Feature of Month
The Successful , First Outdoor Harvest for Standard Wellness
Massive , Towering , Plants with Stalks the Size of Baseball Bat Handles .
Editorial and Photos by Clayton Stallings
As I am writing this , fall is finally setting in as we are in our second week of October . Instead of experiencing this cooling weather in a corn maze or pumpkin patch , I am smack dab in the middle of a licensed outdoor cannabis grow with THC filled flowers much taller than I can even reach my hand up to , and I am 6 ’ 1 ” — with monkey arms . Standard Wellness in Vandalia , MO , is having its first outdoor harvest , but the tallest plants I ’ ve ever seen didn ’ t start this way .
Standard Wellness ( SW ) chose the city of Vandalia because of the economic development bonus points offered by the state to improve scores and win medicinal licenses . Town meetings early on proved that the city was very positive and welcoming of the 60-plus new jobs to help support the surrounding area . SW found local Vandalia entrepreneur Paul Ray and approached him to help find and secure 20 acres within the city ’ s agriculture-zoned area for its new grow facility . Ray graduated high school in Vandalia , then moved away for over 40 years , largely in St . Louis , all while maintaining property in Vandalia . After Ray ’ s retirement as Vice President of Panera Bread ’ s supply chain , he started his second career with SW and is now the general manager of the SW facility in Vandalia .
“ Production started in August of 2021 in two “ pods ” built specially for cultivation ,” Ray explained . “ The decision to grow in pods was in support of SW ’ s obligation to the state in exchange for the time needed to build the new 35,000-square-foot facility to house the cultivation and MIP-licensed manufacturing . Additional cargo containers were used for all other functions , including curing , trimming , and finished product vaults . Challenging as it was , these operations were highly successful , mainly because of the small team we had of between three to eight people , which developed a tight-knit group with a can-do attitude . Simply put , we found ways to get it done .”
▲ Lost in the sea of huge cannabis plants in this unique Standard Wellness outdoor-grow is Haley Swickerath , lead outdoor cultivator , preparing hundreds of plants for the October harvest .
( Photo by Clayton Stallings )
Ray says , “ In addition , like most small companies , the ramp-up of business [ adult-use ] helped generate a positive culture of everyone helping each other for the betterment of all . Today , with over 60 team members , that culture and mindset still holds true . Obviously , we have separate departments for day-to-day operations , but during our indoor harvests , and now , with the first outdoor harvest , all departments pitch in , creating a very high-energy , positive , and good time . We commonly share and strongly practice culture support phrases such as ‘ seek to understand before understood ,’ ‘ eat an elephant a bite at a time ,’ ‘ it ’ s a marathon , not a sprint ,’ ‘ decisions made for the many , not the few .”’
SW also hired Joshua Cason from the Nevada cannabis scene as its lead cultivator . “ I started growing with my dad at home in my early 20s ,” recalled Cason . “ From there , I started working at Nevada-
32 November 2023