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Phat Hemp Articles
The Uses of Hemp Hemp, otherwise known as cannabis, is one of the most versatile plants in the world. Without getting into the whole legalizing marijuana thing, which is a discussion for another day, industrial hemp has so many uses that you'd almost want to call it the wonder plant. There's hemp paper, hemp clothing, hemp twine (obviously), biodegradable plastics, health food, even fuel.
Hemp is one of the earliest domesticated plants known, and it also grows very easily. It's a very hardy plant that does not need many pesticides, helps to control topsoil erosion, and also does not need any herbicides whatsoever.
Europe and Canada grow a strain of industrial hemp that is known as Cannabis sativa, L. subsp. sativa var. sativa, which is known for good fiber quality. C. sativa subsp. indica is the other common variety of hemp, but the fiber quality is poor with these, and used mainly for recreational drugs in countries that don't have a stick up their ass.
Industrial hemp contains less than .3% THC, while other strains can have 20% or higher. The top producers of industrial hemp include Canada, China, and France. If you're wondering about where my hemp twine, and much of the hemp twine comes from, it actually tends to come over from Hungary or Norway. I don't know why, but I do know that having to deal with an overseas supply for my hemp twine has made me much more aware of the global marketplace - that USD against the Euro last year effected even the hemp jewelry industry, as twine manufacturers had to find different supplies at a reasonable exchange rate as opposed to the sky high USD to Euro rate.
Hemp used for clothing can be used by itself, but commonly it is combined with other materials in a blend such as organic cotton, flax, or silk. There are literally thousands of hemp applications spanning across many different industries, but one of the coolest that I've personally heard of is hempcrete. This is concrete reinforced with hemp, and is currently undergoing test runs over in Europe and China.
If you're wondering about the nutritional value of hemp seeds, you're in for yet another surprise from this wonderful plant. A hemp seed and hemp oil has all of the essential amino and fatty acids that you need in your diet, which is very good news if you're a vegetarian looking for a source for these acids.
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