Many of you OG’s know about the 2 Congo trips a bunch of us have funded. Recently, 30 of us funded a Trip into Goma, DRC. The trip was undertaken by @kidete, of East Africa Genes, who stared down a local Monkey Pox
Outbreak and various other dangers to get us these seeds. 2 strains were found. Not many seeds from this one were ripe enough, so only around 130 seeds passed the crush test. Mike sent me 50 seeds, and 47 of them passed my crush test.
Here’s what they look like.
Nice, clean seeds. Definitely dealing with a landrace here, but whether or not this is the legendary Black African Magic strain remains to be seen. The seeds were gotten on an island of Pygmy refugees located near to Virunga National Park, a location believed to be used to grow the BAM. The Iturie Forest from which this Pygmy band originally hailed, is located to the North.
Pictures of Goma and the island in Lake Kivu. The 4th picture shows the Iturie Forest region just to the North. Highlands connect the Virunga National Park to this region with continuous forests, where the Pygmys live. They are known to grow cannabis in Virunga Park itself, most of it going to local Rebel groups, willingly or otherwise, at the point of a gun. As a result, the weed seeds Mike( kidete) got were mostly immature, telling us the weed, though still strong, was not yet finished with its flowering cycle.
Kidete was able to determine that the weed is fermented. Layers of product several inches thick when compressed are separated from eachother with dry powdered leaf, likely from the weed itself. My thoughts about this are that the dry powdered weed prevents layers from sticking to each other, but that’s just my guess. It’s possible some other leaf is used.
Does this leaf contain some sort of microbe that changes the cannabis chemically as it cures, creating or altering the cannabinoid profile? Is it just the ferment alone that makes the weed black in appearance, similar to the way Palani Black is cured in South India? Is the weed itself purple?
Let us answer at least one of those questions.
I’ll be scarce today, at a funeral, but wanted to start the topic the minute the clock hits 7:47, the time this morning the seeds will be dunked,and also the start of the new moon.
My father passed away almost 4 years ago now. I’ve been waiting for a sign…so I could choose something to work with in my breeding to make something in his honor. He was a 747 pilot, so i knew the numbers 747 would be involved. This is the one I’ve waited for. This project is foremost a Preservation…in order to spread these seeds amongst the group of donators, to be used by them as they wish, but I’ll be taking cuttings of my favorite plants to use for my breeding, too.
Let’s get the ball rolling!
Some of you were concerned about a small seed batch being run…soooooo to dispel your worries…I’m using all of them😁
!!!
on this one upstate
