Big Bend Real Estate Guide September 2020 | Page 11
A hemp crop is taking root in Alpine and Marathon as part
of one person’s mission to utilize the plant’s many industrial
benefits.
Kevin Bishop, a green builder by trade, has built
sustainable housing for thirty years, with the last eight in
the Big Bend region. He works with reclaimed materials and
follows Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) standards— the international rubric for green
compliant practices. He’s committed to finding renewable
solutions to the everyday demands of life, personally and
professionally.
That’s why he’s drawn to hemp.
“Everything about this plant is wonderful,” Bishop
revealed. “It fixes the soil. You can eat the seed, which is
high in essential fatty acids and quality protein, and it has
real medicinal value.”
The fibrous outer core can be used as building insulation
and the woody inner core can be used for construction of
light weight “hempcrete” bricks, the pinnacle in ecobuilding.
Bishop is investigating all of these uses for the
harvests he plans to eventually yield. It may take several
years to get there, but he hopes to generate enough material
to use hemp as the construction base for his own home.
His greenhouse nursery is based in Marathon, with three
acres to expand outdoors on rich alluvial soils in Alpine.
He invested considerable time researching which varieties
to plant, and was drawn to older European lines, used for
making textiles and other industrial purposes.
These varieties are not part of the newer CBD market,
which has swept across the nation as one of the latest health
trends in recent years.
“At first, I was skeptical of CBD,” Bishop intimated. “I
wrote it off as just another way people were trying to legalize
marijuana. But then I tried it, and it works as an anxiety
relief, and it doesn’t take much,” he shared.
He has family members who utilize hemp products in their
diet, from the protein-rich seeds to the CBD-rich oils and
emollients. He would love to be their source for these
commodities if he gets to a point where he can grow and
process enough.
Continued on page 20
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