Oregon Hosts the Cultivation Classic

Held at The North Warehouse in Portland, the new event highlighted marijuana grown in Oregon with the organic standards of being grown in soil as well as free from pesticides, minerals, salts and fertilizers.

Judges of the over 100 strains represented a wide variety of tastemakers and refined palettes of Portland with growers, brewers, athletes, artists, chefs and others on the event panel, including Duane Sorenson of Stumptown Coffee, Cliff Robinson of the Portland Trailblazers and Zia McCabe of the Dandy Warhols.

The Cultivation Classic was produced by Willamette Week, Farma and Cascadia Labs. In addition to strain awards, the event featured vendors with a focus on organic products and sustainable methodology including many organic farms, panels of experts on topics from soil to the cannabis genome and an outdoor recreating area for enjoying smoke and vapor, plus a separate outdoor area for having a beer thanks to River Pig Saloon’s mobile beer truck/garden and some well-defined fencing.

Dispensary Oregon’s Finest hosted authors Jorge Cervantes (“The Cannabis Encylopedia”, and many other learn-to-grow classics) and Dru West (“Secrets of the West Coast Masters”) who signed copies of their books and shared knowledge with curious cannabis consumers and fans. Cascadia Labs produced the Funky Science Lounge, where folks could learn more about what they’re puffing on and explore Phylos Bioscience’s Galaxy of Strains, a map of cannabis defined by genetics in the form of a galaxy, to visually represent and identify patterns and connections between different varieties of this highly-varied plant. A few delicious food trucks were on hand to satisfy the munchies with sliders and tacos, and a free sustainably-sourced water station kept everyone hydrated in the almost-summer heat.

The awards were presented by Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who has received numerous awards for his pro-cannabis advocacy from groups like NORML, the National Cannabis Industry Association, and Americans for Safe Access. In his remarks Blumenauer spoke about the identity of Oregon, a state renowned for it’s craft industries such as coffee, beer and cider. He said that the small batch, the attention to detail, product innovation, refinement of craft, treating both employees and customers well — these are the standards that set Oregon industries apart from the rest of the country and they are great standards to apply to the newly developing cannabis industry.

As the winning strains were announced, the soils and environments used to grow them were summarized, some judges’ comments were shared and the winners were shown mapped on the Galaxy of Strains. The CBD winner was clearly clustered among other high CBD strains, while both instances of the Jack Herer (named after late activist, author and resident of Oregon) were solidly in with strains like Old Jack, Premium Jack, Candy Jack, Jack the Ripper, Jack Frost and Galactic Jack. While names of strains are no guarantee, these two winners were clearly from similar and true genetics.

Winners of the first annual Cultivation Classic were:

CBD – Fisher’s CBD from Essential Agronomny

1:1 THC to CBD – Cannatonic from Newcleus Nurseries

Indoor THC – Jack Herer from Garden Terrace Farms

Greenhouse THC – Jack Herer from Hill Fire

Outdoor THC – Purple Hindu Kush from Alter Farms

What marijuana events are you attending this year?