Cleaner Than Your Vegetables

Kalle Snyder and Bryan Gregori from Tree Hugger Containers (THC), a company leading the way in sustainable packaging within the cannabis industry, visits with Pat. They discuss where cannabis packaging started and how it has transitioned to meet the shifting demand of consumers desire to support eco-friendly companies and the need for truly sustainable packaging in the cannabis industry. Tree Hugger Containers offers recycled glass jars that are 2-3 times more sustainable than a standard glass jar and Child Resistant caps made of 100% reclaimed ocean plastic.

On this episode, Pat sits down with Frances Villafuerte-Mahoney and Dustin Mahoney of Clarified Confections in Oakland, CA to discuss their vision of serving the community with whole plant infusions to achieve full broad spectrum to target a larger variety of ailments.  Clarified started in 2010 to fill a gap on the shelves which lacked a cookie that was consistent in both effect and flavor profile.  Shortly thereafter, their product line exploded to include ghee butter, capsules, balms, salves and much more.  Dustin and Frances also dive into their journey of molding their methods to fit into the new era of regulations while maintaining their traditional approach as well as partnering with philanthropic programs, donating a portion of their products to patients that can't afford the medicine otherwise.

On this episode, Pat sits down with John Vitale of Strong John Extracts, to discuss the intricacies of obtaining a Type 7 license and all the nuances that come along with the process.  John's deep understanding of the chemistry behind clean and safe extractions offers great insight into where cannabis manufacturing started and how far it has come in order to thrive in the new era of regulations.  He also touches on the variety of medicinal benefits that extractions and concentrates offer to patients.

In this episode Pat sits down with Elan Goldbart from Coastal Star nursery in Watsonville, CA to discuss commercial cannabis nursery production. How did we get here? Where are we going? Elan offers a unique insight about the challenges, advantages, nuances, and breeding as well as the  similarities and differences to row crops. 

This episode was recorded in 2020.  

In this episode Pat sits down with Parker Sullivan from Curidor curing innovations for a discussion on breeding, growing, drying curing, and proper storage of the finest quality connoisseur cannabis.  

We sit down with Brian Malin from Vital Garden Supply, Vital Grown, and Vital Distribution, for a conversation about the evolution of the supply chain in the cannabis industry. He brings a unique perspective on what it takes to make it and thrive in the cannabis industry today, and provides a set of tools and products that help to implement a successful production.

Valerie Leveroni Corral joins us from the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) and the new Alliance for Compassionate Access (ACA) and WAMM Phytotherapies.

In this episode we explore compassionate cannabis and its roots in the cannabis industry. We speak about WAMM’s history and formation as the original medical cannabis collective of patients supporting each other in a peer-to-peer network.  Join us for a unique conversation about Valerie's work with the cannabis plant, her approach to patient service and care, and the therapeutic application to hundreds of people and their conditions. This is backed up as we hear from Marina Bleich, who's young daughter is spared from thousands of seizures a month through Valerie's powerful and well tested Cannabis Alchemy.

In this episode, we are joined by James Cunningham and Ian Swift of Fog City Farms in Watsonville, CA. We will be discussing what it takes to be “Confidently Clean” in the cannabis industry.   Pat Malo leads a conversation about best practices, regulatory requirements for producers, and how 3rd party certification helps them differentiate their product in a competitive marketplace.  They also discuss their innovative, double stacked, LED lit, indoor cultivation that utilizes Jame's patented air movement system and how finding every efficiency adds to their sustainability and bottom line.

In this episode we discuss this longtime cannabis operator's path to commercial scale production of nursery plants, hemp, and cannabis products.  JR Richardson tells us about what it took for him to come from Prop 215 era operations, to getting through the Santa Cruz County and California State licensing process, to now owning and operating the old Coast Nursery site in South County as Golden Seed.

Join Angela Evans from Lifted Organics in a discussion about farm-to-table cannabis.  Lifted Organics is a family-owned vertically integrated company and in this episode we explore the roadmap to bring a product to market in the cannabis industry.

In this episode we have Manny Alvarez from Bird Valley Organics on CTYV to discuss regenerative business practices in cannabis.  Manny and Terry, the founders of Bird Valley Organics, have always made the extra effort to bring responsible, sustainable, quality products to the cannabis market.  This week we explore appellation and microclimate discussions, hugelculture methods, carbon sequestration, among other topics like creating the organic section in cannabis retail.  

"We came from farming backgrounds, Terry’s grandfather was a very successful farmer in Cuba before the revolution when their family lost everything and moved to the US.  They built themselves up by farming, and we are a continuation of those traditions, just applying them to a different plant.” - Manny Alvarez, Co-founder of Bird Valley Organics

Episode 4 'Certified Like a Pro' 

Pat interviews Valentina Temarario and discusses "an evolved organic certification" for cannabis, supply chain risk management, and the OCal 'comparable-to-organic' regulations that we're recently released for public input in California. 

Join us for Episode 3 of 'Cleaner Than Your Vegetables' Podcast with special guest Angus Mills who has 17 years of extensive agricultural experience and is discussing 'Beyond Organic Standards' with our CTYV host Pat Malo.

Join us for a new podcast experience: Cleaner than Your Vegetables with the second episode titled 'Triple Bottom Line(TBL) Skin Care' with Hardip Kalsi, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer at HERBODY and ZRO Skin Care discussing best practices, ingredients, use of cannabinoids and even heavy metals testing in the skincare and beauty industry.

'Cleaner than Your Vegetables' a podcast experience for the community. Advancing best practices in food production, hemp & cannabis, and other high value commodities.  Episode One - 'Certification with Metrics and Lab Testing' with guest and industry pioneer Alec Dixon from SC Laboratories and our CTYV host Pat Malo.