All it takes is a few good puffs, and you’re whisked away to paradise. There is always a warm breeze that flows through your body when you take your first puff. Life becomes beautiful again. The sun’s white, crisp rays warm your skin, while Mother Nature hums the most beautiful song. Instantly, all of your stress melts away. You’re overjoyed with how clear your mind is.
For Christina Dipaci finding “Paradise in a Puff” is what we all need to shift our lives and let our stressors go. Dipaci is the CEO and co-founder of Caliber Farms. Under the farm’s umbrella is Paradiso Gardens and Dovetail. Paradiso Gardens invites customers to take a vacation from everyday life by indulging your senses with their premium cannabis flower.
When Dipaci was 12-years-old, she transferred from Catholic to public school. She and her new girl-gang—Anna, Jane, and Maya—were looking for paradise amidst all of the middle school chaos. They all saved $5 from lunch and bought their first $20 sack of blueberry.
“We got the local gas station to sell us a dutch, and we royally butchered it,” shared Dipaci with High Times. “We then found out you could just smoke out of an aluminum can and proceeded with that method, [and we] learned fairly quickly this was not the healthiest idea. Honestly, I just wanted to try something new and experience the world. I felt so silly, happy, and connected to my new friends on a deep level. [Nyack, NY is] pretty liberal and full of stoners, so it was a safe, judgment-free place to start learning about weed and having fun with it.”
As legalization began to take root in the U.S., Dipaci made a promise to herself and Mary Jane. She became committed to honoring and exploring the plants potential in a fun, creative, and collaborative way, which is why Paradiso Gardens is such a breath of fresh air.
Grown is Salinas, CA., it is clear that the California Coast was a key inspiration for Dipaci and the Paradiso Gardens team.
“Salinas chose us,” she said. “The laws for cultivating cannabis were favorable and the climate is ideal for most agricultural products, including cannabis. It is a vast valley of [the] large scale production of strawberries, artichokes, broccoli, and lettuce that meets the shores of the Monterey Bay and Pacific Ocean. It is a wild and beautiful coastal range that is rich with history and dreams of the future. “
Although Dipaci started in the legal cannabis industry two years ago, she says that more cannabis businesses should take a mindful approach.
“I think the biggest thing the cannabis industry is missing right now is a clear understanding by consumers on how cannabinoids and terpenes affect you,” she said. With so many generations of people working through the trauma of “reefer madness” and the war on drugs, Dipaci encourages consumers to research the brands their purchasing from and always question their integrity.
“With our company and brands, we strive to influence the industry by producing strains with unique cannabinoids and terpenes and create products that market with clarity around how the components of this strain will affect you.”
As an independent woman farmer, Dipaci says that the cannabis industry should support more farms “that are good to their people and good to their plants”. She also notes that there are very few farms run by women.
In Salem, AL., Dr. Portia Fulford, like Dipaci, is opening doors for more women to connect with their wild side through cannabis cultivation. Fulford is an Agribusiness financier and Founder of the Black Belt Opportunity Zone Fund. She also operates Potmama, which specializes in cannabis and hemp startups, training, and agribusiness development throughout the south.
“I started Potmama as a world class diversified business school that teaches people about growing hemp and cannabis, while starting a profitable business within this billion dollar industry. [We] provide on-the-ground training and high finance funding opportunities for members,” shared Fulford with High Times.
Fulford says that her favorite part of the cultivation process is “seeing this beautiful plant transforms geographical landscapes [to produce] prosperity and impact small communities to become economically enhanced and thriving!”
Cannabis gave Dipaci the financial freedom she needed to study and explore our world, which is why she is committed to giving away as much paradise as she can. “[…] there is a lot of suffering on our planet right now so it is easy to feel helpless and doomed. In times like these, we need to discover our own power and ability to create the world we want to live in. By escaping to paradise, we can feel a bit less pressure and a bit more optimistic about our day to day and that translates to feeling more positive about the future.”
The Paradiso Gardens brand illustrates how important it is to cultivate peace from within so that we can live an abundant life. Over the years, so many of us have had to continuously pull ourselves out of the negative self-talk that comes with being a part of cannabis culture.The cannabis industry is the ideal place for us to work through our traumas and win.
“It’s a major shift in perspective that is tremendously important for understanding our system and propelling changes to the system to be more fair and beneficial for all people and communities,” shared Dipaci.
Everyone has the right to enjoy paradise.
