Women played some important parts during history, this is one of the reasons we celebrate and love them today,

but did you know that Women were actually the ones who stumbled upon this plant we love and care for that much: Cannabis?

 

It’s no secret to anyone that long before we populated this planet we call Earth, there was mostly nature. No women, no men, nothing but a vast piece of landing.

And boy, what a land that was!

But long before nature started to bloom, there was a certain Ice Age that basically covered up the entire realm in icicles and a white cover.

Now this may sound like the beginning of a Disney story where the Villain is interpreted by Miss Ice Age. Who was this famous Ice Age? To say at least, a mysterious, cold and sparkly time, one that took away the beauty of Earth. How do we actually know that Earth was beautiful back then? Well, think of Earth as a Princess in a Castle, the Disney Castle.

The story goes on …

 

It was spring time many thousands of years ago.

A long Ice Age had recently ended, and a small group of nomadic people was on the move, venturing far from their ancestral territory, a thing that it is well known and practiced today, even though the reasons of doing it are quite different. When it came down to strategy, nomadic people usually searched for places that had some sort of running water around, because as you might imagine, water is most essential when deciding to "camp" somewhere or elsewhere.

Finding a suitable clearing near the bend of a meandering river, they stopped to camp. They had migrated into this remote location because of the pressure they felt from other more powerful and aggressive human groups -

let’s call them “The Villain 2.0” - mankind.

 

In their new open environment, they constructed simple shelters in which to sleep, stored their few belongings and protected their families from various things. But this particular group of humans didn’t know much in terms of agriculture and so, hunting became their main way of providing food. Sadly, we were born hunters but if you're reading this - please consider again the Hunting game.

 While men probably went away to hunt, women needed to find a way to spend time wisely. You know, we kind of had a sense of this back in the 80's especially in America, when men used to head to work and women stayed home to do the cooking and the cleaning while watching the kids. They basically ended their days with the famous phrase: "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Now try to incorporate that small sentence back into its origins and roots, in the heart of this nomadic group we were describing above. It's pretty much the same. Men went hunting and women HAD TO find a way to provide for them, or just so simply be of help.

 So what did they do?

They started to be more aware of the land that surrounded them, its prospects and possibilities, its crops, plants and mostly everything that was inter-connected with nature. From seasonal or edible fruits, roots, grains, vegetables, grubs and nuts as well as cordage fibers. Yes, they realised all of this because they became more aware of the place they were walking on. This is an amazing exercise you could start doing: be aware and grateful for the place that surrounds you everyday.

Photo Source: Clarke and Merlin - Cannabis Evolution & Ethnobotany 2013, pg. 24

 

“As time passed, they increasingly disturbed the clearing surrounding their settlement and in the process, they created nitrogen-rich soil environments by depositing organic waste materials in dump heaps.” 

Clarke and Merlin - Cannabis Evolution & Ethnobotany 2013, pg. 17

Little did they know that their acts would cut back much of the original vegetation, for instance, these people unintentionally favoured several sun-loving plants that adapted to this new area which was basically a waste-enriched soul.

You might start asking “what does that have to do with Cannabis?”

Patience, my friend, because Cannabis was in fact one of these plants that adapted to the waste-enriched soil. A well known fact about Cannabis is that it is a plant that often spreads within waste areas in open environments, so basically Cannabis loves disturbed and damaged land. 

What a Prince Charming, right?