Hemp for both gourmets and builders / day

For more than ten years, Andris Vishnevsky has been growing sowing hemp in the Dekare parish of Rezekne district. Obelisk Farm On the farm, they produce a variety of cannabis products, as well as training to share their knowledge. Their goal is to inspire others to grow cannabis so that more and more people learn about the widespread use of this valuable plant.

What initially prompted you from London to move to the Latvian countryside and start growing cannabis?

It is a 12 -year history. We lived in London, we just had the youngest son when we both and my wife realized that we didn’t want to stay in the city and raise our children there. My wife is a Portuguese, so we considered different homes, but in the end we decided to move to Latgale. Not the hemp, but the kids encouraged us to live in the countryside, because we wanted at least they would spend their lives in a looser atmosphere than in the city. We were looking for ideas that could be dealt with in the countryside. I noticed an image on the internet with a hemp leaf. Each of the leaves had another way of use – it surprised me. In addition, sowing hemp has nothing to do with drugs, although this stigma is still very strong in society.

Since we had zero knowledge on cannabis, but there was a place to manifest itself, our experiments began. We are now working with other cannabis growers in Latvia – they are mostly hemp for us for seed production. Since I am a food technologist after education, we also produce a variety of healthy hemp foods. We grow cannabis ourselves in one and a half hectares. We also use hemp stalks – we get the fiber from which we make the paper. We use such paper as a packaging material for our online store items. We also collect hemp tea.

We are a family business. The wife is responsible for what we look in the digital environment, but I care more about growing cannabis.

Where do sowing cannabis most commonly used in Latvia and elsewhere in the world?

The data of the Latvian Rural Support Service show that more than 1,000 hectares of hemp have been registered in Latvia in recent years. Hemp seeds are predominant in Latvia to produce foods, but all the potential of the plant is not used. The hemp stalks are left in the field, although they can be recycled. We still have to work on us in this respect. For example, Lithuanians already have the hemp industry – at least one large factory.

It is good that there is a long tradition in Latvia to eat cannabis, so the foods from the hemp industry are at a high level. In Lithuania, France and other European countries, hemp sows are grown in large quantities and uses all the plant. Cannabis produces fabrics, threads.

Cannabis can be used in different industries. Also in construction. The walls of our home from the outside are insulated with hemp concrete. It is made from hemp stalks, which are broken in small chips, mixed with lime and embedded in the wall. Totally natural material. We also gained last year Energized A certificate certifying that such material actually performs its functions. For two years now, we have been living in an insulated house and I can assure you that the consumption of firewood has fallen by a third.

There will also be annual training on May 17 how to use such hemp concrete properly. In 2017, Steve Allin from Ireland, the head of the International Cannabis Construction Association, visited us. He trained us how to make such material. Hemp concrete began to be used by the French in the 1960s. France is the largest hemp grower in Europe. Since it was up to date, they designed hemp concrete and began to renovate historic buildings. This is a safe and excellent thermal insulation material!

What does it mean to you – to work sustainable and environmentally friendly?

When we started growing cannabis, we immediately knew that everything should be environmentally friendly. As I have already mentioned, we pack our hemp products in glass containers and hemp paper, as well as in the most environmentally friendly packaging, not in plastic bubble film other than environmentally friendly material.

We’ve created our own Youtube A channel where you can view a video on how to make hemp paper yourself. If you have a log house, you can put hemp fibers into the slit. It’s such a simple but great use for the plant to be used completely and none of it remains. We like to share our knowledge with others.

We are in the process this year on Green keys Obtaining an eco -certificate, although we are operating environmentally friendly from the very beginning. Cannabis is a grateful plant because it does not need to use pesticides. The key is to properly prepare the soil, sow at the right time and choose the right sowing. The environmental impact is also minimal compared to other crop cultivation.

How was the idea of ​​creating a hemp school and museum?

In Latvia, cannabis is very open, but at the same time does not know much. The creation of the school and the museum came very organically to everything we had already done. People can go to see us, find out how hemp cultivation is. We created the museum immediately with the idea to show the ancient history of hemp cultivation, as well as the products made from hemp today. Visiting Cannabis School can learn in depth about hemp and their application.

Some time ago, we received a book from a German book, whose paper 60% consists of hemp. Such paper begins to be produced in industrial volumes. All this goes with the European Green Course. Forest, as a renewable resource, takes a long time, but for cannabis, it is only three months.

Last year we won the first place in the competition organized by the European Training Fund Green Skills Award or green skill competition. Our Hemp School won as the best project. This was another testimony to us that we do everything right and we will continue.

How do you see the development of the cannabis growing industry in Latvia?

It is growing because hemp is a very grateful plant. Cannabis can be useful in different sectors. It is delighted that hemp concrete is being used to insulate homes. New products are emerging in the food industry. I noticed that there is a cannabis drink or milk produced here in Latvia. We also have many different ideas. Everything is impossible to realize themselves, so tell about them so that someone else will go and do it. It will also contribute to the development of the cannabis industry.

For their own pleasure, anyone in the garden can sow sowing hemp. At first we went with their cultivation as the mountains because it was difficult to get information. It was like a driver to me that I would tell a lot and talk about cannabis, because it would be good for everyone. Currently there are three certified cannabis varieties in Latvia, but there will be more than 100 varieties in Europe.