Progress Report: 8.27.2021
Grasshopper Family,
I've been so excited to send this update since last Saturday!
I hope you enjoyed the Tuesday "Dear Diary" lookback. It truly has been an incredible journey worth revisiting. Not just worth...necessary.
Saturday we did something that we believe might be the first in the state of Michigan and rare in the United States market.
We held an open house. We also invited retail partners to visit in the early evening to tour our farm while a Michigan cannabis chef shared his passion with them.
And it surpassed all expectations I had. I am pretty sure it exceeded the expectations of everyone.
We are a new 80 acre cannabis farm in Van Buren County. We are on County Road 665. That means there are a lot of people who pass by and have watched us as we have built this farm. Some have questions. Some have concerns. Some are excited. Some are indifferent.
And all of these feelings are absolutely warranted.
So, we chose to open our doors to one and all. We chose to give people tours and show them who we are. We chose to show them what we have built. We chose to introduce everyone to our plants.
People started to arrive pretty promptly at noon. We had a tent in front of Building 1 where we welcomed people and had them sign in. From there they were welcome to walk anywhere inside the marked areas where we had team members ready to greet them.
Most started by heading inside to see our operations office where they were greeted by Matt and Cole. Matt is our Director of Operations and he gave people a virtual (with our cameras) tour of Building 1 and the cameras we have around the field. Cole is our Director of Research and Development and he walked them through the testing and analysis he has been doing of the dirt, water, and plants...complete with microscope and testing containers.
People would then head out to the field. Everyone was immediately hit by the size of the field, size of the plants, and healthy look of the plants. (And the plants they first encountered were the smaller ones on the south side!) They really had no idea what was in store for them on the north side!
We had a Grasshopper Farms sign set up in front of the first bed inside the gate where people were welcome to see some plants and take some pictures. And they all did.
From there, people typically visited the pump house to learn more about our irrigation system. Most people were simply blown away by this point. I guess people were expecting less of a cannabis operation. Some were expecting less of a new business.
But everyone lost their minds when they learned that we did not have plants on site until April 20, 2021. AND...we started with Mother Plants. Some bring in fully mature plants for the entire field. We did not. We went the way of the cannabis farmer.
This is part of who we are. Our DNA. Our core.
We had a tent with cold bottles of water, and that was a good thing because it was HOT. My amazing wife gently reminded me several times to put sunscreen on and I totally blew it on that one.
A few of us met people after the pump house and water tent to walk people down the main road to Plant #1. That is where we could share some of the background of who we are.
We are former Michigan Caregivers.
We are here to help people.
We are here to be neighbors.
We are here to do responsible environmental farming.
We are here to do the right thing in a widely misunderstood market.
We are kind.
We are responsible.
We are professional.
The beauty is we really did not have to speak to all of this directly. Our people and farm did all of the talking.
And then we got to Plant #1 and the north side beds.
It's hard to explain the feeling. I still get it each time I make that walk. Every. Single. Time.
Goosebumps. Emotional.
We had another Grasshopper Farms sign where people could take pictures next to Plant #1.
We had people who are neighbors. We had people drive from three hours away. We had over 100 people tour the farm. We had people of all ages.
A few verbatims and quotes from Bryna (from Clapp 360) or told to her:
Everyone loved seeing ‘plant one’ and getting their picture taken next to it.
There are a few photos of the Cloud (cannabis retail) ladies. They are ALL managers at their respective stores and we talked about how they’re changing the face of cannabis. Their slogan is “Live Higher” so they suggested our partnership be “Live Higher with Grasshopper Farms."
I was amazed by the age range who showed up. From young kids to older women who could barely walk (but that wasn’t stopping them from touring). Many were excited to take photos so they could show their children or grandchildren how ’cool’ they were.
One couple had traveled to be here even though he was on a medical scooter. He just got his scooter the day before and was excited to drive it around the farm.
One woman is part of a garden club. She said she couldn’t wait to bring them here to see everything.
Zane Sheikh from Consume Cannabis and his brother Saff Sheikh enjoyed their visit. It was his brother’s 21st birthday so Chef Rodney announced it and we sang happy birthday. He said it was the best birthday ever, beyond his expectations. And he was one of TWO birthdays! Dean St. Peter of Arcana was in attendance and was subjected to birthday festivities as well.
We are starting to transition into the evening retail event. It was incredibly successful. Chef Rodney of Deliciously Dope organized an amazing menu with optional CBD infused sauces. We were able to talk to our retail partners about who we are and show them around. Chef Rodney also had a full video production crew on site and we are going to be featured on several YouTube and social media channels.
Here are some metrics from the day I can report with certainty:
100% of the people who visited were confident that we are a professional farm and doing things the right way.
100% of the retailers wanted to know how they can ensure they are on the short list to purchase our product.
100% of our visitors had never heard of or attended anything like this in our industry.
100% want to come back.
100% were thankful.
I am attaching a press release that I believe you will enjoy. I should also mention that we had several Michigan growers attend. They were all in complete awe of what we built and the size and health of our plants.
We are changing the game.
We are leading a movement.
We are stepping out of the shadows.
We are inviting people into a beautiful new world.
We are....Grasshopper Farms.
Have an amazing weekend!
