March 2018 Newsletter

Vital Perch

Vital Ones,

I just looked up “vital.” Uncanny, because I founded Vital Hemptations (now Vital Hemp) fifteen years ago this Earth Day, and never before thought to learn more about the meaning of the word. First definition: "of or manifesting life," from Latin vitalis "of or belonging to life," from vita "life," related to vivere "to live." ~~Good to add ‘life’ and ‘living’ to the name of a hemp clothing company. When I see what’s going on in the world now, and how hemp is finally growing in popularity, acreage and economic influence, I believe my adult dream of the total re-legalization of industrial hemp in the USA (and other countries who we continue to influence) will happen in my lifetime—rather it is hempening!!!

Giving Thanks for all the vital energies of hemp advocates, ancestral and newly-minted hemp farmers!

Giving Thanks for the vital functions of the plant itself--being the most-effective crop at sequestering atmospheric carbon (more efficient than many forests). For every ton we harvest, it pulls 1.62 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere, cooling the globe. Hemp cools the globe. Thank you, hemp!

Thanks also to the vital actions of the Hemp Industries Association, Vote Hemp, the Hemp Roundtable, and many vital hemptrepreneurs and hempjucators, we are succeeding in the greening dream! For the sake of all that is vital on Earth, particularly every part of every living ecosystem, of which we are also a vital part, we embrace this integral crop, so necessary to our well-being and the well-being of the planet. We remember to never again demonize or criminalize a most-vital plant, with it’s thousands of known uses, and many thousands more to be discovered….

Looking back at March, I note the joy of encountering so many friends and customers old and new at the Natural Products Expo. I marvel that there is finally a Hemp Summit for the better part of the day, and that it was packed! I look forward to more hemp cereals, bars, mylks, soups and body products, not to mention bioplastic products, building materials, and who knows? I celebrate the emergence of CBD as a notable, well-researched source of health and vitality.

To recharge my own vitality, I asked for and received a short break to visit one of my favorite places, the island of Kauai, reconnecting with my artist friend, Marc Zimmerman (Dhude), who with his wife, Michelle, practice art, perched on the hillside of this magical valley, with the majestic mountains and waterfalls all around them. I remember the pleasure of swimming in the ocean, without a wetsuit, and of surfing small, lively waves as the air caresses my skin.

And now, I think forward to April, when we’ll muster our energies, carefully load up our hemp clothing, and drive the trusty, vital Sprinter to the NOCO Hemp Expo, April 6-7 in Loveland, Colorado. There, alongside 300+ hemp companies, we’ll peddle our comfortably-soft and stylish wears. Learn more, or visit: http://nocohempexpo.com.

With that, I say, again,

Thanks for being vital!

Feeling vital,