The Hemp Maze is open on Highway 52 between Zumbrota and Pine Island. The address is 47385 Hwy 52 Blvd, Zumbrota. The Hemp Maze is a fun walk through a field of hemp, much of which is ten feet tall. They get the plants to grow that tall by adding supplemental lighting during two months during the summer to trick the plant into continual growing. Lights on photosensitive plants keep the plants from maturing. This in turn keeps the plants focusing on growth. These fiber plants will grow 12-15 feet tall by the end of September. It takes at least ten minutes to navigate the hemp maze. There is also 13 hole disc golf course. Pet are welcome if kept on leash. The maze paths were cut in prior to the August 22nd open, and the cut plants are left laying on the path to provide material to walk on. The store on the farm sells and promotes a variety of hemp products.
Hemp is the oldest agricultural crop on our planet, one that has long been used by a number of great civilizations. It is misunderstood and almost always mistaken for cannabis. In a quote from an article published in Popular Mechanics in 1938: “American farmers are promised a new cash crop and it will provide thousands of jobs for American workers throughout the land.” Hemp was once claimed the New Billion-Dollar Crop. With such an extremely wide range of potential applications. Still, it took the government not even a year after this publication to pass harsh restrictions on cannabis and hemp that essentially buried the entire industry down in the ground. For almost a century, hemp has been forgotten and stigmatized due to the sea of misconceptions spread by the Reefer Madness propaganda.
Hemp is one of the oldest crops cultivated by humans. It was once praised for having thousands of different applications. Considering that, it seems beyond reason that it didn’t even take 100 years for hemp and marijuana opponents to completely destroy the agricultural heritage of the United States. Fortunately, with the passing of the Industrial Hemp Act in 2014 (also known as the Farm Bill), U.S. farmers have been granted the right to cultivate hemp again in the country after 77 years of harsh prohibition. As the awareness and U.S. hemp supplies continue to grow, the plant will, sooner or later, cause the snowball effect, and innovation will only go further.
Today, the vast majority of people assume that hemp is the same thing as marijuana. While these two are, indeed, connected, they are distinct cousins. Sadly, modern society has never got the chance to experience the incredible benefits that come with using hemp. Fortunately, as times are changing, more and more people become aware of how hemp can improve the quality of our lives.
During World War II, the US government was in great need of more raw material to make solid, durable ropes. This material had been severely limited during their battle with Japan. This is when the government came up with a campaign named “Hemp For Victory”, encouraging US farmers to start cultivating hemp to support the United States in the war. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) even promoted a public commercial to underline the benefits of hemp as an industrial material.
There is a huge promise in using hemp for building homes in the future. Hemp concrete, or hempcrete, offers plenty of benefits, including amazing thermodynamic insulation, being hypoallergenic, and absorbing CO2 as it ages. As a result, hempcrete becomes stronger over time, unlike mainstream materials, let alone the reduction of your carbon footprint.
When it comes to durability and construction, hempcrete homes produce zero construction waste. It turns out even more huge when you consider that 55% of the world’s energy consumption is associated with construction waste.
Unlike other cars, you don’t need to buy a new vehicle to start using hemp biofuel, because it can be used in cars that used to run on regular oil. Thomas B. Reed, a chemical engineer at Colorado School of Mines, has stated that an acre of hemp can produce as much as a thousand gallons of gasoline. It’s no wonder that the industry experts estimate that this sustainable fuel will sooner or later put regular oil out of business.
Hemp is actually a decent clothing material, superior to its counterparts in almost every aspect? Hemp is more porous and breathable. Even materials like cotton won’t let your skin breathe as easily as hemp. Hemp excels at durability. Hemp fiber is the most durable of all plants. Hemp-made clothes tend to last much longer than their counterparts. Hemp is eco-friendly and sustainable. As much as we prefer cotton over other mainstream clothing materials, we cannot be indifferent towards its water insensitivity. It requires 50% more water to grow than hemp, not to mention that it uses 25% of the world’s pesticides. Hemp, on the other hand, requires no use of pesticides.
The popularity of hemp seeds has been well deserved by their nutritional value. Commonly used by vegetarians and athletes, hemp seeds are often mentioned among chia and flax as superfoods. Eating hemp seeds comes with the following health benefits:
Hemp seed flour is gluten-free, packed with nutrients, and serves as a superior source of energy. The flour contains 33% protein and is second to soy in terms of protein content. Moreover, the protein that comes from hemp seed flower is more easily digested by the body, making it perfect for those with dairy, gluten, wheat, or nut allergies.
Hemp extracts consist of cannabinoids found in the leaves of hemp. CBD, short for Cannabidiol, is one of the better-researched compounds, with a plethora of documented health benefits. The patent held by the US Health and Human Services says:
“Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This newfound property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of a wide variety of oxidation-associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases. Cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and HIV dementia.”
Using hemp hurds for animal bedding can prove beneficial in many aspects. First of all, hemp is extremely absorbent and it can hold 4 times its own weight, not to mention that it can last much longer than straw or pine bedding. Moreover, hemp bedding doesn’t tend to catch dust, which is great for horses with heart issues. It also prevents the odor better than wood or straw shavings. All animal owners who care about their wellness should consider switching from the aforementioned materials to hemp.
When you clean up your soil with conventional crops, such as soy, corn, or wheat, you need to come to terms with the fact that they will deplete the nutrition of your soil, causing it to dry out and eventually erode. Hemp is much different than its more commonly used counterparts. Its deep roots help stabilize the soil structure, not to mention that they also naturally shade out weeds. Growing 6-16 ft tall in 110 days, hemp can be a natural solution for farmers who don’t want to use costly and toxic herbicides. As the plant absorbs heavy-metal pollutants from soil, it is, slowly but surely, purifying the earth.
