FIELD OF DREAMS; Trimed Farm Transforms Waste Into Pure, Quality Medicine with Sustainable Agricultural Practices

TriMed Farm is a place with modest roots that grew, in very short order, to a company with a remarkably leafy canopy. Located in Chesaning, Michigan, and established in 2017 by co-founders Paige Carioti, Mike Gelatka, co-founder and Market Developer Kevin Gelatka, and along with the assistance of Developer and Designer Dave Ghezzi, TriMed started out as a relatively small cannabis growing operation with just six acres of land. In its first year, they produced 4,000 plants. Fast-forward to 2022, and TriMed has since swelled to include thirty-six acres that produces upwards of 17,500 plants. But TriMed didn’t stop at cultivation. Committed to overseeing the process from seed to sale, they have since expanded their operations to become a vertically integrated company that includes its own kitchens, brands and dispensaries. Thus was born The ReLeaf Company – an umbrella organization that now includes the farm itself, two production facilities and five storefronts. Although their rapid expansion is remarkable in its own right, what truly makes TriMed Farm an inspiration is the manner in which they have remained steadfast to their original vision and prime directive - delivering quality medicine to the patient through sustainable and environmentally beneficial means.  

Mike and Paige care profoundly for the health and well-being of their customer base. They also care deeply for the environment and, from the farm’s inception, have remained loyal to implementing farming practices that replenish and nourish the land while simultaneously delivering a product that is pristine and nutrient-packed. As is happily now becoming common knowledge, the health of the plant ultimately depends upon the nutrient complexity of its environment. Mike and Paige understood that symbiotic relationship on a fundamental level and, using the expertise of Chief Cannabis Grower (CCG) Dave Barnum, along with insight from Chief Horticulturist Andrew Zalewski, looked for ways to develop a permaculture that supported their shared vision and the company’s rapid growth. Since one of the most critical components of sustainable farming is the integrity of the water source, it seemed only natural to start there. And if that water source could also inform the health of both the soil and the plant, all the better. What more optimal way to deliver this system than through aquaponics?

Most, if not all, city water is contaminated with what is deemed tolerable levels of heavy metals and pollutants. In order to remain true to their vision, TriMed wanted to source their own water and aquaponics seemed to provide the most efficient and ethically sound means of going about it. In a nutshell, aquaponics is a system that marries aquaculture (fish farming) with hydroponics (raising plants with minimum to no soil). Fish and other aquatic plants and animals produce waste that is rich in healthy bacteria, ammonia and nitrates. This nutrient-rich water is then applied directly to plants which, in turn, start their own natural filtration process. The end result is clean, fresh water that is redirected back to the primary water source via irrigation channels. Basically, aquaponics is one of nature’s own water filtration systems that, free from the use of commercial fertilizers and pesticides, nourishes plants and filters water while minimizing both water and soil consumption. 

But herein lay the problem: TriMed didn’t have its own water source. Not easily cowed, TriMed simply decided to make their own. Luckily, just a few feet below the surface of the soil existed natural groundwater. By channeling that water into a pond of their own, they could ensure their water’s integrity. And so they dug a 1.5-million-gallon pond that they populated with fish, frogs and turtles, all of which now cohabitate with locally- sourced aquatic vegetation. As a result, TriMed has created an optimal environment for delivering nutrient-rich, naturally fertilized water to their crops. Barnum talks very frankly when it comes to both the farm and the pond. "My favorite thing to say around the farm is ‘keep it simple, stupid.’ People like to overthink it, but it's simple. The plant will tell you if it's missing something or if you're doing something wrong. Whenever you see a tree around a natural water source, it's thriving. Keep it simple and give the plants the right stuff - the pond's habitat delivers just that."

            The pond is not the only manner in which TriMed has remained true to its vision. Both Barnum and Zalewski maintain a “quality-in, quality-out” mindset and hold the integrity of the final product close to heart in their daily management of the farm’s operations. “We work with every plant multiple times,” Barnum says, “to ensure the quality of the medicine is to a standard that we are willing to put our name behind.” So in addition to its aquaponic system, TriMed has also partnered with agricultural researcher Andrea McVeigh of MightyMicrobes to naturally enhance soil health, crediting MightyMicrobes with boosting both their plant nutrient cycling uptake and vigorous root development. 

            In another push toward regenerative practices, even TriMed’s biomass waste is recycled. Plant litter, laden with constituent nutrients, is kept aside so that it can be churned back into the topsoil. This process provides essential nutrients to the soil’s microorganisms, allowing for increased soil fertility and complexity. Since experts claim that traditional industrial agriculture fails to satisfy the permaculture necessary for maintaining soil nutrient levels as well as natural pest deterrence, TriMed has opted for natural pest control methods such as releasing predators like ladybugs and praying mantises. Finally, TriMed has also started on-site recycling as well as a ‘reduce and reuse’ initiative that limits the number of materials brought on the property with short shelf-lives and/or narrow purpose. According to Zalewski, “TriMed strives for perfection in a climate that changes daily. We continue to research and innovate to bring the best products to market.” 

            This commitment to best practices is evident in the pristine quality and medicinal integrity inherent in each of their many products. Director of Compliance Randy Barr oversees the journey from seed to sale by ensuring that each of the 17,500 plants is tagged so that he can better track not only compliance but also movement. Even amidst rapid growth, when other businesses might be tempted to cut corners in order to maximize profits, TriMed never sacrifices quality for quantity. Indeed, churning out a mediocre product in pursuit of a wider profit margin is a pitfall that TriMed has sidestepped altogether. This careful side-stepping has certainly had its reward. Today, five years since their founding, TriMed and The Releaf Company together can boast everything from hand-trimmed, cured flowers with carefully selected strains that carry specific cannabinoid and terpene profiles to just about anything you can find in a dispensary. Such flexibility allows them to  accommodate a wide variety of consumer and medicinal needs. Step into any one of their five dispensaries, and their compassionate and well-informed staff will guide you through your selections – educating you about the varieties of their kief, bulk bud and extracts to their cartridges, gummies, chocolates, topicals and pre-rolls.

            Some might call this realization from seed to sale a metaphorical field of dreams, all of which has resulted in TriMed’s evolution into one of the most notable and vertically integrated farms in Michigan. To travel with the seed is really quite a journey – from initial cultivation, to extraction and infusion, to bottling and packaging. As evidenced, this seed demonstrates a growth that branches up to quite a leafy canopy. What’s more, the nutritional integrity of the plant, the water, the soil and the environment is vigilantly maintained throughout the entire process. To recall that such robust growth was originally born from a vision shared by a small handful of people on a pittance of six square acres is nothing to shake a stick at. But who's got sticks, anyway? Those sticks are all too busy sprouting new leaves to be bothered with shaking at the likes of us.