We didn’t start in a boardroom. There was no business plan. We started in the mountains of Southern Oregon over 25 years ago. Long before it was legal. Long before dispensaries. Back when you either knew someone or you didn’t. Like most teenagers, we started out selling dime bags, moving up to eighths, and then realizing we could buy an ounce, sell 7 of the eighths and smoke the last one for free. Great life.
Even in a region where great cannabis had a reputation, it was almost impossible to find consistent quality. One bag might be fire. The next would be brick weed that had been smashed somewhere along the way, so we took matters into our own hands.
Our story is what cannabis culture was built on. We had topographic maps and a lot of balls at 20 years old, and we started planting deep in the Oregon mountains where natural water seeps kept plants alive and hopefully where the cops wouldn’t catch us.
On the outside, our lives looked pretty normal, but our mornings started at 4 a.m.. We’d ride our motorcycles into the mountains, park miles away, and hike the rest of the way under the cover of darkness. Every step hoping nobody had found our spot. We’d cut the plants and hang them right there in the woods to dry, letting the smell settle, before hauling everything back home. Slow drying, careful curing, and hand trimming made ours the best smoke in the valley.
Somewhere along the way, it became our obsession.
Our lives revolved around sports and the outdoors. Basketball, mountain biking, and snowboarding. That eventually took Obie north to Slocan Valley where he met growers living the dream. Riding powder all day and growing incredible cannabis. This is where we were introduced to a system that the Swedes living there had pioneered early – homemade aeroponic growing. This changed everything. Sarah was keeping the genetics alive in a tiny garage grow, protecting the strains that would become the backbone of everything we built.
In 2006, we joined the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. In 2016, Grown Rogue was officially born.
The laws changed. Our mission didn’t. Today, Grown Rogue still runs on great genetics, exceptional flower, and respect for the culture who made us.
If you ever run into us, there’s a good chance we’ll be doing the same thing we were doing 25 years ago. Passing a joint and talking about great weed.