Pure [ in another state ] as a trimmer , getting my foot in the industry , but quickly NevadaPure was sold to Shango . My former boss , Greg Stefanik , gave me an opportunity after two years of working really , really hard . I was at Shango for six years in total , from 2016-2022 , the last four of them as assistant manager of cultivation . At first , I was working every day as I liked it , and I was making extra cash , but then there came a point when my boss wanted to run grows across the country , and he knew that I wanted the chance to run that one , so he gave me that shot in February of 2021 . The team really rallied around me , and to this day , it ’ s one of the proudest moments of my career . My goal has always been to run a commercial facility since the beginning of 2016 . I feel like I ’ ve gotten a shot to live that dream here in Missouri with SW .”
The containers were always meant to be temporary , so once the main facility was complete , they moved all the plants indoors , and the Pod containers were removed . They then took the 20,000-square-foot outdoor area and not only started adding clones from the indoor mothers , but instead of disposing of their mothers — after taking so many clones like most cultivation facilities do — they added them to their outdoor grow as well . It ’ s why all the plants they harvested in October 2023 are such monstrous-sized plants .
Haley Swickerath , lead outdoor cultivator for Standard Wellness shows just how large the cannabis plants where for this fall harvest . ( Photo by Clayton Stallings )
▲ On October 9th , the Standard Wellness team harvested one of the best and largest outdoor grows the state . The team ( from left to right ) includes Josh Cason , cultivation manager ; JW Dennis , director of operations ; Zach Thompson , MIP manager ; Andy Shrensker , sales manager , MO ; and Jason Keller , assistant cultivation manager . ( Photo by Clayton Stallings )
Cason is like many other lead cultivators coming from larger markets into Missouri ’ s rural areas that were awarded many of the cultivation licenses in the state because of the economic development points awarded . As you can imagine , culture shock is a real thing for many of our state ’ s new cultivation leads . But on top of that , Cason went from a large elaborate grow facility to starting SW ’ s grow in shipping containers before their new facility was complete .
“ When I got here , we were in Pods ,’ Cason continued . “ It was an effort to move into the new building at full capacity . We were actually supposed to move into the facility in early October 2022 , but due to delays from the state , we didn ’ t actually get to move in until November 28 , 2022 . It was very challenging , not to mention I had just moved from Las Vegas , NV , so it was a huge transition for me personally . The biggest problem , though , was the lack of environmental controls and the fact that I was by myself to start cultivation . Everything was being hand-fed — it was an overgrown jungle at first . Luckily , there was a team of people already at SW in a variety of different roles like security and packaging that I found all to be amazing and especially supportive of me . They all had my back and did whatever they could to help .”
▲ Check out the massive size of the Standard Wellness plant stalks prior to its October harvest .
( Photo by Clayton Stallings )
SW ’ s fall harvest will greatly help with the current shortages of distillate in the Missouri market due to the recent recalls of questionable distillate . In addition to helping boost the Missouri market , at the end of 2023 , it also recently added another 50,000 square feet to its outdoor grow by adding 217 truckloads of gravel , nearly 1,000 square feet of security fencing , and additional cameras to prepare for an even bigger outdoor harvest for next year .
Happy Fall Harvest Season to all — and a BIG thank you to the entire staff at Standard Wellness for increasing the cannabis supply options as we enter the winter months .
Clayton Stallings is the Director of Sales & Marketing for The EVOLUTION Magazine
November 2023 33