[MUSIC] Gulf winds blow through canopy roads all the way to Thomasville.

Native names written on the land that echo through the red clay hills.

Where to sent of longleaf Florida pine reach on past that George line.

Stroll through Tallahassee town or Southern Apalachee bound.

Take the local and journey down the roads we call our home.

Take the local routes and journe down, the roads we call our hom Welcome to Local Routes.

I'm Suzanne Smith with WFSU Publ And today our journey takes us into the local business world where creativity has taken the folks featured in this epis They had some unusual paths.

We begin with a company founded in North Florida just five year but today is one of the largest in their field in America.

That field is medical marijuana, and the company is Trulieve.

Recently, they made a 2 billion deal to acquire a competitor.

But back in 2017, when the company was still young WFSU's Frankie Verdicia had the chance to go to their Ga County cultivation and processi to get a look behind the scenes.

What you're sitting in right now is our primary cultivation and p facility located in Quincy, Flo It's just under 80-thousand squa and it's a building within a bu And so we control every environm aspect of our cultivation processing fa and we chose to go indoor because it does allow us a higher level of the specific being in Florida and especially in Northwest Flo We have large swings in weather and, of course, very high humid And so we wanted to have a facil where we could really play Mothe Nature to the nth degree.

We do not use pesticides, fungicides, herbici We don't use any of that.

We have a very aggressive natura management program that include predatory insects.

It includes peroxide and eluted alcohol, things that are that are clean, that have no bad on anybody if any amount of it got into ou And we do a very rigorous clinical testing on all of our p that live here that certify that there is none in our products from there.

Our plans to go into the drawing and they're dried for a certain of days.

And then from there, it really d It kind of breaks off.

It depends on what the final pro meant for that particular harvest.

Strange is a genetic incarnation of a p the strain is unique, but strains are developed by cr one strain with another strain to get a different strain, or it has different characterist of each of the parent plant.

So a cannabinoid is a molecule that is part of cannabis.

OK, it's also part of other thin There's cannabinoids inside your called the endocannabinoid syst There's two main parts of the ca plant that's useful for medicin one of them is cannabinoids, and the other one is terpenes.

Like you hear two major categori indica and sativa.

they have dif terpene profiles and somewhat di cannabinoid profiles.

Appetite control, rest managemen Indica is better.

On the other side, the Sativa wa If you want to stay active, OK, and it gives you very good pain management as well.

Hybrids in the middle hybrid is used as our workhorse for most of what we do in our highly refined oils.

We have a couple of products that are flower based, products that are vaporized, or the second classification of would be an oil base, extracted which is the vast majority of our products here i There's plants that are being used for those pr to go into an abstraction proce It's an ethanol based extraction process here what's called clea and that is what goes into our c and our tinctures that end product on an oil retai some of the plant matter, and so it retains a number of t trappings and other specific pro that are beneficial for our pat The second run is and goes into our syringes, and so that's a more refined oil and you'll notice that our syri is a relatively clear looking pr And so that's going to be a more refined product kind of starting to narrow down on this specific cannabinoid pr Then the final process is a fractional distillation pr and that is if we are making big cartridges So of course, anything that you're taking into your lu we want to make sure is the most refined and pure as The capsule that you get today is going to be the same as the c that you get two months from no and we take a high pride in maki sure that our products are test that those results are verified and that the patient has access and knows exactly what type of products they're g You know, when you're getting pr through Trulieve or any of the dispensing organizations, it comes with a physician recom You are getting specific advice and consultation from a physicia who has a certain amount of tra with respect to medical cannabis in your particular condition.

So I think that when you look at as a holistic approach to the medical nature of cannabi very different than what someone may experience by going through the black mark Today, Trulieve has dispensaries all over the country and in Oct opened their 100 Florida locatio right here in Tallahassee.

People who work with yarn are of very creative in the projects that they take on.

But for one local Georgia woman, it was the act of creating the that led her down a unique busin In this story brought to you a f ago, WFSU's Charles Renaud introduces us, this woman and her unique a Howdy, folks, I'm Charles Renaud When you think of farming in South Georgia, what comes to Tractors, row crops.

Freshly tilled soul.

Well, the 2017 Farm Family of the Year in Grad Georgia, had none of that.

There, alpaca ranchers, today we're at Summerhill Farms, the home of Jeff and Della Lovett and Masie Daze Fleecery.

Now Della, it's not widespread in this are How did you decide to ranch with Well, we were originally a horse and when we decided to get out of the horse busines we needed some sort of livestock to put on our pasture and in ou I had taken up knitting several prior as a hobby.

And my husband suggested that I raise my own yarn and I, my mind immediately went And he said, No, no, no, no.

Whenever we go to the AG Expo up in Moultrie, you always end up standing in front of the alpaca exhibit.

And in my mind, I clicked alpaca that afternoon.

I went on Craigslist and put out saying that I was interested in acquiring some alpaca for a s a herd within 24 hours.

A lady from Dothan, Alabama, said that she was sell herd due to health reasons.

And that's how I got started.

Well, it's not something that yo string up some fence and put some alpacas on.

Since we were already a horse fa it was just a matter for us of lowering fans, lowerin feed troughs, lowering water tr And that was a basic good start to put some alpacas on the on the property as it ex We also installed a misting syst in the in the barn so that it lowers the temperatur in the barn for the animals dur part of the month.

We installed a sprinkler system in the ground that is set on a that comes on during the hot part of the day, when the anima light on the sprinkler, their bellies don't have fleece So when they lay on the sprinkle during the day, it cools their internal organs, helps bring their body temperat Heat stress is something that you really, r have to struggle with in this part of the countr for alpaca, since they're their aren't used to that they don't r self-regulate temperature very Basically, what you created is a alpaca wa Yes.

Okay.

Yes.

Now the alpacas have got their w What do they eat?

They during the spring, summer and ea they eat grass just like any other grazing ani Late fall winter, they get a handful of a special regimented feed, but they don't So is that all that's in your he Oh no.

Well, I have 19 alpaca and I hav three llamas that serve as guard for the alpaca.

Kind of like a barn buddy barn body, but they also protect from our local predators.

We have a lot of coyotes out her There are some bears that we've not had any issues wi but they're here.

Know local dogs, neighborhood do just any kind of predator that to get in here and mess with the because alpaca are pretty defen Wow.

Now the llamas.

Sorry, is there any value to the and their shearing?

Or is that just strictly for pro They are strictly for protection but we do share them and I have for alpaca yarn, alpaca yarn and love and llama yarn.

Yes, I'll be once a year.

We have a shearer that comes down from North Geor and he gives them a haircut, a h a haircut to end all haircut.

So how about how much fleece do you gather in a for?

Each animal produces anywhere from four to £5 of fle There is a very particular way that the animal has to be shear in order for the fiber to be of use to the mill.

Mm-Hmm.

You want to be sure that you get called the blanket, which is the and the back of the animal completely separate from everyt That is that is what this is.

And that is what the premium yarn is made from.

OK.

The neck and the legs that's called seconds.

And that's usually what your rov made from.

That is good for felting is is a fiber than the blanket.

And then I bag it up, box it up and I send it off to fiber processing mills.

I have two that I'm currently working with one is in Wyoming and one is in Daytona Beach, Fl So when I send it off to the fib it takes them anywhere from three to six months.

And they sent it back to me in whatever f I requested, I request a lot of it to come ba in the form of roving.

And this is roving.

OK?

This is the final step befor the place is spun into yarn.

There are a lot of people in the Florida South Georgia region that have spinning wheels.

Reall And they are always in the marke quality roving because they like to spend thei So I sell a lot of roving to spi So we have place we have we have when I get back roving and I ge This is 100% alpaca yarn.

OK. Ready.

Ready to knit.

Mm hmm And we call this a this is calle A yank of yarn.

Yank of yarn.

OK. And this is how it comes back to These are natural colors.

That thing has been done to thes Nothing has been added to them.

There's been no dye.

The fiber mills that I use are s family owned mills, backyard enterprises.

They're not big corporate industrial type mills.

So these are just really basical organic, high quality products that I get These are.

Some of the lighter colored flee that are sent to the to the mill in Daytona because they specialize in dyes and sent some of the lighter colored fleece to them and ask them to die , some of th And again, it's all natural dyes But their dye process, it's very to the fiber for the purest knitter that's out there, they w They appreciate the quality and that's taken to the fiber by these mills and.

I just I'm in love with the fina Yeah.

Now this has actually led to another venture.

one of those doors that we've talked about.

And that the venture is Elevate, Elevate Artisan Market.

Yes, yes.

But through my yarns and my my roving, I have met a ton of a And we really don't have an outl for our our final product in our I could do a market for area art I could do that.

And so we did our very first Ele Artisan Market in 2016 here at the farm out there in th in the alpaca field.

My goal was 20 artist.

I would have been thrilled to have two to 300 visitors.

Mm I had 40 artists and we had over 1000 visitors to You found a niche.

I found a niche, yes.

So we had the second annual elev in October of 2017.

I had 84 artisans to come and we had over 2000 visitors.

Wow.

So it's I mean, in one year in one year, it more than doubl Well, Della, we can't thank you enough for having us out here t And and I'm sure that whatever d get opened, you're going go through them and make the mos Um, and folks, we'd like to than for tuning in today, and we'll s you next time on local routes.

They love me.

Learn more about the Maisie Daze Fleecery at the website on your For artists of all types.

The pandemic has been particularly challenging.

Trying to find new ways to safel your work has led to new levels of creativity and In Havana, Florida, businesses a are working together to help solve this problem.

In a story first brought to you last spring, WFSU's Mike Plumme how the two are working together to create a stronger future.

If you drive around, you'll see that there's an awful lot of small towns that gone by the wayside and died.

Havana has not.

You know, we have fought tooth and nail to and that's and that's where the So when you come and walk the st you're going to meet the owners and that owner is going to be t the biggest chamber of commerce that you've ever seen.

We love it here.

We want you to see what we love Like many small towns throughout the Sout Havana, Florida, is in transitio and today's digital, online,COVI it seems like small town America is always in transition Terri Paul is co-owner of a shop called Wanderings and Popeye's C and is president of the recently Havana Main Street.

And her idea is to turn Havana into a destination by making it an experience.

We're like, OK, it's not just about the bus downtown, it's about Havana itself flouri And so what Main Street is tryin is work on beautification historical preservation, not just feet on the street, but to kind of get it all going in the right d And for us, the furniture was go But what else can we bring?

What can you bring your downtown community into town to do So one of the components that's been m Main Street is is an artist comp And so we got a new executive di for Main Street about eight mon and we had a long list of interv and we we chose Ann because of her ties with the art community, the Ann she speaks of his Ann Kozaliski, Havana Main Stree executive director, and her plan is to grow an artist community.

Her vision is called AHA.

Well, AHA stands for artists helping artists, and it's it literally means jus We started back in 2018 when a friend of ours who had a gallery on St George Island, needed some help It was after Hurricane Michael t weren't coming back to the isla so a friend of mine and I got on the phone, and within two hours we had 20 artists who had ralli and brought artwork to my house that we then ferried down to th and put on a holiday island fest at the end of the day.

We didn't we?

We made enough money to help the gallery owner pay s and realized we had a good time and wanted to keep doing this s early 2019.

We then had a meeting and on a Sunday afternoon had 48 people show up, and that was the beginning of A And so and is our connection with the art world.

The AHA group that she has toget is bringing people to town that are not necessarily artists not necessarily been here befor Joy Green is one of those artist and she's one of AHAs biggest b Oh, I just think the whole idea from the title down, it's artists helping artists.

And whenever you have a experien in any business that really is looking out for and wanting their competitor to also be successful.

I don't think you can miss, you it's it's not been in existence that long, but it's it's grown and eventually will probably become more of a formalized group of some sort.

A generous property owner has made a downtown build and adjacent outdoor area available to our h They've been doing pop up shows with groups of artists, mostly on a monthly basis.

We were there for a Valentine's weekend show and spoke to some of the artists just the way these folks work to You know, this is new really to everybody is here to help one an and do what they can to a suppor but then help promote what artists are doing.

And that's a that's a talented group of people in t and it's an opportunity that we have as artists and cra to have our things seen where we're pretty hungry group and we love producing things, but we want our things seen and we would like to have them p and to connect with people.

We've been able to do that pretty well here.

Well, I think it's wonderful.

I know that whenever I get out a like this, I know many of the a and just the community feeling of everybody getting out and seeing each other's work.

I have to kind of strap my walle so that I don't start buying everybody else's stuff, but I do seeing the other people's work, I think it's good because we all each other in one way or anothe And I think it's the leadership that's that's making it happen, like with and in like with joy, particularly with this group he It looks like we're willing to s We're willing to participate.

We're willing to give up our tim our energy to have our things d So the idea is to make art and art experiences available to the general public in a fun, casual setting.

The artist build a community and the public gets to experien a wide range of art.

Well, we're actually working rig on budget and bylaws and things in for the formation of a co-op and we didn't want to just jump We wanted to see if the market would bear the presence of this And so with these pop ups, with the classes that were going to be offering because there's an area in the that is going to be perfect for anyone who wants to teach.

Polymer Clay Weaving painting, we've got a class already sched to come up next month, I think i So with that, if the community s and if we can get that informati and bring in an audience from around Havana, then definitely be more permanen and cheaper to rent studio space than Talla You know, if I can pick up all those people from Railroad and put them down here, I am all because that is the hook that I And so with that comes, you know not just the art gallery itself, but a plein air.

I start bringing international p in to look at my my the paintings that you have.

This town is beautiful to paint.

You can pick any corner, whether it's downtown, whether it's in the outlying are I got tobacco barns, I've got old buildings.

I mean, again, we're historic and you can paint that stuff al People are going to come and loo That's a that's a whole different crowd than what I've had before.

Jewelry making, you know, that's another thing we can be known for jewelry maki You know, you come out here, you don't want to buy online, b everybody else has.

Don't make a piece specially for that all of that artist group is something that I have been m And I think it fits well with what we have going on in Havana for WFSU Public Media.

I'm Mike Plummer.

AHA's Next gallery pop up is sch for November 13th.

Learn more at their Facebook pag and check out other events at Ha Main Street dot com.

That's it for this episode of Lo I'm Suzanne Smith.

You can see these stories and more on our website.

WFSU dot org slash Local Routes.

And while you're online.

Follow us on Facebook and Instag Plus, sign up for our Community Calendar newsletter.

Delivered weekly to your email, it's a great way to stay on top happening in person and in the virtual world for everyone at WFSU Public Med Thanks for watching.

Have a great week, everyone.

Magnolia Trees greet the southern breeze, in the land where rivers wind.

Seeds that spring up from the past leave us treasures yet to find.

Where our children play along th land our Fathers built with honest hands.

Take a moment now look around at the paradise we have found, take the local routes and journe down the roads we call our home [music]