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Chasing the Unicorn

An eccentric expression and glimpse into the animating spirit that feeds the cannabis community, the 7th annual Unicorn Music Festival hosted by Che LeBlanc returned to his Rosebud Cannabis Farm on beautiful, cell reception-less Rosebud Lake, 25 minutes from Salmo, British Columbia in the Central Kootenays. There, a stunning and sincere atmosphere welcomed festival goers helping quench the need for experiential cannabis events in the heart of southern B.C.

Rosebud Farms is a different type of company, “we’re not trying to compete with the big guys,” says LeBlanc, “we’re really about using earth-ethics and sustainable techniques to create low-energy, high-yield, premium craft-market products.”

From the article “Beyond Organic Cannabis,” LeBlanc writes about his intention to transcend carbon neutral on his off-grid farm. He says: “We worked with an energy consultant who identified options for the future; a combination of solar panels and a biomass unit to meet the location’s energy requirements.”

Rosebud Cannabis captures biomass and converts it into electricity for heating and power. The CO₂ and hot water byproducts are also captured by the unit and pumped back into the greenhouse and nursery, generating heat and promoting plant growth.

While a session about regenerative agriculture would have been held, regrettably fire evacuations in neighbouring regions kept the facilitators from attending. However, the regenerative spirit was present all weekend as guests sought opportunities for replenishment, like the workshop “Ground in Your Wholeness” with somatic relational therapist Amber Wolf Moon.

Wolf Moon’s expertise deals with “how we relate with one another, whilst noticing what’s happening in our nervous system and body. And how our relationships connect to our traumas and how that plays out in our main relationships,” she said, reflecting on her session sitting at the tea garden picnic table.

Electric Butterfly stage

Putting a name to a near ineffable concept that we each deal with, consciously or not, Wolf Moon sees this effective, up and coming therapy as a way to remember these principles, “with some guidance and tools,” in order to make the transition from our minds to our body.

“Our body and our emotions have vital information that need tending to; that need relating to. We learn to relate to all the different parts and expressions of who we are without resisting, without distracting and without pushing away,” she explained.

Wolf Moon practices her therapeutic modalities in Nelson and is currently preparing for the upcoming Wild Woman Embodiment Retreat, Aug. 23-25 at Mount Brennan Eastern Sun Temple outside of Kaslo.

The evolution of genetics

On Saturday, Dustan McLean drew growers and advocates to the Electric Butterfly stage for a conversation surrounding the progress and the future of cannabis breeding and genetics, followed by a seed swap.

McLean commends the Canadian industry for its progress to date, finding it “interesting to talk to other breeders; work with other breeders, and see what everyone’s doing,” he said.

“But we’re all still chasing that unicorn.”

As a cannabis breeder of 20 years and a grower for 30, McLean knows the pursuit of commercial genetics inside out and backwards. And now as we in Canada find ourselves in an era of resource restriction and unstable weather patterns, he has created, for example, a cultivar that pulls 30 per cent less water.

Breeding for specific expressions such as heat and drought tolerance, as well as for helping with the opioid crisis, are essential facets of his work. McLean now breeds for terpene profiles associated with loosening the grip of opioid addiction, such as for compounds myrcene and beta-caryophyllene – a conversation he had with the late Frenchy Cannoli five years ago after McLean’s daughter tragically died of an overdose.

Currently growing for Big League Genetics, McLean sells mainly to Germany and Australia where they’re after the experience – the terpene content – more than the high THC valuation. He’s also working on a new project on Galiano Island called West Coast Weedery that is expected to be operating within the next six months, compounding organic growing with experiential educational and farmgate opportunities.

“Sometimes it takes years to work on projects, to get stuff shuffled around. And then there’s times where you find amazing dance partners that are coming from stable parents,” said McLean. Cherry Pie is one of them, out of California.

McLean has found success in securing the old standard genetics and bringing them back to market mixed with some new school stuff, he said. He also breeds for fast flowering plants for colder climates like Alberta that finish in September or early October.

McLean also spoke of the challenges associated with and the critical need to preserve diverse genetics, especially older landrace and heritage strains.

From friends who’ve traveled overseas, he is now in possession of genetics from Pakistan that yield stocky plants, or “chunky monkeys.” McLean focuses on collaborating with breeders around the globe in this effort to preserve cannabis, such as the Fruity Pebbles strain he stewarded from 2006 to 2021, and the Texada Timewarp cuts that have been passed down and maintained with growers on Galiano Island for years through vegetative propagation.

John Conroy & Rob Laurie, Changes in cannabis law session

Changes in cannabis law

Next John Conroy traced the lineage of cannabis law from its criminalization in 1923 to the regulatory evolution of present day, while Rob Laurie spoke of law in 2024 and beyond and the strength associated with constructive engagement with different groups such as potential partnerships with Indigenous players while accommodating traditions around plant-based medicines and substances.

In order to balance personal and medical freedoms with public safety, “future cannabis laws should protect the constitutional rights of medical patients while establishing court rulings ensuring patients’ rights are not infringed upon,” said Conroy.

Collaboration between government, industry, medical experts and advocates is another clear route to balanced policies that uphold individual rights while mitigating the risks. For instance, Laurie sees the provincial government as a main culprit in the suffering of this industry.

“I mean think about it,” he said, “what other industry do you have the government who’s also the regulator, the tax collector, and then directly competes with the businesses that they’re licensing and regulating. Does anyone else see something wrong with that dynamic?”

So what does the future look like? Laurie also spoke on another panel about the Indigenous developments that weekend, and “while the Indigenous may not be a traditional ally that the cannabis industry has been looking to,” he said, “I highly suggest that they are allies that y’all should be running toward.”

Laurie continued, citing the combination of the expertise and the know-how and the best practices and qualitative and quantitative analytics and specifications: “In many ways, you are two sides of the same coin, vis a vis both the provincial and the federal government.”

“If we fail to come together – that is Indigenous, non-Indigenous, medical and non-medical, and retail – if we are unable to come together, the government will just continue to section and divide the interests, I don’t think we’re going to be as far ahead as we all hope and think at the end of the day.”

The Entourage Effect: Beyond CBD and THC

The entourage effect

Dan Nguyen, southern Alberta territory sales manager for Cannara Biotech, spoke about building the entourage effect in marketable products through terpene and cannabinoid profiles, and in your daily life.

Relishing an invigorated pinene shower in the morning using a terpene spray, paired shortly after with cannabis and a cup of coffee, is one such example (so is cannabis and something else in the morning if you were cackling around a table back at camp.) However the entourage effect is also how we each individually and as a community stacked our experiences for the weekend.

Listening to the whispers of the festival, the dance partners in the flesh and in the entourage effect, the “spread loves” and the calculations of “drug math,” while floating out on the lake – in the sun or in the rain.

Music. Nature. Community. Three words define the Unicorn Music Festival, where artists Stickybuds, FATHERFUNK and many more took the stage at the electric off grid carnival. Bicycles with fringe flying in the wind, taking off into the joy of being alive.

I got back on the road a day early, missing the Rosebud Bowl Sunday afternoon, though Dustan told me “Woody Nelson and Valhalla really cleaned up, and our friends at RMC took second in preroll.”

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