Take a trip with me to southwestern Ontario, to a little town filled with history called Brantford. Well, it’s not that little; as of 2016, the population was almost 100,000 (97,496 to be exact) and has been growing steadily.

But historic, is an understatement. I could have sworn there was a ‘Part of our Heritage’ moment about the city. I could do a Top 10 list right now, but I’ll spare you and give you just one. Did you know that in 1874, the telephone was invented in Brantford?

BRANTFORD, ONTARIO: SEPTEMBER 27, 2019—A FIELD OF GREEN—Cattle feed across the street as 48North employees leaf cannabis plants at the company’s Brantford Good:Farm location, Friday September 27, 2019. [Peter J Thompson, for The GrowthOp]

It is one of my favourite facts. Being from Brampton myself, not far away, it always excited this nerd as a child and it still does to this day. I mean, think about what a contribution that is to the world, from right here, in our own backyard.

You can visit the Bell Homestead National Historic Site, Tuesdays to Sundays, from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, but don’t go between noon and 1 pm, as it’s closed for lunch.

A side note: Alexander Graham Bell considers his life’s greatest work to be his time with the American Association for the Promotion of the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (now the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing).

BRANTFORD, ONTARIO: SEPTEMBER 27, 2019—A FIELD OF GREEN—Security at 48North’s Brantford Good:Farm location, Friday September 27, 2019. [Peter J Thompson, for The GrowthOp]

The historic milestones haven’t stopped for Telephone City. This fall, 48North will harvest one of the first, and certainly one of the biggest, outdoor cannabis crops in Canadian history, from a 100-acre organic Brantford farm.

The cannabis company says it expects to produce more than 40,000 kg of the sun-grown product from the 250,000 seeds it planted. I toured the beautiful and very potent-smelling farm on a sunny day in late-September, just days after one of its first harvests, and it was certainly a historic moment for me. There was so much weed.

You could smell it as you were pulling up to the farm from the road and it didn’t leave me all day—it was heavenly.

The plants ranged in size, shape and height, the result of using seeds instead of clones. The process was  deliberate, in order to experiment with cultivars and phenotypes. The buds were big and well-developed.

BRANTFORD, ONTARIO: SEPTEMBER 27, 2019—A FIELD OF GREEN—48North Master Grower Devin Piche at the company’s Brantford Good:Farm location, Friday September 27, 2019. [Peter J Thompson, for The GrowthOp]

The butterflies seemed to love the plant, even as the wind swept through the rows. I ran full speed through the rows for minutes at a time, stopping only because I am not very fit—not because there was lack of room to keep going.

I observed a relatively small workforce at the farm; there is more, they tell me, at the 48North extraction facility, where much of the cannabis will go after harvest.

BRANTFORD, ONTARIO: SEPTEMBER 27, 2019—A FIELD OF GREEN—48North Master Grower Devin Piche at the company’s Brantford Good:Farm location, Friday September 27, 2019. [Peter J Thompson, for The GrowthOp]

The whole experience was a very different one from the multiple indoor-grow tours I have been on before. I hope it’s not my last opportunity to do so. Brantford’s latest historic moment may lay the groundwork for answering that.