Cannabis is a powerful plant. It has a multitude of uses: it inspires, it connects, and it heals. The power of cannabis and all its potential is at the heart of BIPOC-owned farm Simply Sol. Simply Sol is a farm owned by Logan Brown and Travis Bond that focuses on hemp farming, focusing on CBD rather than THC. Logan and Travis both value and understand the versatile power of cannabis as a medicine, as a source of inspiration, and as a way of connecting and building community, which are all major components of their story as a couple and as the owners of Simply Sol.
Brown and Bond met at a concert through mutual friends years ago and quickly saw that music was a huge interest they shared. “We sort of fell in love over our love of music,” Brown shared as they told their love story. It was quickly discovered that music wasn’t the only thing they had in common. As they continued getting to know each other, they learned that they loved plants. Brown was working on a herbalism apprenticeship, while Bond had been working and living on a farm for a while. As their relationship developed they began working on different farms together while having the dream of having their own farm one day. The journey wasn’t easy, but they eventually turned that dream into reality when they purchased the property that is now home to Simply Sol in Molalla, Oregon.
Bond offered more detail on their why, saying, “The main reason we started Simply Sol was we wanted to be growing quality herbs and medicine.” This focus on medicine is what sets Simply Sol apart from other farms in the cannabis industry — the focus on CBD for its medicinal properties and uses. Brown detailed how “for us, we wanted to grow real medicine,” which is why Simply Sol specializes in CBD and has diverse product offerings, including smokeable flower, topical salves, tinctures, and gummies. This choice to focus on CBD came about by seeing that the cannabis industry was lacking in the CBD realm, with most of the industry being about THC. Brown and Bond intentionally grow and cultivate medicine, a cannabinoid medicine that is more accessible to people.
This prioritization of helping and caring for people through cannabis is deeply woven into Simply Sol in so many other ways than just the CBD. Brown and Bond pride themselves on the community they have built and continue to build, which is especially important as BIPOC cannabis farmers. At first glance, the cannabis industry can seem like a very white industry which impacts the experience for BIPOC consumers and growers, but Brown and Bond shared that if you dig a little deeper, there is a large BIPOC presence, but more specifically Black presence in the cannabis industry here in Oregon.
Very early into starting their farm the two researched and looked for farms and businesses run by other BIPOC folks and quickly discovered there was a network of Black folks in the industry to build community with. Bond expressed that reaching out to different Black owned farms “was a really big benefit for us, just feeling like supported and held.”
The support they have found being in community with other Black farmers is something that they want to continue with Simply Sol by growing what the farm offers not just to be CBD but also opportunities for the community to come and learn how to farm, to provide a space for art and joy, and so much more. “I want to be farming like, community connectiveness,” Bond exclaimed when discussing his hopes and dreams for Simply Sol’s future. The pair would love to open the farm to provide workshops to the community around farming, and cannabis as a medicine and to support music.
Music has been integral for the two, and they want that to be a part of the Simply Sol farm. “[Music] shaped our life a lot, like, where we met, and so, being able to, like, provide a space for people to do that [create and enjoy music],” expressed Bond. As folks who create music through their project Living Roots, the two would love to open the farm for a small music festival one day. They value the role that cannabis plays in music very much. “I get a lot of inspiration just from being out and working with plants. Cannabis, specifically, is like, super reactive to music, too, like singing to a cannabis plant, or making music with a cannabis plant…there’s something about cannabis and music that just, they are made for each other,” shared Bond. Bond’s sentiments were reaffirmed by Brown who said, “music is medicine, and we’re medicine people, yeah? So we’ve got to do it all.”
Through Simply Sol, Brown and Bond are intentionally using cannabis to heal, inspire, and connect people in ways that aren’t regularly prioritized or celebrated within the larger cannabis industry. The pair are actively working to educate and celebrate the power of cannabis outside of just its high-producing effects. Simply Sol is more than just cannabis, and Brown best described the pair and the farm when she said, “medicine is medicine, music is medicine, cannabis is medicine.”
