Tag Archives: plants

Let’s Hash Out the Ecology of Cannabis

There has been a smell in the air these days, pretty much everywhere I go now: the grocery store, festivals…my backyard. It has the scent of someone who has wandered the forest for days without access to a shower or any modern hygienic amenities, having spent their time wrestling skunks and other manner of wildlife. When you smell it, you are all too aware of what it is, and has become a rather ubiquitous odor in modern society, of late. The grand smell of weed. Marijuana. Mary Jane? Pot! Reefer?! Okay, it has a lot of names in English, and can even go by their vernacular ‘sativa’ and ‘idica’, partially bastardizing the generally agreed-upon species delineation. The reasons for all of the various nicknames is likely as diverse as the names themselves. The real (albeit, general) name, however, is Cannabis (or Hemp, more on that in a second). There is even a debate on taxonomy and classification (is there one plant with different phenotypes or three separate species? The jury is still out).

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Multicultural Gardener

There are many things about having more than one culture that have been a blessing and a curse. Never really knowing which one you belong to or relate to is high up there. You also tend to see boundary lines differently than those who feel a strong sense of belonging to a very specific place. Always existing just a little bit outside of a culture used to bother me, but I think as I’ve gotten older I am more….ambivalent about it. That perspective extends beyond the intangible fealty to culture and civilizations and into the physical world.

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