Grow Your Own

Starred review from August 21, 2017
Cannabis culture goes mainstream in this lavishly illustrated artisanal guide to cultivating and consuming marijuana. Food writer Crain (The Food Lover’s Guide to Portland) and Nichole Graf, Micah Sherman, and David Stein— the team behind Raven Grass, a cannabis specialty store in Olympia, Wash.—fashion marijuana cultivation as a high-end, enjoyable hobby in the style of brewing beer or growing orchids. Their guide includes short profiles on a variety of popular strains—with notes on flavor, growing tips, and effects of consumption­—before getting into the basics of growing your own. The authors provide blueprints for four types of greenhouses (or “growing rooms”) along with requirements for humidity, light, airflow, propagation clones, and flowering cycles. The sections on soil composition and pest management address the needs of certain strains, but are also broadly relevant to home greenhouses in general. The instructions for making hash, rosin, and tincture are easy enough for hobbyists. Parts of the book, particularly the chapters on harvest and culinary use, are more art than practical guide; still there’s plenty of useful information for newbies. The stylish presentation of the book and its useful information give it broad appeal among open-minded gardeners and 420-friendly readers.