Production, Pot Plants, Passions & Passports. (Oh My!)
Welcome to this - our Tenth episode of Mend!
This feels like a milestone for the two of us - as we intially envisioned compiling a grand total of 20 interviews for this - our first season of the podcast. - so this would put us at the halfway point.
We’re continuing to enjoy the conversations and stories we unearth here so we’ll see how that number shifts as we journey forward.
In this interview, we venture off the path we’ve trod thus far and sit down for a very candid and personal chat with Marie - a worker who has been on the production end of the cannabis scene, aka a “trimmer” for the past 8 years.
We value deeply the perspective of the pioneers and originators of this tribe, but felt it necessary to examine some of the other aspects of this world as well.
Here, you’ll gain a vivid portrait of a woman who has been able to - among other things - travel, support her passions as a singer, a painter, and adventurer abroad. She gives us a detailed accounting of the typical work day (a hint - not your typical 9-5) and season this particular job entails. Plus get down to the nitty-gritty money bits - including how much one can make historically in this line of work - how that’s changing - and the great life she’s managed to carve out for herself as a result of this vocation - AND - living this fabulous life on a much smaller budget than you might expect.
Marie shares with us how cannabis helped her overcome a debilitating addiciton to alcohol and cocaine in her early twenties. We also dip into some controversial waters, too. She shares her responses to those who see the Marijuana economy as one of Extraction - of merely taking without ever giving back.
And we look toward what the future might hold for herself, but also the thousands of people like her who have relied upon this as a way of subsisting and bankrolling their dreams and passions in other walks of life.
We’ve chosen to keep this talk raw and real.
We don’t aim to portray perfect people here - but to provide a mic to learning, growing, imperfect folks - who are doing their best to navigate this time - with the tools at their disposal.