Hemp project at Riverside Community 2006/2007 - for the Earth and all living things

Cannabis sativa, also known as hemp, is a species of Cannabis. It is a dioecious, annual herb. It has been used by humans throughout recorded history for its fiber, for its psychological and physiological potential as a source of drug material, and for the nourishment and oil of its seeds. Different parts of the herb have different uses and different varieties are cultivated in different ways, and harvested at different times, depending on the purpose for which the herb is grown.

Hemp is a common name for Cannabis sativa and the name most used when this annual plant is grown for non-drug purposes. When grown for industrial purposes hemp is often called industrial hemp (or industrial cannabis), and a common product is fiber for use in a wide variety of products.

70% of the Cannabis plant’s total weight is made up of the ‘hurd’ or woody inner core. This part of the plant does not contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and can be used in housing construction. The silica leached from soil by the plant combined with unslaked lime (calcium oxide) forms a chemical bond similar to cement which is both fire and waterproof.

seed
- oil

fiber
- ropes
- cloth
- compost

hurd
- building
- paper

more coming soon...

Location: Riverside Community, Lower Moutere, South Island, Aotearoa/New Zealand
Area: 1.5 ha

Former commercial and convential apple orchard.

One half of the field was fertilized with bokashi to compare its effect (there was no significant difference between the two halves in terms of plant size or health).

We planted about 2 milions of hemp seeds on December 6th 2006 using a corn seed drill. We would plant earlier but we didn’t have the licence.

To cut the plant we used old machines designed to cut barley. The older one was built in 1915 and it could be towed by a horse, ox or any kind of trained animal. We used a tractor with a trained driver. Its machinery would be driven by a big wheel which would move as the machine was moving. Which means that the speed of moving forward was directly tied with the speed of cutting knives.

The other machine was built in 30’s and its actual machinery was run by PTO (power take-off) of a tractor. That means that speed of cutting knives is independent on moving speed. We used a trained driver again. This machine was modified to cut the plants about meter and half above the ground. It would cut the top part of the plant with all the flowers and seeds. Bottom part would be good quality fiber. And it was...

We had to cut the plant halve to fit it in to the machine which was originally designed to cut barley

Both machines would cut the plant, make a bundle so called sheaf, tied a string around it, make a knot and drop about six sheaves on one pile. The right amount to build a stable stack. Incredible. What an invention from the beginning of the century. Amazing to watch them getting it down.

It is necessary to mention that it wasn’t an easy mission as it took the men three days. You things get broken and it takes time to fix them. I have to say that the men did really good job and they were very enthusiastic doing whatever they were doing. I could see it was a big challenge for them to actually cut the crop. And they did it. Much respect...

Big team of volunteers from all corners ran into the field to build a stack from the shieves to allow them to dry and ret. Idea of retting process is to let the stalks get wet to develope a black mold. The bacteria breaks a tissue between the long fiber and bast fiber which makes its separation possible. One way is to let them open to the weather such as rain and dew and then let them dry. Other way is to dip then into the pond and then let them dry. Leaving them in the field was an easier option for us.

Before we stacked the top part with all the seed we threshed what was possible to thresh through a steel grid and wire mesh into the trailer laid out with tarp. We obviously lost lots of seed during the cutting process. Something to avoid next time. If possible.

All the flower shieves were stacked against a bamboo rack. A simple A-frames joint together. When finished it looks like a tunnel. That was our drying rack, more then hundred metres long. We had to cover it with plastic tarps when the rain came. This was a kind of a nightmare as all the buds contained lots of seeds atracting birds and mice, trapping moisture and developing mold. When bud would dry enough the seeds would fall out and we would loose them. Despite we had tarp under the whole rack. But that was the only possible option we could quickly come up with.

Threshing the seeds out of the buds was probably the hardest work. We had to go through the whole rack few times to get everything out. The structure was collapsing under the weight of plants and we had to fix it a couple of times and stand up all the shieves again to avoid getting them moldy.

At the same time other people, again mostly volunteers, were winowing the seed to clean it from the chaff (all the small leaves and dust) using various methods.

When the bottom part, the good fiber, was retted enough it was time to turn the shieves inside-out, restack the stacks and let all the stalks ret evenly. After that we moved all of it into the barn to keep it dry.

This report from harvest, written actually more than three years later, is only a very brief description about how it all was. I wrote within a short time and very sponteniously without planning to do it. But it is done, black on white. Further correction might be made later.

I would like to acknowledge the enormous help of all the volunteers. All the WWOOFers of Riverside Community, the very few members of Community, friends, random people passing by and everyone else I forgot to list.
You vere truly amazing and it wouldn’t simply happen without you.

I should say that according the licence noone else apart from about five people listed in the licence were alowed to access the field. Hard to imagine that all the workers could be forced to leave the field because some strange authority doesn’t have any idea how to grow and harvest hemp. Anyway we got away with it and lots of people got educated about this amazingly important plant for our planet and us as human beings.
We wouldn’t be here without it...

coming soon...

10/11/2006 - fertilizing the field with a bokashi
11/11/2006 - fertilizing the field with a bokashi
14/12/2006 - one week and one day after sowing
21/12/2006 - it’s growing and it’s getting bigger...
28/12/2006 - ...and greener
11/01/2007 - just over a month later. incredible plant...
14/01/2007 - growing heigher...
18/01/2007 - ...and heigher
25/01/2007 - male plants are flowering...
03/02/2007 - it’s already tall like me (6.5ft)!!!
15/02/2007 - beautiful flowering females...
22/02/2007 - males are scattering polen around while females are getting fat and sticky
08/03/2007 - males are done and drying off while females are getting even fatter and stickier
21/03/2007 - she’s a beauty. check the crystals and seeds on early females. just over 3 month old plants!!!
22/03/2007 - harvest day #1. machines are on the site and they need some tuning...
23/03/2007 - harvest day #2. yeah, they are cutting it down.
24/03/2007 - harvest day #3. done. everything is cut down.
26/03/2007 - flowers are drying. the seeds are slowly getting home...
02/04/2007 - threshing and rubbing the flowers to get the seeds out...
07/04/2007 - there is still a lot of seed in the flowers and the birds just love it
14/04/2007 - winnowing seeds to separate seed from the chaff
09/05/2007 - from the field under a roof
12/05/2007 - look there are young baby plants growing again. ups here comes a plough...
15/05/2007 - some sheaves are still wet so they need to go outside to dry...

todo...
...growing animation
...separate slides
...close ups

• Cannabis Sativa
  
• Hemp
  
• Norml New Zealand
  
• Hemp building
• Riverside Community