Visions Through An Open Door

For five years, word of mouth has been our only avenue to share our hopes, dreams and accomplishments on the farm. The occasional photo shared on Instagram was the only way to show the changes happening around us. And while farmer’s markets, events and social media do create a sense of surroundings, we’ve been missing an element on the farm. We live and breathe Simply Sol on a daily basis, working alongside our friends and land mates to build the farm we call our home. But what about those around us who don’t get the opportunity to explore with us in the same way? A large majority of the people we meet ask us when they can come and see for themselves. Truthfully, up until this year, we haven’t felt that either we or the land were ready to host. For so long, every single person out here has been doing the most to achieve the minimum, but hard work pays off. This year we finally feel that we’re capable of an easier dance with the land and vice versa, making the instillation of that missing element possible. We’ve got some wonderfully unique ideas on how to open our doors to wider community members to access and get to know the farm we already hold dear.

             From the moment we began our work on the farm in 2020, we knew we wanted to make this a communal space. We began by homing in the unique living situation on the farm, creating a community on a small scale of farm and fun loving, hardworking individuals who believe in plant medicine, sustainability, and the vision of “we have Eden at home” type future. However, true sustainability requires a reach beyond our immediate circle to benefit as many as possible, so, in the spirit of true sustainability we’ve developed a few ideas on how to live up to that more fully.

            Presently, we’ve created multiple avenues for community involvement. Our farm tours are an idea that sprang out of what felt like a real opening in the farm style experience. People know what a u-pick is and have wandered around flower farms or botanical gardens, but it’s a truly unique opportunity to get to tour a farm growing hemp or cannabis flowers. Although the cannabis industry is heritage to so many in this great state, only recently has it become legal for hemp farms to share that knowledge with people far and wide. We’ve been inspired to be one of the first that offers an in depth look into the way our farm operates, the sustainability practices we utilize and the life cycle of our favorite plant of power. These guided tours, led by either Travis or myself, not only take you through the hemp field and greenhouses, but also through the beautiful forest that surrounds the property as well as some of the historical structures hidden among the lush undergrowth of this land. Our hope is that by sharing more about our principles, practice, and discoveries on the farm, we will also learn more about what moves our community as a whole. These tours will include free sampling of our products as well as a complimentary liquid libation to accompany you on your tour.  Once the guided portion is over, guests are welcome to explore at their own pace, shop our products and take their time enjoying the scenery. Twice a year, we plan to expand our farm tours into a true farm event. The first of these larger events is scheduled for July 26th. These events are bound to be a hit, with the first event being an open-air movie night under the stars and the second being a live music concert for guests to enjoy! These events will include all the same offerings of the farm tours, but will also involve a silent auction, a farm-to-table dinner option and a broader selection of art and intrigues from our farm to enjoy. Farming is more than just educational, it can be fun too, so we wanted to have more opportunities for people to stop and smell the flowers with us, enjoying all the beauty that’s abundant out here.

            In the extremely near future, we will be shifting our focus to another especially important lesson this land has taught us, REST! Soon, we will be offering farm stays in a more official capacity to accommodate the rest and rejuvenation of our wider community away from the city or demands of everyday life. Some of you may have seen our ads for our tiny trailer, which you can currently rent for a few nights to explore the land at your own pace. This summer we are building several unique domes to expand the accommodation offered on our farm. Now you’ll be able to stay in a boutique dome while smoking boutique flowers from a soaking tub tucked into our enchanted forest. While we start on these amenity projects, we often reflect on the fact that many of our friends who come here claim to feel more recharged and relaxed than when we arrived. With that I mind, we are leaning into the restorative aspects of our farm to help heal in other ways then just physical plant medicine.

            As we dream into the future, we can go on and on about the beautiful pond we want to build, the hillside olive and nut orchard we want to plant or the art installations we plan to create, but really what’s most important is recognizing the drive and determination it has taken to get to this place of limitless dreaming. We wouldn’t be able to begin envisioning these projects without the infrastructure we developed initially or the strong crew we call our farm family. These aspects take time. However, we’ve spent that time so we can be here now, offering the fruits of our labor and sharing in our visions, a chance to walk and watch with us as we grow as a farm, an event space, and a community. There is always a bit of hesitation when inviting the wider public into a space you not only love but have personally helped to transform. Will they understand what it took to get here? While some will not, I believe that most will if you tell them, teach them, and try to inspire a similar spark of interest. Then people will not only understand, but care and maybe, keep coming back, spreading the word and inspiring others. We’d love that more than anything.

We truly hope to see you around and meet you in person soon.

With love,

Logan

CALL ON MY ENTOURAGE

(Educational Edition)

As we navigate the cannabis market searching for the right solution for our situation, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a language specific to cannabis that may not come naturally. These buzzwords range from completely meaningless in terms of physical interaction like “dank” or “top shelf” to really valuable identifiers of quality products such as “full spectrum”. I want to dive into the meaning of full spectrum and why it’s so important that you invest your time, money and health into full spectrum products.  If I’m buying the Rainbow Road CBGa Tincture, then how could it be full spectrum if it advertises only one cannabinoid and why does it matter? The best way to understand the spectrum in general is to dive into the extraction process and get a grasp on the different levels involved.

            When cannabis is processed into tinctures, oils, or other products, its beneficial compounds must first be extracted. This is done using solvents that bond with the plant’s oils and are later removed, leaving behind what’s called crude oil. Crude oil is the homogenized blend of all the constituents and cannabinoids in a plant, with the strongest cannabinoids being most present, but still maintaining a representation of all the others. For example, when we put a CBD plant through this process, we get a high CBD extract, that also has the CBG, CBC, THC, and other cannabinoids that cannabis plants contain. As the extraction process continues, crude oil can be refined into distillate (which features select cannabinoids) or isolate (a single, purified cannabinoid). While isolates and distillates have their uses, full-spectrum extracts retain the plant’s natural balance of cannabinoids, creating something called the entourage effect.

            The entourage effect happens when multiple cannabinoids and terpenes work together, enhancing each other’s benefits in ways that isolated compounds cannot. This synergy improves absorption, extends duration, and deepens the therapeutic effects of cannabis. For example, CBD is known for its calming properties, but when combined with THC, even in trace amounts, it can help moderate THC’s psychoactive effects, leading to a smoother, more balanced experience. Terpenes also play a role—myrcene enhances relaxation, limonene elevates mood, and beta-caryophyllene interacts directly with cannabinoid receptors to reduce inflammation. Essentially, the whole plant works harmoniously to produce a stronger, more holistic effect than any single compound alone.

So, when shopping for cannabis products, look for terms like “full-spectrum”, like all of the ultra-medicinal products we make at Simply Sol, to ensure you’re experiencing the full power of the plant. Nature designed these compounds to work together—choosing products that embrace the entourage effect lets you harness cannabis in its most effective and holistic form. Investing in full-spectrum cannabis means you’re not just getting a single cannabinoid but the complete therapeutic potential of the plant. Whether you’re seeking relaxation, pain relief, or overall wellness, leveraging the entourage effect can help you achieve the best possible results.

ALL THAT CAME SO THIS COULD BE

When we think about a brand we know and love, we almost never think about the people behind the products. Even I get tunnel vison when working on the day-to-day needs of a multifaceted business like Simply Sol, looking to keep the energy up and the systems running, but in reality, Simply Sol is a culmination of choices. Each choice weaves together to form the tapestry of a story that had to occur for this brand to exist. Travis and I often reminisce about the many twists and turns that brought us here, but you as our community almost never get to pull those threads and learn about the lengthy process that is the founding of Simply Sol. I feel that recollection is not only for looking back at the good times, but a humanizing effort to acknowledge all that something truly is, which is often much more than what we see on the surface. So, as the blog is a new element, I figured we should start from the beginning as a way to better stop and smell the flowers that make up the whole diverse bouquet of the Simply Sol journey.

Like any great idea, the spark is lit long before the fire catches and Simply Sol is no exception. Both Travis and I cultivated a love of plants years before our actual connection. Travis was surrounded by natural healers and alternative medicines as a child being raised by artists in Ashland, Oregon. Born to create, he found a love for cooking, going on to learn the art of food via a culinary degree. I was raised in both the beautiful Bay Area and the mountain ranges of Bend, Oregon by my fiercely independent, tenacious mother. My surroundings being so naturally beautiful led to my strong interest in preserving and utilizing the resources that mother nature gave. At this point, neither one of us would have believed we were on a path to land stewardship and farming, but as I look back, it does seem like that was where we were headed all along.  While studying for my environmental studies degree, I landed an internship learning under a local herbalist, assisting in making herbal medicines from her garden and surrounding areas. This might have been my first flash of inspiration for the future to come. The “what if” moment we’ve all had that says, “It’d be nice to have the space to do this at my place.” For me, it went a bit further, realizing that plants are power, whether their herbs, vegetables, weeds, etc. Every plant has a purpose. Travis followed his passion to being a chef, using the freshest ingredients to create dishes that were not only delicious but whole in terms of nutrition and beneficial value. As life was taking us on individual paths with similar values, our paths did eventually cross and intertwined.

One cool late summer evening, Travis and I met. That was its own series of choices that would make this story a bit too long to enjoy, but let’s just say, it was one split second decision that unfolded into what looks like the rest of our lives together. From the moment of our connection, we were both very much invested in living the most interesting lives we could muster together. Our first step in this now joint mission was to move onto our friend’s farm, trading rent in a beautiful, hand painted Mongolian Yurt for help around the property. We quickly recognized in one another a true pursuit of knowledge, a wanting to fully comprehend all the contributing factors as opposed to just going through the motions. Combine this thirst for knowledge with both of our strong work ethics and we quickly realized our own potential. It didn’t take long before we rose from general tasks, to managing responsibilities. Throughout the first farm to the second, we grew, not only plants, but as people, recognizing when we needed a bit more creative freedom and stability. A bit of an up potting if you will. The second property was a truly valuable opportunity to not only learn via experience but take a shot at full operational responsibilities for a small farm and business while facilitating a transition to more sustainable growing practices. Of course, this process was not without growing pains with some lessons being harder to learn than others, but overall, it gave us the confidence to dream significantly larger and commit to a fully sustainable growing style we knew was possible.

We decided about one year before we bought land to start really saving. With our move date still over a year away, I couldn’t help myself. I looked at properties with our criteria in the Portland area, which is when I first laid eyes on the future Simply Sol. I didn’t know at the moment that I had just found the spot, but I knew I felt strongly about it and couldn’t get it out of my mind. The choice to go from 5 acres to 25 acres was one we thought through, but not all the way. We loved the whimsical energy of the land and size of the future field, but we didn’t have a real idea of what it would take to turn a field that was previously logged into functional farmland. We did what anyone would do and started looking for help to wrap our minds around the project. That’s when we met our “consultant”. While most of our experience was in cannabis, our consultant convinced us that hemp seed would be marginally easier and yield significantly better results for both our land and our pockets. More than just ease of success, we were strongly attracted to the partnership offered to us, wherein we would be growing the seed necessary for several native tribes around Oregon to get into the Hemp market growing biomass, all paid for by the innovative medicinal juice product our consultant was developing. We did our best to vet the situation by meeting partners, going over research and touring our consultant’s own property. With the confidence of having back up and the dream of providing real medicines to support those that need it the most, we went full speed ahead and made an offer on what is now our house and farm. At this point, several things happened all at once that changed our lives.

The COVID 19 pandemic began in late March, creating a unique sense of urgency when it came to buying the farm and our plans to leave our current situation. At the same time, our consultant went AWOL, never to be seen or heard from again. Fate works in mysterious ways, but I choose to believe that if we hadn’t had to come up with our own operational groundwork from the beginning, we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today. All we knew at this point was that we came here with a vision to actually do some lasting good with this business and create something that was truly beneficial for our community and beyond. So, we intended to get creative to do just that. We hit the ground running, clearing logging debris from our main field and using the wood to build hugels, a regenerative bed building technique. Our first crop wasn’t bad for the circumstances. The seed crop we grew ultimately became biomass due to our seeds mostly being suited for this one project and not the wider hemp market. Almost simultaneously, research on cannabinoids during the pandemic had increased and the antiviral effects of CBGa became known in the cannabis industry. Finally feeling like we caught our wave to an innovative option, we extracted that first crop for CBGa crude. Just like that, Rainbow Road CBGa Tincure was born, our flagship product, bestseller, and most effective medicinal ally by far. From there our product line grew into the broad, tried and true offerings we have today. This decision to make delicious, thirst-quenching lemonade from a moldy batch of lemons took us back to our creative roots, solving problems in the way we knew best, by growing flower. Today, our flower is a top competitor for some of the best outdoor grown CBD and CBG flower in the state while creating truly effective medicinal products.

Its never a good story or a true story if there are no challenges. However, it’s these challenges and choices that have brought us all the way to the beautiful land we live and work on, the incredible community we call ours and the truly beneficial brand we poured everything we have into. While our mission has always been medicine, I don’t think either Travis or I had the slightest understanding of just how medicinal this entire journey would be for our own personal growth. We’ve stretched our creativity to the furthest reaches, asked for help thousands of times from those that knew more, and learned just how resourceful we can be when we just trust. Still, all that effort gets reflected back to us daily, when one of our customers leaves us a glowing review or shares with us the way our medicines have helped them in incredible ways. While some of these choices I might not make again, I know I speak for both of us when I say that we would choose Simply Sol again and again for that reason alone.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for being an integral part of this brand and our story. We are forever grateful to those that have believed in us along the way, and, if you’re reading this right now, includes you. Thank you so much for helping us add more threads to this beautiful tapestry of a brand.

With all the love in the world, thanks again and happy healing.