Cultivating Creativity: Jess Lee's Green Ink

What does it take to grow top-tier cannabis in a bustling city? Join us as we chat with Jess Lee, the talented Master Grower at Trees Botanical, who shares her journey from a small medical facility to working in a tight-knit team focused on micro-cultivation and phenohunting. From growing near an industrial bakery to navigating the complexities of regulatory compliance, Jess provides a fascinating look into the world of cannabis cultivation. Plus, hear about her unique intersection of tattoo art and cannabis, offering a compelling glimpse into her dual passions.

Curious about the latest trends in cannabis? Sean and Charlie break down their favorite strains, including Motor Breath and LA Kush Cake, and review some of the newest products hitting the market. Whether it's the niche appeal of odorless weed or the exceptional quality of Todd’s peanut butter and jelly 14-gram variant, we cover it all. We also discuss the implications of the recent LCBO strike and the broader movement towards private alcohol sales, drawing intriguing parallels to the cannabis industry’s own regulatory challenges.

Finally, we shine a spotlight on the incredible dedication of female growers in the industry, celebrating their resilience and contributions. From Carly Boomer’s unwavering commitment despite injuries to the supportive community that makes this industry so unique, we cover the emotional highs and lows of working in cannabis. As we wrap up, we chat about favorite strains, upcoming collaborations, and even the practicality of Crocs for growers. Don’t miss this blend of humor, heartfelt stories, and industry insights!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

Minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, main engine start 4, 3, 2, 1. I'm Sean and I'm Charlie and this is Higher Orbit, I don't know. I mixed it up A little change up. I'm out of practice and it just feels natural.

Speaker 2 0:28

It's been a while, for sure, man, good to be back Back of the shop.

Speaker 1 0:33

Just a reminder. We film our podcast in the back of our dispensary at 821 Queen Street West.

Speaker 2 0:37

Yeah, we're open right now.

Speaker 1 0:38

Downtown Toronto. Pepperoni's streaming in for Luis the Legend.

Speaker 2 0:43

Yeah, come grab some stuff. We just got lots of new fires Uh, lots of really good stuff. Then some consistent drops Kind of hard to keep up. We got too much.

Speaker 1 0:51

Yeah, I like the motor breath. We need to do a quick drop, shout out, I'm down to that motor breath. But the cannabis cartel was pretty good.

Speaker 2 0:58

It was good too.

Speaker 3 0:59

Pretty decent pretty clean.

Speaker 1 1:00

The LA Kush Cake was quite nice. From Rubicon that was a nice drop. I got the opportunity to try that Platinum. I don't know who grew it, but in the collab bag the.

Speaker 2 1:11

Platinum Jelly, I really like Platinum Strains.

Speaker 1 1:13

Usually I like the moisture on it. I told those guys that I thought it was an improvement. I guess it's safe to say it's nice to see everybody trying to step up their game. Anyways, shout out to rosin heads too, on his phoebe and jay, yo check out this. Go bass, uh hoodie. I don't know if there's any left.

Speaker 2 1:31

But yeah, I'm wearing the rosin head move. Well too, the peanut butter breath in particular, we really like to. We got the baller box higher orbit times.

Speaker 1 1:36

Rosin heads, baller box here full of all the flavors for all anybody that's going to join us on the season, on the show this season. Thank you, I saved myself right there. I'm out of practice, I feel rusty.

Speaker 2 1:50

Yeah, that's fair man, is that alright? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've been busy. It's been a busy summer, man. New adjustments, different stuff, lots going on.

Speaker 1 1:58

I'm trying to think if there's any other killer products. I wanted to touch base on the Point Break. Live Rosin was really good, yeah, although they mixed in this Triple Haze and I don't know how I feel about it anymore. I liked it when it was just the Pure Point Break more. I'm assuming they right now have that fresh frozen material. It's really sour though. If you like a true sour, it has that appeal to me. It reminds me of a really old true sour strain. I would get back in the day.

Speaker 2 2:26

Does that make sense? That's so funny about weed Cause I mean with any of the products it kind of comes and goes, even batch to batch, and, like it's funny, you even mentioned the Colab bag. Someone came in for the flawless Victor and I was like buddy, that's long gone, really, and I'm like long gone buddy.

Speaker 1 2:40

Well, I think it goes both ways you have the joker that comes in and is like this is all you have and I'm like I got all this new stuff. What are you talking about? And then you have the people being like oh man, do you have that blueberry, something I can't think of something good, but you know something that's been gone forever someone asked me for a dosis pod, a dosis pod or whatever product.

Speaker 1 3:01

It might be the flower of the product that hasn't been around for like 24 months, maybe longer, right, like longer happens, I would say, once every couple months. Just funny anecdote there. Yeah, I'm obviously nice to these people, but it's tough, yeah, whatever. I guess what I was trying to say, though, is it was I was. I had a point there about there being the people that want to rush to the new thing and then the people that always do just want that same experience, I guess.

Speaker 2 3:26

Yeah, fair, um, something I wanted to talk about. Of course, there's so many products like we could talk products forever and ever. It could take like a whole show really to talk products, um, but just top of mind. I mean, we didn't get to catch up while it happened, but that LCBO strike was kind of interesting. Oh, okay, um, um, just to kind of like stir up something there, because I feel like it's just such a great way to directly compare two similar things. They're not substitutes, right, really, they're different, but we're like that oh, there's another order for louise. Um, this is the private model. It's just like we're on the other side of that right, and now they're pushing to warm private. There's going to be beer everywhere. It's kind of interesting to see that unfold, don't you think?

Speaker 1 4:09

Yeah, and I know it's easy we try not to compare ourselves to alcohol too much but I was thinking I know that recently we were talking about this too about them wanting to allow people to drink in like 7-Eleven and Circle K, and I'm like, come on, man, and I'm not legally like I can barely like I know some dispensary you can't do anything.

Speaker 1 4:27

You can't really do much I let people roll in here and I know that that's kind of like a great thing crack a beverage, you know, or crack a drink or open products here and we like enjoy them together or try to like get scents and chat about it and have, you know, a sense of community about it anyways but yeah, it's just funny, ain't it?

Speaker 2 4:44

well, yeah, and we can't even really have like an event or anything and yeah, that kind of goes to show, I guess, still some sigma and actually funny, just, I guess, segueing to from products. This was a funny one.

Product Reviews and Regulatory Changes

Speaker 1 4:54

I never showed you this and I have it in my little bag of tricks here, ah like I was just already thinking too about how they just totally promote drinking and driving, like drinking at the 7-eleven, oh, pretty much gas stations anyways like it's, so I wanted to show you this one from a while ago.

Speaker 2 5:06

This is from grow up uh, odorless, straight up, odorless weed. How funny is that? Oh, you didn't market it to me well, it's just like. It's interesting. I don't even think it's on the market. They're blister packed to you and me.

Speaker 1 5:19

I don't want to be mean, I would have shredded that guy. Did you shred him, kind of?

Speaker 2 5:22

well, I, you know me, I'm pretty objective in how I look at products, but to me, like there's so many niche products, obviously to your me, something that doesn't taste like anything or smell like anything. You try it, it's unopened. Oh, it's unopened.

Speaker 2 5:36

He gave you the odor of the sweet yeah, I'm the only reason I'm intrigued and it's interesting is because maybe there is, and in fact there are, people who still kind of are like I don't really smoke weed or don't identify with it or like the cigarette styles because it doesn't look like you're smoking weed and it's. It's just interesting that that's still. I guess it's just going to take time uh, it's going to take us talking about it it's on that note.

Speaker 1 5:58

I haven't seen on any dispensary menu, so it's not out yet.

Speaker 2 6:01

I don't think oh, okay anyways, I'm, it was interesting if you want to look at it. I don't know we get over that. I don't really want to smoke them. They're like little blister cigarette style, but okay, yeah, no, I guess.

Speaker 1 6:15

To me it's like uh, that doesn't make any sense because the roman flavor is such a big part of cannabis for me, so it's a weird one see, but it's it's not so.

Speaker 2 6:23

That's why I'm trying to be objective. You know I'm pretty good at this. We sell so many products that aren't for you.

Speaker 1 6:29

They're not for you buddy, has anybody ever come in and say do you have weed that doesn't smell like anything? Not once.

Speaker 2 6:34

I've never had anybody we have tons of people who buy the starwalker kush. I don't know that might smell like something. I mean fucking dude, yeah what's in? A bag of shred. You know like I mean, sure it smells like some. It sounds like something, but that's what the weed is. Yeah.

Speaker 1 6:50

I was trying to think of what the most like the weed that absolutely tastes like nothing that I can think of probably the stuff that they filled cheaters and GAs with.

Speaker 2 6:57

Probably.

Speaker 1 6:58

I think anytime anything's irradiated to find that there's really not much flavor to it. Maybe I'm wrong, or definitely like taste like there's less flavor which makes to it Maybe I'm wrong, or definitely like taste, like there's less flavor, which makes sense. You're microwaving it right? I think so, but I feel like I can tell just from smoking it.

Speaker 2 7:11

It might even be in your head, but I mean it's.

Speaker 2 7:14

The thing is If you, Pepsi, challenge me, I could tell the thing is is anything so? But that's hard because you can never compare. Like something grown craft, they're not going to mic that. Maybe if you mic'd some craft weed that was really nice and then taste tested it, then I'd be impressed if you could figure that one out. You know what I mean. You're never going to get a small batch and they're never going to be like oh yeah, we fucking irradiated it. It's always large batch, so it's hard to compare the two. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 7:46

Mm, hmm, you know what I mean. That's a good point. Yeah, excuse me.

Speaker 2 7:49

I felt like I was gonna burp a big burp into the microphone. I'm glad you did not. Um, yeah, no, just back to that. I mean, um, as far as some of the new products go, um, it's been funny to see there was another one that came out too. I don't know if you even saw that. It was like like little bong rips. Speaking of products that wouldn't appeal, I'm eating a rosin head A product that wouldn't appeal to you or me. It's literally pre made bong rips.

Speaker 1 8:13

Do you know which ones are the strawberry? Is the strawberry the lighter, the lighter one? Thank you, carly Boomer. Yeah the top ones Shout out to Carly Boomer for being a champ. She broke our wrist and fractured her back, so we're going to give her a special thank you for coming in today and working. Do you want one?

Speaker 2 8:29

Yeah, I might try one. I wish there was a pistachio. I haven't tried the strawberry, yet I'm a big fan of the raspberry peanut butter always. I'm going to wait. People should go out and definitely try these. If you have not, they're phenomenal. Todd's been making the chocolate for quite some time.

Speaker 1 8:44

Yeah, If you haven't tried it yet, the new flower drop was really good. I opened a bag with our producer. I got stuck with not stuck with, but he sold me the gelato berry and he took the peanut butter and it was much better. So I'm going to call him out for that. I was like why can't we just split both? He's like no, no, you know you're gonna like the gelato better. Anyways, man, it's for your stuff. It really wasn't. Yeah, it was really good. My one critique if I was gonna give it to Todd and I would tell this to him Was I cherry picked a couple of really good buds out of the gelato berry where I found that the peanut butter was more consistent. Yeah, does that make sense? Yeah, no, totally Pretty small. Other than that, the quality was there for the price and phenomenal packaging and marketing. So shout out to Todd Go, check out the peanut butter and jelly 14 gram variant.

Speaker 2 9:37

Yeah, I'm glad to see some success there because I feel like it was a great drop and Todd's been doing a great job. Because I feel like it was a great drop and Todd's been doing a great job and brand's important. It's so important to keep that momentum as a brand too, and especially probably hard because he's kind of segwaying into different categories it's bold man but I think it was a really good effort and I look forward to the next round that he picks.

Speaker 1 9:59

I think he did pick pretty damn good flour.

Speaker 2 10:01

in my opinion, the concept's pretty cool and it's very much um, you know, in tune with who he is and his brand and it's aligned.

Speaker 1 10:13

Yeah, no, I'm glad, I'm glad it's doing well and it did sell really well. Like I had a couple of americans, I was going to tell them this and as soon as I busted it out, they're like I'm buying that, like sold like peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it looks like one, like it's very like the person who loves cookies. They love it, right, you know? Yeah, americans seem to like it.

Speaker 2 10:27

I think that was something that might be on the docket for some changes to packaging. I mean, not quite like he got away with doing it, making it look cool, and I think some people are pushing the envelope a bit, but we might get to see clear containers. That that would be really cool. Well, it'd be awesome. Yeah, it'd be a lot of fun. So that's, I think that's something that's actually been proposed. They're starting to look at some stuff, so I guess that's positive. Just on that note of kind of regulatory stuff yeah, a thousand percent. There's a lot more changes actually, but I don't think we ever really talked about it that much. Do you know some of the new changes, bud?

Speaker 1 11:03

I think we touched on it last time Most of the most important ones were the Milligrams in the bag and it's just Going to be more packaging. So the way I interpret the rules is that it'll be like and I think it was like this when I went to like Seattle, where it was like I bought a package of like 10 spicy Caramel, chocolate bomb Things or something, but each one was bubble wrapped, but each one had the THC label on it.

Speaker 1 11:28

It was really hard to get open, like I had to cut them open, but it was like a bigger package that was childproof with a bunch of other ones on the inside that were all childproof and labeled THC on them, but each one was 10 milligrams, to make 10 times 10 for a hundred in the bag, right, or whatever.

Speaker 2 11:43

Man, it's so crazy how many of the loophole items we sell like comparatively.

Speaker 1 11:47

Well, people still ask me for the Jolts.

Speaker 2 11:49

I guess the new biggest one now is the.

Speaker 1 11:50

Vortex Capsules by. I don't even know who makes those Valens.

Speaker 3 11:55

Valens.

Speaker 1 11:59

Okay, so it's Sundial, yeah, and they're just like little jelly cubes. I've never tried them. There is no flavor to them, right? It's like a time really small glitch with no flavor.

Speaker 2 12:08

I'm pretty much tastes like sugar.

Speaker 1 12:10

I Still say that the hash rosin is also my rain supreme, and we still saw a lot of those. Shut our rosin heads once again. Yeah, that's true. Um, I feel like if you're going that direction, you don't want sugar anyways, and it's just super effective.

Speaker 2 12:26

It's a pen man. People love their sugar too. It's crazy. They're part of it. The other ones are really cheap. They must be not good, though I don't know we should try them one day.

Speaker 1 12:34

Let's try it. I guess I just never had been appealing to me, but I am kind of curious because we do sell a lot of them, yeah, yeah just to know, yeah, I've been I've been eating more edibles lately.

Speaker 2 12:44

I'm not going to lie.

Speaker 1 12:45

I will say the peanut butter strawberry Still second to me. I like the raspberry I'm going to have to. I feel like now I need to have a raspberry, because Raspberry over strawberry Over the strawberry peanut butter combo on a small side note, yeah, but still awesome. Love you. Love you, todd, showing our rosin heads. Love you, todd Shout out to Rosenhut's.

Speaker 2 13:01

Yeah, I wish we could get a retro pistachio, but they must not have been as popular, I guess. So I wonder if he's got some new flavors, he'll probably let us know. Yeah, I think so anyways. Yeah, super excited to bring on our next guest.

Speaker 1 13:25

I mean always, always very exciting, but we, well, we've had some growers, but this one we're definitely it's fun to kind of circle back to. Eh, sean, yeah, I think. So Tonight's episode's going to feature our first ever female master grower. Yeah, yeah, I'll keep the clues kind of rolling out, see if anybody can figure it out. Massive friends of the show we've had on another master grower from their team and you are Easter egging somebody. So well are we? Are we introing now or am I going to keep it a?

Speaker 2 13:47

secret. I mean, I don't know where. We're definitely getting to the point. I mean if anyone could pick it up. You got my shirt on. I just got the pleasure to meet her today. It sounds like she has quite a lot of experience in the industry and some some kind of crazy stories, so we're going to talk tattoo art I think, and like a little bit more of creative side of being a cultivator and the art of cultivation and growing.

Speaker 1 14:09

I've never really thought I think it is, but I guess I've never really had that discussion with anybody, so I look forward to it.

Speaker 2 14:14

I feel like someone dropped that. They're like it's as much an art as it is a science, Kind of I don't remember. There's definitely an element of it.

Speaker 1 14:23

Yeah, there's an element of it for sure. It's like a nurturing, it's like growing stuff is like I don't know. There's something really really awesome about it, inherently like human.

Master Grower and Regulatory Compliance

Speaker 2 14:33

Are you going to grow again? I miss growing stuff, but honestly, squirrels are terrible, so a controlled environment would be great.

Speaker 1 14:38

Blue lobster yeah, the blue lobster. I think we're trying to grow some blue lobster. That's going to be the plan. I need to get ready for that.

Speaker 2 14:46

Yeah, okay, that's fun.

Speaker 1 14:48

No, what I need to get ready for the blue lobster Moose, lobster, moose, lobster. Well, come on, I don't know Similar variants.

Speaker 2 14:55

That's the closest. I could get You're funny. There you go, we coming in.

Speaker 3 15:01

Munker Melts. Mad at Munker Melts.

Speaker 1 15:04

Okay, sick, I can't wait. That's the breeder.

Speaker 2 15:06

We'll keep you posted.

Speaker 1 15:08

Maybe I should take more photos and videos this time and bring them in to share with everybody. More show and tell, more show and tell. Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 2 15:20

Sean's show and tell section. Huh, huh, yeah, I can't even been over to see the plants actually before.

Speaker 1 15:24

Mm-hmm. Yeah, a thousand percent. Yeah, are you going to do the intro or are I going to? Yeah, to continue on.

Speaker 2 15:31

Yeah, yeah, the suspense is built. We have Jess Lee coming onto the show. Woo-hoo. Yeah, the other half of Trees as far as we know. So great team over over there. We, we love the stuff that they do and love ben, love trees.

Speaker 1 15:43

If you don't know who trees cannabis is, you probably have smoked a lot of their weed. If you like good weed and and you know the canadian market, um, we'll get into that. I guess, when you're back, I'll look forward to talking with jess about the art of tattoo, the art of growing and life. We'll be back higher orbit. Follow us at higher orbit. Follow Trees, botanicals, and don't forget to buy some fucking rosin heads, motherfuckers, or I'll eat one now. Eat one now, give me one, give me the raspberry, give me the raspberry baby, and we're back Higher Orbit times, trees, botanical and our good friend Jess Lee Master Grower.

Speaker 3 16:28

Hi, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 16:30

Thanks for coming, jess. Yeah, welcome, so glad to have you. Welcome to.

Speaker 1 16:33

Higher Orbit.

Speaker 3 16:34

It's my pleasure. Yeah, I guess we'll kind of get into. I don't know what brought you to be a Master Grower. I mean, a lot of that is the opportunity that I got from Ben Pettivani.

Speaker 1 16:50

Shout out to Ben. Shout out to Benny. We love Benny. Ben Trees.

Speaker 3 16:52

And, yeah, you know, retaining everything that I've learned through my journey in the cannabis industry and bringing it to him, being like what do you need? I think I have like a pocket full of, you know, wishes to Grant.

Speaker 1 17:12

I love that. You're like a wizard with magic beans. You know, that's how I always think that kind of growers are. Is that like a good one? I don't know. Wizards, wizards with magic beans, no, I don't know you do something magical.

Speaker 2 17:23

I would say it's pretty magical, Absolutely.

Speaker 1 17:23

Wizards, wizards with magic beans? No, I don't know.

Speaker 2 17:24

Magical, I would say.

Speaker 3 17:26

Absolutely. I would say it's all about what's presented in front of you and how you grab it. I mean start. I started off in a Small medical facility that okay, gearing up for recreational.

Speaker 1 17:40

Okay, so this is like pre 2018. This this is when Jess's journey starts in the cannabis.

Speaker 3 17:45

It was the very beginning of 2017.

Speaker 2 17:49

Okay.

Speaker 3 17:49

And it's it's like what do you got? What do you want to do? Let's do it.

Speaker 1 17:54

Sick.

Speaker 3 17:55

Kind of, kind of kind of.

Speaker 1 17:57

Yeah, I'm sure you learned a lot along the way, from from then till now.

Speaker 3 18:00

So I, I, I, I think within like a couple of months I was like, yeah, I could do legit logistics. Yeah, I can do that. Okay, you got it. And I was like, oh, I'm doing it.

Speaker 1 18:11

There you go. Yeah Well, I know, like trees botanical is a quote-unquote like a smaller, it's a smaller producer, smaller company, right. So it makes sense. I guess you got a, you got a bootstrap, as they say.

Speaker 3 18:21

Yeah and like yeah, Ben again, like graciously offered me all the opportunity to just grow with him and it's. It was really exciting to walk in there and see it to start being a startup again.

Speaker 1 18:35

And be in that journey with Ben kind of thing, right.

Speaker 3 18:37

Yeah, and, and it's you know, his family's there. His dad stops in on the weekend, it's dope. It's yeah.

Speaker 1 18:43

It's a very dope vibe.

Speaker 2 18:45

That sounds about right. I love the family aspect. Yeah, there I have to. I have to offer you one of these delicious rosin heads.

Speaker 1 18:51

Yeah, oh, hell, yeah, of course, tonight's episode is brought to you by rosin heads If you did not know, so shout out to rosin heads. We have peanut butter. Then you got the raspberry peanut butter, or is it the caramel?

Speaker 2 19:04

The middle is the caramel, the bottom is the raspberry, the bottom is the raspberry, which is, like the OG, probably my favorite, but they're all good.

Speaker 3 19:10

These look like they're the most popular.

Speaker 1 19:14

Have you had one before?

Speaker 3 19:16

I haven't had one.

Speaker 1 19:17

I'm not a big edible girl. There you go, but you'll try one, I think, more than anything, they just taste really good.

Speaker 3 19:22

If it's legal, I'm going to be okay.

Speaker 1 19:25

There you go.

Speaker 3 19:25

Yeah, you don't have to worry about it being like a 50 or 100 milligram bomb.

Speaker 1 19:29

It's 10 milligrams. I'm going to have a caramel. I'm going to go around the globe doing it. That's good. It's pretty good right.

Speaker 2 19:47

Honestly, more than anything, it's just a great artisanal chocolate way to go todd.

Speaker 3 19:48

Shout out to todd, there you go. Yeah, you guys, uh, even used to work together, right?

Speaker 2 19:50

for a blip in time. A blip in time a blip in time?

Speaker 3 19:52

oh, I didn't know that, yeah, yeah we both had a a little stint at hexo. I had a longer one got it and uh, he's. I mean, when he left, he had many choices in front of him. He's a very, very knowledgeable person and, yeah, he was going to be okay.

Speaker 3 20:15

Yeah, you're like you always figure it out the moment you kind of meet him and you know he's there to scout your product and tell you what to sell, what's going to sell, what people want, what's big and like. I've never seen so many just like bigger people. Just be like. Please, sir, help us, show us. There you go. Yeah, those are delicious.

Speaker 1 20:39

The fire right. I'm glad he liked it.

Speaker 2 20:42

I figured you deserve one, because I heard that you guys actually got audited today.

Speaker 3 20:47

Yes, we had our site inspection and our exit interview.

Speaker 2 20:53

Okay, what was that like? Like, was that your first time?

Speaker 3 20:58

No.

Speaker 2 20:58

No, okay.

Speaker 3 20:59

And coming from back in the day in medical, it was insane. It's pretty crazy Really. This is with Health.

Speaker 2 21:08

Canada.

Speaker 3 21:08

With Health Canada and there's three days on-site inspections and they're watching video. It depends on what your license, what your regulations are with what you do. So we're a micro-cultivator, so our audit today was it's always nerve wracking. I spent. I had a pretty like big tummy ache all week weekend. But like we, smashed it awesome yeah yeah, we did a great job it was.

Speaker 1 21:38

Yeah, it feels so good to just watch them look at what you're doing and be like, yeah, you know, you, you know I think we're pretty compliant too, but I know exactly what you mean, because we've had regulatory bodies come in here and be like. You know, I want to see every cash transaction from this day and you're like what the fuck? You're like what happened on that day? And it's nothing. They're just like picking an arbitrary day.

Speaker 3 22:01

Exactly, of course, yeah.

Speaker 1 22:02

Is what you don't know. But of course at the time you're like did I do something on that day? Are they going to like you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 22:07

And obviously you didn't, but I and it does happen every time, like I had problems pulling these particular records for a batch that they wanted to look at when all the other ones were doing it properly, and you know, okay, like specifically how you harvest, or something. They'll be like we want to see last work order or what have you, whether it's being packaged or moving out of the facility. Got it Every single transaction that that room or plant or anything. And then they ask for the record because it goes with a standard operating procedure.

Speaker 1 23:01

that You're making my head spin already.

Speaker 3 23:03

It's crazy and it's very bureaucratic and to me, like I know, that a lot of people have a hard time with just like how much information that they request, but all in all, it keeps the product integrity high. Right, it keeps everybody safe.

Speaker 1 23:22

Thanks, Health Canada. It's annoying, but we love you. Is that what you're trying to say?

Speaker 3 23:28

Thank you.

Speaker 1 23:29

That's good right, I think.

Speaker 2 23:31

I said it right, yeah here. Oh yeah, we got to check out some of your.

Speaker 1 23:35

Oh, you have some weed you brought us.

Speaker 2 23:36

Canadian inspected cannabis.

Speaker 1 23:39

Yeah, some of the trees botanical fire that we know so well.

Speaker 3 23:43

We'll bust out.

Speaker 1 23:45

We tried some of that banjo and it's quite lovely. There's almost like a cheesy note to it. It's like oranges with this fruity.

Speaker 3 23:53

It takes over this whole bag.

Speaker 1 23:55

It really does.

Speaker 3 23:57

The chirps are very loud on it, a thousand percent but I feel like I see this is everybody's favorite, which is the cap junkie the cap junkie.

Speaker 1 24:04

Yeah, you guys grow a beautiful cap junkie um. It's like it's very popular right now beautiful, like if you put that under, it's just beautiful. It's gorgeous like how could you not?

Speaker 2 24:15

you know, I don't even really like cap junkie that much, but Are pretty much all the strains that you're growing and brought in, like out there. You can't say who per se, but they're out there. People can grab them.

Speaker 3 24:28

I mean yeah.

Speaker 2 24:31

Some of them. Some of them they're around. Maybe you know the banjo. Yeah, some of them. Some of them they're around, maybe you know the banjo.

Speaker 3 24:36

The banjo was provided through SAGRA, yeah, and you know, I feel like a few people have grown out the SAGRA banjo as well, yeah.

Speaker 1 24:49

But no, some of these are in-house pheno-hunted, for sure.

Speaker 3 24:50

That's always. The goal is to keep hunting for that strain. That's going to set you apart.

Speaker 2 24:56

I do love that. I mean, you were you were kind of alluding to it uh, before having worked and done different jobs in like more corporate settings and then getting to do it kind of your way now in a smaller setting. Um, that must be pretty cool.

Speaker 3 25:11

Are you and ben like pretty well aligned, or do you have like different techniques sometimes and you're like I do this and I would say we're always like when it comes to pheno hunts we always have the same final three picks and then we always choose, like I'll choose one and then he'll choose one, but we both, we always like each other's okay yeah, choices, yeah, that's. That's awesome, it's quite fun yeah.

Speaker 2 25:41

What do?

Speaker 1 25:43

you find like is consistent in your winters when you're picking the smell. Yeah, yeah, big time. Okay, just follow your nose, eh Jess.

Speaker 3 25:48

Yeah, absolutely, yeah, absolutely. I find that like and you know, yeah, trichome coverage is like, like, but like. I feel like you can get a bag appeal from a lot of different bunk strains. Oh yeah, we talk about it all the time. We call it like the fool's goal.

Speaker 1 26:04

The pyrite that's it you're like and it looks amazing and sometimes it even smells alright, but then when you get into it it says nothing, yeah, it doesn't smell great or whatever.

Speaker 3 26:15

It doesn't translate or transition and yeah, I totally agree with you yeah so growing, growing for terps, and yeah, that makes sense and also to see we grow in a um a tier style uh vertical, grow vertical so you know it's what also can yield within a certain canopy. So you know how tall, how much is it going to stretch, you know how many like.

Speaker 1 26:43

How vertical do you guys go, like, how high?

Speaker 3 26:45

There's three tiers.

Speaker 1 26:46

Okay, cool, all right, very cool. I know that the plan was to come check you out at some point, so we'll have to come visit you.

Speaker 3 26:59

It's amazing. I mean I've seen many, many facilities and when I came to Ben, I had accepted my exit package from Hexo and we were introduced through a mutual friend, Jared. Shout out, Jared, Thank you for introducing me to Ben.

Speaker 1 27:10

Let's go Jared.

Speaker 3 27:14

And, yeah, I looked at the facility, I looked at the water room and I was just like OK. And then he showed me this A&L COA for this five week early harvest that like tested at 25 percent, and I was like OK, right. Yeah, I was like oh, and you're growing in cocoa and you passed your micro Right. I never passed a micro guys in my other career because the old facility I worked at was downstream from a bakery.

Speaker 2 27:47

Okay, and I mean industrial bakery for Tim Hortons.

Speaker 3 27:51

Oh crazy, Nothing past yeast ever.

Speaker 1 27:54

Right, crazy Interesting. I don't know if I should be telling you guys that.

Speaker 2 27:59

You don't have to change your mind.

Speaker 1 28:01

But that's also a funny one you never really think about. Oh, I'm growing near an industrial-sized bakery so I gotta worry about yeast coming out.

Speaker 3 28:07

You would need air exchange. You have to have air exchange too, right?

Speaker 1 28:12

Regardless, I find it fascinating. Yeah, it's really cool, wow.

Speaker 2 28:19

See there's so much required going into like this plant man. It's crazy, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 28:24

It's really cool. I'm just rolling up some of this the cap junkie, I'm just doing it. It's gorgeous.

Speaker 2 28:30

It smells great.

Speaker 1 28:31

I get a grapefruit on it which I never really realized before.

Speaker 3 28:33

It definitely smells, it is fruity. Yeah, I love a light green too. I like a nice light green brighter.

Speaker 2 28:40

Yeah, oh bright yeah so shiny.

Speaker 1 28:43

Um, I think I I want to ask you this yeah, what's the what's your favorite cultivar to grow if you had to choose one?

Speaker 3 28:49

well favorite question favorite cultivar to grow. I mean I've I have had I mean we get to do a couple pheno hunts, but I haven't done a full room of multiple various strains. It's usually a tray, a few plants here, a few plants there, but I always find that just growing out phenos is fun. How different.

Speaker 1 29:15

Were you breeding a hexo, or is that like something new to you at Trees?

Speaker 3 29:19

No, so the hexo facility I worked at was the genetics facility.

Speaker 1 29:24

Oh, it was Okay, it was the indoor breeding program?

Speaker 3 29:26

Yeah, Okay, so I'm very familiar with phenol hunting and organization and stuff like that. Very cool yeah, but it's a little bit on a smaller scale so it's more intimate.

Speaker 2 29:40

That's different.

Speaker 3 29:41

And, yeah, it's fun. So I'm going to say that my favorite strain to grow is when I'm hunting, when I don't know what it is.

Speaker 2 29:49

Ooh.

Speaker 3 29:50

And I would say, though, but the banjo is the favorite smoke Right.

Speaker 2 29:56

You're like when, at the end, you're like yes, this is like.

Speaker 3 29:58

It's okay to grow. It can get pretty, pretty big at the end depending on how you lollipop it. So sometimes it can get a bit scary. But I'm going to say the banjo is my favorite smoke. Fino hunting is my favorite grow.

Speaker 1 30:14

All right. Great answer. There is no favorite smoke. Fennel hunting is my favorite grow. Great answer. There is no wrong answer. I love it. That's awesome.

Speaker 2 30:18

Jess, I do like that. It's probably the excitement of what's it going to be like these little babies. What are they going to do?

Speaker 1 30:28

I'm watching them do their thing and being the one that's going to be playing God or whatever.

Speaker 3 30:33

You are no good to the trash, just like that. Right, right, what would be? You are no good To the trash yeah, just like that right.

Speaker 1 30:38

Just is exactly how.

Speaker 2 30:40

What's like the size difference, if you will like, let's say trees, to somewhere big and industrial, almost like Hexo.

Speaker 3 30:48

I mean I always say you put one more flowering room in trees, I need somebody else there, yeah, and I think that that really is that's it. I mean the size, it being smaller, it's a way more intimate team. I mean everybody has to pull their weight in the QA, in the growing, in the maintenance, in the sanitation. We all have to do it and I like that, I like that responsibility and you know, I feel like there's a lot more transparency and, yeah, I like that. When it comes to cannabis, the more you're willing to share information, I mean, the better you're respected and taken seriously and, just like I feel, the more it's more fun to like share knowledge, grow together and yeah, Don't you mind.

Speaker 1 31:49

Like I feel like what separates you guys and maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like I've smoked a lot of weed in the legal market and the industry but after meeting you and Ben, like I really feel the love that you guys put into it and I think that that is the secret ingredient and I'm not trying to be cheesy or whatever, and I think you said you just reminded me of that when you said that if there was one more plant in the room I wouldn't be able to like I need someone else because it wouldn't get the attention and the love that I would be able to give it. Right, yeah, you need to produce the kind of fire that you're producing.

Speaker 3 32:18

Yeah, I did do. I recently did a panel at the grow convention, the grow up convention Cool, it was the art of small batch in a competitive market. And across the board everybody said what makes a micro cultivator, and it's passion. Everybody unanimously said you have to have a passion for it because you're there all the time.

Speaker 2 32:47

Right.

Speaker 3 32:48

You know a lot rides on you and you know you got to be able to get back up when you fall.

Speaker 1 32:55

Right.

Speaker 3 32:56

You know you've got to remind yourself you're not your last. You know you to be able to get back up when you fall right. You know you've got to remind yourself you're not your last. You know you're not your last harvest, you're not your last sea of a. You got a few more at least in front of you.

Speaker 1 33:06

Yeah, that's a good thing to say yeah, yeah, it's hard to hit a home run every time you're at the plate, right?

Female Master Grower and Tattoo Art

Speaker 2 33:10

so yeah, absolutely that's awesome, the expectation of that. It can be tough sometimes, like again. I think it's amazing that you guys can consistently do it. You know pretty much for the most part. I'm sure there's some that we don't even hear about when you're like fuck 20%.

Speaker 3 33:28

No, I know, it's just like man. I really like this one yeah. And it's like, man, could we just keep a? Yeah? And it's like, could we just keep a mom? And it's like it's never going to make a full room. It just can't take up the space, can't take up the nutrients, can't take up the light.

Speaker 1 33:45

Right.

Speaker 3 33:46

You know, and then you just have to say goodbye. Thank you for that taste. But you know what? Everybody's breeding new seeds. You get your new fire plant. You breed it with your other fire plant.

Speaker 1 33:58

Right, you're back in the game Like a new fire plant.

Speaker 3 34:00

You don't even remember that trash plant it's fine, it's gone, it's in the past, right?

Speaker 1 34:07

What's been the biggest challenge about being a female master grower? That's a big question. I feel like you've been doing it for a long time now. I feel like a lot of master. There aren't as many women as there are men. It seems like a very like am I wrong? Macho kind of world. Maybe not as much anymore, but like, I think, almost related to like, maybe being in a chef or a kitchen, maybe, because that's kind of a macho world too.

Speaker 3 34:27

I would say that the growing aspect is definitely like a boys. It is a bit of a boys club, but there's a ton of like female growers out there. I know that, like Hexo's, main grower was a female for years. There you go, angus. I can't remember her last name.

Speaker 1 34:43

So I'm ignorant. I just need to be more educated. No for like.

Speaker 3 34:51

I think you're probably right to a degree For people starting small businesses. You know, like I do feel, I do feel like I don't know. I never really felt too challenged with trees at all. Yeah, it was definitely harder to really be taken seriously sometimes when somebody is like an engineer or a financial aid and they want you to describe steps, maybe processing loss, like what do you mean? What do you mean? It was like 200 kilograms and now it's 20 kilograms. Where the hell is this 180? That's this much money.

Speaker 2 35:40

Right.

Speaker 3 35:41

It's like well, do you not understand? You know, what I mean and it's like you almost have to break it down and then it's just like I did feel. I do feel like a lot of you know hexo things.

Speaker 1 35:56

That makes sense to me, sorry, yeah, I guess there's a fundamentally a disconnect from like what the grower wants in that situation and what the shareholders and the horticultural manager who was Katie Hiroshi Shout out to.

Speaker 3 36:05

Katie, and I would say the person who groomed me on regulations was J-Mac. Shout out to Jennifer Macaron she's by far like one of the hardest hard asses when it comes to regulations and paperwork signatures and, honestly though, it really gave me like foundation. I imagine the effort to be able to do things like the audit.

Speaker 3 36:51

Yeah, I was about to say you know I did ben's first audit when we first had our first plants and it was like it was felt because like it felt good, you know it felt like you had all your ducks in a row, like you said I do I do like that feeling.

Speaker 2 37:05

It's just like they trust you. Yeah, yeah, we're good and it was a.

Speaker 3 37:09

It's a validation. Yeah and it's a validation that sometimes you just need from like some suit somewhere.

Speaker 1 37:15

Yeah, you're doing it, right, right.

Speaker 3 37:16

It's like yeah, you could keep selling weed okay you keep doing your thing.

Speaker 1 37:19

Yeah, yeah, it's like, yeah, you could keep selling weed, okay, you keep doing your thing, girl. Yeah, totally, that's awesome. Well, we didn't get into tattooing just yet. I know that you're passionate about that.

Speaker 3 37:28

Yeah, all sorts of art forms.

Speaker 1 37:29

Yeah.

Speaker 3 37:30

Anything that's slow, monotonous.

Speaker 1 37:32

There we go. When we come back?

Speaker 2 37:34

we're going to touch base on some other art that you do and um your tattoo, tattoo tattoo world.

Speaker 1 37:39

Does that make sense? Yeah right, I think so. All right, we'll be back with jess. Jess lee trees botanicals follow at higher orbit and eat a box of rosin heads. I have already had three. We'll be right back.

Speaker 2 37:58

Carlitos, we are back.

Speaker 3 38:01

Still open. What's up we're?

Speaker 1 38:04

back Still back with Trees Botanical. Jess is in the house. Jess Lee, master grower Trees Botanical. Thank you for coming in, jess. I've had such a nice time getting to know you.

Speaker 3 38:13

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It's been awesome.

Speaker 2 38:16

Yeah, just blazed a whole lot of trees. I always liked that as a slang. The cap junkie, yeah.

Speaker 1 38:21

Yeah, I just tried the cap junkie and I was reminded about how just like, kind of like stunner it is. It's kind of like it's not really my turf profile, it's all fruity and stuff, but it's so strong, yeah, so it's a very, very nice. You know you guys grow over there. Wow, can you talk a little bit about tattoos? You have lots of tattoos.

Speaker 3 38:38

I do you appreciate tattoo art. I do, I'm a big time sticker girl, so I like I have a lot. It's all patchwork.

Speaker 2 38:47

Do you have any stickers, or what do you mean? Oh, stickers, patchwork, yeah, that's the slang and like I just, yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 38:53

I do put a lot of charms things pull up you know buttons on stuff. You're big into flair. I'm a flair girl.

Speaker 2 39:02

What did you call these? Because I have.

Speaker 3 39:03

They're gibbets.

Speaker 2 39:05

Gibbets yes.

Speaker 3 39:06

That's the word of the day.

Speaker 2 39:07

I like saying that word, so check that out. Oh yay.

Speaker 1 39:10

We knew you had some Crocs. So there you go, we have some rosin head gibbets for you.

Speaker 3 39:15

So and heads.

Speaker 1 39:16

There you go, so they take some home oh that's amazing. I'll hire a mug, of course.

Speaker 3 39:21

I just love how there's. You know like this is adult product, but adults love Jibbits.

Speaker 1 39:28

They love them. That's sick. Super popular Charlie managed to keep one of each for you. I'm surprised because I thought we were all on.

Speaker 2 39:34

It was hard to find the last one, so that's good. Thank you good. What's the deal with crocs, though? Are they like super comfortable? Everyone has them. Now I don't know if I get it. I like the gibbets well for me.

Speaker 3 39:44

I bought my daughter a pair of crocs when she finished school this year, and the big thing was to like find gibbets and charms. So like I went on team how old's your? Daughter she's's 10. Oh nice, Her name is Beatrix Shout out Beatrix. I have a son as well. Oh wow, yeah, he's 14.

Speaker 1 40:05

Okay, that's one age.

Speaker 3 40:06

Yeah, his name is Wolfgang.

Speaker 1 40:08

Okay, sick.

Speaker 3 40:09

Yeah.

Speaker 1 40:09

I met a Wolfgang in the park the other day. I didn't know. It's coming back. I like Wolfgang.

Speaker 3 40:13

They're beautiful children.

Speaker 1 40:17

I proud of them. We're both new parents, new fathers, so happy to share that moment with you. I was just curious.

Speaker 3 40:24

Yeah, they're lovely. Even the 14-year-old boy he's lovely too. He stinks, he's a lovely guy.

Speaker 1 40:30

He stinks when you're 14, you really stink. You're just smelly all the time, right, but they're kind I'm seeing like.

Speaker 2 40:38

I feel, like boys are just smelly.

Speaker 3 40:40

Yeah, the time right, but they're kind.

Tattoo Art and Cannabis Culture

Speaker 1 40:41

I'm seeing like boys are just smelly, yeah, yeah, confirmed they're actually they're all, all the kids all the kids are smelling, yeah, yeah, they're all, they're all smelling. They just don't know how stinky they are. That's what I always say. Um, what was I going to say about that? So where did your kind of like, um, like, why did you start loving tattoo art and when did you start getting your first? What was the first tattoo you got? That's a good question.

Speaker 3 41:06

Well, the first tattoo I got was a tiny little sun. It's covered up now with a giant whip Okay, but it's a tiny little sun that I got my crazy Irish Nana, who was visiting from Ireland, to take me to the local parlor shop and sign the consent form. I was 15. Wow, and she did it for you.

Speaker 1 41:29

That's badass. Yeah, that's really badass. Thanks, nana.

Speaker 3 41:32

Yeah, she's my auntie. She raised my mom in Ireland before she moved to Canada, so I think that they're actually sisters, because my mom's parents died when she was to Canada. So I think that, like they're actually sisters oh, because my mom's parents died when she was very small, it's interesting dynamic. So it was like this, like kind of like yeah, I did this, she wanted it, I got it for her. Anyways, it was the gateway. And then, like, my second tattoo was a Radiohead tattoo.

Speaker 1 41:57

I love Radiohead. That was like my first favorite band, or whatever.

Speaker 3 42:01

Oh, I also I love Radiohead. That was like my first favorite band, or whatever. Oh, I also I love the bathroom wall.

Speaker 1 42:03

Oh, you noticed that yeah.

Speaker 3 42:04

So who picks the albums?

Speaker 1 42:07

The story is and look see, there's one here too. So there used to be a music school.

Speaker 1 42:12

And the deal was that we had been looking at places and it was hard to find anybody that wanted to give us a dispenser in the first place. And then there was all these Grateful Dead ones not on the ones left, but we were already thinking about calling it Cosmic Charlies, and so it was like. It almost felt like a sign. We're like this is the spot, because there were all these Grateful Dead albums as part of other spots, and then we just left this one and the one in the bathroom.

Speaker 3 42:40

Because we're like I don't know no point in getting rid of them without. They're kind of cool. Oh, that's so.

Speaker 1 42:43

It's funny because they have, like, there's like a couple albums there that I like love and I was like I wonder who picked those there you go.

Speaker 2 42:45

No, I I kind of wonder who picked them. It was the toronto institute for the enjoyment of music I think you were saying didn't you work around here? Like somewhere right around here?

Speaker 3 42:56

oh yeah, like a old, like a clothing shop called the mothership and it's now the.

Speaker 1 43:02

I remember the mothership. Yeah, you worked on Queen West. Yeah, okay, cool yeah.

Speaker 3 43:06

I also used to work at Click Clack.

Speaker 1 43:08

Oh, what's.

Speaker 3 43:08

Click, clack. It was like the hosiery and like cuff store it was. There was one on Queen Street. It was actually two on Queen Street, okay, one on Bloor Street and one in Kensington Market. There you go, and I worked at the Kensington Market. One.

Speaker 1 43:20

Damn.

Speaker 3 43:21

Yeah.

Speaker 1 43:24

I feel like tattoo culture and cannabis do intersect big time, though Do you think it's like they're both like very rebellious things?

Speaker 2 43:29

I guess I feel like pre I was going to say what makes you want to get a tattoo, because I kind of want one Me and Sean don't have any.

Speaker 1 43:35

I don't have any. I've thought about it. I've never gone through with it for some reason.

Speaker 3 43:39

Yeah Well, I mean, I'm pretty with me, with me and my tattoos. They're for my body and to make me feel comfortable in my suit, and I do feel like once you start getting a couple like you, I don't know I felt like I wanted more. Yeah, I've heard it, you know.

Speaker 1 44:03

I've heard a lot of people say that they're like I got, you get one, and then you really want another one, and then you get another one, and that's and then you get, and then it gets really cathartic when you start covering up all the Ones you got and you're like oh my god, and you cover it.

Speaker 3 44:17

Oh yeah, I mean, if you look these are, they're all blast overs, they're all fair enough.

Speaker 2 44:24

I like it's changed over time it's a different story secrets and lies underneath um 100.

Speaker 1 44:32

Do you find that like um you? Where was I going?

Speaker 3 44:38

you know, know what.

Speaker 1 44:38

Brain farted. I'm cap junkie yeah.

Speaker 3 44:40

We're all cap junkied right now, but I do feel like with the um, I feel like the the nuance of being a person who's heavily tattooed.

Speaker 1 44:51

Yes.

Speaker 3 44:51

Is that like you're restricted and like what you're going to do? What are you going to do? You're going to, you're going to be a tattoo artist and it's like weed is on, almost like when I've met any other around tattoos, stigmas, around weed.

Speaker 1 45:08

I see that connection for sure.

Speaker 3 45:10

But it's like we're all kind of like our own little shithead sort of like. You know, you meet other really heavily tattooed growers and it's like yeah, this is what we can do now.

Speaker 1 45:22

Yeah, like you know, that makes sense to me. I was also going to say on the note I feel like crocs are big in the grower scene. Maybe you wear your crocs in the grow room no no, you don't too many gibbets that is against regulation no way that makes sense, fair enough. No, how dare they? How dare suggest that?

Speaker 3 45:39

I should get some. The thing is, if I get work Crocs, then I just like Crocs, like I got the Crocs because the gibbets, because the stickers.

Speaker 2 45:48

Well, what if you get like little trees gibbets? Could they give you a hard time for trees gibbets? Imagine, ben, you're like.

Speaker 3 45:55

Ben, can we get some trees, gibbets, sounds Tree's.

Speaker 2 46:04

Chivvets Sounds like it might be happening in the works, I will probably put them on my kids' shoes?

Speaker 3 46:07

I don't know. Tree's Chivvets, yeah, why not?

Speaker 2 46:11

Well, they definitely wear the hoodies and shirts. Honestly, I like the brand. I was always kind of hoping I would see you guys. Everybody had like a.

Speaker 3 46:15

Budweiser kid in their class like that wore the shirts that came in the case of beer.

Speaker 1 46:19

No, I agree. Do you think that too? I feel like back to the like. I feel like weed and tattoo shops just go hand in hand, like I smell weed whenever I go into a tattoo shop. Am I wrong to say that I don't know? Now you're like I don't know about that. Maybe I'm making a connection. That's a funny story. That is a funny story. We had this guy ordering from us all the time and it was at a tattoo shop and he was ordering under the name Squidward T, like from SpongeBob.

Speaker 2 46:51

I guess Okay.

Speaker 1 46:51

But he would order a lot of weed. He smoked like a lot, a lot.

Speaker 2 46:55

They were all ordering it together.

Speaker 1 46:57

It was all getting smoked, all the tattoo artists were smoking it. He told me, I'm not smoking it all, bro, it's for everybody, kind of, and I was like, okay, cool, and it always just kind of made sense to me. I guess I just thought that tattoo art and I guess all art though.

Speaker 3 47:12

Yeah, that's what I would say Honestly. I would say that I've been to a lot of different tattoo shops. I've sat in a lot of different chairs. I always usually try to tip in green.

Speaker 1 47:25

And it's like, it's like Wow received 50, 50.

Speaker 3 47:30

I wouldn't say, I would say that tattooers are just like other people. Some smoke weed, some don't. I would say a lot of, like. You know, older guys spent a lot of time partying and, like you know, don't really like smoking weed, you know, and like you know, and then there's just some other stoners. You know my partner smokes a lot of weed but you know he wouldn't be my partner if he didn't.

Speaker 1 47:54

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, I like that tipping in green, though. On that note, I like to do that too.

Speaker 2 47:59

I'm like a big it can be fine that.

Speaker 3 48:00

I can be fun, but yeah.

Speaker 1 48:05

People just want the cash to take it the wrong way and though. Okay, I don't just tipping, I always tip cash. No, Bring green to be like hey, do you smoke weed?

Speaker 3 48:17

I grow it.

Speaker 1 48:23

I'm one of those people like baked cookies and watch you eat it and be like what do you think best cookies you ever had? Right, that makes sense. Does that bring you joy? That's a good question. Oh yeah joy to see people smoke your weed and enjoy it. Oh yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker 3 48:30

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 48:33

It's a little feeling no, it just makes you feel good like warm inside.

Speaker 2 48:36

It's awesome when you make like a meal for someone and they enjoy it so with that there's so much more investment in love, so it makes complete sense to me. Yeah, yeah, no, I, uh, I, I do. I wonder about that, like I guess, yeah, again, just speaking of sorry, you were saying, um, I guess, being outcasted almost. I think that's where also weed comes together with, like, let's say, people who have tattoos or the culture. I don't know enough about the culture per se.

Speaker 3 49:03

Well, I feel like alternative is always going to be like in a shift within. Like you know, culture shifts and, like you know, when it comes to like how I would relate myself to, like tattoos, my job, other than acceptance, it's just like you know, anything that takes time to perfect, that requires technique, knowledge of tools, anything like that I'm always very intrigued by, I like to do really well. You know I sometimes am really hard on myself, but I always strive to do pretty big things. You know, I've always had a very supportive family so I've always felt very lucky, but anything that's you know.

Speaker 1 49:57

How do they feel about you growing weed? They're down Always proud.

Speaker 3 50:01

Yeah, my father. My father loves to smoke weed. He loves to make hash. He's an old, grumpy Korean man. Yeah, that's awesome Thanks.

Speaker 1 50:11

Ty for supporting that's so cool, that's pretty awesome.

Speaker 3 50:14

It's not always I mean, yeah, we always.

Speaker 1 50:16

I ask that to some people because, obviously, depending it could be a thing, and some people don't talk about it with their families. So, yeah, that's interesting, that's awesome, so you share, join with dad, kind of thing, always Cool.

Speaker 2 50:26

Nice, look what I grew. Like you said, that's amazing yeah.

Speaker 3 50:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2 50:30

Dope. Yeah, I imagine if you grew like that weed, I know, I know.

Speaker 3 50:39

I thought yours was good man.

Speaker 2 50:41

I thought, yours was good man, I can't say anything.

Empowerment and Appreciation in Cannabis

Speaker 1 50:45

What do you have to say, Jess, to like young, inspiring female growers that want to become master growers? I would say that how do you, yeah, what would you say to the younger you wanting to do this? I guess kind of thing. Does that make sense?

Speaker 3 51:00

That you deserve everything you get. You deserve no, not everything, because sometimes people are going to be out there to get you Right, but anything that you strive and you work and you don't let anybody pull you down, got it. You know, and there is always going to be easy pickings when it comes to emotions, so some people will treat you like they're not going to let you know because they're afraid that you're going to get away or something like that. No, you got to just be away, you know and just know like you know. Yeah, don't lose your footing. You got other women, men everybody is out here, you know. Yeah, don't lose your footing. You got other women, men, other everybody is out here, you know, supporting you For sure.

Speaker 3 51:48

Yeah, that's great Just keep going, keep doing it.

Speaker 1 51:50

You nailed it.

Speaker 3 51:50

Yeah.

Speaker 1 51:51

Nailed it.

Speaker 2 51:52

I hope it continues to be like yeah, I guess.

Speaker 1 51:55

Yeah, it's something I would like to see a bigger trend in and more uptake, especially since you grow amazing weed and you know it seems weird that a plant that is female is so like macho and such a.

Speaker 3 52:11

Bro world. It is sense, isn't it? You know, and I would honestly like. Another thing I would say is to just like pick your battles, man. Like some men, like you cannot. You cannot teach an old dog new tricks right there are people out there that are going to build you up and yeah and they're out there.

Speaker 1 52:26

They're going to break you down, man, and like, wear you out. And yeah, I'm getting to a point in my life where it's it's important to notice that early and totally man cut out the cancer, as I like to say. Anyways, it's all I can. There's a few people that say that sometimes you, you just got to let go right. Snip, snip, that's a lot of the conversation.

Speaker 2 52:44

I don't know many, but I could shout out a couple. I think a lot of the team at what dealer that has a lot of female they do. Anita.

Speaker 1 52:50

Some growers, and I'm forgetting her name, the other gentleman.

Speaker 2 52:55

Shout out to them. They're from the West Coast. And then there's someone Pineapple Buds. I think that's a lady grower as well. I'm remiss for not knowing her name. Yes, the Violet Gushers. There's more.

Speaker 3 53:06

There's more. Let's go Anytime I meet a female in any aspect of the industry out in these industry nights, it's always just like yes.

Speaker 1 53:15

You showed out Tracy actually at I know Purple Hills, purple Hills out Tracy actually I know Purple Hills, purple Hills. She's a master grower too. I actually didn't know that one so and I met her and when I went out to Purple Hills so there are a lot of them doing it and shout out to all you ladies killing it in the game. Yeah, I don't know where I literally cap junkied on that note, but is there anything else we want to wrap up tonight?

Speaker 2 53:42

Yeah, I don't know we're um. Oh yeah, I've got these sweet stickers for you too. You said you like stickers, oh sweet.

Speaker 1 53:48

Yes, we just got them made. Those are our season three stickers like rosin head collab.

Speaker 3 54:01

So peanut butter and jelly stickers Work laptop. Hmm, I might save this one in the archive.

Speaker 2 54:04

In the special sticker sleeve. That's a smart move, yeah.

Speaker 3 54:09

Well, you got two, you got to save one.

Speaker 2 54:10

Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 54:13

I look forward to like checking out your facility, because now I know more about it and I really want to come check out your barn. Yeah, it's a great place that sounded weird when I said it like that.

Speaker 3 54:28

It's a bit Barney. You know you gotta use ladders.

Speaker 1 54:33

Brantford right.

Speaker 2 54:34

I was going to say how do you get up there Ladders for the three tier? Yeah Wild, Is there still two facilities?

Speaker 3 54:43

no, yeah, ben has also his Kitchener facility as well. That's right, yeah, which is poppin? Shout out to siege and Jacob and Antonio members.

Speaker 1 54:55

Yeah, we do a marker before we go. Should we cap it off?

Speaker 3 55:00

is that a good idea?

Speaker 1 55:01

I think that is actually my favorite genetic that you guys do, and I remember when Bang came on the last show it was like it's the one that got me.

Speaker 3 55:08

I swear, I swear. We find these genetics and we're like ooh, let's, you know, nobody's, nobody's doing this.

Speaker 2 55:15

And then they start coming out Junkie.

Speaker 1 55:21

I feel like I go in and out Like it's like this in and out thing when I find the permanent marker is just like I'm gone, it's done, there's no more talking after the permanent marker.

Speaker 3 55:27

But it was a good transition, I think the way we went in the flight. Loved them all.

Speaker 1 55:31

Then we hit up the cap junkie and then we finish it off with the permanent marker. Does that make sense?

Speaker 3 55:37

I love it. I love it.

Support and Promotion in Cannabis Community

Speaker 1 55:40

And this smells like different than the last time, so it smells like even more dialed in. That's crazy. You guys go off man. Honestly, best work. I love you guys. Keep doing what you're doing. I can't wait to smoke this. Did you see this batch? Yeah, man, check it out. Very nice. Yeah, I almost get more like a z-terp that's funny on this batch than the last one, but I'm sure when I break it up it's gonna just get that crazy sharpie smell. It looks great. Follow trees botanicals, can they? Should they follow your Instagram?

Speaker 3 56:14

you on Instagram, just yeah, I am Jay Lee pokes at no, yeah that's it.

Speaker 1 56:22

I'm going to add you. Yeah, Sorry, it's like a family thing.

Speaker 3 56:24

It's like pictures of my kids and shit.

Speaker 1 56:26

Okay, there's some trees some stuff.

Speaker 3 56:28

I get tagged in a lot of tree stuff. Fair enough, oh yes, all the trees. And also it would be awesome if you followed my partner. His name is Cory Bouillon tattooer.

Speaker 1 56:39

Oh, that's where it came in. I didn't realize your partner was a tattoo artist.

Speaker 3 56:43

He is not only just a tattooer really cool dude but he is a glorious stepdad and the way that I can work at my job is with this man in my life. Aw.

Speaker 1 56:55

Shout out to all the dudes supporting women hustling like Jess, there you go.

Speaker 3 57:00

He's my perfect, perfect house hubby, that's super sweet.

Speaker 1 57:03

That was adorable. I love that. Got to shout out on your podcast. Definitely an opportunity. That's amazing. Follow at Higher Orbit. Carly Boomer, we want your wrist to get better, everybody, thank you. Good thoughts for Carly Boomer. She's going to have to eat half these rosin heads.

Speaker 2 57:19

She's going to have to eat half these rosin heads.

Speaker 1 57:20

She's going to eat a few more, we'll send her home with some tonight. Um, let's get into this permanent marker. It's just botanical. Another episode of higher orbit.

Speaker 2 57:29

Don't forget before it closes.

Speaker 1 57:30

This has been brought to you by rosin heads Um eat more rosin heads.

Speaker 2 57:45

What do I got to say? Diagnostic, complete All systems functioning normally.