Guest post by Nicole Skibola
Brought to you as part of Torrey Holistics’s month-long celebration of earth month.
We get many questions about the origin of our name—Cosmic View. And aside from being astronomy nerds, we were taken with the elegance of this phrase that was coined by Carl Sagan to describe the view of planet Earth from space for the first time. The awe that Sagan describes on July 16, 1969 when the Apollo 11 crew became some of the first people to look down at Earth from space was emotional and moving and captured what a Cosmic View means to us. It is about the borderlessness of our planet that is a beautiful gem of forests and ocean and mountains and breathable air, unique in our solar system and as far as we know, our universe. This planet is the home of all human love and loss and has provided us with everything that we have needed to survive and flourish for thousands of years.
Nicole Skibola, co-founder of Cosmic View
For my mother and I, founders of this company, a cosmic view extended to our line with the idea of cherishing and regenerating the earth through each of our formulations. We were one of the first companies on the market to create what we think of as farm to table—bringing the beautiful olive oil, honey, and herbs grown on our family farm to our unique line of medicinals. Since our inception as a collective under Prop 215, we have scaled with that ethos in mind, keeping the Earth front of mind in everything we do.
One of the reasons we have declined to take venture capital or institutional money to date is to retain utmost control over our supply chain and to operate as a values-first company. Sadly, with legalization and the massive amount of money invested into the cannabis economy, there has become a push for profits and growth above all else, including our planet. We choose to believe that we can build our company on our own terms, staying true to our values. Here are a few of those principles in action.
A regenerative cannabis farm.
Regenerative flower, always.
Perhaps the core principle most dear to our hearts has been to always—without exception—source regeneratively-grown flower from the Emerald Triangle. We were proud to be among the very first manufacturers included in the Sun + Earth regenerative cannabis campaign this past Fall. The standards of regenerative represent an evolution beyond organic by embracing the concept of earth regeneration. In practice, this includes integrating mulching, crop rotation, and reduced tillage. To enhance habitat for beneficial soil flora and fauna, our farmers increase organic matter by interplanting potatoes, lettuce, and marigolds within rows of cannabis and implementing the strategic use of cover crops, compost, compost teas, and homemade plant ferments derived from local resources. A regenerative farm is one that grows other crops and often hosts animals like pigs, bunnies, and even a goat or two! Some of our beloved regenerative farmers include Moon Made Farms in Southern Humboldt, Hogwash Pharms in Southern Humboldt, and North Country Farm in Trinity County.
Locally-sourced olive oil.
Local inputs, as much as possible.
The base of all of our medicinal products is locally-grown extra virgin olive oil. Our family has grown olives and made olive oil for over 25 years. Where we are unable to meet our sourcing needs, we also source oil from CCOF certified organic local farms that grow the same varietals as our Tuscan blend oil. We routinely visit these farms to visually inspect for any chemical usage and we always have our oil third party tested to ensure there has been no drift or other chemical usage.
Grow Your Own.
Herbs that is! We have been working on growing our own herbs for our formulations and this year, we are setting a goal of sourcing 75% of our medicinal herbs from our own farm by 2022. This is important to us because we are able to reduce emissions from transportation and our crops continue to contribute to healthy soil, becoming a carbon capture over time. Plus, it’s incredibly rewarding to grow the medicinals that help so many of our patients.
Truly sustainable.
One of the biggest misconceptions in the legal cannabis market is that everything is organic because of mandated lab testing. This is patently false. Many companies can remediate dirty cannabis (grown with toxic pesticides and herbicides) using chemical solvents that during extraction and distillation, strip out impurities that would otherwise cause a lab testing failure. Legal solvents, including butane and propane and their derivatives are cancer-causing and have a dirty life cycle. These solvents must be manufactured (often in developing countries with lower standards) and then disposed of—creating additional pressure on our earth and exposure to its inhabitants. This is exactly why we use only CO2 and solventless rosin extractions, which are the safest and in our opinion, purest extraction methods (also making them some of the most expensive).
Consumers in the cannabis industry can be the drivers of change as can retailers who align themselves with values oriented brands like Cosmic View. We encourage you to learn about the products you are buying—who and what are your dollars supporting? At Cosmic View, we pledge to always stay true to our mission to make pure earth products with integrity to our planet and our community. We hope you will join us.
These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Nothing said, done, typed, printed or reproduced by Torrey Holistics is intended to diagnose, prescribe, treat or take the place of a licensed physician.
