Are there any places out there to pursue a dream in cultivating medicine?

[GrimReefer513]

I'm 29 yrs old and i'm sick of working 9-5 for scraps. i have a plan at the end of the grow season which is soon to just take off to a legal state and hunt for farming jobs and things of the sort. does anyone out there know where i could go or who i could contact? i could desperately use some help so i'm not just wingin it.

 

[Fldave59]

I'm 29 yrs old and i'm sick of working 9-5 for scraps. i have a plan at the end of the grow season which is soon to just take off to a legal state and hunt for farming jobs and things of the sort. does anyone out there know where i could go or who i could contact? i could desperately use some help so i'm not just wingin it.

I have a couple acquaintances who went west years ago. They are still working manual labor jobs in the cannabis industry for low wages. Changing regulations, under capitalization, an abundance of available workers, and poor business decisions have made opportunities dicey. Without a degree and experience...well, trimming weed manually for hours gets old quick at $15/hr.

 

[GrimReefer513]

i would love my life if i could trim weed for 15$/hr living in a legal state. i know i would move up because i'm very knowledgeable and i have a good green thumb. even if i didn't i would be so happy with just that. i was wondering if there's any farms or anything that would give you room and board for work or something. i wish i knew some people that did that so i could follow their footsteps... i cant stand living in ohio working for the same wages and working my ass of landscaping and still buying my weed off the streets.

 

[Dwight Monk]

Browse online as various online Employment places have listings for Cannabis jobs, also research cost of living where you find them as $12 an hour one place can be different to $12 an hour somewhere else as cost of living different (rent, food, etc...). Also weigh the risk of up and moving if job doesn't work out for whatever reason unless you have a good cushion built up for the unexpected, as a very competitive/volatile market and many places there is more businesses than the market can support so many go belly up. Seen a few in OR, some require you to be able to trim a pound a day minimum far as trimming goes and Dispensary jobs listed also (very few listings for growers, more of a have to have an inside track in most cases or some sort of Horticulture degree/experience).

 

[TorturedSoul]

research cost of living where you find them as $12 an hour one place can be different to $12 an hour somewhere else as cost of living different (rent, food, etc...).

^^^THIS^^^

If I had a chance to reliably earn $15/hour, minimum of 40 hours/week, where I live... I'd feel like a prince. First, because I haven't averaged anywhere near $600/week this year. But also because I could l could afford to live reasonably well on that amount of income here. Buy a car, insure it, get a pair of shoes this year, a refrigerator... A bunch of stuff. Fix up my little house, Maybe even move to a nicer one somewhere outside of town (I just have a dinky little quarter-acre city lot).

But what's $600/week get you in New York City? A trash can, lol? And how much is a WhopperMac sandwich, order of french fries, and a cup of coffee going to cost you... when the owner of the restaurant has to pay all of his/her employees $15/hour just to get them to work there? I'm just guessing, but my guess is more than it does here.

Also, be sure your references are great. The "green rush" has been going on for quite some time now - so prospective employers can afford to be choosy in who they hire. If you've worked at the same job for at least five years and have only missed a day or two or work, you'll be a much better candidate than some clown who has been unemployed at various times over the same period of time, or who has jumped from job to job. "Related field" experience is a plus, too. Want to grow plants? Probably helps if you've been working at a farm for the last several years. Both because you can be reasonably assumed not to be terribly likely to kill every plant you touch, lol, and because it probably means you're used to working hard up to 60 hours/week for not much money. Want to work in a dispensary? Retail experience, customer service department where you've been successfully turning lots of pissed off assholes into repeat customers, etc. If at all possible, get a job in the location you'll be moving to before you move.

Finally, take enough money to live on for two months, minimum. Sure, you could probably survive in a cardboard box in the woods or under a bridge. But employers expect their employees to have decent clothing, be able to launder it, take a shower each morning (and, often, shave), have a working phone, etc. They'll also be more likely to hire someone who has a running/reliable/legal vehicle. Many - but not all - locations have some kind of public transportation, but it runs on its schedule, not your employer's. There might not be a convenient bus stop or subway entrance right outside your door, and it might not run right past the place of business. If it's raining like a herd of cattle all pissing on the same flat rock, and you have to walk a mile to get on the public transportation, and then walk another mile after you step off it... you're going to walk into the place of business looking like a drowned rat, lol. Plus, reliable transportation means that if you're not scheduled to work, and someone calls off, the boss can call you in - and you'll get ready and drive to work. As opposed to get ready, walk to the bus stop, wait on the bus to arrive, meander along its route, get off, and hike the rest of the way in to work. So, yeah, car/truck/van/motorcycle - definitely a plus. Bus pass? That puts you ahead of... no one at all.

 

[013]

So you are not real bright are you?

Right there in Ohio huh.... where you grew up, went to school, have friends, family & relatives, where you know people.... who know other people? If you can’t make it in Ohio with a support system in place - why do you think it would be any easier a thousand miles from home where you are a complete stranger??

Why would a farm give you room & board plus $15 an hour, when they can exploit the disadvantaged, the illegal or international refugee to work for $7 an hour? What happens when the growing season is over? What happens if you get fired? What happens when they convert to motorized tumble style bud trimmers? Trimming is seasonal work, do you think they will let you live free all year when the work only lasts a few months? The big indoor year round grow ops, well they require horticulture degrees and no they don’t provide housing or let you sleep in the warehouse.

I hope I have pissed you off severely......... not to be angry at me or yourself or the system. I hope I’ve pissed you off enough to begin working for yourself, to work towards your dreams. To save money now, to start today. Take charge, ask for more responsibilities at your current job, work overtime, pick up a second job. Go to school, learn a trade, make yourself irreplaceable. Build your own grow op in Ohio.... whatever.

How many dreams of going west for gold, for fame, beauty, riches or for the green rush have been dashed upon the rocks in a stormy sea? For every one that succeeds there are hundreds of failures. What you are experiencing is growing pains, it’s time to man up but a duffel bag and a one way ticket is not the answer.

Learn to make it where you are, then you can make it anywhere. Some dreams need to be pursued, some need to be forgotten or totally rewritten. Down thru the ages the American dream has never changed - the quickest way to become wealthy, to be an overnight success, to have a great job or to own your own business.... the answer is real simple - 30 to 40 years of hard work and dedication.

Ahhh grasshopper when you can pluck the pebble from my hand..... your apprenticeship is done.

Apologies friend didn't mean to insult - that’s motivation - not hate. Feel the love brother!

Go in peace - best wishes!

 

[bcarpenter24]

Theres colleges here in Ontario Canada that offer courses for it, theres one here in Niagara. not sure about in the States tho.

 

[SoGnotSOG321]

Ohio..ha! Itching to expand your horizons is a worthy endeavor. Research the cities, these have better support systems than bumf***ed (insert preference) farms. You want a regular job first. Once you chose a place, get there and start that regular job. Then look around, network. Pull your sh!t together in a regular lifestyle, then hunt that grow job down and slay it. GTFO of Ohio, but before you do anything. Read "The Grapes of Wrath" . It's kinda like a worst case scenario of packing up and heading to..well its better to find out yourself. Good luck.

 

[SmokingWings]

So you are not real bright are you?

Right there in Ohio huh.... where you grew up, went to school, have friends, family & relatives, where you know people.... who know other people? If you can’t make it in Ohio with a support system in place - why do you think it would be any easier a thousand miles from home where you are a complete stranger??

Why would a farm give you room & board plus $15 an hour, when they can exploit the disadvantaged, the illegal or international refugee to work for $7 an hour? What happens when the growing season is over? What happens if you get fired? What happens when they convert to motorized tumble style bud trimmers? Trimming is seasonal work, do you think they will let you live free all year when the work only lasts a few months? The big indoor year round grow ops, well they require horticulture degrees and no they don’t provide housing or let you sleep in the warehouse.

I hope I have pissed you off severely......... not to be angry at me or yourself or the system. I hope I’ve pissed you off enough to begin working for yourself, to work towards your dreams. To save money now, to start today. Take charge, ask for more responsibilities at your current job, work overtime, pick up a second job. Go to school, learn a trade, make yourself irreplaceable. Build your own grow op in Ohio.... whatever.

How many dreams of going west for gold, for fame, beauty, riches or for the green rush have been dashed upon the rocks in a stormy sea? For every one that succeeds there are hundreds of failures. What you are experiencing is growing pains, it’s time to man up but a duffel bag and a one way ticket is not the answer.

Learn to make it where you are, then you can make it anywhere. Some dreams need to be pursued, some need to be forgotten or totally rewritten. Down thru the ages the American dream has never changed - the quickest way to become wealthy, to be an overnight success, to have a great job or to own your own business.... the answer is real simple - 30 to 40 years of hard work and dedication.

Ahhh grasshopper when you can pluck the pebble from my hand..... your apprenticeship is done.

Apologies friend didn't mean to insult - that’s motivation - not hate. Feel the love brother!

Go in peace - best wishes!

When I saw that opening line I figured that the war was about to start.

But, you covered the basics with that message. The points that you bring up are true and are often overlooked when some people get tired of what they are doing and look for something better.

I'm 29 yrs old and i'm sick of working 9-5 for scraps. i have a plan at the end of the grow season which is soon to just take off to a legal state and hunt for farming jobs and things of the sort. does anyone out there know where i could go or who i could contact? i could desperately use some help so i'm not just wingin it.

Save up the money. Working 9-5 doing landscaping is not going to make it. I worked landscape maintenance since I was a kid and working for a company meant being there by 7 am and working till 6-7 at night. I quickly noticed that those workers who could handle that were the ones that made money. Reason was that if a worker could handle those hours the boss paid more per hour. IOW, you need more hours and 6 days a week or more.

Pick the legal state you feel is the best one to start looking into. Take some time off of work when the landscape season winds down and go there. Look around, check the "cost of living". Check the job opportunities in "cultivating medicine" and find out what the available work really is. If you find the job you want but it is not ready yet you might have to work one of those 9-5 jobs for scraps for 9 months waiting till the opening comes along. Be ready for that.

Lot of good advice in those messages.

Wanted to bring up two other things. Some of what has been brought up about wages paid is also being covered in another thread here on the message board.

Check out this one:
https://www.420magazine.com/community/threads/how-to-distinguish-bad-weed-from-good-weed.490996/

This one is off the board but not a business competing with sponsors. I have read about this sort of thing several times over the past couple of years (though she is not working a legal job in the Marijuana industry).

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qkggyp/what-its-like-to-be-a-trim-bitch-on-an-illegal-weed-farm-women-in-cannabis

Since Ohio is a medical Marijuana state now surely there is some sort of legal work in the cannabis medicine field.

Good luck.