Conversations about how to assist struggling local dairy farms led Centre County businessman Bob Ricketts on a new venture, one that is now bringing his CBD elixirs and bitters to market.
Ricketts, the owner of Fasta & Ravioli Co., has launched Pink Mule Growers, a vertically-integrated hemp-growing and CBD extraction company, and this fall completed the first harvest of his industrial hemp plants on a 1-acre farm.
‘Vertically-integrated just means we do everything from growing to processing to production of products, which is pretty unique. There’s only a handful of places in Pennsylvania that are completely vertically integrated,’ Ricketts said. ‘Most people kind of choose one area to specialize in. Just because a lot of the pieces were there it seemed like the right direction for us to go was to try to do the growing, the processing and then to do the production ourselves.’
Pink Mule Growers will specialize in CBD elixirs, bitters and smokeable flower. It is currently offering elixirs such as lemon ginger and blueberry citrus and a harvest sample pack for online pre-order, with delivery scheduled for December. Preorders are available on the Pink Mule Growers website.
Ricketts began looking more closely at hemp-growing while talking with other business leaders and farmers about the challenges faced by dairy farms in recent years. In 2018, Pennsylvania legalized the production of industrial hemp, and across the country dairy farmers have given hemp-growing a try to boost their business.
He realized he had the elements in place to jump into the market himself, including some available farmland as well as Fasta’s Pleasant Gap facility for production. Last year, Ricketts began his own research and development with samples of CBD, crafting his own tinctures, gummies and creams.
‘I had kind of had an ‘a-ha’ moment in the spring where I said, ‘Why should we be doing what everyone else is doing instead of finding our own little niche to enter the marketplace?” he said.
‘The elixirs more just came out of looking at where the market was lacking and trying to find our own product niche. After years of being an entrepreneur and the cliche of ‘you have to find your niche,’ I said ‘Well this is a great niche.”
After planting its initial crops this summer on a small farm using regenerative techniques, Pink Mule Growers had its first harvest in October. Then it was on to drying, curing and producing products to have them ready to ship in time for the holidays.
Pink Mule Growers uses a 1-acre farm near Mount Nittany to grow industrial hemp for its CBD products.
CBD is used as an aid for a variety of health purposes, including pain relief and reducing anxiety and depression. It is not psychoactive — meaning it doesn’t cause a high.
‘As an industry there’s a really big educational component,’ Ricketts said. ‘Hemp is not marijuana. There’s a difference.’
In addition to selling direct to consumers, Ricketts plans to work with local bars and restaurants to incorporate the CBD elixirs and bitters into featured drinks. He said Pink Mule Growers is working with Good Intent Cider on a dry-hopped cider with CBD.
‘We’re very fortunate that the community at large is supportive of new startups,’ Ricketts said. ‘It may be a little bit edgy for some community members but by and large the conversations have been great.’
While he doesn’t have the acreage needed for large-scale hemp production, Ricketts is excited about the potential the crop has beyond CBD for farmers in Centre County and around the state.
‘When I was initially getting into thinking about the idea and conceptualizing it I was talking with a local farmer … and he said ‘The heck with CBD. The bulk of the iceberg is really in the fiber market.’ So I really think in the coming decades as the markets develop we’ll find hemp fiber being a generic substitute for thousands of products from paper to clothing. It’s really just a time lag of the processing and production capacities to catch up.’
And as for the name, how exactly did Ricketts come up with Pink Mule Growers?
It’s a callback to Penn State’s early days and agrarian roots, referencing the school’s original colors (pink and black) and its first mascot (Coaly the Mule).
‘It’s kind of a throwback to the notion of a land-grant university and utilizing the land,’ he said.
Pink Mule Growers is using its 1-acre hemp farm to develop a variety of CBD elixirs and bitters for mixing in drinks. Photo provided.
