LEMPIRE

Micah Rubinstien’s relationship with cannabis began in his early teens, as part of the treatment and management of his epilepsy.  Within a few years, he was able to eliminate the grand mal seizures caused by his epilepsy through the use of cannabis. This powerful demonstration of the healing potential of cannabis had a profound impact on young Micah and set him on a path of being a shepherd of and advocate for cannabis around the world.  

Seed exchanges - particularly with Amsterdam breeders - and years of extensive breeding experiments lead him to a set of strains optimized for cultivation and for therapeutic benefits.  Many of the award-winning strains that Micah has developed share a characteristic aromatic bouquet that is strong in limonene referred to as The Lem in reference to a strain of that name.  The bright upbeat scents and tastes of limonene heavy strains is so closely associated with Micah that he was dubbed with the nickname Lem decades ago and to this day more people call him Lem than call him by his given name.   In the 1990s the increasingly popular lemony strains spread - thanks in large part to Grateful Dead tour - and folks began to talk of the Lemon Empire, or Lempire, spreading out to share the healing plant.

In 2010   Micah settled in Mendocino county and started working in medical cannabis retail (I mean to reference when you first started working at Compassionate Heart).  Over the last 10  years, he has added to the retail company - a licensed nursery for seed production, farms for cultivation, manufacturing for hash and other processed products, and distribution so that products from his farms and those of other local organic farms can get to consumers.