Wellness Today: Shelves and health
San Jose Medical Marijuana Collective Elemental Wellness Hosts Free Weekly Grow Workshops
For those who have tried to grow their own medical marijuana only to end up blowing tons of money on grow equipment and guidebooks that don’t deliver on their promise-Elemental Wellness Center, a San Jose cannabis dispensary, has the answer. The San Jose cannabis club hosts a series of ongoing workshops called Crop Circle Grow Club every Sunday at 3pm.
Although many people grow marijuana, an extraordinary amount of knowledge and experience is required to produce high quality medicine.
Grow room guru, Josh Jones, owner of See Your Green, provides in depth instruction on everything from seed to harvest, and weekly help troubleshooting problems. “Club members are able to bring their questions to group and get immediate answers,” said Jones, who discloses his proven techniques to help turn brown thumbs to green ones-and budding botanists to master growers.
“We like to describe our intimate group as a grow club think tank,” said Jones. “It’s an opportunity for growers to share their own experiences and wisdom.”
Member-growers are essential to the San Jose medical marijuana collective, which operates in a “closed loop” system. In the organization members are encouraged to cultivate medicine, and provide it back to the collective, so it is available to other patients who cannot grow. This model helps ensure everyone has access to the medicine they need.
“We carry over 15 varieties of clones,” said Jones. “Many patients want to take a plant home, but don’t know how to start a garden. From expensive lights to complicated irrigation systems and CO2 dispensers to fertilizers, they are concerned about getting all of the right gear. In my workshop, Crop Shop, I discuss the variety of products on the market and guide patients through the design process of building their grow rooms,” said Jones.
For the more seasoned grower, Crop Circle is a forum for the exchange of grow tips and genetics. “Diversity is good when it comes to cannabis,” said Robert Nia, Inventory Manager at Elemental Wellness. Strain swaps help keep the gene pool flush with boutique and rare strains. “Every strain contains different proportions of THC, CBD and CBN-and that delicate balance is responsible for how the plant affects you,” explained Nia.
Josh provides a formal agenda and uses handouts, show-and-tell, and live demonstrations to springboard discussions. Students are invited to bring in photos of their gardens at different stages, and all club members engage in lively debates about the best way to solve various grow problems. Since the club was formed ten months ago, attendance itself has grown from 3 to 35 regular participants.
“Josh brings years of experience to the table. He has been featured in High Times and Mother Jones magazines,” said Nia. “It’s rewarding to have patients leaving testimony on our Facebook page about how much they like the club and Josh.”
Each month’s workshop series is dedicated to a new subject with coverage of usually three weekly subtopics followed by a review at the end of the month. Crop Circle workshops have included: “Grow Room Design on a Dime,” “Crop Shop” (how to choose the right equipment), “This Old Greenhouse,” and “The War on Bugs” (how to fight pests and bacteria, disease, molds and mildews safely).
August Topic: “Seeds & Planting”
Aug 7 – Phenotypes & Genetics
Aug 14 – Germination (methods & timing)
Aug 21 – Transplanting (when & how)
Aug 28 – Review: Seeds & Planting
September Topic: “The Growing Plant”
Sep 4 – Light cycle & ventilation
Sep 11 – Nutrients & N:P:K Ratio
Sep 18 – Watering & feeding schedule (nutrient calendar)
Sep 25 – Review: The Growing Plant
“I love teaching Crop Circles,” said Jones. “It gives me a chance to help each grower change their focus from quantity to quality.”
Shelves and health
Take a yoga class, learn how to caramelize onions, or set off for a group hike.
The offerings, which sound like they should be on a spa schedule, will be featured at the Whole Foods supermarket in Dedham starting on Monday.
Whole Foods Market Inc., based in Austin, Texas, has chosen its largest New England store to debut the grocery store chain’s first Wellness Club – a concept that combines health with commerce.
“This isn’t about weights and scales and measures,’’ said Whole Foods’ Heather Hardy, who is overseeing what Whole Foods bills as a lifestyle club. “It’s about empowering people to make healthier choices.’’
Access to that empowerment comes at a price: It costs $199 to become a member of the Wellness Club, and monthly dues are $45.
As at a gym, club members check in at a front desk, but in this case it’s steps from the salad bar, near the fish. Inside the glassed-in, 950-square-foot space – with sage-colored walls and fresh-cut flowers – they can access a reference library, undergo a lifestyle evaluation, or take a cooking class.
Part of the concept is to learn how to prepare a dish – such as mango quinoa porridge – from a chef in a sleek kitchen, and then head out into the store to find, and buy, the ingredients.
“The key is what you are eating,’’ said Alona Pulde, a Los Angeles doctor who helped shape the concept for Whole Foods. “It’s the how and why,’’ behind a healthy lifestyle, Pulde said.
Help from visiting nutritionists, lectures on how to handle late-night cravings, and even day trips to leaf peep are part of the club’s offerings. A personal coach can create an eating plan and club members can sign up for one-on-one cooking session with chef Ryan Parker at an additional cost.
“Since it’s located in an actual grocery store people can take the practical knowledge learned and put it into practice when they shop,’’ said Whole Foods founder John Mackey in an e-mail.
A thousand products that meet the club’s code of health – whole foods, plants, nutrient-dense foods, and healthy fats -have been tagged with the Wellness Club seal of approval.
Club members receive a 10 percent discount on those items, from produce to the bulk aisle. It helps shoppers “cut though all the marketing hype,’’ said Jeff Novick, a Florida dietitian overseeing the launch. “People are saying ‘I just want someone to help me,’ ’’ Novick said.
Heidi Feinstein, a Boston nutritionist and holistic therapist, called the concept “brilliant’’ and said it is “exactly what consumers want and need.’’
Mayo Clinic opening high-tech outpost at Mall of America
Mayo Clinic is making its debut in the Twin Cities health marketplace Thursday with a high-tech health-and-wellness display at the Mall of America.
The internationally known medical center based in Rochester gave reporters a peek at its “Create Your Mayo Clinic Health Experience” the day before its opening. The facility sports three-dimensional computer monitors, kiosks for the casual shopper and “navigator” specialists to help people assess their health and map out a wellness program.
“We consider this a lab as we try to decide what we want to offer in a permanent facility, if we do that,” said Dr. David Hayes, medical director for the mall project.
The idea is to gather customer and patient opinion to guide development of a facility Mayo would like to build in the Phase II expansion of Mall of America, officials said.
Mayo has been creeping closer to the Twin Cities market in recent weeks. Last month, Mayo Clinic Health System, which has 70 medical facilities in the Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin, acquired the former Queen of Peace Hospital in New Prague. That Scott County hospital has three branch clinics in Belle Plaine, Le Sueur and Montgomery.
Also in July, Mayo opened a $10 million oncology treatment center in Northfield, near the campus of Northfield Hospital.
The Twin Cities market already has big health care providers, including Allina Hospitals and Clinics, Fairview Health Services, which includes University of Minnesota Medical Center, and Park Nicollet Health Services.
But Mayo says its strategy is different.
“We are not competing,” said John La Forgia, Mayo’s chief marketing officer and a project strategist. “We have something unique. This is about health and wellness, not the kind of service provided by a hospital. … We are not developing a major new hospital.”
But anyone stopping at the mall can easily connect with Mayo doctors and resources in Rochester, Hayes said. Mayo has a two-year lease on its first-floor space and on a more traditional office nearby.
Standing by a computer monitor in one of the three traditional exam rooms, Hayes explained the Rochester connection. By using video technology, doctors in Rochester can get the pulse or blood pressure of a patient in the mall medical office. The doctors can see video of a skin lesion or other symptoms and diagnose conditions with some assistance from a medical worker at the mall office, he said.
La Forgia declined to put a price tag on the mall project cost or what kinds of revenue its expects to generate there. Patients would typically pay for mall services out of pocket, he said.
Mayo has a letter of intent with the Mall of America giving the clinic first choice of a space in the upcoming mall expansion, he added.
“We would like to do it, but there is no commitment that we will definitely do it,” he said.
Mayo has retained the Campbell Mithun advertising agency to publicize its new venture, La Forgia said. Mayo is also the only provider allowed to offer health fairs or any other health-related activity at the mall for two years, Hayes said.
The “Health Experience” space is based on extensive market research over nearly two years. Mayo interviewed mall shoppers and held focus groups from a wide age range of people in Minneapolis, Chicago, San Francisco and London. The goal is to find out what kind of health care and delivery vehicle people want going into the 21st century.
“This is a global destination,” La Forgia said of the mall. “We think of ourselves globally.”
He noted that London was chosen because England sends more people to the Mall of America than most other nations.
Mayo’s Health Experience is sandwiched between a teddy bear store and the American Girl doll shop.
The kiosks and wellness experts offer shoppers a convenient way to move health care delivery away from hospitals and doctor’s offices. The space offers quick access to as much or little medical information and service as consumers desire.
“We talk to people at the mall and at other malls and ask, ‘What would you want?’” Hayes said. “This is a lab to find out what will work in this space [and] to keep Mayo relevant and give people more information about their health and wellness using high quality materials.”