: In 2016, he found a former 16-acre pear farm that was on a reservoir serving local agricultural businesses. Simpkins has a commercial-grade, one-horsepower pump that can pull the water from the reservoir through hoses that run 30 yards through a multilayered filter system – it includes charcoal and sand filters, among others – to four, 2,500-gallon stainless steel storage tanks. Two are brew tanks where he can make compost tea. One also has a large aerator, allowing Simpkins and his team to pour strained ferment into it to aer- ate for a couple of hours.The tanks are then opened to feed drip lines that run EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Few cannabis grows are more sustainable and inexpensive to run than an outdoor, closed-loop farm such as the one operated by chief cultivator Mark Simpkins of Sacred Flower Farms in southern Oregon. Here’s what you need to know: • Everything used at Sacred Flower Farms goes back into the land. For example, plants grown there are used to create nutrient mixes, composts and pest repellants. • Sacred Flower Farms is located on a former 16-acre pear farm that sits on a reservoir, which provides water for local agricultural businesses. • To keep moisture in the ground, Simpkins uses mulch and rice straw – the latter being one of the few products not grown at the farm. • To make nutrient ferment, Simpkins cuts down whole plants and chops up the leaves, which are mixed with a roughly equal amount of brown sugar. The combination helps release moisture and acts as a food source for beneficial bacteria. • Pest and disease control depends on fragrant herbs such as peppermint to make sprays. The farm also uses bugs that prey on pests. through the farm’s 24 cannabis beds. Each bed contains about 60 plants. Simpkins’ drip irrigation system of choice is Netafim, an automated pres- sure-regulating drip irrigation system that he said doesn’t clog – a common problem with organic nutrient mixes. Simpkins said the pressure is set at 40 pounds per square inch so that each line can put out 18 gallons per minute for each bed. “We run four of those lines per bed so that we’re making sure the entire bed is getting moist,” Simpkins said. Any runoff, he noted, helps – not harms – the environment. “The way that we feed the plants A multilayered filtration system allows Sacred Flower Farms to pull water from a nearby reservoir and use it for drip irrigation. Photo courtesy of Sacred Flower Farms 50 • Marijuana Business Magazine • September 2018