thesilentmonk

It has been cooling down here in West Michigan and I've just finished cutting down two of the four plants that I pollinated for my 88 Hashplant x ChemD preservation project. I continue to be reminded of how much support surrounds me each and every day. I am grateful that I do not have the stress of matching up to the current “hype”, because The Grass Menagerie is known for falling into a completely different category of herb. Our varietals are bred with intention; intention to heal and to create a sort of “Timestamp” for what that healing looked like as we moved through Time. My dream for the Grass Menagerie is to have a preserved line of strains for each generation I have been conducting research. What will be unique about each of these lines is, it will only be strains that I enjoy and are a hit with everyone else within my local area while also preserving classic heirloom genetics.

The beauty in all of this work is I am in no way pressured to measure up to anything rather I know what I like and if I continue to breed with the genetics that get me drooling I will always find those who have the same taste as myself. I've been a real sucker for the fruity strains the past 3 years and it is my intention to move onto something the market has yet to taste or smell.

As I breed out these same lines and come out with my self made gems that are not preservation projects I have 2 other experiments that are likely increasing the vigor of the lineage's I am using, but do not have enough data to come out and make it public. The people that buy these seeds will not know that they are apart of an ongoing regenerative experiment that will be published after 3 more years of working the lines and collecting data.

If you haven't already put together what I'm trying to do is I'm attempting to weed out (no pun intended) the folks that care about their medicine from the people that just want what the next person will tell them is “The best shit ever”. The truth is, my genetics were not created for the latter of these 2 types of people. I am seeking to find the ones that appreciate intentionally bred marijuana. The kind that serves a purpose other than sell for a high quantity of fun ticket$.

I will be doing a giveaway this weekend on both Facebook and Instagram social media accounts. Probably going to pick more than one winner just because!

Much love...and tons of Light!

It's a gloomy, rainy day here in West Michigan this Sunday morning. What better thing to do today than to journal a bit? This post will focus on the art of breeding and will also include the scope and focus of where I've been taking our Peanut Butter Breathe.

Breeding to me is just a different subset of art. Each of us has an IDEA of what we want to create, improve upon or achieve, but sometimes you get the rare nuts (Like myself) that believe in the chaos and randomness of it all and don't expect ANYTHING. There are so many artists out there that claim to be breeders, and even the breeders that do not claim to be breeders are sifting and creating genetic lines that they enjoy.

I describe the different types of breeders above because I believe it's important that if you follow a specific breeder you should know what their style ends up being. Are they looking to stabilize an already developed line? Are they hunting for a brand new unique terpene profile that the market has yet to see? Are they using one selected male for their projects or are they using an open pollination method that more accurately passes on an array of phenotypical expression?

The Grass Menagerie follows many breeders and certified genetics. When I am looking for preserved strains that have been touched minimally from today's breeders I first and foremost check out what Bodhi Seeds has been up to. From what I've seen Bodhi Seeds has personally gone to the different parts of the world to collect and preserve land race varietals. Adopting our motto of preserving heirloom genetics from them! I enjoy that he uses open pollination methods to create his seeds because if you pop 10 seeds you have the chance of getting 3 or more different leaning phenotypes. A Phenotype is what the plant “physically looks like”.

Another great project that we follow is Kre8 Genetics. They are all the way out in the Bay area of California. We follow their work because we have found that the different types of berry terpenes that can be found in his works are second to none! He prides himself on growing colorful cultivars coining the “Pebbles Punch” Forbidden fruit F2 as his own.

The last company I will shill to you in this blog is Green Bodhi. I follow his work because he has kept his head down and bred what HE finds are his favorite cultivars. He doesn't breed with hype, only what works. On top of that he has made it at the top of his priorities to working with water4lifeglobal.org. He has been apart of creating safe drinking water wells for many villages in India.

So now I will lay out my line of thinking when it comes to our “Purple Abazaba” Feminized seeds. In 2017 Peanut butter breathe had been circling around West Michigan for at least a year now and everyone that had been looking for it had gotten their hands on it. The Grass Menagerie went to the Clio MI High Times Cannabis Cup looking for some genetics to pick up and Fresh Coast Seed Companies booth was hands down the company we were going to support. I remember they had a whole catalog they tossed in front of my face and I ended up buy a couple packs of their cup entry for that year: Abazaba , which was a (Special Candyland x Peanut butter breath) x OGKB. That OG Kush Breath paired with the Peanut butter breath made for some golf ball size nugs that were just dusted from top to bottom with frost I could barely believe was on my outdoor crop. It smelled very creamy, it had a menthol , or minty inhale with a savory exhale and flavor.

This creamy, savory smelling plant did not pierce your nose like most other super potent medicine, which I didn't mind because the glimmer that was given off by these snow ball buds made up for the excitement that I missed out on when the smell usually rips through my nostrils. I kept wondering how much more enjoyable this medicine would be if it had a fruity kick to it. As for all of my other strains were fruity I only had to look into crossing one of them on over to this Abazaba, but it was trickier than that. I only had females of all my favorite strain...I didn't have any access to the seeds that would give arise to a male of the same strain so I had to get creative.

My living situation was always changing and I had found out that I may end up losing my Purple Rhino strain that I kept going because of how well it helped out my ailments. This was a perfect opportunity to learn how to create feminized seeds. After reversing the Abazaba and dumping that pollen over the Purple Rhino we got seeds that hopefully would resemble my Purple Rhino mother.

After hunting these feminized seeds we noticed that there was a nice split of 3 different phenotypes that you can find in those seeds. 1) A short a squatty plant with a menthol creamy smell. 2) A tall plant with menthol creamy smell and quick finisher (8 weeks) and the keeper we were hoping for 3) A tall plant that smells like Pink Starbursts and is a quick finisher (8 weeks).

The beauty of this may seem like we are done! We got our end result and are happy with it! A nice perfect mix of both parents that beefed up the enjoyment of both cultivars. So then why then would I be dumping pollen from our 88'Hashplant preservation project on our Purple Abazaba (Breeder cut)? The answer is stability. While hunting these seeds we noticed there is a slight case of hermaphrodite characteristics occurring. We noticed that within the first 2-3 weeks of flower some plants will throw bananas. If it is ignored and even not spotted the plant gets over this period, or phase and stops producing bananas or “male parts” but for large scale operations this is not worth the risk.

With these findings we know for a fact that our creations can be fine tuned and inch closer to perfection. I am crossing my fingers that this cross doesn't sift out my fruity terpenes replacing it with the classic Hashy/Chemical nose of the father!

I am grateful for followers on my journey. Sending Love.

I wanted to begin this post by giving praise to the new season that is on its way! While doing maintenance on some of the the 88'Hashplant preservation project plants I was greeted with a crisp cool breeze. I had been wearing a short sleeved shirt so the wind really took me by surprise. It was within this very moment that I was able to slow down and appreciate all the change that I was being surrounded with. The weather, the colors of the trees, the ripening of this year's harvest, the warning songs of all the birds that fill up our neighborhoods each year. Change is coming, and I welcome it!

It is October 2, a day after my wife's birthday and both the Purple Abazaba and the Trainwreck look like the seeds they are holding will be all mature within the week. I am tempted to allow them to continue to grow until they start to die off or freezing temperatures begin freeze the roots.

I have decided that I will not be letting out any of the seeds that I can snag off of the Chewy Runtz and the 88'Hashplant F2's due to the plants being very small in size. They will be brought back in a future project or two down the line but for now they will be preserved in the vault.

While bucking some of the larger fan leaves off of the fully seeded mothers I have going I have finally been able to identify a few characteristics of my Trainwreck x Kashmir cut I have going. Ontop of its beautiful purple hues that develop later in flower it also has a very potent incense, perfume, or potpourri smelling stink to it. Such a unique profile of smells , but NOT what I had expected from this cross. I can safely say this is a Kashmir leaning phenotype, and although I love it just the same, it is not the expression I was hoping to pass on.

It is Times like these where we must appreciate that nature also is a co-creator. These miracle surprises are nature's brushstrokes which help progress expression.

Next blog I will give an explanation on what makes me excited about the upcoming Purple Abazaba x 88'Hashplant crosses becoming available this winter!

With Love as my intention. Until next Time.

Today's post I'll be talking about how I am able to stay relevant within the current cannabis market and how you should always be growing something that you personally enjoy.

The cannabis market is made up of many different “users”, some folks just want to be the one's with the smelliest medicine, and some folks hope that no body ever finds out they are using cannabis. With the recent legalization of recreational marijuana sweeping across the United States, the preferred strains are those with the most offensive odors. Your Skunk, Gas, and Funk. We have noticed a trend with states that have recently legalized marijuana for recreational use that the offensive odors are the flavors that people ask 65% of the time. Little do these people know they are but scraping the tip of flavors present within different varieties of marijuana. Below is a wonderful wheel of flavors expressed in all types of marijuana.

I like a variety of flavors in my garden but I know that sometimes we have to have product that will fly off the shelf. I use this wheel to determine how much of each crop I give to each flavor. I am a big fan of fruity smelling marijuana and another favorite is the “Toe-jam” smelling medicine. The fruity stuff I like during the day and the toe-jam medicine is for at night but I also know that this was an acquired taste. Only after fully experiencing these strains did I learn to appreciate the effects they had on me...and only then did I learn to love these funky, rancid smells.

I find it most intriguing that this is how we as patients get turned onto different varieties of strains. There is a joke that cannabis is the penicillin or ibuprofen of the age. It works for just about everything! If you are depressed, there is a strain for that, tired but can't sleep? There is a strain for that. Tired and need to wake up? We got you covered! With each of these experiences a different flavor profile is likely present because the way this medicine works is all of the terpenes that are present in the plant create a cascade effect on our body. This cascade effect must have the full spectrum of cannabinoids to act like a key unlocking what ever ailment it is you are targeting.

So if you are a caregiver with 5 patients and also growing for yourself you get 72 plants in Michigan. If you know that EVERYONE only asks for Gelato, then it may be smart to grow 45 Gelato plants which cover the floral, incense , and hard grape smells so the bulk of your harvest will be asked for by name and you don't have to tell everyone you are out of “the good stuff”. Within that same harvest have a couple of your favorite Jet fuel smelling strains in there, include a few fruity ones, and don't forget the nutty or musky flavors.

While you will not have an abundance of weight from the rest of these flavors you at least have a selection for the seasoned patient that KNOWS that what is hyped on the market isn't necessarily what gets the job done for their ailment. This way you are appealing to a broad range of people, while still staying very relevant in the broader market.

This is also how you can keep the same enthusiasm in growing this wonderful medicine. Always have a gem or two that YOU LOVE and will not stop growing for anyone! Medicine grown with good intention carries over to the patient consuming the medicine. If we begin to grow our medicine with true intention it programs the flower to resonate at a higher frequency. This is why cannabis grown in living soil is so much more satisfying that consuming medicine that was grown in coco with salt based nutrients. The diverse group of organisms you capture to co-create a biome together all harmonize with your intention, adding yet more purpose for every living thing being utilized.

I hope I didn't bore you with my Tricks of the Trade ;) Simple Stan Signing off.

Summer of 2021 Breeding project

This summer I sought out to preserve some old genetics I had gotten a couple years back. I popped an 11 pack of Bodhi seeds' 88hashplant/ChemD. I hunted out a couple males in the selection that I ended up using in an open pollination round outdoors.

I do all of my breeding projects outdoors. Living in Michigan we have all 4 seasons and the summer is the only Time that cannabis is able to do well up here. So we get one season and the rule of thumb up here is as long as your plants are in the ground by July 4th, you will be good to go! The reason I do all of my breeding outdoors is I truly believe that no amount of mimicry, no amount of technology we come up with will ever measure up to what Gaia has to give the plants.

It has been my experience that the seeds develop to be much larger when created outdoors. So in the off season I run genetics in my indoor garden to ultimately decide what gets to be tossed into the next year's Summer lineup. I am very fortunate to have soil where I can plant my cannabis and besides some minor pruning and cleaning out for air flow I can forget about them and nature grows them for me. The soil where I live is very fertile. I add a few of my own amendments in the beginning along with harvested fungus/beneficial bacteria to add to the diversity of the soil.

This year I dumped that 88 Hashplant/ChemD pollen all over my Purple Abazaba for the purpose of trying to stabilize her a little bit more. She was my first attempt at creating feminized seeds and even after two generations she has continued to show signs of hermaphrodite traits in the first 2 weeks of flower. It is so minimal and it stops after the first 2 weeks however I'd like to rid the genetics of this undesirable trait.

I also pollinated a Chewy Runtz by Kre8 Genetics which is Runtz X Gelato 41. I love the phenotype I hunted out of 10 seeds. I bought 50 with the intention to phenohunt them but didn't have the space and within the 10 I popped found a GORGEOUS phenotype. The buds are completely purple beginning in week 2 of flower. It smells like Grape medicine and mothballs but doesn't yield the thickest. Hoping this male will thicken her up in the next generation.

I had another pack of seeds my wife had been wanting me to hunt through and it was Bodhi seed's Trainwreck X Kashmir. My wife is a big fan of the Trainwreck and I've always wanted to grow it so I tossed in in the ground and it has been the most vigorous of all the plants I have out there. I don't know what this pollen is going to do tossed over this colorful girl I was really only hoping to increase my seedstock of preserved landraces and having this Trainwreck already crossed with an Indian land race its a double win! I didn't expect as much purple in this one but the array of colors she's giving off is pleasing. She smells like sour lime, with a hint of musky-ness on the back end. It looks like this one will be taking the longest to flower this season. Hopefully she makes it before our cold Octobers.

The last one that's getting pollinated is the female I selected from the same pack I chose the male from. So I'll be making F2's of the 88 Hashplant/ChemD. Growing the female out has been a joy! She is very squatty and has very dense tightly stacking buds that smell like pistachios and forest floor. Crossing my fingers this male adds a bit more KICK to the terpene profile she is exhibiting because currently she's only standing out for how quickly she is finishing off.

I will hopefully be documenting/blogging more of my journey through this medium. I also plan to make these blogs much more exciting and enjoyable to look at instead of it feeling like a text book like this one does. I created this post to merely get my ideas down and test out this new service that “Coil” migrated to.

Until next Time Growmies! The Silent Monk

I grew up In a small town that was in the Guinness world records book for having the most churches within a square mile. I was taught a set of rules that I assumed went for everyone I ran into out in the world. A few of these rules I would continue to struggle with following for a large part of my childhood, but most of these rules my family put in place for me to follow were the one's I always knew that I would have when making my own family.

One of these archetypes that was etched into my way of being was “The man of the house”. Being the most competitive sibling in my family I always felt that I had to show that I was at the top, or better than the rest. With this veil I had pulled over my reality it was truly a task to find my true skin, which I am getting closer and closer to finding each day.

As I have grown older and started to make a family of my own, I begin to see the issues we are having from a different fabric of being. I ask myself what isn't working for us? and why?

I have recently began to see that I am the source of much of the feminine energy that comes with Sam, and I's relationship. Being able to put these pieces together and learn from a blank slate is one of the strongest perspectives I have been able to adopt since getting out into the world beyond the small world I was so use to dwelling in.

As I began to harness this feminine energy I have always had bottled up I began to see that the woman I love is just such a perfect balance of what I fail to bring to the table.

These miniature golden moments of realization in life allow doors to be opened within the life of the adventurer. Year after year I find myself looking back at the family I created and it doesn't look ANYTHING like “a stay at home wife and 2 kids” because I've learned its not JUST my decision to squeeze out a kid...hell I don't even have to do the squeezing. As Humans we adapt to change and after we adapt we evolve, although the can be tough, holding on to this sacred force we express as love is well worth it!

Forever Grateful

Simple Stan