ORANGE COUNTY, Vt. (WCAX) – It’s harvest time at Austin Underwood’s cannabis operation in Orange County, and he’s getting help from his grandfather, Jim Coutts.
The two have been working side by side all summer and into the fall to grow the once-illicit plant.
“My attitude 10 years ago — if any of my kids were smoking it in the house, they’d be gone!” Coutts said.
But now he’s a true believer. Though puffing the product is still a no-go, Coutts does dry, crush, and boil the buds for his tea. The reason? The 82-year-old has bladder cancer and he says the brew helps the nausea during chemotherapy.
We first visited Underwood’s business, Montwood Hollow, back in August of last year, as Underwood and Coutts were cultivating the plants and their unusual partnership.
Reporter Joe Carroll: Are you proud of your grandfather?
Austin Underwood: Oh, immensely… The older generation definitely has the larger stigma still, so Grandpa is definitely against the grain in a lot of ways.
Coutts still is the grandpa of pot in the Green Mountains.
Reporter Joe Carroll: When you go to seminars, are you still getting that look?
Jim Coutts: Yeah, I haven’t seen anyone older yet.
Reporter Joe Carroll: They probably think you’re an old hippy.
Jim Coutts: They probably do, but they’re wrong about that… I have seen quite a few with beards though.
The beard’s new, along with his wife Tessie’s tepid approval of the cash crop. “It starts growing on you. They enjoy doing it, it helps him keep his spirits up,” Tessie said.
The couple drives each day from Swanton to the cannabis fields, a former vegetable farm that was Tessie’s childhood home.
Reporter Joe Carroll: Did you ever think you’d be sitting next to it?
Tessie Coutts: No I didn’t… ‘cause I grew up, you wouldn’t be doing something like that.
Montwood Hollow is no longer a “budding business,” they’ve been around for three years and are known as a Tier 1 grower, growing 125 plants. “Banner year compared to last year,” Underwood said. He says the THC level is also higher — the chemical that gets users high.
“You know, I go to the store and people will stop and say, ‘How’s business, how are things going?’
Reporter Joe Carroll: Are you making money?
Austin Underwood: Yeah, we’re making money.
Jim Coutts: Better than breaking even, that’s for sure.
Unlike his grandfather, Underwood has inhaled, but he does recognize putting smoke into your body is bad for your lungs. He’s moving toward the treats you eat. “I try to move myself towards the edibles and stuff,” he said.
Reporter Joe Carroll: What have you two learned about each other?
Austin Underwood: That’s a good question.
Jim Coutts: I learned from him that you do things slower and not to expect everything to be happening overnight, in a hurry — actually, just to be patient.
Growing plants and an intergenerational relationship in the Green Mountains.