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Hemp for Victory	the original campaign to encourage farmers to grow more vital wartime resources	added
Henry Ford - the Ford Hemp car	even in the early part of the 20th Century, great advances were being made.	added

Washington Merc on hemp	eco-transport (21st century update) - a merc runs on hemp-oil biofuel	added
Hemp for paper	save the trees so we can breathe - hemp paper making in Tasmania	added
Hemp for building with	Hempcrete building materials - locking carbon up in eco-friendly life-cycles	added
Hemp for plastics	Paul Benhaim's hemp (and recycled) plastics - innovation from down under	added
Hemp harvesting - seed	harvesting of hemp seed in Manitoba	added
Hemp harvesting - fibre	winter harvesting of hemp fibre in Europe	added
Hemp crafts - bracelets & macramé	knotty, natty cordage crafts to try at home	added
Hemp sandals	how to tie a hemp sandal, just in case you ever need to know	added
Hemp, Hemp Hooray!	footage of the Santa Cruz industrial Hemp Expo, featuring Chris Conrad	added
Hemp nutrition seminar	essential viewing for info re essential fatty acids - featuring MaryBeth Augustine	added
Hemp v cotton	examination of the environmental benefits of hemp over cotton	added
Hemp milk - how to make it	home "how to" movie, showing the making of hemp milk - a non-Soya alternative	added
Dutch hemp - HempFlax	a Dutch perspective on the myriad uses of hemp, from the HempFlax team	added
Hempstone History	a discussion about the history of hemp in SW USA - rediscovered heritage	added
Grown in the uk	industrial hemp, grown on a licensed site in the UK	soon

<back	help us out! report any broken links - please get in touch to let us know things are awry

"Hemp for Victory"

Hemp for Victory is an important marker in the global history of hemp. After the prohibition of hemp in the 1930's, a way had to be found to backtrack, licence the formerly outlawed resource for growing, in order that the war-drive could roll ever on, towards its final victory.

In times of dire resource shortages, there is no crop which grows as prolifically, or has so many uses, as the humble hemp plant. Since WWII, technology and processes have improved immeasurably.

Now, in the 21st century, hemp can make a comeback, as we strive to survive the ecological and economic changes ahead of us.
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"the Ford Hemp car"

Early in the 20th century, the resources of the hemp plant were being investigated by science, with the hope that new technology could deliver superior materials which were lighter, stronger and more efficient than materials of the previous industrial age.

In the 1920's and 1930's research and development had succeeded in attaining a hemp car body panel which was lighter and stronger than steel. Henry Ford, famous for bringing the motor car to the mass market, shows off his hemp car, which ran on hemp fuel, as well as having its body panels "grown" from hemp fibre.

A new generation of lightweight car and aircraft components are currently being developed.
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"the Merc on hemp fuel"

Bringing us into the modern age, biofuels such as bio-diesel and ethanol are the talk of international sustainability seminars and conferences.

As transport is a key factor in the success and efficiency of the modern world, the movement away from fossil fuels is seen as a necessary to achieve the carbon-neutral goals of the global society.

In Washington DC, this modern vehicle, a Mercedes, is being driven around, showcasing the sustainable solution which hemp suggests: hemp for fuel. Whether ethanol or biodiesel, hemp oil is a worthy base resource for providing fuel for home or transport.
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"hemp for making paper"

Back in the 20th century, hemp was almost abandoned for use in paper making, except in the making of bank notes, where its strong and durable nature is essential for the endless passing from hand to hand.

Instead, the technology to pulp tree fibre (either mechanically or chemically) gained wider adoption, a development which whilst more profitable for forestry landowners, was not without negative environmental costs.

Now, in the 21st century, hemp is once again being recognised as a superior paper making resource, which yields up to four times the amount of fibre as the equivalent available from trees, but without the pollution potential to rivers and soils.
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"hemp for building"

Over previous centuries, hemp has been used as a binding agent in European mortars, screeds and renders, giving superior properties in construction.

Being hyper-porous, the hemp hurd (pithy core of the hemp plant) contains tiny cavities, which trap air when it sets solid, giving efficient thermal properties and insulative benefits to the final material. Using lime as the fixing agent, the material vitrifies over time, meaning the finish becomes stronger as it matures.

Unlike conventional cementitious materials, Hempcrete such as Isochanvre^TM does not create CO₂ in its manufacture. Instead, it locks in the carbon soaked up whilst the hemp plant was growing - locked away for the life of the building, in many cases typically a minimum of 25 years.
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"hemp as plastic"

In the early development of plastics in the 20th century, for example with Bakelite, plant cellulose was the basic and renewable resource from which the plastic polymers were produced.

Sadly, within a short period of time, oil became the replacement material, along with plasticizers such as chlorine compounds, which led us forward into the plastic revolution of the modern disposable age.

Paul Benhaim's innovative work on manufacturing hemp plastics are to be commended. It is now possible to make all sorts of plastic products using hemp (instead of fossil) oils, combined with recycled plastic granules.
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"hemp seed harvesting"

Hemp oil is highly nutritional for humans and animals alike.

Keen anglers and bird-keepers will often tell you that hemp seed is favoured by fish and songbird alike.

Hemp oil is also useful for making a range of non-food, oil based products including soaps, waxes, varnishes, paints and even cosmetics.

Hemp oil makes excellent biodiesel and lamp oil.

It's natural, then, that much industrial hemp is grown for seed as well as fibre, the world over.

In this video clip, we see the harvesting of hemp seed, prior to fibre harvesting, in Manitoba.
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"hemp fibre harvesting"

Harvesting fibre in winter?

Ordinarily, hemp is harvested for its fibre after a summer of soaking up sun and CO₂.

Usually, this means the fibre is cut in late summer and laid out to be "retted" by the autumn rains, to assist in the eventual fibre processing - separating the outer bark (the shiv) from the inner pithy core (the hurd).

If hemp is being grown for biomass burning only, rather than for its fibre products, hemp can be harvested in winter, without the usual urgency, as is the case in this example.
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"hemp crafts: macramé"

Hemp, due to its versatility as a basic resource for making all sorts of products, is a superb medium for craft items of all kinds.

Being strong, whilst resistant to corrosion by salt water and sunlight, hemp twine isn't just useful around the house and garden, workshop and yacht, but as a component in attractive accessories for wearing and adorning the body beautiful.

In this clip, we can see some creative soul has used hemp twine to make some natty, knotty macramé masterpieces.

Once relegated to the 1970's, this example brings the craft back to modern appreciation.
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	"hemp crafts: sandals"
	Footwear for the future? There's no fashion item as wearing as footwear. With its durable properties, hemp has a part to play in protecting our "plates of meat" (cockney rhyming slang for feet). In this example, hemp twine has been used to strap up and bind a pair of natural sandals, for that sustainable and special style. Your feet can look fancy with hemp fibre! [^top^]

"hemp, hemp, hooray!"

Despite its prohibition in the USA, county fayres and regional get-togethers still promote the products which can be sustainably produced from hemp.

In this clip, featuring Chris Conrad (famous hemp advocate) we see the excitement and interest generated at the Santa Cruz summer Expo, when hemp is showcased to the unassuming local population.

So, the next time you visit a summer fayre, look for the hemp stall and if you can't find one, why not ask yourself whether you should set one up.

Maybe one day soon, we'll all say hemp, hemp, hooray!
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"hemp nutrition seminar!"

Do you know just how valuable hemp oil is, in terms of human dietary needs?

In historic times of dire food shortages and famine, hemp has been the foodstuff of survival, due to its highly nutritional nature.

In these days of mass-produced foodstuffs, with concern about the "wrong" kind of fats, about the need to find the "right" kind of fats (essential fatty acids) and of balance in diet, hemp has a huge contribution to make .

Hemp is high in EFA's, Omega oils and proteins - as this seminar lays out, for your interest.
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"hemp versus cotton"

Since the beginning of the 20th century, cotton has become the standard raw material for clothing - think workwear, jeans, T-shirts and so on.

Yet cotton is highly dependent upon fertilizer, pesticides and water. Cotton corrodes (rots) under strong sunlight and saltwater exposure.

Ironically, Levi Strauss, so iconic in the burgeoning popularity of cotton jeans in the 20th century, first made his workwear from Hemp. In fact, not only were his first jeans made from Hemp, but were cut from recycled Hemp sails - hemp sails which could withstand the sun and saltwater scouring of the high seas.
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"hemp milk and how to make it"

Hemp milk? Yes, but with no cows in sight!

When the Anglo-Saxons first brought hemp to the British isles, an old recipe is thought to have come with them - for hemp milk.

Without lactose or gluten, but with the "right" kind of fats and highly nutritious, a superlative milk substitute can be blended in the kitchen, with nothing more than water, hemp seed, almonds and a domestic blender or liquidizer

Sadly, this video clip (whilst instructive) cannot convey the flavour or feeling of this beneficial, nutritional blend on the well-being of the body.
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"hemp flax - a Dutch view"

Hemp research and development in the Netherlands.

HempFlax and Sensei Seeds are names synonymous with the development of renewable plant-based products, in mainland Europe.

Holland, of course, is better known for its social interest in the non-industrial hemp species.

In this clip, however, we see how industrial hemp is making inroads to the wider sustainable discussion, towards the recognition of hemp as an environmentally sound resource, par-excellence.
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"Hempstone - hemp heritage"

Hemp in the context of history.

Despite the current prohibition in the USA, there was once a time when hemp was rooted in the culture and history of the land.

In this clip, we are introduced to discoveries made about the heritage of hemp, hewn from the history books on dusty, almost forgotten, shelves.

In the UK, hemp is harder to expunge from the history books, with several towns and villages named after the plant. Names such as Hempton, Hemel Hempstead and Hempholme keep the historical links alive.
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