November was weirdly warm last year. In Colorado, this is like drawing the lucky lotto ticket nobody expected to win. My chaotic timeline was already running behind schedule, and thankfully Mother Nature and I were on the same page, for now.
The boys had clearly checked out regardless of the weather. Their stems were no longer that vibrant green — they’d gone woody, brittle, done. Like they’d spent all their energy at The Bachelor Party and Showgirl Season (Parts 4 and 5, if you’re catching up) and had nothing left for the encore.
So I did what any reasonable chaotic hemp gardener would do: I pulled them.
Out of the hemp patch they went, one by one, those tall redwood suitors who’d spent October dusting the showgirls with opalite confetti.
I bundled them up with hemp garden cord—a bit of ceremony for the lads—and laid them out in the grass to ret. More on that process in a future blog, but let’s just say their story isn’t over yet. They’re off having a little retirement in the yard for now.
With the boys cleared out, I could finally see the girls in their full glory. And holy hell, ladies.
The difference was unmistakable. Where the boys had been all gangly teenage limbs racing toward the sky, the girls had spent that same time getting...thick. Their stems had girth now. Real substance. They were still going strong, more beautiful by the day, even as November threatened to crash the party. The tops were getting heavy with buds full of developing seeds, each one a little promise wrapped in an aromatic purple-green package.
The seeds weren’t ready. Still underdeveloped, still green, still thinking about it. So I did what any reasonable person would do: I tested my luck. I let them keep doing their thing while I rolled the dice on the Colorado Weather Lottery™ — a game nobody wins, but everybody plays.
I had a feeling the weather was going to decide we were done. You can feel it coming in November, that shift in the air that says: your time is borrowed now.
Stay tuned for the December update. The weather’s about to have the final word, and the seeds will take center stage.
