GARDEN HIGHLIGHT

24 Enlighten Gardens LLC

AT THE END OF MARCH, a palpable sense of excitement took over a 15,000-square-foot growing facility in Anchorage. It was the kind of focused energy that only comes from being days away from your first harvest. For Enlighten Gardens LLC, the promise of their upcoming bounty has been sweetened by the struggle they went through to get the operation up and running. “This entire project has been very humbling – to see how things have come together after so much struggle is a good feeling,” explains Cultivation Manager Chad Foos.

Enlighten Gardens Head Cultivator Chad Foos.

An Alaskan transplant by way of Colo- nurse their clones However, when it comes to their first harvest, rado, Foos has overseen large scale operations for the past 11 years. So, when Enlighten is in red Solo cups at approved residences Enlighten is diving straight into the deep end with 12 different strains. he was offered a place with Enlighten in 2018, it seemed like it would be a natural fit. What ensued was a multi-year struggle diving straight into the deep end before moving them into their new home. "We just had to do “Given that our owners have had a storefront for four years now, they were able to make educated decisions on what would be a good start for us. to find the perfect facility, while trying to push through permitting. Not unlike with 12 different what we had to do,” shrugs Foos. “Most We have a solid sativa and some good indica strains. We also have a variety of hybrids that are Goldilocks, Enlighten struck out on three strains. of [clone room] was right in the middle. So, we kind of covered the facilities before finally finding the right filled up with Solo gamut to make sure that we have a little bit of one in 2020. cups and small plants. Now that we have every- everything in this first harvest,” says Foos.

The first proposed facility was occupied by a thing in vegetation, it looks bare – but it makes The initial harvest is only a small sampling of stubborn squatter. The second building was a me happy walking into here and not seeing cups bigger things to come from the budding garden. lot like a bad Tinder date – great on paper but everywhere! Watering hundreds and hundreds of Enlighten currently has access to close to 200 terrible in-person. Their third option’s rent was too little cups every day was pretty unfortunate.” different varieties of genetics to play with. Once high. With his first plants safely nestled in one of the the grow is completely dialed in, Foos hopes to

It all seemed like a losing prospect until, as facility’s three grow rooms, Foos has turned his release in-house created feminized seeds through Foos puts it, “The universe finally sent us the right attention to finishing construction on the large the company’s retail store, which already sells high building.” Ironically, Foos’ dream building once vegetation room. quality, stable clones. served as a warehouse for criminal evidence Once completed, the vertical grow will house But first, Foos is just looking forward to setting collected by Alaska State Troopers. as many as 1,500 plants at a time. It will also up the garden’s Dosatron systems so he can finally

“We actually had the sign for a little while be- go through 800 gallons of water daily – much of take a break from all the hand-watering. fore the Troopers found out and came to reclaim which will be recycled through the natural conden- “Definitely holding my breath on that one,” it,” laughs Foos. sation that accumulates in the room. laughs Foos.

Unfortunately, finding the perfect space wasn’t “When we thought about how we wanted to the end of Enlighten’s journey. With a tight harvest structure our grow, we wanted to make sure that deadline approaching and remodels still under- we factored in sustainability. For us, the focus is on way, Foos and his fellow employees had to legally quality, not always quantity,” explains Foos. Hawaiian Dutch from their first harvest

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