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WWW.MARIJUANAVENTURE.COM VOLUME 3 / ISSUE 2 M A R I J U A N A THEVENTURE JOURNAL OF PROFESSIONAL CANNABIS GROWERS AND RETAILERS HOLISTIC GARDEN Black Dog Acres thrives with an approach to satisfy the mind, body and soul HARVEST for FEBRUARY 2016 $6.99 TrimmingHIRE specialists eliminate the need for in-house staff PLUS: CALIFORNIA’S OVERHAUL • HIGH-TECH GREENHOUSE • CANNACLOUD Botany Unlimited Confidence Analytics Surna For Sale: Grow Operation Terpp features 50 DON’T CALL IT A KEURIG Former Keurig execs bring innovative new technology to the cannabis industry 56 THE BERNIE BILL What impact will initiative proposed by Bernie Sanders have on the 2016 election? 62 FORCE OF NATURE Q&A with Black Dog Acres owner and founder Toni Reita on commercially growing cannabis in Washington 72 HARVEST FOR HIRE Professional crews take the pain out of trimming while saving owners on labor costs ABOUT THE COVER: Toni Reita, owner and found- er of Black Dog Acres, wades through a sea of giant cannabis plants at her farm in Eastern Washington. To read more about Reita and her business, see Page 62. Photo by Gary Delp. MJVenture 6 | Marijuana Venture // February 2016 Hydrobuilder features 82 SUSPENDED BRANDS A look at one of the cannabis industry’s most impressive high- tech greenhouse operations 108 FRANKENWEED Who says a single plant is good for only one harvest? Author J.B. Haze explains a radically different approach to cultivation 122 SMART JARS Smarter Lids is bringing Mason jars into the 21st century with a new approach on a timeless design 126 SHELF LIFE Nick Mosely takes an academic approach to uncover the true shelf-life of cannabis 8 | Marijuana Venture // February 2016 Crew Consulting contents 30 114 132 LIVING THE DREAM 42 | Shawn DeNae 44 | Danielle Rosellison 44 | Shelby Talmadge BASICS 118 20 | Calendar 46 DEBT-BASED FINANCING 26 | Market Watch LONG ROAD TO RETAIL Scott Jordan gives an overview 40 | Blowing Smoke Rural location complicates insurance of the lending alternatives private 101 | P.O.V. matters for Colorado Leaf, as the team lenders are offering the cannabis 143 | Ad Directory tackles another unforeseen delay. industry. PROFILES 90 132 28 | TJ’s Organic Provisions LEGAL PAGES HIGHER STANDARDS 30 | Natural Cannabis Company • Katie Podein looks at the implica- Dramatic changes loom over Ore- 32 | Walking Raven tions of California’s Medical Mari- gon’s testing regulations, which could juana Regulation and Safety Act set a standard for states to follow. SPOTLIGHTS • Lauren Rudick explains how to cre- 35 | Sidekick ate a legal trademark for cannabis GUEST COLUMNS 35 | The Essential Oil Maker’s companies 136 | Vicki Christophersen Handbook 138 | Cory Wray 36 | AEtrium-4 114 36 | GrowSpan IF YOU BUILD IT … OPINIONS 38 | HISIERRA With limited fire service in rural areas, 12 | Staff page 38 | EazeMD it helps to understand PPC ratings and 16 | Message from the Publisher 38 | Team Maryjane the impact they can have on insurance. 140 | Letter from the Editor Marijuana Venture’s goal is to provide the best information possible to the legal, licensed, commercial marijuana business. Our mission belief is that a great business publication will help professionals in the industry create more efficient and profitable businesses. 10 | Marijuana Venture // February 2016 ViPova Staff Greg James Garrett Rudolph Lisa Smith Aaron Greenreich Publisher Editor Sales Manager Account Executive Greg founded Topics Entertainment After eight years as a newspaper Lisa is a Seattle native who enjoys Aaron joined Marijuana Venture af- in 1990 and grew it to be the largest reporter, photographer and editor, traveling, yoga and spending time ter years of sales account manage- privately held consumer software Garrett helped launch Marijuana with her three children and dog. ment in the construction industry company. After graduating from Venture in March 2014. He’s an She loves working in the marijuana and management in the music busi- Bellevue High School in 1975, he avid golfer, IPA drinker, sports fan, industry and is a huge advocate. ness. He enjoys all things outdoors, enlisted in the Navy. He was honor- workaholic with a deep love-hate playing music and causing trouble ably discharged after serving from relationship with technology. [email protected] with his young sons. 1975 to 1979. He has four kids and enjoys skiing, hiking, scuba diving, [email protected] [email protected] sailing, biking and foreign travel. [email protected] Marijuana Venture CONTRIBUTORS – Marguerite Arnold Doug Banfelder Kenton Bradley Vicki Christophersen Gary Delp Scott Jordan Patrick Wagner Chloé Mehring Shelby Talmadge Nick Mosely Katie Podein Staff Writer Graphic Designer Marketing Resident avocado enthusiast and Chloe was born and raised in Wis- Shelby is CEO at Tahoma Growers, Rowshan Reordan Street Fighter II champion, Patrick consin, where she graduated from St. a family-owned producer/processor Lauren Rudick Wagner graduated from the Univer- Norbert College in Media Commu- in Goldendale, Washington. Like Thomas Valentine sity of Washington with a degree in nications and Graphic Design. In her most Pacific Northwest natives, she Cory Wray communications in 2014. When he free time, Chloé enjoys photography, enjoys hiking with her dog Juno, isn’t making snarky quips around woodworking, exploring the Pacific yoga and “product testing” for the the office, he works on editing, re- Northwest and making incredible farm. She studied history at the searching, writing and the concept grilled cheese sandwiches. University of Washington, a degree of compound modifiers. she has used but once. [email protected] 12 | Marijuana Venture // February 2016 CCTV Green Thumb A MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER Pay to play? Not us! Marijuana Venture never takes the quid pro quo approach ’ve talked with sev- ness publication, and we will not run the Ieral company own- ads that make outrageous (and unproven) ers who have been medical claims, or that depict women as approached by some silly-looking sex objects. of the other marijuana In the old days of the CD-ROM busi- magazines about do- ness, there were big retailers that partici- ing a feature story on pated in the pay-to-play game. Remember their business. Appar- CompUSA? If you wanted to get a title ently, after a long and glowing discussion on its shelves, it required a $25,000 “slot- about how wonderful the article would be ting fee.” In other words, publishers paid and how much the magazine’s readership $25,000 for each title CompUSA took PUBLISHER would enjoy learning about the business, in, regardless of its track record, sales GREG JAMES it was stated that placing a full page ad potential or quality. I distinctly remem- [email protected] was a requirement to get the story pub- ber a long discussion with my sales team EDITOR lished. In other words, it was clearly a about why we’d never pay those fees. I GARRETT RUDOLPH “pay-to-play” proposition. explained that in the long run, the hunt [email protected] We will never do that for several rea- for slotting fees meant CompUSA buyers sons. First and foremost, it absolutely SALES MANAGER spent more time searching for ad dollars LISA SMITH undermines the integrity and credibility than they did evaluating the sales poten- [email protected] of the publication. If you’re a writer who tial of new titles. requires kick-backs to do a story, you’re ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE In my opinion, it was a strategy that AARON GREENREICH not a journalist — you’re a salesman. would eventually lead to consumers flee- Taking money to write supposedly ob- ing for stores with better selection and STAFF WRITERS jective articles on products for consumers better pricing, such as Best Buy, which CHRIS BAYLEY PATRICK WAGNER is clearly a slippery slope we don’t want never asked for slotting fees. It didn’t take to go down. Consumer Reports takes ob- long for CompUSA to suffer and eventu- GRAPHIC DESIGN jectivity to the extreme and accepts no ally go out of business. My guess is that CHLOÉ MEHRING ads whatsoever. Most of us are a bit more for CompUSA, the pay-to-play strategy MARKETING pragmatic, but draw the line at pay to was born out of desperation, but it was SHELBY TALMADGE play, and will not run a glowing story just obviously a doomed last-gasp effort for CONTRIBUTORS because someone buys a big ad. an already terminal retail giant. Marguerite Arnold Katie Podein When other magazines write articles Doug Banfelder Rowshan Reordan Let me again state the Marijuana Ven- Vicki Christophersen Lauren Rudick for people who buy ads, they’re no lon- ture policy: We write and publish articles Scott Jordan Thomas Valentine ger informative and objective — they’ve Nick Mosely Cory Wray that are relevant to the legal marijuana become a glorified sales catalog. That’s business community. We do not require not good if you want readers to take you an ad for an article to run, and we do not MARIJUANA VENTURE VOL. 3, ISSUE 2 seriously. take ad dollars in exchange for glowing Marijuana Venture (ISSN #2376-0710) is published monthly Where do you draw the line? I’ve by MJ Directions LLC. PO Box 1419, Renton, WA, 98057. reviews. If you have a newsworthy prod- Phone: (425)656-3621. Website: www.marijuanaventure. seen an awful lot of ads I’d call down- com. Copyright 2015 by Marijuana Venture. All rights re- uct or idea, send it to us. We will not hold served. Reprinting, in whole or in part, is expressly forbidden right cheesy in some of the magazines you hostage and demand a full page ad in without written permission from the publisher. that have a problem deciding if they’re a ADVERTISING exchange for running the article.