Back in Croatia
many years ago when it was still Yugoslavia, My family wasn't very well off.
It was a communist country after all; And my family used to live off their land farming to survive. Life was simple...
Phones were far and few between, And almost no homes had one. You had to go to the post office to even see a telephone.
Outhouses were the washrooms of the time, Bathing Was done outside, And both parents and children alike would wake up at the crack of dawn for breakfast, A shot of slivovica (Plum Brandy. AKA Gasoline.), And then a long day of tending to the many aspects of farm life, From milking cows, to slaughtering chickens, pigs and rabbits, And processing the carcasses for dinner.
Back home Nothing went to waste. nothing at all. Many preservation techniques were used to help food last much longer as there were no refrigerators in these days. Things such as Smoking the meat, Salt Curing the meat, Pickling many types of foods, and using cellars to keep the food chilled were implemented to conserve every bit of food for winter.
Every single part of the animal was used for something. Chicken foot soup was common, As was rabbit soup.
Sausage casing till today are made from Animal intestines.
Blood Sausage and head
cheese were also popular to use up the
nearly inedible face, organ and Lung meat (Known as offal)!
(Side Note: lung Meat is illegal in north America! Traditional dishes using lung meat such as haggis and blood sausage cannot be imported into Canada. Though knowing a butcher, My family is still able to get lung meat to make traditional Blood sausage.
personally I cant even stand the smell of it!
Click HERE to learn more)
Often when roasting an entire pig, the brain and tongue are some of the first things many like to consume. Even till today this happens at family gatherings.
Some of my family even like to eat the pork bones as they are soft enough to chew down.
And of course you cant forget the gristle and cartilage.... they love that.
They say "It Adds texture to The meal"
Its a wonder why I barely like meat now a days lol...
But I can understand why the older folks in my family have developed a taste for this.
Let nothing Go to Waste!
And yes, I mean nothing.
Even the human waste doesn't go to waste. As nasty as it sounds, This was used to fertilize the crops that were to be grown, along with animal manure, And mulch/Compost.
Now, the crops they were growing were quite diverse.
Their farms consisted of many varieties of food like potatoes, carrots, beets, Celery, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, cabbage and other organic foods. All the regular fruits and veggies people eat.
But their garden also consisted of 2 plants which were considered very important.
The first of these 2 important plants had to be well hidden and never spoken about. It was a taboo. but not for the reasons you may think...
This plant was known to have some psychoactive effects when smoked, and has been popular throughout human history in every culture around the world. Natives in north America see this herb as sacred and use it for various ceremonies.
This plant was being controlled by the communist Yugoslav government, and those growing it needed to ensure the people in power never found this plant or my family would risk severe punishment. (Sound Familiar?)
This plant was Tobacco. Tobacco was controlled and nearly illegal in those days.
My family had to devise a clever solution to be able to grow and harvest their tobacco without repercussions from overreaching government.
So what is the best way to hide an illegal crop?
A tried and true method that works into the 21st century is hiding the plants within a crop of other, larger plants.
This brings us to the second incredibly important plant that my family used to grow back home.
Konoplja. Aka Cannabis & Hemp
Funny as it sounds, Cannabis and hemp were not illegal back in those days (and cannabis is currently decriminalized in Croatia)!
Because my family was not very well off, and the country was communist, Their best option was to create their own textiles and fabrics. And one of the strongest most durable materials for many things happens to be Hemp!
Hemp was a necessity around the farms for everyone. Harvesting and processing the hemp was a major part of the work around the homestead.
My family had little to no idea about the psychoactive effects of cannabis in those days. nobody really did!
When processing the hemp, the stalks would be soaked in the river to soften up so the fibers can be pulled apart. All the family members would be involved in this process, and would spend hours in the river with the hemp and cannabis stocks gathering every last piece to make sure nothing goes to waste, And my grandmother (Still a child at this point) says they would all be singing and happy and feeling really great while doing this and yet they had no idea why...
It Comes Full Circle...
With my roots in this older style culture, where wasting is basically a sin...
I am always conscious of ways to make the best use of everything and try to waste as little as possible.
This mindset becomes even more important when dealing with things such as critical medicinal, or high value cash crops Like Cannabis!
After spending the time and resources growing your mouthwatering herbs, You want to get as much value as you can from it by not letting anything go to waste. Often there is more goodies there than what the eye sees at first!
This brings us to todays topic
Legal Concentrate extraction:
Bubble Hash
Using an extraction method such as this is both legal & safe and provides an incredible amount of value to those who save their trim for processing.
My most recent extraction was incredibly successful! And the consistency between this and the last extraction I did is fantastic. I got almost exactly the same amount of extract from roughly the same amount of trim as the last time I did this (Butane blasting), Despite using a completely different extraction method (Bubble Bags).
It will cost you less than $100, just once, to be able to reap the benefits of your trim over and over indefinitely, And this technique is very easy to do.
Just on this last run of trim (approx 1lb), I was able to net 35 grams (Over 1 oz) of Premium Quality Bubble Hash in 4 different grades.
This type of hash, When it can be found, usually retails for $30-$40+ per gram depending on the grade.
Even on the lower end of the value estimate, 35 grams works out to be over 1 thousand dollars!
Not only did it provide an incredible value from what was essentially trash, but it saved me a tonne of money on buying cannabis or hash while I am waiting for my crop to be done!
How to make bubble hash from your Trim (Or buds):
Step 1. Get Some Bubble bags.
-Personally I chose to go with the 8 bag set because it separates the trichomes down further allowing higher quality extracts with fewer contaminates. These are the ones I use>
-You could choose the 5 bag set if you want to save only a few dollars, But you will get lower quality hash, and also fewer grades.
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Step 2. Get A paint Mixer.
While you are on amazon,
Grab yourself a paint mixer.
If you have a drill, this is the
easiest way to do this. Mixing
by hand takes longer and is alot
more work. This is what I use>
Step 3. Get 2x 5 Gallon Pails.
These can be found for a few dollars each at your local Home Depot.
Its best to purchase new so as not to contaminate your final product with anything.
Step 4. Get 2 Bags of ice from the store.
Buying ice is better than freezer ice as it
doesn't have the impurities that tap water does
Step 5. Mix Your Cannabis, Water And ice!
in your first bucket, using the largest micron bag, Put the bag in the bucket, and open the mouth of the bag over and around the mouth of the bucket. This is Called your "working bag", you will add ice, weed, ice, weed, ice. Use 1 full bag of ice for this process. Make sure to keep the other bag in the freezer for a second run later.
Get rid of most of the large stems. they will make the mixing difficult. (As Shown)
Then you fill the bucket up with ice cold water enough to cover the cannabis and make the top ice cubes float. Don't fill it too much. you need room to work.
Once the bucket is full, let it sit for 20 minutes to really freeze the trichomes.
Step 6. Mixing!
Get your drill going and use the paint mixer to mix the living hell out of it for 10 full minutes. The idea is not to make a smoothie, But to agitate the mix and knock off all the trichomes. So best to keep the drill on low and go easy.
Step 7. Pulling Out your Working Bag And Swapping to the Collection Bags.
Now that you have thoroughly mixed your material, its time to prepare your second bucket.
Start with the lowest number on the bag for the finest micron.
Mine is 25, Then install bags in increasing values. 25, 45,74,90 something, 120 etc, one after another inside each other, being sure to get the screens as close to the bottom as possible and keeping the open tops folded over the outside of the bucket as before with the working bag.
By the time you are done setting this up, the mixture will be ready to pour.
Now you want to pull out your working bag and close it up at the top with the draw string, and slowly let it drain into the working bucket. make sure to shake it and give it a few good squeezes until no more liquid comes out.
Put that bag into a bowl and save it for later. Its a good idea to run it a second time.
Now take the working bucket, and pour the liquid into the other bags in the collection bucket.
**Pour Slowly. Often one bag will filter quite slowly, and could cause it to overflow if you are careless**
Step 8. Harvest your hash!
The most exciting part has arrived! Now is the time to slowly start to pull each of your collection bags out 1 by 1. The first couple will drain very quickly, but as the screens get smaller, The bags drain slower.
Each bag you pull out will have varying amounts of hash left in them.
Stretch the bag over a bowl inside out so you can access the hash.
Use a hose on low or a spray bottle to encourage the hash to bunch up in the center of the bag, Then use a spoon to collect the hash and place it on a pressing screen with a towel under it.
Lightly press the hash in the screen to help it wick away the liquid.
Carefully place your hash on a piece of cardboard and separate it so it can dry. Let it dry for 24+ Hours, and then weigh it up to see what you got!
And if you did it right, you should have several grades of hash that vary in color, Smell, flavor and texture. This is grade 4. The most potent one.
This is how you leave Nothing to Waste, and get the MAXIMUM value from your home grow, Safely, Efficiently, And Legally!
So what are you waiting for? If you have some trim (Or buds) and you want some hash... Grab these bags and get started!
Be self reliant, and Survive the pandemic LIKE A BOSS