A hot topic in agriculture right now is CBD. But what truly is it? When I think of CBD many questions come to mind. What is the difference between CBD and marijuana? What’s legal and what’s not? How is it grown? Who is growing it? Where?…you know, all the burning topics centered around this up-and-coming product.
In honor of January being CBD month, expert hemp FarmHer, Peggy Coffeen, joined us. She is on a mission to share her knowledge about CBD and the products she grows, makes, sells, and uses. As a mother, wife, business owner, and FarmHer, she knows stress. Which is what inspired her CBD journey to begin with.
Peggy’s journey began when her husband came home from the field one day and stated he wanted to start growing hemp on their farm. Just like many of us, Peggy knew next to nothing about hemp or CBD, and her mind instantly flooded with worry. Her first question was, “Is that even legal?!”
And the hemp research began.
What is CBD?
So what is CBD and how does it come from hemp? Luckily, Peggy broke it down for us in the simplest form.
CBD stands for cannabidiol. And cannabidiol is one of more than 120 natural cannabinoids found in the hemp plant. So basically CBD is a natural compound that is associated with positive benefits, such as improved sleep, stress management, and pain relief.
But just like CBD is one of many cannabinoids derived from the hemp plant, there are others you may have heard of too. Like the other most common, THC.
THC is the psychoactive compound that causes a high. But with CBD, you optimize natural compounds for health benefits and minimize the THC compound as much as possible from the hemp plant.
An Agriculture Example
For example, think of a cornfield in Iowa. When driving by the cornfield, the average person will look at the corn and not know the exact intention of that corn. It could be grown for sweet corn, corn silage, or grain corn. The untrained eye will not know the difference just by driving by the cornfield. To them, corn is corn.
It is not much different when looking at hemp plants.
The type of plant they are growing for CBD looks very similar to one grown for THC purposes, but just like the corn, they are very different in their genetic makeup. Just as we tweak genetics in corn seed, hemp is no different. There are different versions bred to have the desired effect, and in Peggy’s case, the desired effect is very low levels of THC.
In fact, there is a federal regulation that CBD has to be tested under .3% THC. To put that into perspective, recreational marijuana has 10-30% THC.
After hours of research, Peggy learned that the very small amount of THC in CBD is not going to make a person high, and instead is going to have positive effects straight from Mother Nature.
As she learned more, they decided that growing hemp isn’t something that should be taboo. And the growing began!
The Growing Season for CBD
Hemp has to be planted by hand and is a much bigger task than they originally imagined. Because of that, they decided to not grow hemp year round but instead have a growing season. First, the hemp is planted indoors and then moved outside in early June and harvested in late September/early October. So far, Peggy and her husband have completed three harvests.
A Business Plan
Initially, they planned to cash crop the hemp. But plans change.
Peggy has dealt with anxiety, and was really enjoying the stress and sleep benefits of CBD. But she was tired of buying it online from Amazon and not knowing where the hemp was coming from. She quickly googled local CBD stores and was not happy with the results she found. The marketing was poor and it just didn’t not come across as the safe product she had grown to love.
Peggy felt a calling to take what they were growing and share it with the world.
That calling was her business, P’ri CBD!
“P’ri” is the Hebrew word used for “fruit” in Galatians 5:22-23, which is the verse that spoke to Peggy to create the vision and foundation of her brand:
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…”
– Galatians 5:22-23
P’ri CBD Products
When launching her business, she started with one product, CBD oils in two flavors, mint and orange. The response was outstanding leading to several different products and a network of women to work with. Including her mother, the original FarmHer in her life, who now makes the amazing bath bombs found on their website.
The successful growth of her business she credits to other women she’s been able to outsource product creation through. Like many entrepreneurs, Peggy quickly discovered she couldn’t do it all alone. The only way to keep her business sustainable was by reaching out to others whose expertise align with her product ideas.
What a great way to support other women!
Peggy’s Passion
In speaking with Peggy, her passion for her products and what they do for others was easy to see. When asked how sustainability relates to her business and her life in general, she admits she had to shift her entire mindset. She thinks about what she wants to create in her life and how she wants to show up. Who does she want to be? Sustainability for her is letting go of the need to have her hands in control of everything and trusting others. Freedom is found when we are living our life based on our highest calling and spending time and focus where talents are best used.
Special Offer for FarmHer Readers
Peggy is generously offering a special code for FarmHer blog readers and podcast listeners! Use code ‘farmher’ to receive 10% off your order at www.PriCBD.com!
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I like this story because it can motivate people to eat healthier and live a better lifestyle.
And it can motivate people to never give up and be proud of them selfes.
I did not realize that this CBD farm is producing their products so close to my home here in the Fox Valley. I’ve been using CBD oil for about 6 months now and it’s making a difference with my health having diabetes. Thanks for sharing this story Marji and Peggy , I definitely will have to look into getting some of your products!
I like that she was inspired to do that and that she started growing CBD for her anxiety and is helping other people. Penny Arey 6 Odd class
Dear, Christen or Peggy
I like this article because it taught me something about something I didn’t know about and I learned a lot about CBD. This is useful information to me because it is associated with positive benefits, such as improved sleep, stress management, and pain relief.
I liked this article because I think it’s educational. I learned a lot about CBD, and that’s important because I didn’t know much about the topic, like how you can use it for positive reasons.
That is so cool it looks as if there are tiny palm trees there on your farm.
I liked this article because i taught me so much about CBD like it can help with stress.the info i learned while reading this article is CBD can be used for many thing and it is healthy.
I realy injoyed the iformation about the differences bettween cbr and marigiana.
I liked this article because it taught me that something unhealthy can be turned into something good for people. I learned in this article that CBD can be used for a lot of different things like stress, relaxation, and more. I found this article useful because CBD can help stressed people relax.
I liked how she decided to search deeper into what CBD was and even made a business for it. I learned that it comes from hemp, this is useful information so that if I want to look into it in the future, or someone I know does, I understand what CBD is, and could make better decisions when getting it.
I liked this post because it informed me of the plant hemp. This is useful because it tells us and explains to us how these plants are grown and how they can affect our society.
My name is Brian and I liked it because of the CBD.I leaned all about CBD.It is useful information for donating. 5e even 6th grade ([email protected]).
it’s amazing how you all came together to farm
This was an interesting article it tought me something new that I never would have thought about going out and doing resarch about myself
Very interesting article. Enjoyed reading this important info on CBD
How do you place an order with this company???
I liked this article because it talks about CBD. One thing I learned from this is the difference between CBD and marijuana. This is educational because CBD is currently growing and becoming more popular.