Why I’m Sharing My Recipes: A Journey of Food, Farming, and Living Naturally
It all begins with an idea.
Food brings people together, tells a story, and connects us to the earth. My book of recipes is more than just a collection of meals—it’s a reflection of my journey, a celebration of farm life, and an invitation to embrace a lifestyle rooted in simplicity, sustainability, wellness and creativity.
From cannabis-infused creations to everyday recipes that make the most of fresh ingredients, I want to share the joy of cooking and the beauty of living close to the land. Here’s why I’m so passionate about opening up my kitchen, garden, and farm to you.
A Taste of Cannabis and Beyond
While some of the recipes in my book feature THC and CBD, this is far from the whole story. Cannabis is just one part of the bigger picture—a plant with powerful benefits and creative culinary uses. But my love for cooking goes beyond infusions.
From hearty farm-to-table meals to sweet treats that showcase fresh eggs or honey, my recipes highlight the diversity of farm life. Whether you’re looking to explore the health benefits of CBD or simply want a new way to use garden vegetables, there’s something for everyone.
Sharing the Farm Experience
Living on a farm has taught me lessons that extend far beyond cooking. It’s about nurturing life—whether it’s planting vegetables, caring for horses, or raising chickens. It’s about learning to appreciate the cycles of nature and finding joy in the simplest things.
Through my recipes and stories, I want to give you a glimpse of what it’s like to live this lifestyle. You’ll find recipes inspired by what’s growing in the garden, tips for raising happy, healthy animals, and ideas for making the most of seasonal harvests.
This isn’t just a cookbook—it’s a way to share the rhythm of life on a farm.
Growing More Than Food
Gardening is at the heart of what I do. From fresh tomatoes and cucumbers to cannabis, growing plants is both an art and a science. My book includes practical advice on gardening—whether you’re starting a vegetable patch, planting an herb garden, or cultivating cannabis responsibly.
By sharing what I’ve learned, I hope to inspire you to grow something of your own. Gardening doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming. With a little guidance, anyone can enjoy the satisfaction of growing their own food or even experimenting with medicinal plants.
The Farm Life Connection
Horses and chickens may seem unrelated to recipes, but they’re an integral part of my life and my philosophy of sustainability. Chickens provide fresh eggs for sustenance, horses remind me of the importance of patience and care, and both contribute to the ecosystem of the farm.
My book will share not only recipes but also insights into the farm life that inspires them. From collecting fresh eggs for a frittata to using composted manure to grow better tomatoes, everything is connected. It’s a lifestyle that feeds the body and the soul.
Why Sharing Matters
Food is deeply personal, but it’s also meant to be shared. I’ve spent years experimenting with recipes, growing my own ingredients, and learning from the land. Now, I want to share those lessons with you.
Whether you’re curious about cannabis-infused cooking, and eager to try new recipes, or simply looking for inspiration to grow or live more naturally, this book is my way of saying, “Come join me.”
Together, we can explore the joys of food, farming, and living in harmony with nature.
What You’ll Find in My Recipes
Cannabis-Infused Recipes: Tips for incorporating THC and CBD into meals, from savory dishes to indulgent desserts.
Farm-to-Table Cooking: Simple, wholesome recipes using fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Gardening Guides: Advice on growing vegetables, herbs, and cannabis at home.
Farm Life Inspiration: Stories and tips for raising chickens, caring for horses, and embracing a sustainable lifestyle.
Natural Living: Ideas for making homemade products like soaps, balms, and more.
Join Me on This Journey
Whether you’re a seasoned gardener, a curious cook, or someone dreaming of farm life, I hope you’ll find inspiration in these pages.
Together, let’s celebrate the art of growing, cooking, and living naturally.
The Canadian Revenue Agency’s Excise Program: A Barrier to the Legal Cannabis Market
It all begins with an idea.
The legalization of cannabis in Canada was meant to bring transparency, economic growth, and an alternative to the legacy market. Instead, the legal industry has been bogged down by excessive regulatory burdens, none more glaring than the Canadian Revenue Agency’s (CRA) excise tax program. For many cannabis businesses, this program isn’t just a headache—it’s a significant roadblock to success.
Let’s explore why the CRA’s excise system, with its convoluted reporting requirements and punitive financial demands, is hindering the growth of the legal cannabis market.
A Tax System Built to Overwhelm
At its core, the excise tax program for cannabis is unnecessarily complex. Unlike cigarettes, which carry a single federal excise stamp regardless of where they’re sold, cannabis must be excised provincially. This means that every package of legal cannabis must bear a province-specific excise stamp, adding unnecessary layers of logistics, time, and cost.
What’s worse, obtaining these stamps isn’t a straightforward process. Businesses are required to submit monthly reports to the CRA, breaking down every detail of their operations:
Sales figures by province
Product categories such as dried flower, fresh flower, extracts, edibles, and topicals
Payments calculated for each specific segment
These reports are both time-intensive and error-prone, requiring significant resources to manage. For smaller businesses, this translates to hiring additional staff or outsourcing compliance—an expense many can’t afford.
Monthly Reporting: A Ticking Time Bomb
Submitting monthly reports might seem manageable at first glance, but the level of granularity required is staggering. Every sale, every product type, and every province must be accounted for in excruciating detail.
The administrative burden of these reports eats into time and resources that could otherwise be spent growing the business. Worse yet, the CRA ties the procurement of excise stamps to these reports and payments. Without compliance, businesses can’t legally sell their products—a system that disproportionately penalizes small and medium-sized enterprises that may already be struggling to keep up with regulatory demands.
Financial Strain: Death by a Thousand Cuts
Cannabis businesses are already grappling with tight margins due to licensing fees, regulatory compliance costs, and market competition. The excise tax program adds yet another layer of financial strain. Monthly payments to the CRA are often substantial, further squeezing already narrow profit margins.
Consider this: the legacy market operates without these fees and reports. While the legal market fights to stay afloat under the weight of government demands, the legacy market thrives, offering competitive pricing without the same overhead. The CRA’s approach not only stifles legal businesses but inadvertently makes the legacy market more appealing to both producers and consumers.
A Double Standard: Cannabis vs. Cigarettes
Why does the excise tax program for cannabis demand provincial stamps while cigarettes get by with a single federal stamp? It’s a glaring double standard that highlights the inconsistency in how the government treats cannabis compared to other taxable goods.
Cigarettes and alcohol, long-established in the market, have streamlined excise systems designed to maximize revenue without crippling businesses. The cannabis industry, on the other hand, is treated like a scapegoat—an industry to be milked for every dollar, regardless of the consequences.
The Consequences: A Thriving Legacy Market
The CRA’s overreach doesn’t just hurt legal businesses; it actively benefits the legacy market. By making compliance so costly and cumbersome, the excise program discourages small-scale producers from entering or staying in the legal market.
When legacy operators see the mountain of bureaucracy that comes with legalization, many decide it’s simply not worth the effort. The result? The legacy market continues to flourish, providing products without excise stamps, provincial breakdowns, or monthly reports.
The Path Forward: Simplify and Streamline
If the legal cannabis market is to succeed, the CRA must reconsider its approach to excise taxes. Here’s how:
Unified Federal Stamp: Adopt a single federal excise stamp for cannabis products, similar to tobacco, to reduce logistical complexity.
Quarterly Reporting: Shift from monthly to quarterly reporting, allowing businesses more breathing room to focus on operations.
Flat Tax Structures: Implement straightforward tax rates that don’t require exhaustive categorization of products by province and type.
Support Small Businesses: Introduce financial incentives or reduced tax rates for small and medium-sized businesses to level the playing field.
Conclusion
The CRA’s excise tax program is emblematic of the challenges facing Canada’s legal cannabis industry. With its excessive demands and fragmented structure, it’s no wonder the legal market struggles to compete with the legacy market.
For legalization to truly achieve its goals, the government must adopt a more business-friendly approach. Simplifying the excise tax system isn’t just a matter of convenience—it’s essential for the survival of the legal cannabis industry. Until then, the legacy market will remain a powerful competitor, thriving in the gaps left by bureaucratic overreach.
The Government’s Heavy Hand: Is Health Canada Hindering the Cannabis Industry?
It all begins with an idea.
The cannabis industry in Canada has come a long way since legalization. It promised legitimacy, safety, and an opportunity for small businesses to thrive in a regulated environment. But as a business owner in this space, I can’t help but feel that Health Canada’s heavy-handed interference often does more harm than good.
From invasive inspections to redundant reporting requirements, the regulatory burden feels less like oversight and more like overkill. It’s time to ask: Is this level of governmental interference actually driving innovation and growth in the legal market—or is it inadvertently fueling the legacy market?
Over-Regulation: A Stifling Reality
Running a cannabis business isn’t just about cultivating quality products and serving customers. It’s about surviving the labyrinth of governmental red tape that governs every aspect of our operations.
Take the daily inspections of temperature and relative humidity, for example. Do I, as a business owner, need a government official to verify that I’ve logged these metrics multiple times a day? Clearly, I have every incentive to maintain optimal conditions—my business depends on it. Yet, I’m expected to not only keep meticulous records but also prepare exhaustive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to explain the processes I already perform.
And then there are the invasive, surprise inspections. These aren’t just checks; they’re exercises in micromanagement, scrutinizing every nook and cranny of operations that could easily be left to my expertise as the business owner. After all, no entrepreneur in their right mind would jeopardize their business by cutting corners.
The Financial Toll of Compliance
The annual fees associated with cannabis licensing are another sore spot. For a small or medium-sized business, these fees can feel punitive. Add to that the costs of compliance—staffing for documentation, systems for tracking, and resources for inspections—and the financial strain becomes unbearable.
Instead of fostering an environment where small businesses can flourish, Health Canada’s approach feels like a gatekeeping mechanism that favors larger corporations with deeper pockets.
Legacy to Legal: A Battle of Incentives
The goal of legalization was to bring the legacy market into the fold. Yet, with the current level of interference, many in the legacy market see little incentive to go legal. Why would they?
The legacy market doesn’t contend with relentless inspections, crippling fees, or the stress of compliance for compliance’s sake. These entrepreneurs can focus on what matters most: delivering high-quality products to their customers. Meanwhile, the legal market is bogged down by bureaucracy, creating a regulatory disparity that actually encourages the legacy market to thrive.
The Path Forward: A Call for Reasonable Regulation
It’s time for Health Canada to take a step back and reassess its approach. Oversight is important, but it needs to be balanced with practicality and trust in the industry’s professionals.
Here are a few changes that could help:
Streamline Reporting: Mandate less frequent reporting and eliminate redundant requirements. Trust business owners to maintain operational standards without micromanagement.
Reduce Fees: Lower licensing fees to make legal operations more accessible, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
Focus on Public Safety: Shift the focus to product quality and safety, rather than over-regulating day-to-day operations.
Support for Transition: Provide more incentives and resources to help legacy operators transition to the legal market.
Conclusion
The cannabis industry in Canada has enormous potential, but it’s being stifled by unnecessary governmental interference. Instead of fostering growth and innovation, current regulations feel like roadblocks designed to frustrate and overburden.
For legalization to truly succeed, we need a regulatory framework that empowers business owners, not one that treats them as adversaries. Until then, the legacy market will remain an attractive alternative—and that’s a failure we can’t afford.
How I Got Started on My Cannabis Journey: From Singapore to Small-Batch Recipes
It all begins with an idea.
Sometimes life takes you on the most unexpected journeys, and my cannabis story is no exception. It’s a tale that starts in one of the most anti-drug countries in the world, takes a sharp turn through a life-altering medical experience, and lands me here—sharing my recipes and cannabis expertise with you.
Growing Up in a "No-Drugs" Zone
I spent my formative years in Singapore, a place where the laws around "drugs" are as strict as they come. Growing up in an environment with zero tolerance for anything remotely cannabis-related, I never imagined that one day I’d be writing about it, let alone dedicating my life to it.
In Singapore, the word "cannabis" was taboo, conjuring images of forbidden substances and dire consequences. Little did I know, this once-foreign plant would eventually become my passion—and my mission.
A Life-Changing Surgery in 2018
Fast forward to 2018. A surgery left me grappling with knee-buckling phantom nerve pain, the kind that stops you in your tracks and makes even the simplest tasks feel insurmountable. Doctors offered me the usual solution: opioids. But I wanted no part of it.
I’ve always believed in natural approaches to health, and this time was no different. A chance encounter with cannabis changed everything. Within 15 minutes of trying it, the relief was undeniable. Not only was I amazed at its effectiveness, but I also felt a deep conviction: I needed to get involved in this industry and help others who, like me, were seeking a natural alternative.
Watching a friend deal with cancer pain, and none of the conventional options were helping - she tried some of my cannabis recipes, and the cannabis completely removed all the pain.
From Patient to Producer: Taking the Leap
Inspired, I decided to dive in headfirst. I prepared my application to become a licensed cultivator and processor in Canada—a process that was no small feat. But my motivation was strong, and I was determined to make a difference.
As someone who doesn’t smoke, I knew I’d have to get creative. I wanted to explore alternative methods of ingesting cannabis that captured its beneficial properties without relying on traditional smoking. And so began my journey of experimentation in the kitchen.
Kitchen Creations: The Birth of My Recipes
Cooking with cannabis opened a whole new world of possibilities. I started small, experimenting with oils, butters, and infusions. Over time, my kitchen became a laboratory of sorts, where I tested everything from edibles to tinctures, extracts and topicals, always tweaking and refining to find the perfect balance of flavor, potency, and practicality.
These recipes aren’t just for THC and CBD enthusiasts—they’re for anyone interested in exploring the many benefits of cannabis in a safe, approachable way. Designed for small-batch production, they’re perfect for DIYers looking to create at home.
From Kitchen to Commercial Scale (Almost)
While these recipes work beautifully in a home kitchen, making cannabis products commercially is a whole different ballgame. Scaling up production requires navigating a maze of regulations, equipment, and compliance standards that can feel overwhelming.
If you have aspirations of going commercial, I’d be happy to discuss what that process looks like. But please know that the recipes I share are tailored for small batches, meant to help you dip your toes into the world of cannabis-infused creations without the stress of industrial-scale production.
Why I’m Sharing My Journey
I believe in the power of cannabis to improve lives, and I want to help others discover it in a way that feels accessible and empowering. By sharing my recipes and experiences, I hope to provide a starting point for anyone curious about cannabis, whether you’re managing chronic pain, exploring natural remedies, or simply looking for a new creative outlet in the kitchen.
My journey from Singapore to the cannabis industry may be unconventional, but it’s a story I’m proud of—a story of resilience, creativity, and the determination to turn pain into purpose.