Lake Country Growers Are a Big, Happy Family

The idea for Lake Country Growers’ hemp farm and its sister business, Gold Leaf farm-to-bottle cannabidiol (CBD) products, took root during a New Year’s Eve celebration. That night, Maureen “Moe” Lawrenz and Rebecca Ramage, long-time friends and field reps for an organic food company, talked about Ramage’s brother’s work in Iowa’s hemp industry. When Ramage mentioned she had planned to start a hemp farm on her property in Oconomowoc, Lawrenz wanted in. Her family was in the process of moving from their home in Milwaukee’s Brewer’s Hill neighborhood to Watertown, Wis., so their children could attend high school there.

Tending a hemp farm also synchronized with Lawrenz’s goal of connecting her family in a way that combines hands-on, screen-free activities with an entrepreneurial goal. Ramage and Lawrenz kicked off 2019 by putting their plan into action. They incorporated Lake Country Growers in February and put together a business plan that included not just their own line of CBD products, but also selling hemp to other CBD companies.

They started approximately 24,000 seedlings of the merlot and cherry wine strains in a greenhouse on Ramage’s farm. In late spring, they transported the seedlings to a rented field in Helenville, Wis., about 25 minutes west of Oconomowoc. The seedlings were planted and cultivated by hand.

“We did a lot of research and development from February through Mother’s Day,” says Lawrenz. “We tried different methods for growing, experimented with types of containers, the right soil, water and humidity levels and proper temperatures. It was like a science experiment to create the right atmosphere for plants. We dialed in the process, and by Mother’s Day, we planted over 20,000 seedlings, one by one.” Lawrenz’s four kids, along with Ramage’s two children and their friends all helped.

“Because the weather is so unreliable in spring, we wanted to get a head start in the greenhouse, so we opted for transplants,” she explains. “We heard from people who planted seeds directly into the ground that they had some problems and that germination was all over the map. We had consistency.”

Lawrenz says they used organic farming practices such as natural fish emulsion and bat guano fertilizer. Lawrenz and Ramage harvested about 18,000 healthy plants that averaged six to seven feet tall. Throughout the process, they learned a lot and have planned logistical changes for the 2020 growing season. Lawrenz notes that with hemp being an old-yet-new again crop, there’s a lack of farming equipment available to tend fields and harvest the plants. Weeding and harvesting was all done by hand.

Many hemp farmers in Wisconsin faced the dilemma of where to sell their CBD hemp after harvesting it. “Industry-wide, there is a bottleneck on the processing side,” Lawrenz observes, citing a “green rush” after the 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. “It was difficult finding processors out there you can trust because it’s such a new market,” Lawrenz says. The eventually partnered with Hempshire, a processor in Tomahawk, Wis.

A small percentage of their crop is grown for their Gold Leaf CBD personal product line, and they contract to sell the rest to other CBD oil companies such as Los Angeles-based Papa & Barkley CBD. They’re looking to expand growing contracts for the 2020 season.

The Gold Leaf CBD line currently has 10 broad spectrum CBD products, including lotions, topicals, bath salts, a pain relief stick, tinctures in 500 milligram orange flavor or mint 1,000 milligram, as well as two pet products—dog treats and dog tincture. The Gold Leaf items can be purchased online. Lawrenz says they are in the process of partnering with local retailers such as salons, boutique shops and CBD dispensaries.

For more information, visit lakecountrygrowers.com.