From Micro Greens to Greenman Acres:

Roy Love Brings His Expertise to the Cannabis Landscape

The phrases “craft beer” and “craft wine” once sounded like strange ideas, unfamiliar to many beer and wine fans alike. But now, these unique brewing and winemaking styles reign supreme in the eyes of beer and wine connoisseurs worldwide. Also gaining momentum is the emerging craft cannabis movement, shifting the idea of mass production to a smaller, more hands-on approach with the intention of cultivating a rare, high-quality, coveted plant. Greenman Acres, along with Master Grower, Roy Love, is doing just that.

A farmer by trade, Roy Love came to join the Greenman Acres family in early 2020. “___ was a customer of mine for many years, regularly buying eggs from my farm. Over time, we became friends, our families became friends, and then one evening while sharing dinner in my garden, conversations turned to their family’s recent endeavours in the cannabis industry,” Love said over a recent phone call. “The next thing I knew, a job offer was on my plate.”

It wasn’t just Roy’s shining hosting abilities that drove the Greenman Acres team to offer him the position of Master Grower on their budding cannabis farm. For more than __ years, Roy and his wife Ginny have been the owners and operators of Roy’l Acres Farm, a 100-acre farm just south of the Georgian Bay in Southern Ontario, specializing in organic and sustainable practices in growing micro greens, edible flowers, heirlooms, and herbs, and also producing honey, maple syrup, and 5,000 chicken, duck, and quail eggs weekly. Originally intended to grow fresh produce for Roy, Ginny and their family, Roy’l Acres’ flavourful yields quickly gained notoriety from friends and family in Toronto’s culinary community, amassing over 35 high-end restaurants on their unexpected client roster. When the demand became too high to manage, the Loves reached out to their friends on neighbouring farms, sharing their farming techniques and successes with the community.

While Ginny continues to run Roy’l Acres Farms, a quick drive north brings Roy to Greenman Acres, the burgeoning family-run craft cannabis farm where he now resides as Master Grower. Similar to the style of a winery, the farm harnesses the region’s microclimate, sun exposure, and natural irrigation, pairing these elements with Roy’s passionate craftsmanship to produce small-batch cannabis plants full of flavour and aroma unique to the surroundings, the way nature intended.

“What you put into your soil will show through your product in the end,” says Love, who studied botany in his college days. With his unrelenting passion and wealth of knowledge of natural farming practices, Roy leads the Greenman Acres growing process from start to finish, tending to seedlings over the winter months, hardening off in the spring, nourishing throughout the summer, and finally harvesting in the fall. The buds are meticulously hand-trimmed and hung to dry and then later cured, in Roy’s words, “like a fine wine,” to ensure the absolute highest quality flower in the most sustainable way possible. 

It’s no surprise that with the goal of crafting the best cannabis in mind, Greenman Acres has enlisted the best person for the job. “If you want to sell a product,” Love explained, “then you need to grow the best product possible. Be better than anyone else.”