When talking about Cannabis, you can't forget about Hemp. It's been used for thousands of years for so many different uses. Some of these include
food, fabric, ropes, paper, biofuel, and more.
Hemp is stronger and more versatile than any other fibre. The focus when growing cannabis for hemp is to have tall and strong stocks on the plant, growing them closer together to provide more shade to the stocks and improve their durability. It takes only a handful of months to grow and can grow almost anywhere. Hemp can't get you high, but it sure can be helpful in many other ways.
As I have mentioned before, hemp was used for fabrics, anything from clothes, shoes, and linens, and was what traditional Canvas is made from. It even has 3 times the tensile strength of cotton, making it more resistant to rips and snags and allowing it to last longer.
The first pair of jeans made and sold by Levi Strauss was made of hemp fabric. Canvas has been used continuously as a tougher material, one of its common uses during colonization being the sails of ships. Even the ship Christopher Columbus brought to North America during colonization had 80 tons of hemp rigging and sails. Because of the durability of hemp, it was heavily relied on for the ropes and sails.
The word Canvas derives from the Latin word Canevaz or Canevas(different translations) which translates to Cannabis.
When it comes to paper, hemp is also a stronger material. It takes considerably less hemp to make paper than trees, which could considerably help with the climate struggles we face today. Hemp is a natural renewable resource that takes in much more CO2 than trees, making it even more environmentally friendly. Benjamin Franklin even saw the value of using hemp as an option for paper, opening and operating his first paper mill with hemp. In the early 1900s, money was printed on hemp paper because of its durability.
Even Thomas Jefferson used hemp paper for the first draft of The Declaration of Independence, later placing a final edition on parchment.
These are just some of the things that hemp can be used for. There are so many more things that I can't wait to dive into deeper and share with you all!
Peace & Puffs
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