FAT PIG SOCIETY COOP
BILL ALTHOUSE
Bill Althouse is one of the nation’s most highly experienced hemp farmers. As one of the very first CBD producers in the world, he has developed new high-CBD varieties, and pioneered some of the first USDA organic certifications for hemp propagation, cultivation, extraction, and handling. Bill is an innovator with an energy engineering background who loves to tackle technical challenges on the Fat Pig farm. He has developed leading-edge organic hemp farming methods, and original, proprietary, and clean CBD extraction methods.Â
As a matter of principle, however, Bill only makes his intellectual property available to small organic farmers and to cooperatives. While he could have cashed in on his technical acumen through traditional means long ago, making money and getting rich never interested him. Lore has it that he has chased more than a few venture capitalists with “suitcases of money” off of his farm, loudly proclaiming that they would only lose their investment, as soon as farmers came together in a vertically-integrated cooperative to crash the price of CBD. His core principles continue to drive him to make CBD affordable for everyone.
Bill carries strong values in his bones. He lived among the matriarchal cultures of Micronesia, wielding a spear gun and a machete as part of a small crew working to feed 100 people per day. For 15 years, he sold flowers and strawberries at the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market, alongside some of the most sustainable local farmers in the USA. He learned from those Hispanic farmers, some of whom had been farming the same family lands for over 400 years. (Think ditches dug before the arrival of the Pilgrims…) Those families in turn had learned from Native American farmers with thousands of years of farming heritage.
Bill is committed to bringing economic value to the people and lifestyles he values most: organic farmers. Bill’s calling card question is, “How does this serve the farmer?” He is a proud member of the R&D committee of the Governor’s CHAMP (Colorado Hemp Advancement and Management Program) initiative, working closely with CSU, CDA and other stakeholders to develop a process that would protect farmers through the certification of hemp varieties that would produce well and not go “hot.” Bill is forever “knocking on doors” on behalf of organic hemp farmers, keeping his finger on the pulse of market conditions by making contacts and conducting research daily.Â
IGINIA BOCCALANDRO
Iginia Boccalandro likes to be known as the “brains of the Fat Pig Society (Coop)”. She has brought the Coop together with love, leadership, foresight and steadfast commitment. She is both an activist and extrovert, tending all her relationships with warmth and care. She sees the Fat Pig Society cooperative as being more like a think tank that had to prove that growing organic hemp solved real life problems by creating a livelihood, growing and producing clean food and medicine for humans and pets, and using sustainable practices that sequester carbon. Thus, creating revenue streams for small organic farmers and giving back to the community. Growing hemp for CBD proved to be the perfect cash crop and the coop’s success is the proof of concept. Other projects such as genomic selection, growing hemp for fiber, hemp for grain and hemp for biofuel are part of our focus for the future.
Her colorful life includes having been a two-time Olympian, representing Venezuela in the luge. She is the founder of our fiscal sponsor, the nonprofit Carbon Economy Series, representing them at conferences and symposiums worldwide. Iginia is also an avid surfer and family woman. Her favorite activity, however, is talking about the benefits of our organic, whole-plant CBD product. Her conviction makes her an ideal educator and good saleswoman, keeping demand flowing in from all over the globe. She strives to make sure that every visitor to the farm leaves happier, healthier and smarter.
She empowers others to take charge of their health and move towards their full potential. Iginia holds a Bachelor of Science degree from University of New York (SUNY), is an alternative health practitioner and has a private Rolfing practice in Structural Integration since 1988. As a former Olympian, Iginia has served as mentor, coach, and alternative health provider for countless clients, including professional athletes. She has worked in Vermont, Utah, California, Texas, Venezuela, New Mexico, and now, Colorado.Â
In 2011, Iginia created the Carbon Economy Series (CES), an educational 501 (C) 3. CES teaches sustainable principles and practices at colleges across the U.S. As a Certified Permaculture Designer, she has spearheaded many sustainable projects and initiatives throughout the Americas. She has studied with Dr. Paulo Lugari, Toby Hemenway and Dr. Elaine Ingham.
Iginia comes from a ranching family in Venezuela. Her path intersected with Bill years ago, when she helped Althouse Farm produce two specialized crops for the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market: Mara de Bois French strawberries, and giant dahlias. The Carbon Economy had identified farmers as a group that it wanted to help and Bill’s farm was one of the sites the nonprofit worked with in 2014.
Iginia relocated to Colorado in 2015, at the same time as Bill, to become a hemp farmer and to help establish the Fat Pig Society. Given her commitment to sustainability, biodiversity, and alternative medicine, Iginia was a natural and essential founding member. She has helped craft many of our CBD infused products, working alongside members, volunteers, Agents of Change, coop members and other cooperatives to make our products available to as many people as possible.
Her dream is to leave a legacy for the transference of Knowledge by creating an educational/hands on learning center to make us all more resilient. The learning center would focus on learning to grow our own food and medicine, using organic indigenous regenerative practices and local, circular economy to create an alternative to the industrialization of agriculture, use of toxins and predatory capitalism.
Iginia is bilingual and likes to teach all around the world. She was invited to the Canna Expo in Montevideo, Uruguay in 2019 where she spoke about the lessons learned in an organic, workers cooperative growing hemp. She also taught in Paraguay via skype last year in a conference set up by the Universidad Nacional de Asunción in order to implement a National hemp growing initiative that would give “campesinos” another option other than growing drugs for cartels.
YAMIE LUCERO
Yamie Lucero comes from Katishtya or what is now called San Felipe Pueblo in New Mexico. His birth name is Yakah’ch and comes from the Ant Clan. Alongside his family, on the reservation, he grew fields of chiles, melons, and corn. As a volunteer, Yamie arrived at Fat Pig Society in 2016. His intent was to provide CBD for his mother who had breast cancer. Since his very arrival he has proven to be a pivotal and indispensable force in the cooperative. He has learned the entire operation, innovating and optimizing all aspects of our business: cloning, growing, harvesting, storing, extracting, jarring of hemp and marketing our CBD oil. Yamie’s hard work, intelligence, and dedicated care for the plants has earned him respect in his new community. He plays a key role in CBD extraction for our own products, in bulk sales, and in establishing private label customers. He now works to provide CBD for all. Yamie lives with Justshaina and their children on the farm in Fort Collins. His belief is that the health of all people is tied directly to the health of the land and that cannabis is food and that food is medicine.
JOHN LONG: IN MEMORIUM
John was loved by many and inspired all who knew him. He dedicated his life to creating a more just and sustainable world. He gave boundless energy to building community, supporting the Northern Colorado environmental movement, and encouraging a world filled with music, laughter and love.Â
John leaves a long legacy of endeavors that he helped to create including, but not limited to, Blue Sun Biodiesel, Zero Hero, the Sustainable Living Fair, Fat Pig Society/Colorado Hemp Farmers Cooperative, Northern Colorado Renewable Energy Society, Positive Legacy, the Atmosphere Conservancy, and Biodiesel for Bands. John was also an avid golfer (with his lowest handicap of 2!), team bowler (3 Hole Enthusiasts!), snowboarder (the higher the mountain the better!), and overall adventurer. He loved to travel, hike, river run, see live music, and instigate a good time.Â
He was an adoring husband, brother, son, and friend, and even through his battle with a cancer discovered far too late, made Fat Pig Society and his other nonprofits a part of his daily good works until the very end. His spirit of goodwill and brotherhood is present in every farm potluck and felt every time a red tailed hawk circles the fields.
Justshaina
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Justshaina first learned about the Fat Pig Society when she began visiting Yamie on the farm. During her visits she helped with planting, transplanting, harvesting and making CBD products. She decided to move to Fort Collins and join Fat Pig Society as an intern in 2019. Justshaina helps with shipping, packaging, and growing, and has recently added cloning to agglomeration of skills. Additionally, she is tremendously appreciated by all for her graciousness preparing food daily for the coop members and farm community. Outside of working with hemp she also enjoys selecting and sowing seeds to grow heirloom varieties of nutrient dense food in her garden.
“In the two years on the farm, I have come to love growing our own food, cooking, and being around the different people from all walks of life; who gather at the farm to help us each year. It has made me miss home. I grew up living off the land and was taught to cook the foods that grew naturally or that we raised. My love for cooking includes teaching my children how to prepare healthy foods to nourish their bodies and minds. Cooking here has also taught me how to prepare healthier traditional foods, as well as learning how to cook with new spices and vegetables not grown in my area.”
Justshaina has been accepted into the online Master Gardener class for the higher elevations of Northern Arizona and is seeking to attain a certification. She and Yamie have 3 children they are raising on the farm. Their hope is that with this generation, they will teach them early on to learn how to live off the land by growing their own food organically and with regenerative, indigenous practices.
Les Canges
Les Canges has been an avid organic gardener since early adulthood but got a boost in his passions when he attended the Albuquerque Carbon Economy Series conference in early 2014 and met Iginia Boccalandro. There he learned about the latest techniques in organic and sustainable agriculture and also about the future of hemp farming in the US, especially in the arid Southwest. The conference spurred him to take a Permaculture Design Course and receive a PDC certificate in 2015. That same year Iginia and Bill Althouse moved to Colorado to pursue their hemp farming and teaching activities in Colorado in a more cannabis friendly environment. Les has been volunteering with the Fat Pig Society in various capacities since the establishment of the Fat Pig Society hemp farm and CBD production facilities in Colorado. Currently Les provides administrative support in the farm’s accounting, product distribution and lab testing efforts. He finds great satisfaction in helping an organization that promotes worker and agricultural cooperatives, organically produced healthy products, and community service through education and provision of its quality products to those in need for free or reduced cost.
Randy Miles
Randy Miles came to Fat Pig Society in 2017 in search of a professional, ethical provider of CBD to try to help with his medical conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high triglycerides, to name a few) that required many different prescription medications. Upon arrival he was educated about what FPS does and how they do it. Their dedication to “NOP” (National Organic Protocols) was above and beyond his expectations and he began the FPS journey that helped to heal his body and soul. The integrity observed and practiced on their Fort Collins 100% USDA Certified farm enhances the value of this remarkable plant. After six months of taking Fat Pig Society’s CBD oil, and with his medical doctors’ approval, he reduced and then eliminated ALL of his prescription medications and he has never felt better!
We are proud to have Randy as the Fat Pig Society Global Ambassador. In this capacity, he raises awareness of our programs, products, methods and regenerative agriculture dedicated to to the preservation of small farms and farmers; while expanding our research in hemp and hemp by-products into mainstream industries. His organization, Total Cannabis Solutions, expands the scope of our resources globally to create a network of like-minded cannabis industry leaders to further the exploration of this incredibly valuable medicinal plant. With Randy’s resources and contacts, a successful merging of our platform of dynamic and strategic partnerships in the fast-paced cannabis industry comes to fruition.
Randy has developed relationships with several publicly traded cannabis companies who have drawn upon his expertise for production of high quality marijuana and industrial and medical hemp for medicinal applications and research. His experience in designing and building the infrastructure for vertical integration is often called upon in this industry. Randy and Total Cannabis Solutions are committed to the future of cannabis focusing on a culture and philosophy that stays true to the plant and planet!
Randy has connected Fat Pig Society to Project Hero. He is a Friend to this important organization (weareprojecthero.org) supporting veterans and first responders, many with PTSD and TBI, and serves as a liaison offering our healing products to its members.
Randy has 45 years of entrepreneurial experience with over twenty different business ventures. From small local concerns (Village Inn restaurant) to global conglomerates (Vault Security, a global security entity), to name a few. He has deep expertise in supply chain logistics, local government, community action, public speaking, consulting, business planning and marketing.
Andrew Sachs
Andrew Sachs wears many hats at the Fat Pig Society. He met founding members Bill Althouse and John Long in 2012 while working at Happy Heart Farm CSA in Fort Collins. He single-handedly planted the first legal hemp crop since prohibition that season. Since the farm’s first season in 2015, Andrew has helped in the fields as a farm hand and foreman. He now works on sales and distribution of the product to support the farm mission.
Organic farming and cannabis as medicine have been a passion of Andrew’s for over a decade. In 2011, he moved to Colorado to participate in the MMJ caregiver program, and grew high quality organic cannabis for his patients. In 2015, he transferred his skills to the non-psychoactive cannabis world through his work with the Fat Pig Society.
The Fat Pig Society has become family to him and the cooperative has given him an opportunity to use his farming, networking and sales skills. In addition and as importantly, the medicine grown on the farm has changed his life. Andrew went through the gamut of western allopathic medicine as a teenager and into his young adulthood. After many trials with western medicine, he has found Fat Pig Society hemp to be his medicine of choice. It has helped him stay healthy and well, and free of pharmaceuticals for years.
Andrew’s interest in farming began with an appreciation for the environmental challenges faced in the current age. He graduated from Prescott College in 2010 with a dual degree in environmental studies (with a focus on small-scale organic agriculture and permaculture) and Indigenous studies. He values and connects with cultures worldwide whose way of life naturally supports a balance with the environment.
Besides his interest in farming, Andrew is also a drummer, playing in several bands on the front range of Colorado. He is also a RYT 200 Yoga instructor, golfer, and entrepreneur. He looks to help the Fat Pig Society integrate into the current market, and is grateful for the medicine and meaningful relationships he has made along the way!