Spring Reflections: Roots, Community, and the Path Forward

Spring has a way of sharpening perspective.

As the snow recedes and the first signs of life return to the land, we find ourselves reflecting on the quieter months behind us—winter spent both inward on the farm, and outward in community. This past season brought us down to Vancouver for a series of industry gatherings. In rooms full of growers, retailers, and advocates, there was a shared feeling—connection, resilience, and a sense that the future of cannabis in BC is still being shaped by the people who care deeply about it.

Spring scene on our farm: green in the valley, snow on the mountains.

One of the most meaningful moments for us was being recognized as part of the Legacy Legends project—alongside a group of powerful women who have each carried this plant through very different eras. Not all of them growers—some activists, advocates, and dispensary owners—but all deeply rooted in the work that existed long before legalization. These are the people who helped carry cannabis through a time when it was quieter, riskier, and deeply community-driven. Long before regulated supply chains, this was medicine grown, shared, and trusted within networks of care.

First perennials coming up in the garden.

That lineage matters.

It shows up in how we grow today.

At High Mountain Organics, our approach to cannabis is inseparable from the land itself. Sun-grown, living soil cultivation isn’t just a method—it’s a relationship. The seasonal rhythms, the microbial life in the soil, the way sunlight and stress shape terpene expression—these are all part of what gives outdoor cannabis its depth. Terpenes like pinene, limonene, and caryophyllene aren’t just aromatic—they’re adaptive compounds, produced by the plant in response to its environment. When cannabis is grown in living soil under the open sky, those expressions become more layered, more reflective of place.

Cold tolerant greens getting started in the greenhouse.

That’s terroir.

And it’s something we believe BC does exceptionally well.

First flowers on our fruit trees.

But cannabis is only one part of our story.

Our farm is a working, living system. Alongside our cannabis, we grow hay, a wide range of fruits and vegetables, and medicinal and culinary herbs. Each piece supports the other, contributing to a land-based home economy that allows us to stay rooted here. This way of living—diversified, seasonal, and local—creates resilience, not just for our farm, but for our broader community.

Being home has also meant we can invest in the systems that sustain us all.

No farm complete without a farm dog- meet Peluche!

Over the years, we’ve helped build and maintain our community-run water and power systems—shared infrastructure that reflects a deep level of cooperation and trust. We’ve taken part in wildfire training and preparedness, knowing how critical it is to be ready and to support one another in times of risk. And just as importantly, we’ve nurtured the social and cultural threads that hold us together—solstice gatherings, shared meals, and work bees where many hands make light work.

Cold spring nights, we’re still keeping our fire going.

This is what it means, for us, to grow cannabis.

Not in isolation, but as part of a broader ecosystem—ecological, social, and cultural.

As we step into the growing season ahead, we carry the energy of winter’s connections with us. The conversations, the recognition, the reminder that this path—organic, sun-grown, community-rooted—is not only viable, but necessary.

We’re grateful to be here.

And we’re just getting started

Happy spring!