At the beginning of December, the Respect My Region squad headed to Spokane to take a tour of the Growing Like A Weed (GLW) facility. After about five hours on the road and driving across the state, we went directly to their facility nestled in the foothills. Built out of an old winery, this tier two producer processor focuses on crafting the highest quality of products they can make.
Fred Renteria showed us around while he discussed their growing process. The first thing we saw was their compost tea which is a combination of different plant nutrients. They are constantly brewing fresh batches and feeding it to the plants throughout the growing process. We are told that this really helps develop a delicious flavor profile.
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Along with their tea, they hand mix their own soil. Absolutely no pesticides are used, ever.
Fred says that they, “mimic mother nature in a cleaner environment and take an organic approach.”
The early stages of the process are cool to see; baby plants just working their little leaves off to grow strong roots. But the exciting stuff, now that comes when you enter the jungle.
It’s a beautiful thing to get lost in a canopy of cannabis. GLW focuses on small batches of unique strains for each harvest. Wandering through these rooms, you could easily see the differences between the different strains. The aroma was filled with pine, Earth, and cannabis, and the scent was getting stronger and stronger with each room.
We saw everything from light green nugs with a vibrant lemon-lime vibe, all the way to super dark purple almost black leaves. As a consumer, I like to see a farm that constantly has variety. I’m more likely to keep buying their product knowing that I can expect a different strain on the shelf when I need more. “We love to be able to . . come in with 15 amazing strains. Variety is key,” Fred says.
The trichomes on these plants were out of this world wild. Even in the early stages, you could see the dense crystal formations. Reaching out and barely touching a stalk, the oil secreting from the nugs coated the tips of my gloves. I asked Fred what his favorite strain was, and without skipping a beat he said, “Pink Taco.”
He went on to explain, “From a grower standpoint it is your best friend. It looks like it’s a sativa dominant strain and then finishes in 56 days.” Usually, sativa’s can take anywhere from 10-16 weeks to fully mature! The strain is also extremely rare, “it came from a variety pack that I received back when I was selling seeds. It was 2 females out of 5 beans.” It’s not even listed on Leafly yet.
“In week three it starts turning dark purple and ends up changing to pink and the leaves start to taco up from all of the trichome production, hence the name. Its terpene profile is through the roof, 7.2% on the flower.”
RMR will take terps over THC any day. Fred finished his thought with one final reason for Pink Taco being his favorite strain, “The reason it’s my favorite is that it’s one of a kind and can never be duplicated, just like GLW.”
The hospitality that we received at Growing Like A Weed was as incredible as their facility. Our field trip came to an end and turned into a relaxing smoke session filled with a variety of GLW strains. They’re Diesel strain being one that you definitely want to go on the hunt for!
We visited quite a bit of the retailers in Spokane, where budtenders recommended their products to us without being prompted.
Find Growing Like A Weed in Washington.
