Preamble

Welcome to News Joint Grow Journal, an educational series of journal entries in which I, Illinois Ed, grow my own medicine at home. News Joint Grow Journal’s mission is to inform and education home growers of all experience levels and to encourage the legal growing of cannabis, from Illinois to the world, one journal entry at a time.

The journal entries will follow the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of legally growing five plants from seed to smoke as a first-time grower. In addition, we have partnered with Homegrown Cannabis Co. to provide expert advice and tips for growers of all experience levels from the iconic Kyle Kushman! That’s right! Homegrown Cannabis Co. will be helping News Joint Grow Journal collect professional growing advice and tips from Kyle Kushman.

We are blessed to have this support for our first grow and intend to share with our readers and followers all the knowledge we gain. Please send us your grow questions for possible inclusion in our grow journal, and if I can’t answer them, maybe Homegrown Cannabis Co.’s resident grow expert Kyle Kushman will.

Pre-Grow

When younger, the idea of growing my own cannabis plants did not appeal to me. Because of Illinois laws, I never found the risk worth the reward. In those days, I didn’t know one person who grew indoors, but living in rural central Illinois, I knew plenty of farmers who grew plants annually. I recently joked that when I used to return to my hometown and a friend who farms told me he had something to show me, I always hopped in the truck for a trip that usually ended near a tree-lined creek hidden deep behind a cornfield.

Those early trips to see hidden cannabis plants growing along tree lines triggered a fascination with the plant that I hadn’t had before. Now, I want to take my interaction with the plant to another level. I have been a registered Illinois medical patient for more than a year but only recently have had the opportunity to grow my own medicine.

I didn’t want to slop together a closet grow with shitty light, genetics, soil, and air environment. I wanted to prove to Illinois medical patients that, together, we could grow medicine tailored toward our own personal needs better and cheaper than what we can purchase from a dispensary. But could I? I had my doubts.

The germ of the idea for New Joint Grow Journal developed when the task of acquiring everything I needed for a proper grow became a bit overwhelming. Luckily, we also partnered with Aroma Grow Store in Wheeling, Illinois. Aroma Grow Store sponsored all the growing equipment needed to start News Joint Grow Journal, and whether in the store and back at home, owner Brian Marks and staff answered all questions about how to set up and operate each piece of equipment and grow item.

I admit I was nervous about documenting my first legal grow. But after partnering with Aroma Grow Store and Homegrown Cannabis Co., I’m confident News Joint Grow Journal will not only have a successful first grow but also be able to use our professional recourses to inform, entertain, educate, and encourage people to produce the best legally grown cannabis plants possible.

I simplified a starting point for News Joint Grow Journal by familiarizing myself with Kyle Kushman’s How To Grow Marijuana: A Beginner’s Guide video series on Homegrown Cannabis Co. In the next News Joint Grow Journal entries, I will discuss Illinois laws and how that altered News Joint Grow Journal.

If you are a first-time grower, interesting in growing, or a veteran grower, let us share everything we learn on what I have been told several times will be nothing less than a spiritual journey. Please join News Joint Grow Journal. A Prairie State of Mind.