By CannEvolv
Vertically-integrated from seed to sale with an arsenal of almost 900 strains - Raw Garden has become a force in the field of medical grade cannabis concentrates. And with good reason.
Raw Garden - California Live Resin Royalty
Go into any major city along the west coast and you should be able to find a cannabis dispensary that sells Raw Garden products. The company has positioned itself as one of the biggest producers with one of the most prolific breeding programs this side of the Rocky mountains.
Ask anyone in a dispensary about live resins and chances are you will hear the name Raw Garden more often than not.
We decided to dig a little deeper into what Raw Garden does and were impressed with what we found.
Breeding Program
Photos by Brian Walker via rawgarden.farm
“We use high-throughput quantitative field phenotyping, data-driven breeding decisions, and DNA-marker assisted selective breeding to capture seeds best suited to our native climate.”- via rawgarden.farm
Raw Garden gene selection looks for things like decreased water usage, pest resistance, and fertilizer usage in an effort to push the sustainability of their business model further. As huge as they have become, it is important for them to stay on top of waste and ecological impact.
“We have over 50 acres of hoop houses on our organic farm. As one of the largest cultivators in California, we feel it is our duty to lead the charge in sustainable, organic farming practices. Our business focuses on developing what it means to be sustainable and organic, ensuring that our farming practices are environmentally sound.”
Farming
Certified by the Clean Green Certification Program- A program which is aimed at certifying cannabis companies in leu of USDA organic certification, because current federal law still sees cannabis as illegal and does not allow the USDA to certify cannabis farms yet.
Learn more at the Clean Green Certified Site - cleangreencertified.com
“Raw Garden is farmed and processed based on National and International organic and sustainable best practices. To meet those standards means that only organic and natural fertilizers, soil amendments and pest control methods are used on the farm, and that no artificial ingredients, flavors or thinners are ever used in the processing.”
Raw Garden states that they are growing sustainable crops directly in native soil with “a production model that takes advantage of decades of technological advancement in row crop farming.”
Mulch and drip irrigation are used in their hoop houses to help reduce water consumption (a pressing concern for California).
Being on the cutting edge of automation and farming technology, RG uses machine learning for fertilizer optimization, and digital sensors in the field in order to cut down on overhead costs and give more value to their customers.
Raw Garden is far from a mom and pop grow, which is why it is so important for them to always be focused on (and improving) their best practices.
“We use zero herbicides and we only use OMRI listed inputs to keep our Clean Green Certification intact. Weeds are all handled the old fashioned way, with a hoe and shovel. We use beneficial insects and biologicals plus OMRI listed foliar feedings to keep our crops disease free and healthy, providing some of the best yields per acre in the industry.”
Keeping in mind it should be an ongoing process to always be evolving better sustainability practices, we would love to see Raw Garden start a recycling program for their cartridges and containers. Maybe that is in the works.
Having said that, Raw Garden passes our sustainability criteria by keeping their progress moving forward in trying to find best practices when it comes to a sustainable business model.
Products
With products that range from roughly $30 for Live Resins to $60 for diamonds, the consumer receives top shelf quality for lower-mid price ranges.
Raw Garden focuses on producing top quality concentrates with the aim of making their products accessible to anyone.
Their cannabis products include:
Live Resin
Live Sauce
Live Resin diamonds
Live Resin Crushed Diamonds (NEW)
Refined Live Resin Pens and Pax Pods
Raw Garden has made a big name for itself. So much of a name that fake Raw Garden branded vaporizer cartages run rife throughout the black market. We would like to stress here to always make sure you buy any cannabis products from fully licensed and “brand verified” dispensaries. You can also find a list of trusted dispensaries on the Raw Garden website.
Fake Chinese products are readily available on the web so always be vigilant about who you buy your products from. With just a cursory search on google of "Raw Garden cartridges" returns multiple sources for empty cartridges which can be filled with anything and sold on the black market.
With this in mind, Raw Garden prints a QR code on every product with which you can quickly scan and access all of the lab results, including heavy metal, pesticides and other contaminants for that particular product batch. Also included are the full testing results showing which cannabinoids and terpenes are present, and in what quantities.
Raw Garden passes our quality tests by providing all the needed lab testing and results and having them easily accessible.
Extraction Process
“Our unique harvesting process utilizes a state-of-the-art Cryogenic freezing technique to capture and lock in the whole essence of the Cannabis plant while it is still fresh and alive, before it can dry out and lose any of its natural flavors and aromas. Then we extract the Cannabis oil from the frozen plants to create our patented Raw Garden Live Resin and Refined Live Resin products. And that’s what you inhale – 100% pure Cannabis oil and Cannabis terpenes”
With a fast cryogenic freeze process, Raw Garden makes sure to lock in cannabinoids and volatile terpenes right away during harvest. This preserves the flavors and cannabinoids which give their concentrates such a fresh and clean taste and smell. Degradation of THC turns into CBN, a less effective compound, while degradation of terpenes results in less flavors/smell and therapeutic molecules.
Raw Garden keeps all strains separated for a full expression of their chemical profile. They are purists in that they believe in only using strain specific compounds directly from a single cannabis strain. No added terpenes, no mixing strains.
Because their product is Live Resin, Raw Garden uses a proprietary hydrocarbon extract process which then goes through an extensive cleanup process to ensure the solvent completely gone for the lab tests. The hydrocarbon extract goes through several refinement stages that removes all unwanted fats and waxes resulting in the extracted Live Resin.
As far as hydrocarbon extraction goes, Raw Garden reigns king in California. We would be interested to see if the company ever has any plans to foray into the burgeoning solventless market as consumers are becoming ever more interested in hash rosin and live rosin extracts as well. Staying true to the plant and letting the entourage effect work its magic seems to be the most therapeutic and enjoyable way to consume cannabis.
All in all we give Raw Garden 5 stars for
Their contributions to community through quality and cost
Purity assurance through extensive testing and readily available results
Sustainability programs and striving for best practices
High end product taste and brand experience
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