Doug Fine: American Hemp Farmer

– A Book Excerpt –

Suburbanite turned hemp farmer and regenerative living expert

Recounts a production of hempseed oil

Following the footsteps of shamans of the past

To process a harvest of hemp for use

Fine set to speak at SXSW’s Climate Change Track on March 16

ACRES USA appearance broadcasting on C-SPAN now

 

Regeneratively grown hemp plants are highly efficient in carbon sequestration, which is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide (one of the most commonly produced greenhouse gases) and can help mitigate global climate change. Growing hemp outdoors helps build soil, and a growing body of research suggests that each cubic inch of topsoil we restore of the world’s farmland sequesters up to three billion tons of carbon annually. And what about the small farmer? For every acre of hemp planted, 1.6 tons of C02 is captured according to the National Industrial Hemp Council, Hemp can be refined into many materials including paper, auto parts, rope, clothing, biodegradable plastic, and biofuel. Its seeds are also edible and considered superfoods (foods that offers high levels of desirable nutrients, linked to health and wellness). Hemp seeds are an excellent source of protein, contain all nine essential amino acids, and are high in omega-3 and omega-6 (essential fatty acids).

If you are not growing your own hemp plants, you can buy roasted whole hemp seeds, hempseed oil, or hemp hearts at your local grocery store and add them to your diet. Fine suggests seeking out both organic and locally sourced products.

Here is Doug Fine’s recipe for his Hemp Superfood Shake:

Blend together:

• Hempseed oil
• Whole hempseeds or hemp hearts
• Yogurt
• Raw cacao
• Your choice of fruit
• A little ginger

For more relaxation, find a local spa that offers a CBD-Infused Massage that helps the body absorb cannabinoids from the topical application of hemp flower and hempseed oil based products.

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Hemp and regenerative living expert, author, journalist, goat herder, speaker, and host Doug Fine shares his point of transformation to an expert hemp farmer. An excerpt taken from his book, American Hemp Farmer, Fine shares he and his family’s excitement in seeding their first hemp crop and honoring the land that allows and enriches life.

Fine is the author of six books including American Hemp Farmer and the Boston Globe Bestseller, Farewell, My Subaru. His writings and expertise have led to media appearances (Conan, Tonight Show,BBC, CNN) as well as a TED Talk (TEDxABQ) and testimony before The United Nations regarding international drug policies. He has raised goats and cultivated superfoods (including hemp since its 2018 legalization) for more than a decade and taught his methods of cultivation and seed building at Vermont’s Sterling College and online at DougFine.com. Most recently, Doug has cultivated hemp for food, farm-to-table products and seed-building in six U.S. states. His own hemp seeds have been used to clean contaminated soil in a New Mexico University study. Fine further spreads the word about culture and climate change with his award-winning journalism, whichincludes contributing to the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and being a long-time correspondent for National Public Radio from five continents. In March, he is scheduled to speak at SXSW’s Climate Change Track. Ahead of his SXSW session, Fine’s keynote address from last December at the ACRES USA 50th Anniversary Eco-Ag Conference is now broadcasting on C-SPAN. Tune in online at www.c-span.org/video/?516447-1

None of us would be here today, he says, if not for the regenerative lifestyle-and it’s only recently that humanity stopped living that way. So Fine hopes that we can reactivate that “instinctive regenerative awareness” and start working together to save the planet. Experienced, grounded, and a keen wit, Fine is the perfect person to shepherd us through the conversion.

Now in development, the American Hemp Farmer television series is based on Fine’s best-selling sixth book of the same name, released in April 2020 by Chelsea Green Publishing. As with the book, the series will see Fine-a former suburbanite-sharing his hard-won regenerative hemp farming expertise, which he admits is rooted in trial and error. We don’t all have to become farmers. This time, farmers can lead the way while everybody supports them through lifestyle tweaks. Buying their locally-sourced products, getting our produce from community-supported food co-ops or farmer’s markets, or even working in community gardens are all valuable contributions.  

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An excerpt from Doug Fine’s book, American Hemp Farmer

Following in the footsteps of shamans of the past,

Fine processes a harvest of hemp

American Hemp Farmer (Chelsea Green Publishing 2020)

Nominated for

The Santa Fe Reporter’s

Book of the Year.

DougFine.com

My first question when embarking on any stage of the hemp process is, “What has always worked?” Another way of asking this is, “What would the shaman do?”

Among the supplies Colin, Erin, and I toted into that frozen commercial kitchen were 27 gallons of hempseed oil, in six 4.5-gallon “jibs.” My Hemp in Hemp eixir being both a seed and a flower product, we had a multistep process in front of us prior to bottling. First prepare the seed oil, then infuse the flower in it. One hundred eighty minutes at 130 degrees, just like the shaman did it.

The procedure is so tried and true, so ancient (even being alluded to in biblical priestly anointing-oil passages), that I wonder if the term processing, given its association with slices of prepared cheeselike product, is apt. It just doesn’t feel true to the “double, double toil and trouble” life that we lived for those shivery 48 hours in that 2019 blizzard.