Yep, same boat. I chose not to renew this year and shut my little grow down. My situation was, I’d inherited my deceased family’s large commercial building, had enough cash to get some equipment, and no shortage of desire to grow and learn what I could while I could. Not everyday that opportunity comes along.
I knew the business side would be a challenge, so I was putting my effort into finding some really unique stuff grown organically that would “sell itself”. Ultimately, I did it because I wanted to pheno hunt on a scale I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I expected it to sell better, but by the time I had any kind of decent product, the market was flooded. I had some primo harvests, and literally everything was done by me, down to the hand trimming and making custom bag tags. Had a pretty decent thing going for a couple years. I just couldn’t be ok with the prices dropping and the obvious lack of knowledge about or desire for true quality. The market seems completely ok with junk herb with no regard for quality. Not my market. There’s some things in this world that are worth finding the really good craft/high quality stuff and not settling for bottom or mids: coffee, dark chocolate, food, herb, water, wine, etc.
Have no regrets tho, got connected with some of my favorite breeders through IG and whatnot, and found some really good herb. Made a bunch of seeds, and now just have a few projects going at the house. Relieved to be out, not dealing with Metrc and all the bs. I wish things would really turn around and the market would value craft and high quality small-production, if only for the plant’s sake to be valued more, especially regarding pedigree. Each his own.
So I say, F the market, grow your own, and grow a variety of older and rare genetics instead of 10 different types of the same bottlenecked genetics and hype crap. Happy Monday folks