Bluegrass Podcast Transcript Ep. 22 Judi Nelson Sol Spirit Farms

[ This is the audio transcript for the Bluegrass Podcast Episode 22 released on November 8th, 2022. ]

[00:00:03.990] - Elijah

Welcome to the Bluegrass Podcast. Today we are talking with Judy Nelson of Soul Spirit Farms about

her farm, their wonderful new Burmese mimosa they've been working on, and the hospitality that they offer educating individuals on cannabis and natural farming. We are so excited to have you with us today and we hope that you're having a clean, heavy and happy harvest wherever you are and whatever you've been bringing in this fall. Let's get right to it.

[00:00:37.240] - Elijah

Absolutely. So how's your harvest been going?

[00:00:40.560] - Judi Nelson

You know, we just finished, like, yesterday, pretty much, so that's exciting. And, you know, it went

really well this year. We had fires that blocked out the sun for a few weeks and so we had a little bit of

like a battle with just dealing with that, but luckily the timing was okay to where nothing was at risk of

getting smoky tasting or anything like that. So I would say we dodged a bullet there.

[00:01:14.890] - Elijah

And was that the Six Rivers fire that was earlier this summer?

[00:01:18.720] - Judi Nelson

Yeah. So there was actually the Six Rivers complex on one side of us and then the Ammon fire on the

other side. Eventually, I think they kind of came together and they sort of called them one thing, but

yeah, we were surrounded yet again because we were last year too, so that's been stressful, I would

say, to just be like, really? Is this going to be every year now? Because it's not fun.

[00:01:49.590] - Elijah

Absolutely. So what was your favorite thing you pulled in from your harvest? Like, just for you

personally? What were you most excited about?

[00:01:58.270] - Judi Nelson

Oh, my God, I'm so glad you asked that because I am so excited about this Burmese mimosa. It's my

favorite weed ever and we've never pulled it off commercially. We've been doing like a female hunt for

the past three years on it. And, you know, we have a small batch of it this year, like a tiny little ten

pound batch, but it's so good. It's so good.

[00:02:26.410] - Elijah

Give us a lowdown. So what does it smell like? What does it taste like? What gets you excited about

it?

[00:02:32.380] - Judi Nelson

Well, I like fruity weed and I'm not a gassy or savory weed fan. And so this is orange Burmese crossed

with rose mimosa. And so it's this, like, really grape, fruity, sweet floral thing. And then it's got like a

little kind of woodyiness behind it. So it's got almost that like, amber or I want to say resin is not

meaning, like, resin from the cannabis plant, but any of those insensitive kind of resins that we use for

that kind of thing. It's got, like, just enough of that in there that it's just also has a little bit of earth in it.

So it's so good and you can.

[00:03:31.110] - Elijah

Smell it from across the I mean, that smells terrific. I'm completely down for that.

[00:03:38.210] - Judi Nelson

Right. So I was just saying that it's going to be kind of interesting to see how it goes in the market

because I think we are indeed it between like 18 and 20% THC and like I am very oh, yeah. I'm just

hoping that I can get people to smell it and taste it. Because once I can do that, I know that everybody

is going to love this.

[00:04:12.100] - Elijah

But you know well and hopefully we'll see more of it too just because like you're talking about you

can't tell from that percentage and that one in particular what it might do for you too. There's stuff in

the 15 to 20 range that will knock your socks off in terms of the high.

[00:04:31.160] - Judi Nelson

Exactly, exactly. So hopefully people will get out of their own ways on that and make it so that they

don't miss out on this amazing weed because they're just looking for the highest THC percentage.

[00:04:45.730] - Elijah

And where can they pick it up if they were looking to pick it up?

[00:04:49.230] - Judi Nelson

Well, it isn't anywhere yet because it's actually still curing. But our best like any small independent

retailer in California, sesame Creek in Ohio is definitely one of our absolute biggest supporters.

Cornerstone in La Torre Holistics and California. Holistic down in the San Diego area up here locally in

Humboldt. Hopefully urban market will have it and Heart of the Emerald and maybe Soulful in

Sebastian Pool. You never know what they're going to pick up, but I'm hoping they'll take some of it.

[00:05:36.040] - Elijah

I definitely look forward to picking up an 8th of it. It sounds terrific.

[00:05:40.080] - Judi Nelson

It's so good.

[00:05:42.560] - Elijah

And kind of asking you about that. Different places that sell your cannabis, you all don't just farm, you

also have a really interesting tourism tie in.

[00:05:54.410] - Judi Nelson

We do.

[00:05:55.710] - Elijah

Do you want to talk about that a little bit? Because I think that's one of the really interesting things

about your allstar in particular.

[00:06:03.860] - Judi Nelson

Yes, I would love to talk about that. So we have a glamping experience that we offer to people in the

summer. So I'm closed down now and I will likely open Memorial Day weekend in 2023. And there we

have Bell tents. So there are these lovely fun canvas tents with real beds and comfy linens and every

tent has a separate bath house. You know, nobody shares a bathroom with strangers, which I think is

important. And they all stop running water. So it's lamping right? It's glamorous camping. You are

definitely still outside but it's pretty luxurious. And I either I cook organic farmtotable meals or I have a

chef that comes in and helps me kind of depending on how many people are there or if we have

special events. And we serve produce that is grown on the farm or locally. There's a lot of amazing

organic produce farmers in my area of Willow Creek, California. And we serve pork from pigs that we

raise on the farm and eggs from our chickens. And we just try to make it this very wholesome and

delicious weekend or however many days you choose to stay, and you get to really experience what

life is like on a farm in the Emerald Triangle.

[00:07:45.940] - Judi Nelson

Walter, my husband, who is our main head cultivator, he takes everybody on a farm tour and explains

a lot about all kinds of different aspects. You know, whether you want to find out about regenerative

farming in general or how different cultivars perform or how he chose them, or pest control or, you

know, you just want to kind of see what a commercial cannabis farm is like. And commercial I use

because to me it's commercial now. We were very small for a very long time and we expanded a little

bit during legalization, so to me it seems like a lot, but it's still only 10,000 sqft. Which solidly qualifies

us as a small farm. But we also live on a wild and scenic river, the south Fork of the Trinity River. And

there is amazing kayaking and whitewater rafting both there and on the main stem of the Trinity. And

you can just go swimming in the river if that's what you prefer. But there is great hiking. The Trinity

Elves are nearby so you can make a whole outdoor adventure out of it. And of course there's weed at

a weed farm too.

[00:09:09.790] - Elijah

And I love when you say glamping. Like I encourage people to visit you all's website because you have

some pictures on there of the tents and the setups and it really is beautiful. Like it is as close to

camping as you can get while still getting this incredible five star tailored experience all around your

farm and the surrounding area.

[00:09:34.610] - Judi Nelson

Yeah, it's essentially camping, much more comfortable camping and you don't have to bring anything

but your clothes.

[00:09:43.240] - Elijah

Oh, and you're all just how you all have put it together too. I hope you take some credit for it. It really is

like you're talking about these other places just to do this functionally on the cannabis farm and to

also have the tours going. I really love it.