We grow what we sell. The flower behind the counter at both the Standish and Au Gres stores is grown by the same family that runs them, on a farm a few miles from the Standish shop. It is the part of Highway Dispos most people never see, so this post is a look at it.
It started in 2008.
Josh and Chase started growing in 2008, in basements and barns, well before the laws caught up to Michigan. The growing came first; the stores came later. By the time an adult-use retail license was an option, the family had spent more than a decade learning the plant, and the farm was in Standish. The flower is grown under the family's cultivation brand, Green Mitten Pharms, and every plant is grown and tracked inside Michigan's state seed-to-sale system.1
The grow, outdoor and in.
Summers, the plants go in the ground in long hand-tended rows and grow under the Michigan sun. It is a short, bright season up here, and a sun-grown row in July looks like any other Michigan farm field until you get close.
The rest of the year the grow moves inside, into rooms run under lights, so there is fresh flower on the shelf no matter the season. Indoor lets the team hold conditions steady and bring the same strains back batch after batch.
The flower.
What ends up in the jar is hand-trimmed and hang-dried, not rushed. The team grows strains they have chased down and held onto over the years, and the selection on the shelf rotates as different rooms and rows come down. We will not tell you how any of it is going to make you feel, because that is different for everyone and it is not ours to promise. What we will tell you is exactly where it came from and how it was grown.
Why family-grown matters.
Most stores buy their flower from whoever is selling that week. We grow ours. That means we control it from seed to shelf, we know every input that went into it, and the same family that grew it is standing at the counter when you ask about it. It is also why the flower is fresh: it travels a few miles from the farm to the store, not across the state through a distributor.
From the farm to the counter.
That is the whole idea behind Highway Dispos. One family, one farm, two stores on the road north. If you want to see how it turns out, the flower is on the shelf at both locations, open 9 AM to 9 PM every day. Stop in and ask what just came down.