Lately, there has been a cultural approach to ‘practicing’ gratitude. To practice, you need only to be thankful for all the good things in your life. Thanksgiving and the holidays in general can often invoke these feelings for some people. 

For me gratitude is not an annual practice summoned up by turkey legs and coconut cream pie. Gratitude is a daily ritual; something I’m extremely conscious about. I don’t practice it, I live it, thinking about it thoughtfully and often, usually on my drive into work every day.  

My husband says I should use that drive time for calls so I can be more productive in my day. Instead, I use this time to reflect on all the good things happening and how I can make things even better for my team at U4EA. This drive time has grounded me and I truly believe it has become the most productive part of my day. 

It has been ten months since we launched U4EA Farms. We’ve had a lot of learning, pivoting, growing and adjusting to the market, the macro environment of legalization, and finding roadblocks we didn’t anticipate. Despite all of the challenges and growth opportunities, we have made massive strides in a small amount of time. For this I am so thankful.  

I’m most thankful for the group of people that have joined us on this journey; all of us share in the vision to create something different for the Massachusetts market. The team we have built is AMAZING, and they’ve exceeded all our expectations! They all deliver 100% every day, they give each other encouragement, celebrate wins, come together to problem solve and we always find time to laugh. We’re a group of people that believe cannabis matters to us humans. I’m grateful for every challenge we’ve faced together, because I believe in our vision and in this team; even in the short time we’ve been together. 

All of us at the farm have very unique personalities and backgrounds, and yet, we all hum along together and get the hard work done. I’m beyond grateful for this group of people that lend me their talents and effort to help make this dream come true. We’re doing more than just growing cannabis, we’re building friendships that will last. And I may be biased, but I truly believe we are growing the most AMAZING weed, so start asking for it! 

I’m grateful for what 2024 and U4EA Farms has brought into my life, and I’m excited about the new year of possibilities ahead. This Thanksgiving I don’t need to practice gratitude- because I’m living it every day. I’m beyond grateful and fortunate to be a part of Team U4EA and to be on this crazy mary jane journey!