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our process

Cultivation.  With a single annual planting, prior harvest plants are removed and processed for compost. New seedlings replace the prior year harvest. Fields are augmented and prepared for the seedlings by tilling in high quality, organic potting soil and copious amounts of sheep and/or horse manure. The preparation process, we have seen, significantly improves the health of the plants as they mature by organically introducing carbon, nitrogen, potassium and other nutrients while simultaneously improving the quality and sustainability of the soil. With plants in the ground, we rely on the environment to naturally mature the hemp, provide water and sunlight (our phased harvesting enables lower placed flowers sun access over weeks as the higher placed flowers are removed).  

All of our growing plants are feminized, meaning that there is no pollen and their purpose (also our purpose) is to solely produce flowers (and not go to seed), which after hand processing gives us the richest cannabinoid rosin possible.  

Some insects, certain aphids, caterpillars and beetles can be detrimental to hemp in the field. To naturally combat these unwanted pests, we employ a simple, but deadly predator, the Ladybug. We actually release an army of ladybugs into our fields, thousands or more at a time. Ladybugs, surprisingly, are natural predators and provide a highly effective tool to manage detrimental insects. Probably the most important aspect, however, is that ladybugs are cute, and we just like having them around.

Processing.   We harvest our crop by hand, literally walking the fields, cutting the more mature, higher colas (cluster of buds and flowers) first. The process can last for weeks as we intentionally manage the harvest in phases to allow lower forming flowers to gather more sunlight and further mature. This is done to improve our yield and make sure that we harvest the flowers around the plant at their peak of maturity. Once in the barn, colas are hung in the upper rafters to dry. When mostly dry (a couple of weeks), the colas are loosely placed in paper bags and monitored to a relative humidity of 58% to 62%, at which point the individual bags are combined into larger plastic bags to begin the several month curing process. 

Post curing, we seperate the flowers from the stem. The entire process is pain-stakingly slow, but ensures that from a quality perspective, we physically monitor each step from seed to extraction and that all final products are sourced only from the flower. While the remaining stem pieces and leaves do maintain some industrial value, we feel that re-use as compost provides us with a healthier benefit to successive plantings. 

Cured flowers are then manually pressed to extract the thick, cannabinoid rich rosin. The resulting rosin is then put through a decarboxylation process where the rosin is heated to a precise temperature for a precise of period time. The process breaks down the pre-cursor component (CBDa, C22H30O4) in hemp that leads to ingestible CBD. Effectively, decarboxylation removes two carbon atoms and one oxygen atom.  In simple terms, the original 3 dimensional molecule is too large to fully and most effectively interact with the human endocannabinoid system, specifically the body's CB1 endocannbinoid receptors. The heating process changes the chemical make-up of CBDa and tranforms it into CBD. Once decarboxylized, the resulting oil is packed with beneficial CBD and other entourage components, vitamins, terpenes and flavonoids. Interestingly, CBDa on its own still provides health benefits, especially as a topical for muscle ache, pain and inflammation reduction. Injested, it offers some people better results than CBD. We have tested various CBDa formulations and will likely bring a product to market at some point in the future.

The concentrated CBD is then segmented into liter containers for mixing and diluting with MCT and optional natural flavoring. Here is where we use the math from school that we never thought we would use. Simply put, calculations are based on the MG volume of CBD per container. In order to generate a specific MG dosage per OZ, the concentrated CBD is mixed at various ratios to MCT and natural flavoring. To ensure that component parts are thoroughly integrated, mixing is performed at multiple stages throughout the process, from pre-mixing of component inputs, to post-mixing of integrated components. All harvest batches are tested at the point of final component integration by a third-party testing provider. Test results for every harvest are always available on the vtbio.net website and highlight the full spectrum nature of vtbio CBD. Listed will be all cannabinoid, terpene, and flavonoid components, as well as the concentrations.  

vtbio CBD will always contain less than .3% THC. THC is the naturally occuring psychoactive chemical in cannabis that leads to the sensation of feeling high. Hemp is related to cannabis, but contains far less concentrations of THC. In general, we feel that the entourage effect of the various components of our CBD is beneficial, including the low concentration of THC. To be 100% clear, vtbio CBD will not make you high.