Welcome to Hemp
What is Hemp?
When one asks, What is hemp? The most fitting answer is this: Hemp is a plant that could provide for human needs in almost every area including but not limited to: Food, Clothing, Crops, Transportation, Fuel, and Storage.
Hemp is the fibre from the cannabis sativa plant. It is an extremely versatile and greatly underused resource. This amazing fibre has a vast range of applications - from construction to textiles - even food.
Boards made of hemp are used for building construction, its fibres can be woven into strong fabric, its oils can be used as fuel and its seeds make suitably nutritious food for both animals and humans alike. The widespread use of hemp would reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, cotton production, and logging.
Why haven't we utilized this incredible resource?
Actually, we used to. The growing of hemp is in no way a new idea - archaeological evidence has shown that humans have been using hemp for at least 8,000 years. How do we know? Because a piece of hemp fabric dating back to that time was found. That fabric represents what archaeologists believe may be the oldest evidence of human industry.
Durability is only one of hemp's many impressive traits. Hemp was the backbone of the civilized world and trade. Hemp canvases were used on ships during the early days of the shipping industry - being the only cloth that wouldn't rot on contact with sea spray.
So why aren't we using it now?
Mostly it is due to negative stigma and the politics that arise due to its connection with marijuana - the haze of myths and misconceptions. So let us take the time here to firmly state the fact: Hemp is NOT marijuana. Yes, they come from the same plant, but they are cultivated differently and processed differently. These differences in cultivation and processing determine the levels of psychoactive chemicals in the product. In fact, a female cannabis sativa plant that has been germinated by a male plant has less than 1% THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, which causes the marijuana 'high'). It is NOT psychoactive and is of NO value to the illegal drug trade.
Hemp cannot make you 'high'. But we can make cars, houses, papers, bioplastics, fuels, clothes, bath products and food out of hemp. Isn't it time we did?
"Why use the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the fields?"... Henry Ford on Hemp
COMMONLY USED TERMS PERTAINING TO HEMP:
Bast - the long, strong fibre found in the outer part of the plant.
Bioplastics - plastics made from biorenewable materials such as hemp oil, starch from corn or whey, instead of petroleum
Feral - having returned to a wild/untamed state after being in a state of domestication
Hemp - the tough, coarse fibre of the cannabis sativa plant
Hurd - the short, bulky fibre found in the inner part of the plant
THC - delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana Cannabis sativa
Psychoactive - possessing the ability to affect the mind, mood or other mental processes by affecting the nervous system
Twine - a strong string or cord made from two or more threads twisted together
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