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New Belgium’s Hemp Beer Adds Hempy Smoothness & Aroma To HopsA bottle and a foamy glass of hemp beer sit atop a counter in a liquor store.
A bottle and a foamy glass of The Hemperor sit atop a counter in a liquor store. New Belgium’s new hemp beer has a strong aroma of fresh hemp and a nutty flavor of hemp hearts. (New Belgium)
May 12, 2018
Kit
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New Belgium’s Hemp Beer Adds Hempy Smoothness & Aroma To Hops

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp

Our Hemperor beer review in a nut (hemp?) shell: Delicious!

New Belgium Brewing recently invited our Editor in Chief to a special Austin, Texas tasting of their new hemp beer, The Hemperor HPA.

The Hemperor is a unique new offering. This is the first hemp beer from a brewery as ubiquitous as New Belgium. While this “HPA” or Hemp Pale Ale has the strong flavor of hops, the hemp flavor balances out the bitterness. The smell of The Hemperor has to be experienced to be believed. The private downtown bar where the tasting took place smelled like a hemp field at harvest, just from the open bottles and glasses of beer.

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Legal Growers Fight Federal Government Over Water For Hemp CropsLegal farmers in the West are struggling with the Federal government over access to water for hemp crops.
A dusty, rusting irrigation pipe sits in a field under a cloudy sky. Legal farmers in the West are struggling with the Federal government over access to water for hemp crops. (Pixabay / distel2610, public domain)
May 10, 2018
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Legal Growers Fight Federal Government Over Water For Hemp Crops

Posted in Hemp Magazine, and Journalism

“TECHNICALLY, NO ONE’S EVER denied me the water,” says hemp farmer Kim Phillips, with a laugh.

Legally, Phillips can grow hemp on her 75-acre farm in Montana’s Helena Valley, but whether she can water her crops is another matter.

Phillips is at the center of a dispute that highlights the legal gray area around hemp farming in the United States. The water source she can access from her property is a federally regulated irrigation district controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal organization that manages water projects in America’s 17 westernmost states. Although Phillips has followed Montana’s strict hemp regulations, the Bureau of Reclamation didn’t respond to her request for water in time for her to irrigate the crops she planted last year. Her field languished and died.

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Kit In Print: Find “Water Wars” In Hemp Magazine Issue 3
Kit O'Connell's article "Water Wars" appears in issue 3 of Hemp Magazin. This magazine is focused on small farmers and their unique struggles to grow legal hemp. (Kit O'Connell)
May 8, 2018
Kit
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Kit In Print: Find “Water Wars” In Hemp Magazine Issue 3

Posted in Hemp Magazine, and Journalism

For the first time, you can my journalism in a print magazine!

Last year, I interviewed a number of Western hemp advocates who were concerned about the issue of water rights. The U.S. government controls much of the water in the American West, and they’ve threatened to withhold it from legal hemp farmers. I expanded on that story in an article called “Water Wars” for the latest issue of Hemp Magazine. For this article, I interviewed Kim Phillips, a Montana farmer whose hemp crop languished last year because her government water permit was denied. Phillips is struggling with the government again this year, and it’s unclear if she’ll get her water in time for the 2018 season.

Look for the article online soon — but in the meantime you can probably find it in the magazine at a bookstore or newsstand near you.

Read moreKit In Print: Find “Water Wars” In Hemp Magazine Issue 3
Indiana Legalizes CBD, Ending Police Raids & Consumer AnxietyIndiana legalizes CBD after previous epilepsy law led to police raids
The Indiana Capitol, home of the Indiana General Assembly, under a cloudy sky. A new state law in Indiana legalizes CBD oil after a previous law led to police raids on CBD vendors. (Flickr / Southland Gamers, CC-BY-NC-ND license)
March 23, 2018
Kit
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Indiana Legalizes CBD, Ending Police Raids & Consumer Anxiety

Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp

A new Indiana CBD law makes the supplement legal for all residents without a prescription, ending months of confusion. It could also serve as a model for other states looking to address the legality and purity of CBD oil.

Last year, Indiana state police interpreted a state law designed to help people with epilepsy access CBD as a mandate to raid vendors who were selling it for other purposes. While CBD is known to relieve symptoms of severe epilepsy, its benefits are numerous and its popularity is growing fast nationwide. Legislators insisted they’d never intended to spur a police crackdown, necessitating the new bill which was signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday.

Now, “any consumer in Indiana by state law can consume hemp products with CBD without any repercussions,” said Brian Furnish, a hemp farmer from Kentucky and the president of the US Hemp Roundtable. Furnish served as a consultant to several Indiana legislators and their staff during the process of writing and passing the bill to legalize CBD.

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March 22, 2018
Kit
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Hemp & Garden Show Educates Austin Locals & SXSW Visitors About Hemp

Posted in Austin, Journalism, Ministry of Hemp, SXSW, and Video

The Texas hemp industry is booming despite the obstacles faced by Lone Star State entrepreneurs.

That’s the message of the Texas Hemp and Garden Show, which took place on March 13 and 14 in Austin, Texas, at a downtown nightclub near the heart of the popular SXSW festival and not far from the capitol building.

2018 marked the Hemp and Garden Show’s second year, and there were about a dozen different vendors or organizations represented when I dropped in on the second day. Activists helped passersby fill out voter registration cards on the sidewalk, a DJ spun tunes from a small stage outside, and inside a succession of experts spoke about topics ranging from agriculture to the war on drugs. At night, musicians took over for the speakers including a surprise appearance from rapper Lil’ Flip.

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How A Texas Winery Created Hemp Wines Despite The Odds4 flavors of hemp wines on ice
Four different flavors of TVM hemp wines sit in a bucket of ice. (Facebook / TVM Wines)
February 11, 2018
Kit
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How A Texas Winery Created Hemp Wines Despite The Odds

Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp

You can wear hemp fashion, put hemp seeds on your oatmeal, even write on hemp paper, so would you try hemp wines?

It’s a product years in the making, but Americans in 37 states can now try hemp-infused wine, the creation of Texas-based TVM Wines.

TVM’s new hemp wines are actually wine cocktails, infused with flavors like “rum and Coke” and “Texas tea,” and graced with playful names like “Forbidden,” “Covert” and “Taboo” that invite drinkers to take part in something secretive and daring. However, for the wine’s creators, the product is about more than just capitalizing on an increasingly “hip” ingredient: they’re believers in the benefits of hemp too.

Read moreHow A Texas Winery Created Hemp Wines Despite The Odds