When (and if, of course) it reaches the shelves of a cannabis shop here in New York State, it will be under the brand “Heirloom.” Somewhere on the packaging or the shelf, it will say “Sun Grown” and if all goes well, it might also say something about being grown in Wawarsing, Ulster County.

This is outdoor cannabis “flower” we’re talking about; talking it up is Moranda Bromberg, CEO of Hudson Valley Herbals. With her partner Zach Baum, she has a firm plan to buy the 140 acres of the Kelly Farm, the former dairy and sweet corn farm known for the white barns that stand close to Route 209 south of Ellenville, and next to the landing field for hang gliders. Bromberg and Baum are Wawarsing residents, having moved into the town in 2017.

Bromberg said her background lies in branding and marketing in the jewelry business, but she also spent time working on medical cannabis farms in southern Oregon: “In Oregon I saw firsthand the revitalizing effect the cannabis industry can have on communities like Ellenville and Wawarsing.”

Her project is also “fully funded” as noted in a press release that went out this week, which mentioned an investment of $30 million, demonstrating the serious nature of the project.

As of late July 2022, the latent legal cannabis industry in New York continues to wait impatiently for the six members of the state Cannabis Control Board (CCB) to finalize the rules, a lot of rules, for growing, processing, marketing and making retail sales of cannabis. And that means CBD-bearing hemp as well as THC-laden cannabis.

From cannabis-infused edibles to flower for those who like to smoke, from fine hemp fiber for fabric to coarse fiber for construction purposes, the remarkable cannabis plant has a lot of uses and potential products. It is also emerging from an 80- to 90-year period of prohibition and illegality here in New York, all of which is passing under the CCB’s review.

Meanwhile, Bromberg is at the beginning of her own promotion and marketing process. She said she’s aware that in a year to 18 months, a full-on highly competitive market will have blossomed for cannabis products as a new industry rises in New York.

Looking at that timeline, she noted at first the CCB released “bits and pieces” of the regulations for cannabis. “Things regarding packaging and some safety guidelines. But people [legacy hemp farmers given emergency licenses in spring to produce recreational cannabis] are growing a bumper crop right now,” she added.

The granting of the first growing permits to hemp farmers, of which Ulster has many, had two purposes. The first was to meet the immediate demand for legal cannabis products expected when dispensaries open later this year. Canada legalized cannabis some years ago, but had no program to grow any product beforehand and therefore set off a boom in smuggled and illegally grown cannabis.

The second side to the decision was to help hemp growers who had been damaged by the surge in hemp growing for the CBD boom just a few short years ago. It was a classic example of massive oversupply hitting finite demand, and many growers lost thousands, if not millions, of dollars as a result.

A complicating factor, in an area already full of those, is the state Cannabis Advisory Board. This board, established in the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act of 2021, will assist in creating the social and economic equity plan that the legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul say is a vital part of New York’s legalization of cannabis. Indeed, the board’s primary purpose is to oversee the disbursement of the New York State Community Grants Reinvestment Fund, a separate pool of money that will support communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition.

This is just one of many factors being balanced by the CCB as it draws up the essential regulations. And this is why the date for releasing rules for cultivation did not emerge in May as promised, but is now set for September.

Bromberg made a number of important points that are rarely made in media. “This is an ephemeral product. The best quality is fresh flower, and so in a shop the supply will need to be constantly changed out, particularly for top-quality flower. Edibles also degrade – they have a shelf life and cannabinoids change over time. There is a turnover time for any of these products.”

Bromberg said that unlike the high-tech greenhouses where much of the legal adult-use cannabis is grown, they’re taking the natural approach. “We are emphasizing that our summer product, Heirloom, will be grown outdoors, under the sun — this is ‘Sun Grown’ cannabis,” she said. “And there are important points to understand. Because this won’t be an illegal product; we won’t be concentrating on raising THC levels to 30 percent. We will be producing cannabis that is balanced between THC and CBD and the many other cannabinoids and terpenes that the plant produces in the flowers.”

She noted that older generations of cannabis products were usually 6 to 10 percent THC, and came with the full spectrum of other cannabinoids, as well, and usually with seeds. Today’s cannabis flower rings in at 25 percent or more THC.

The analogy which covers this best perhaps is between a shot of vodka and a glass of fine wine at the dinner table. Bromberg and her market see cannabis as a product for subtle enjoyment, in a civilized setting, not for getting zonked.

The window is therefore opening on very different, nuanced views of cannabis, with different levels and variations in stimulation and appreciation.

The farm is another important part of the Hudson Valley Herbals plan. The 140-acre Kelly Farm property where they plan to grow the “maximum allowable square footage of cannabis authorized by the state,” which will be determined by the CCB, is currently unused.

The growing area is envisaged as being set well away from Route 209, for security reasons and to help with odor control. The growing area is planned for two small square areas, each about an acre in extent, set at the southern end of the farm.

“Our campus will include an orchard at the northern end of the farm, a large vegetable garden in the middle, and our cannabis facility at the southern end,” Bromberg said. “The cannabis facility will have a greenhouse, we will be growing a winter crop indoors there, and then past that the outdoor growing areas.”

The crops will be switched from one to the other, season by season, while good organic husbandry will have nitrogen-fixing crops grown to replenish the soil on the area left to rest.

The indoor crop for winter will require lighting to boost what comes from the sun to the greenhouse, but will be grown in a much more “varietal” and “full-spectrum” manner than the indoor-grown clone-cannabis of, say, Cresco Labs and their competitors.

As for water supply, Bromberg noted that there are four good wells on the property and they will get all their water directly from those. “In addition, we expect to be running on solar and geothermal power for at least 50 percent of our needs.”

Bromberg hastened to add that the Kelly family will remain in their homes on the other side of Route 209. Indeed, Grace Kennedy, one of the owners of the Kelly farm, had high praise for the project.

“This farm has been a very special place for us, but we know that Moranda and Zach will be excellent stewards of the land, which has been in our family for over a hundred years,” Kennedy said. “We feel confident they will take great care to maintain the integrity of the property and that their business will be a big benefit to the town. We look forward to watching their project progress from our homes across the street.”

A large swathe of the farm property, which lies to the east of the Sandburg Creek, will not be involved in any agricultural project. Bromberg added that the iconic white barns will be fully restored and then used as offices. “This will be our C-suite, with marketing and business run from there.”

Odor control, or lack thereof, is frequently mentioned by those uncomfortable with cannabis. Indoors, there will be the kind of high-tech controls already described for Cresco Labs’ facility on the former Schrade site. Outdoors, Hudson Valley Herbals will use FogCo’s patented system, which sets up a ring of ionized water mist around the growing area. This “fog” attaches to any particles carrying odor and takes them to the ground. The fog does not produce any dew on equipment, people, or the ground. No odor will escape the mist and few casual passersby will even know what is growing in those two small areas.

Bromberg hit another very important area for her. “This is a woman-owned business. We are hiring lots of diverse women, and women with experience in the cannabis business. For me it is very important to hire women in this new and growing industry.”

And while on hiring, yes, Hudson Valley Herbals will be hiring local people. “We will need around 100 employees, and we will hope to hire locals as much as possible.”

Finally, to the products themselves. “About 60 percent of initial products will be flower. The remaining 40 percent will be flash frozen and processed to collect oil for edibles and vape products."