It’s Hemp Flower Harvest Time!
The 2025 hemp flower harvest is in! Although the plants were smaller this year, most likely due to weather, the flowers look and smell fabulous. Couldn’t have asked for better weather during the final crucial weeks of flowering, with warm sunny days and cool nights.
While it’s been exceedingly dry, the positive aspect of that is we haven’t had the fall fog, drizzle, or extended rain that favors mold. Have seen almost none this year, just a handful of tiny isolated spots which were immediately removed during daily field inspections.
Also pleased to report that no pests or disease were able to get a foothold–I chalk that up to having healthy, resilient plants with strong natural defenses. But certainly the weather this fall has helped. Organic and regenerative farming methods and rotating the crop to a different field each year also help avoid those sorts of issues.
Harvesting Before Sunrise
As always, the flowers are harvested just before dawn when the terpenes are strongest. Ever notice how plants outside seem especially fragrant in the early morning? That’s because they’ve spent the night replenishing their terpenes, which fade as the day progresses.
Although it’s not always easy rising before the sun, harvesting hemp under the starlight just as darkness begins to fade on the eastern horizon is not a bad way to start your day. It’s an extraordinarily peaceful, quiet time.
Dry and Cure
The plants are hand cut at the base and immediately hung upside down in the cool morning air. We separate individual branches, remove the leaves, rinse the flowers in fresh water, then hang to dry outside in the shade for the day. In the late afternoon the branches are brought into the drying shed, where they hang for roughly 1 week. Then the flowers are removed from the branches, trimmed, and stored in airtight glass containers for curing.
As the hemp cures, we’ll send a sample to the lab for a full analysis: cannabinoid content, terpene profile, and screening for contaminants. After a month of curing, the flower will be ready (2024 flower is currently 40% off, this year’s flower will be available later in October).
Giving Thanks
The full moon next Monday (10/6) will be the “Harvest Moon,” traditionally an occasion for celebrating Nature’s bounty. We’ll certainly be giving thanks here for another successful hemp flower harvest–an immeasurable gift from the land.
