Reflections ►
The Rise of The Hemp Guardians
And a Happy , Hempy Holiday Season
A story of working with family at Hemp Harvest .
by Dolores Halbin , contributing writer
One of my favorite benefits of being a grandma is watching kid movies , and my all-time favorite kid movie is Rise of the Guardians . It isn ’ t necessarily a Christmas Movie , but Santa Clause is one of the main characters and , of course , one of the Guardians , so the movie surfaces this time of year . Depicted as a giant Russian with Naughty and Nice tattoos up his right and left arms , Santa resides at the North Pole .
Family farming friends Kim and Jack are among us older folks , and younger farm hands Hannah and Ellen have formed the Rural Route Hemp crew for the past three years . We helped load the plants onto the flatbed and learned how to trim and use the buckers . “ I had to design this bucker myself ,” Daryl explained . “ There just wasn ’ t a good piece of equipment to fit the need .”
The movie also stars the Easter Bunny , a six-foot Australian thumper who is an expert in Marshall Arts and carries a boomerang . The Tooth Fairy is a Guardian because she and her fairies keep our baby teeth in little memory tubes for when we need those childhood memories , and Sandman brings kids sweet dreams .
Naturally , there must be a bad guy from which the children need protection . Pitch Black is the bringer of nightmares . Jack Frost , our hero , has been bringing snow days to make children laugh for 300 years and is about to be recruited to become a Guardian to fight the evil Pitch . Together , this fearsome foursome , soon to become a fifthsome with the addition of Jack Frost , save the children from losing faith in our heroes .
My favorite scene in the movie is when Jack Frost makes it into Santa ’ s Toy Shop to find it isn ’ t the elves but the Yetis that make the toys . The elves are annoying little pets .
A few months ago , April Hatch called and said we had been invited out to Rural Route Hemp Company to see the harvest . The family farm , owned and operated by the Poindexter family , is in Bates County between Drexel and Adrian . It was early fall , but for some reason , this whole operation reminded me of Santa ’ s Wonderland Toy Shop in Rise of the Guardians . The way everyone worked together , mostly in quiet , was like a dance . The dance of the hemp !
Our hemp Yetis are mom and pop Marie and Daryl Poindexter , daughter Michelle and her partner Felice , son Luke , his wife Shannon , and their two sons , Bo , who just turned 11 and is in the 5th grade , and 13-year-old Cole in the 8th grade . The young men worked just as hard and long as everyone else !
I asked Bo what his friends thought about his job . “ They all want to come work here with me !” he said , laughing .
Bo , age 11 ( on right ), trimming hemp at the bucking machine ( on left ).
Noon rolled around , and we all hiked up the hill to the family homestead and were seated around the giant dining room table for a feast I hadn ’ t experienced since my childhood on my grandparents ’ farms . We had fresh pot roast from the farm cows , mashed potatoes , hot rolls , green beans , and German Chocolate Cake like mom used to make .
I was hooked and managed an invite onto the crew , going back every Thursday and Sunday to work the harvest . I am never quite sure what people mean when they say cannabis gets us “ high .” The plant just makes me feel less bad about the side effects of getting old . Being in those huge plants with all their aromatherapy , working with the family , and being welcomed to the dinner table , I think I finally got it . These fun folks definitely got me “ high .”
Luke and Michelle have been operating a small processing plant in Adrian , making their own CBD and CBG tinctures for three years . Their second location , just off the I-49 exit into Adrian , is going to be a whole lot of fun for my old hometown , which may be one of the