by Anna Ervin
When Camron Owens began growing cannabis in his home garage during the early days of Oklahoma legalization, he knew he had found his calling.
“I’ve been supporting cannabis since 2015 or so, and I just love the product. I love the plant.”
With a little help from his Dad, Camron transformed a 1,600 square foot shop in his own backyard into a proper grow facility. Complete with two grow rooms, and later expanding to over 2,000 square feet, this shop became the initial headquarters for his crew to truly hone in on their craft.
Camron and his team quickly realized they had a great opportunity on their hands, and started making plans for the future of Kind Origins Cannabis. “I was in operation over there for about 2 years,” Camron reported, “and I sold that company to fund this place.”
“We came into this building in February of 2020 and have had plants in the building since around June.” Camron’s wife, Jo informed me, “and we’re just getting started on month-to-month harvest.”
I had arrived just in time to see the Kind Origins crew harvest one of their most medicinal strains, Strawberry Slurpee. When I asked what makes this bud so special, the team reported personal experiences that ranged from pain and muscle relief to “a clear-headed high for focus.”
“Lab testing reflects diverse terpene content,” Camron informed me, “accounting for its delicious aroma. Some of the more common terpenes like limonene, linalool, and terpinolene are used to treat depression, anxiety and prevent infection.”
“However,” he continued, “what makes Strawberry Slurpee really stand out is the presence of more exotic terpenes, like nerol and valencene, which may help with cell regeneration, acne, and sun damage. Farnesene is known as a muscle relaxer, while humulene offers anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and anti-cancer properties. Rich terpene content paired with over 20% THC content makes for effective medicine.”
It’s nearly impossible to find a strain of cannabis that offers a “one size fits all” type of relief. Walking through the KOC facility, I couldn’t help but admire how unique each plant was to the next. As Camron showed off their temp beds, holding nearly 3-week-old plants, he pointed out the distinct difference in appearance between strains that had been transplanted just 2 days apart.
I wondered, if each genetic has its own unique appearance, smell, and medicinal qualities, would the challenges they faced growing them vary as well?
“Strawberry Slurpee is a bit of a low yielder for a strain we would run over and over again,” Camron told me. “The KOC staff made a conscious decision to continue to cultivate this strain, despite those lower yields, because it is excellent medicine.”
“It has a delicious strawberry flavor, beautiful finish, and potent aroma—we feel it’s one of the best dessert strains on the market. We get enough positive feedback that it will be on our roster indefinitely.”
I’ll be honest, it was hard to take my eyes off of what was left of Strawberry Slurpee in the grow room, but one bed of plants, in particular, managed to steal a little bit of that spotlight—Mimosa boasted colors that reminded me of the kind of sunrise you might wake up to amidst the earliest hours of dawn.
“It really does smell like a mimosa,” Camron was excited to share, “it’s delicious. I’ve been using cannabis for a long time, and I just grow the healers.”
As we continued through the building, I noticed that the Kind Origins facility had a lot of space for growth. “The new building is 22k square feet,” Ops manager Curtis Wilson explained, “with acreage earmarked for future outdoor projects. The indoor renovation is about 50% complete.”
“We have products in around 60 different dispensaries across the state,” he continued. “Right now, what we produce, we sell out of.”
With plans to complete their indoor renovations, build outdoor light deprivation greenhouses, and expand their processing from pre-rolls to concentrate extraction, I look forward to seeing where Kind Origins Cannabis takes their operation in the coming years.
For more information on Camron’s rapidly growing operation, visit kindorigincannabis.com