Interview Q’s
I’m fascinated with literally everything hemp, and as a grower in a previous life, I‘ll find any excuse to chat to other growers and pretend like it’s work.
Tweedle Farms has been the talk of the town for a number of years on several popular online hemp flower forums, including Reddit. One quick search returns a mountain of positive reviews and recommendations, and over the years they’ve succeeded in building a large and loyal fanbase with zero advertising.
Their customers keep coming back time and time again. Why, I hear you ask? Well, not only are Tweedle Farms consistently producing some of the highest quality hemp flower available on the market, but they also happen to sell it at prices you could only dream of (read our Tweedle Farms review to find out more).
I got the chance to chat to Tweedle Dum himself (Jason) and wanted to find out how they’re able to do this.
Jason Evans of Tweedle Farms
Jason, you guys are selling premium hemp flower at crazy low prices. How are you able to do this?
Jason: Well thanks for noticing! There are a number of factors that go into delivering great flower at affordable prices. It all starts with good hemp genetics. We are always on the hunt to grow the best cannabinoid and terpene-rich flower we can.
Of course, having great soil and pure Oregon mountain water helps, along with long sunny days at our latitude. Harvesting, drying and curing properly are also extremely important and we have spent years perfecting our processes.
Lastly, we don’t have an advertising budget so we don’t have to upcharge to get our name out there. We rely on word of mouth and since folks are happy with what we do they are also happy to tell a friend!
Can you tell us a little bit more about how you got into hemp farming?
Jason: I grew up around large scale farming. As a child my family had a farm in Southern California where we grew tomatoes, peppers, lima beans, celery, lettuce and even some citrus and avocados mainly for grocery markets and salsa producers.
I spent every summer for 18 years in the fields learning agriculture by osmosis. As a young adult working in the Bay Area I was introduced to the indoor cultivation of cannabis (some for medical production and some clandestine) and developed a love for the heartiness and diversity of the plant.
I was introduced to my business partner (who also grew cannabis) right after the 2014 Farm Bill defined and legalized hemp as an agricultural crop and a year later we were up and running.
Dare we ask, why are you called Tweedle Dum? Presumably James is Tweedle Dee?
Jason: Yup. James is Tweedle Dee. I am Tweedle Dum. I am definitely the goofball of the two.
What does your typical day look like?
Jason: Up at 5am. Put on a pot of coffee. Look at the weather forecast. Exercise. Check the plants. Check the website. Check the warehouse. Eat. All these steps get repeated until 7-10pm. Of course, planting and harvest seasons are a bit more chaotic.
I used to run light dep and loved pulling covers (call me crazy!). It was my favorite part of the day and I’d always say good morning and good night before putting my baby girls to bed.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
Jason: I will never get tired of walking the fields, row by row. Oddly enough, I also really enjoy pruning an indoor or greenhouse garden. There is something just so soothing, meditative and frankly, therapeutic about it. I also love interacting with our customers. Since we don’t advertise most folks come to us as referrals from other customers and it’s wonderful to hear their stories and share the love of this plant with them.
Have you got any tips for anyone growing their own?
Jason: Start small as you can always build up. Use good genetics. Use natural inputs if possible. Be patient and don’t get discouraged by mistakes or low initial yields. It takes time to find your groove but it’s worth it. A good looking harvest can be its own reward.
What strains are your personal favorites?
Jason: I will admit that I am a bit of a traditionalist though we have gotten more involved in some of the exotics recently. My all time favorite is Suzy Q since that is what we made our name on. We are actually bringing it back later this year.
Some of my newer favorites are Purple Emperor, Pink Panther and Classic Cookies. We always check the lineage of the strains we grow and don’t simply just rename strains because they are popular (yes, that happens a LOT).
What do you think makes Tweedle Farms different from all of the other brands on the market?
Jason: We have developed our brand over the years but we are a farm first and foremost. Folks get to see their product being grown throughout each season and it helps them feel connected with it.
We have resisted all buyout offers and investment opportunities to expand because we believe in staying boutique and connected with our customers.
We built this thing on three principles that are:
- Deliver the best products we can
- At fair prices to the consumer
- With unmatched customer service
Many have tried to follow us in this endeavor but few have been able to pull it off for long.
What do you think are the greatest challenges facing the market at the moment?
Jason: Because of the popularity (and potential revenue) of CBD there has been an explosion in the marketplace. This has brought in a lot of outside investment and folks looking to make a quick buck, which has brought with it a lot false claims, inferior or unsafe products and shady operators.
The additional popularity of synthetic, intoxicating cannabinoids has only made things worse. It can be difficult for consumers to wade through the many options that are available and choose something that is right for them without getting ripped off or possibly ending up with a product that’s dangerous to their health.
Hopefully the marketplace will clear itself out of these bad operators but in the meantime consumers should vet their suppliers thoroughly and only buy from those that are well respected and willing to spend the money and publish full 6 panel safety testing.
I notice you don’t sell any delta-8 products, do you have any plans to jump on the D8 bandwagon?
Jason: The Hemp Program was never designed or intended to be a distribution channel for intoxicating and/or synthetic products. Unfortunately, because of poorly written legislation and enforcement, many fast money profiteers have taken advantage of this.
Consider this example: Take out the word “hemp” and instead use “corn”. Corn is legal to grow by anyone. Corn can be grown for grain, oil, or its sugars. Those commodities are regulated by the USDA and the Department of Agriculture in the state in which it was grown.
However, if someone converts those sugars to an intoxicating substance (in this case alcohol) they would then be regulated by the ATF and the Liquor Commission in that state. You couldn’t just jar it up and sell it on a website or in every gas station in America.
Delta-8 and other intoxicating, synthetic cannabinoids are no different and, regardless of whatever any vendor tells you, it is an extremely toxic process to create them. We never started growing hemp only to jump through loopholes or distribute intoxicating or synthetic products to anyone in the sole name of profit.
Sure, it has cost us customers but we have to live with ourselves and we sleep really well at night. We have also started to gain a new following of folks who agree with or who have been made sick by vendors pushing this stuff as “safe and legal” alternatives when, in fact, they are neither. Long story short, I doubt we will get into delta-8.
What’s next for Tweedle Farms?
Jason: We are always working on new genetics USDA total THC compliant, cannabinoid and terpene-rich hemp varieties and will continue to bring back old favorites. We are also continually looking to improve on our topical, edible and concentrate lines while still delivering them to folks at fair prices with the unmatched customer service we are known for.
This year we will also be improving our Referral/Reward Programs, offering monthly subscriptions for many of our products and, for the first time in 5 years, opening our doors to wholesale customers, brand ambassadors and affiliates.
Can we be cheeky and ask you for a discount code, pretty please?
Jason: You bet! How bout CBDINCUBATOR25 for 25% off.
Thanks Jason!
Visit www.tweedlefarms.com today to find out more about what they’re doing or start shopping today.