Out on the Mira-Juana
Local micro-cultivation operation aimed at pot connoisseurs
MARION BRIDGE — When Alastair MacGillivray penned the anthemic “Out on the Mira” in 1973, he wrote about area folks treating visitors to some homebrew to help them unwind.
And while cannabis was a popular but illegal alternative at the time, the renowned Cape Breton composer made no mention of marijuana in the song that still easily flows off the lips of Capers residing both home and away.
Fast forward to 2021. A Mira-area cannabis micro cultivation operation has recently become the first of its kind in the province to get its products on Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. store shelves.
Aptly named Mira-Juana Cannabis Inc., the venture is the brainchild of engineer Gary Tighe and businessman John Gatza. The firm, which received its license to produce cannabis in August 2020, saw its product make the NSLC sales list earlier this month.
“The licensing was an absolute challenge,” said Tighe, who works at a couple of northern Labrador mines on a rotational basis.
“But I didn't mind it as I come from a fairly heavily regulated industry. And Health Canada was great to work with. They have been patient and very, very helpful. So were the folks at the NSLC. They've even passed out a pamphlet to budtenders and employees in the cannabis sections of their stores so they could be better informed about the province's micro cultivation industry.”
GETTING STARTED
Tighe said that he politely declined when first approached about getting involved in the cannabis production industry. But he said there was something about the opportunity that called to him.
“What I knew about growing cannabis wouldn't fill a coffee cup,” he admitted.
“So, I shrugged it off at first.
But then I started looking at the numbers, where the industry was going, what the deficiencies were, where we could expect to position ourselves and what advantages we might have and what challenges we might face. It all looked appealing.”
The pair started the process two years ago. They found a suitable building, which they renovated and enlarged, in an undisclosed location in the Marion Bridge area.
Co-owner Gatza said the key to success for micro cultivators is to establish high-quality products. And he said the venture is starting off with “legacy” strains that
enjoyed pre-legalization recognition and popularity.
“We will initially concentrate on strains that are known to us and are perhaps familiar to local connoisseurs,” said Gatza.
“We do plan to add new genetics based on market demand. Our smaller size lets us focus on the quality of the product and also allows us to change our offerings much faster than the larger operators.”
DIFFERENT RULES
As a designated micro-cultivator, Mira-Juana is limited in its production. The company is restricted to a grow area of no more than 2,152 square feet of canopy space.
According to Tighe, the operation's flower room has about 120 grow lights. He said their initial target is to harvest five crops per year.
“Depending on how you structure your facility and given the time it takes to flower out the plants, do the
harvest and get the room sanitized again it will usually take about 10 weeks,” said Tighe, who ironically went to junior high school with Michael Fong, a Sydney man who recently returned home and established a micro-cultivation cannabis operation called Origin Coast that is in the Sydport Industrial Park.
Mira-Juana is limited to cultivation for now as it requires a separate licence to process and package the product and a distribution licence to sell to the recreational market.
One Cape Breton company that has been granted a licence for standard processing and medical sales is the North Sydney-based Highlanders Cannabis Corp., whose Bluenose Labs obtained the licence just over a year ago. The firm has a 48,000 square foot facility that was a former pharmaceutical plant.
NOVA SCOTIA GROWN
Meanwhile, Mira-Juana is one of eight Nova Scotia producers that supply the NSLC with cannabis.
In the fiscal year that ended March 31, Nova Scotia cultivators produced 19.6 per cent of the province's cannabis products.
According to NSLC spokesperson Beverley Ware, there was a 30.1 per cent increase in local cannabis sales.
“We have no mandate as to
the percentage of Nova Scotia products that we carry,” said Ware.
“But we are in ongoing contact with local producers and as they get their licences from Health Canada to sell their products, we are happy to have conversations with them about listing their product.”
For his part, Tighe knows that Mira-Juana's contribution to the province's cannabis offerings is small. But he said what the venture lacks in quantity is more than made up by its quality.
“I would say that the craft side of the cannabis industry is far, far superior productwise to what people are used to getting in stores over in the past year-and-a-half,” he said.
“It's a really nice industry to work in. None of the microcultivators look at each other as competition.
“The real competition is the guys who already own 60 to 80 per cent of the market and who are, from our perspective, producing an inferior quality product but dominating the market.”