The Teahouse Collective (an innovative new group of small, organic, sustainable farms) has a booth at the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo Sept 25th and 26th at San Francisco.  To patients who sign up as members, they will be offering samples of four different strains grown here in Humboldt. They will be giving away Bubblebath, Serenity, Green Cush, and Purple Afghani.

Their objective is to raise awareness of the incredible quality of outdoor organic pot.  Liz Davidson, president, says she wants to “show people how wonderfully fresh and pure pot can be.”  When she went to the first expo, “…Indoor had become the brand.  There wasn’t any consciousness that outdoor grow creates fine cannabis.”

The Teahouse Collective (THC)was born out of a desire to change that belief system.  Davidson says, “We want the patients to sample [outdoor], …to understand they can depend on and find relief with organic, herbal medicine that is sustainably and naturally grown.”

The website describes their farms and the variety of strains available. It explains that they are committed to high environmental standards.  They don’t just demand that their farmers produce organic pot, they require much more.  According to the website,

Sustainable medical cannabis production begins with energy use. We do not permit any indoor cultivation. It makes no sense to use fossil fuel energy to grow an herb that will grow naturally in the sun.

Sustainability also means conserving our most precious resource—water. Our farms are located throughout salmon-bearing watersheds, and our growers know that every drop they use, they take from the fish. All our farmers use water wise growing techniques; our highest level of certification, “Salmon-Safe Sinsemilla”, is awarded to growers who use only stored water and do not pump from spring, creeks or wells during habitat critical months.

The site offers a quick look at Humboldt cannabis history as well.  I particularly enjoyed the description of how “intrepid travelers brought non-tropical, mountain strains from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to Humboldt and began to cross breed the tropical sativas with these cool weather short season indicas.”

Will patients acclimatized to indoor factories and urban growing want to belong to a collective that focuses on rural and environmental values as well as organic qualities?  The current ‘buy green products’ movement makes me think they might.

Buying Green could have two meanings for future marijuana consumers. The Teahouse Collective hopes to tap into that budding environmentally conscious market.