01945 Fall 2021

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34 | 01945 Good buds By Tréa Lavery
A CANNABIS CULTIVATION-COMPANY SPROUTS FROM CHILDHOOD FRIENDSHIP Fall 2021 | 37 Almost 130 miles away from Marblehead, in Brownfield, Maine, Mark Panagakis has headquartered a growing venture in which his budding entrepreneurial skills are making him plenty of green. The small town on the New Hampshire border is where the North Shore native and his good friend Peter Slattery, originally from Salem, started ZOVA Craft Cannabis, their marijuanacultivation business. "Having a goal to work toward and the ability to make a mark in this community and in our lives, it's really liberating for us," Panagakis said. The two men first met as kids, when they attended Marblehead Community Charter Public School together, and became close in fourth grade. Panagakis became interested in the marijuana industry when a friend, Christian-Olivier Lalonde, died in a car accident. Together with more of Lalonde's friends and family, Panagakis helped set up Platinum Jane, Lalonde's vision of a hemp and CBD company (hemp and marijuana are both derived from the cannabis plant, but only marijuana contains THC, the compound that creates the "high.") Later, he partnered with another group of friends, working in wholesale hemp and CBD from their property in Rutland, Vt. for AGR Hemp Solutions. "I got a hands-on experience with them," he said. "I saw all my buddies up in Vermont and what they're doing with so little." Panagakis began growing marijuana plants in his own apartment, getting the hang of the complicated growing cycle with specialized grow lights and environmental controls. Eventually, though, he decided he was ready to expand. He explained that his grandfather had purchased the Brownfield property in 1999, but that for two decades it had sat there without being used. Working in a team with friends and family, Panagakis and Slattery spent the fall of 2020 clearing and grading a portion of that property, getting it ready for use. They purchased a greenhouse and built it over the course of about a month, and ZOVA was born. "I'm not anticipating anything big at the start, but we want to get our brand on the maps and at local dispensaries," Panagakis said. "I know it's not going to happen overnight, so we have to stay resilient and keep at it." Panagakis and Slattery explained that while weed grown in Maine can legally only be sold within that state, being there makes it much easier to get started in the industry. Licensing fees are much lower than those in Massachusetts, and the market is more friendly to small businesses as opposed to corporate producers. "The market around Maine is very consumer-driven. If your stuff isn't good, you'll know it," Panagakis said. Slattery agreed, saying that he had seen that many of the players in the local industry began as consumers, so they know what they want from the market. Many of those small players also work together to lobby the government for laws that work in their interests, not the interests of the bigger, multi-state companies. "It's nice to know the guy who grows your pot," he said. "Whereas, when you go to a dispensary, it's very commercial." The 2,800-square-foot greenhouse is half covered by the canopy of the cannabis plants. Panagakis and Slattery are licensed for 24 mature plants each at a time, or 48 total. Those 48 plants come from plenty of different strains, including "Master Kush," "Northern Lights," "Blue Dream," "Gorilla Glue" and more. Panagakis said his favorite strain is one he developed himself, which he named "Horchata" for its cinnamony scent. He and Slattery hope to work on developing more of their own strains in the future, once their first growing season gives them an idea of which plants they like best. In addition to their standard marijuana plants and a few "auto-flower" plants that grow flowers within about 70 days, they have a handful of hemp plants. If the quality of these plants turns out to be on par with the THC flower, Panagakis said, they'll eventually start breeding them to develop a 50-50 THC and CBD strain. Before that, though, they need to get through the growing season –– something that is easier said than done. Unlike house plants, cannabis plants have very specific growing needs. After they get clones (cuttings from mature plants) in June, they need a strict light cycle, which gives the plants 14 to 16 hours of light a day. The plants grow with a trellis net and are "trained" through pruning to grow in a wider canopy, as opposed to straight up, to produce more leaves and flowers. They use a strategy called "integrated pest management" to keep gnats and other bugs at bay. When the light cycle is lowered to under 12 hours a day, the plants begin to flower. At this point, Panagakis and Slattery switch to a different nutrient fertilizer blend, with more phosphorus and less nitrogen. They also release ladybugs into the greenhouse to eat the smaller bugs so that they don't have to spray pesticides onto flowers that will eventually be smoked. While each strain has a different growing time, ZOVA's plants have an anticipated harvest date during the week of Oct. 10. Once the crop is harvested, they will trim the buds of their larger leaves, dry them in a 60-degree environment at 60 percent humidity for about a week, or until the stems snap easily, and then cure them by storing them in airtight barrels for around a month. After that, the product will finally be ready to be sold. "At this point, we don't know how much weed we're going to get," Panagakis said. "Everything's kind of up in the air at Peter Slattery of Salem, left, and Mark Panagakis of Marblehead are the owners of ZOVA, a cannabis-cultivation company in Brownfield, Maine. Photos: Spenser Hasak
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Page 4 and 5: A publication of Essex Media Group
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Page 8 and 9: 06 | 01945 FANTASY ISLAND Now open
Page 10 and 11: 08 | 01945 Man in charge Marblehead
Page 12 and 13: 10 | 01945 A map into the past By T
Page 14 and 15: 12 | 01945 HOUSE MONEY PHOTOS COURT
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Page 18 and 19: 16 | 01945 A budding talent grabs a
Page 20 and 21: 18 | 01945 Three who will never be
Page 22 and 23: 20 | 01945 Taking their best shots
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Page 26 and 27: 24 | 01945 Jeff Marquis, left, and
Page 28 and 29: 26 | 01945 Betsey Cruger, a.k.a. Cr
Page 30 and 31: 28 | 01945 A bond forged with nuts,
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Page 34 and 35: 32 | 01945 Looking fourward Essays
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Page 40 and 41: 38 | 01945 ZOVA co-owner Mark Panag
Page 42 and 43: 38 | 01945 When it comes to helping

01945 Fall 2021

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