Tom Lauerman, a medical marijuana farmer and owner of Farmer Tom’s Collective, Vancouver, Wash., said his dream would be to one day have farmers everywhere be able to use his brand and market to their benefit.

“Cannabis is the key to save a lot of small farms out there,” Lauerman said.

Past legal trouble

Before he decided to grow medical marijuana, Lauerman was an activist.

In 1999, he was arrested in San Diego, Calif., for growing 448 illegal medical plants with his partner in their collective called Shelter from the Storm. He said they started the collective because many people in San Diego were sick and needed medical marijuana, but they couldn’t get any without certification. That was nearly impossible.

Lauerman never went to court, but the case was kept open for seven years, forcing him to lie low when it came to growing. Though he kept a garden of his own, he got a job at Pacifica Candles in the meantime.

“Since the case was open and I had a previous arrest, if I was caught growing again, I would have served a mandatory 15 years,” Lauerman said.

Though Lauerman is not proud of the arrest, he is proud of the outcome.

“That arrest helped start the conversation for medical marijuana in San Diego,” Lauerman said. “The first medical marijuana task force was created as a direct result.”

When the growing began

Lauerman’s farm is on five acres located in Vancouver, Wash. He has been there since April 4, 2004, but has been farming his whole life.

“I started landscaping when I was 12 years old,” Lauerman said. “My hands have been in the dirt since I was a little kid.”

He and his wife, both organic food advocates, are picky about what they put on their plants. That’s also true for what they want on their cannabis. Lauerman never trusted the marijuana from Mexico, which is why he decided to grow his own.

In 2012, Lauerman began legally growing medical marijuana. However, most of the profit is pretty equally split between the produce he grows for the CSA and the cannabis.

More than just a cannabis producer

Farmer Tom’s Collective is more than your typical medical marijuana producer. Lauerman has made his own brand.

“I am the first person to put a name and likeness on my product,” Lauerman said. “And I don’t even have 200 dollars in my pocket.”

Lauerman said a man from Nike approached him a couple years ago and wanted to brand him. From then on, his name blew up. T-shirts with Farmer Tom’s face are now for sale, as are roach-paper mosaics, made by Lauerman’s close friend and business partner, Cliff Maynard.

Along with apparel and mosaics, Farmer Tom sells comics by graphic designer George Leon. Leon was the creator of the famous Nickelodeon show, “Kim Possible.”

David Berman, a professional photographer, photographs Lauerman’s product and makes sure to show his garden to the world every day.

What Farmer Tom does

Lauerman’s goal is not only to provide high quality cannabis to medical patients, but also to help save small farms all over the country. He is working on a program called Farmer Tom’s Certified Farm USA — a licensing program for farmers all over that will allow cannabis growers to have an organic certification.

“We have everything worked out and have a plan,” Lauerman said. “Right now we are just figuring out how to build the franchise.”

When it comes to the plants, Lauerman is serious. His website explains how his farm uses only organic products:

“We use a full-spectrum, nutrient rich, bio-intensive method for growing ALL of the plants on the Farm to include soil restoration, alkalization, and re-mineralization. We use NO artificial or synthetic products anywhere along the line from seed-to-delivery.”

Farmer Tom’s Collective is located in a community where normal medical marijuana producers wouldn’t be welcome, he said.

“I run a collective farm in a community where it is not allowed,” Lauerman said.

He gets around this problem by being a good neighbor. He even helped the police bust a local meth house.

“I do everything myself. Everything we do here is done in my living room,” Lauerman said. “We are about as grass-roots as it gets.”