- If you’re a Greek weed farmer, things can apparently always get worse.
Being a Greek farmer has been far from easy this summer. First, the country was quite literally on fire for weeks, and when the rain finally came, the torrential downpours turned into deadly floods.
You can see that might have a negative effect on your crops. You certainly don’t need wandering animals chowing down on whatever’s left.
But that’s precisely what happened to a poor weed farmer.
After struggling with adverse weather conditions all year, medical cannabis farmer Yannis Bouronis had managed to produce a few hundred pounds of green gold. It was all for naught, though, because a herd of hungry sheep ransacked his greenhouse.
Most of the sticky icky disappeared into the animals’ stomachs. Funnily enough, Bouronis hadn’t even noticed until an apologetic shepherd came to tell him his sheep were acting strangely and that the weed farmer should perhaps check his stash.
Sure enough, Bouronis’ crop was all gone. If there are any silver linings, at least the sheep had the time of their lives.
The Jumping Sheep
The sheepy, weedy incident happened in the town of Almyros in western continental Greece. The town is located on the plains of Thessalia, which are currently kind of flooded.
As such, there’s not really much edible grass available. This brings us to the sheep herd of one Almyran shepherd.
He had been herding his sheep in the flooded plains, the animals grazing wherever they could. However, the horrendous rains that have plagued the region continue even today, which wasn’t pleasant for the sheep.
At some point, the herd went to seek shelter at a local greenhouse. While huddling under the cover, the hungry animals decided to help themselves to the plants growing in the greenhouse.
The shepherd hadn’t realized his animals had ransacked someone else’s property and continued herding them as normal. Soon, however, things turned less than normal.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the sheep started acting… Bizarrely.
According to the weed farmer Bouronis, the beasts were “jumping higher than goats,” reported Newsweek. Just so we’re clear, that’s not something that usually happens.
Realizing what the nearby farm grew, the shepherd immediately went to see Bouronis. If what he thought had happened had actually happened, the shepherd had some explaining to do.
‘Green Stuff to Eat’
And indeed, that’s what had happened. The sheep had devoured the cannabis Bouronis grew in his greenhouse.
All 220 pounds of it.
No wonder they were acting strangely. The animals were as high as the heaven above.
That’s funny to us. But Bouronis said he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry.
It hasn’t been a good year for his farming operation to say the least. And now that he finally had a small crop, the sheep ate it.
“We had the heatwave and we lost a lot of production. We had the floods, we lost almost everything,” Bouronis lamented.
“And now this… The herd entered the greenhouse and ate what was left. I don’t know what to say, honestly.”
Despite it all, Bouronis can’t bring himself to really blame the sheep. After all, what’s a hungry animal to do?
“They found green stuff to eat,” Bouronis shrugged.
Can’t Get Any Worse… Right?
For what it’s worth, at least Bouronis can say he’s a pioneer in his field. It won’t bring back his crops or lost income but it has to count for something.
Greece legalized cannabis for medical use in 2017. Yet, the first domestic cannabis farms didn’t open until January this year.
Others, like Bouronis’ farm, have followed. The Greek government is actively promoting medical cannabis cultivation, seeing it as a way to give the country’s farmers new opportunities to earn a living.
A lot of companies from within and outside Greece have begun making significant investments in growing the wacky tobaccy. But things haven’t really gone as planned.
As Bouronis explained, the summer heatwave (as the ensuing wildfires) took their toll on all Greek farms — not just cannabis ones. After all, even weed needs water to grow and being on fire isn’t that healthy for plants.
Then the water finally started coming. And it doesn’t stop coming, much like years in that Smash Mouth song.
The deluge has resulted in Greek seeing the highest-ever monthly precipitation in Europe. Floods have swept through the country, causing landslides, destroying roads, wrecking towns, and causing unfortunate deaths.
We want to say that at least it can’t get worse for Greece’s weed industry. But then somebody breaks out the sheep.