Apples in Winter

James Johnson’s path moves from military service into the evolving world of hemp and cannabis, carrying with it a perspective shaped by discipline, structure, and lived experience.In this conversation, we get into the realities of cannabis and hemp within military culture, the contradictions surrounding alcohol, and how those systems influence perception and access. We also touch on his work in hemp education through Hemp 101 and his product line Active Duty RX.This is a conversation about navigating transition, questioning long-standing norms, and creating new lanes where clarity, access, and education can exist side by side.

Priya Mishra is the founder of Hempvati, working at the intersection of industrial hemp and medical cannabis in India, where the conversation around the plant is still layered with stigma, history, and complexity. Her work spans farmer education, patient support, research, and policy, all grounded in a deeper effort to reshape how cannabis is understood and accessed.In this conversation, we get into how Priya found her way into this space through her own health journey, and how that experience now informs the way she approaches advocacy, business, and care. We talk about the realities of navigating cannabis in India today, the gap between perception and science, and what it looks like to build something meaningful in a system that hasn’t fully caught up yet.This is a conversation about challenging narratives, working within constraints, and slowly shifting a culture around a plant that has always been there.

Rachel is a first-generation farmer in Illinois and one of the grassroots forces behind hemp’s return in the state, working at the intersection of farming, policy, and community organizing. As founder and president of the Illinois Hemp Growers Association, she has helped shape legislation, educate growers, and build a regional hemp movement from the field to the policy table.In this conversation, we get into what that work actually looks like on the ground, how Rachel navigates both the practical and political sides of hemp, and how her approach is rooted not just in systems, but in something deeper, ancestral connection, gratitude, and a sense of responsibility to the land.This is a reflection about building something of your own, staying connected to where you come from, and what this next season looks like on the farm.

Rick is a fourth-generation farmer in North Carolina, carrying forward a family legacy that dates back to 1865. After time away building a life in DC, he returned to the land and helped lead a transition from tobacco to hemp, working across both fiber and CBD production.In this conversation, we get into what that shift actually looks like on the ground, what it means to rework a generational farm in real time, and how Rick approaches building something sustainable, traceable, and rooted in place.This is a reflection on legacy, on returning, and on what it takes to make a long-term bet on something new while still honoring what came before.

Gordana Stevancevic was born in Belgrade and moved to Italy with her family after the bombing of Serbia in 1999. She studied economics and entrepreneurship, and later completed postgraduate work in medical cannabis at the University of Padua. Her path eventually led her into textile hemp, where she’s focused on rethinking materials through a lens of sustainability, function, and design.In this conversation, we get into how that shift happened, what drew her specifically to hemp textiles, and what it looks like to build in a space that sits somewhere between fashion, material science, and industry. We talk about the early days of Hemp-Style Magazine, her work with Steva Hemp, and what it actually takes to create products like hemp bedding from the ground up.This is a conversation about materials, about perspective, and about what it looks like to move across countries, industries, and ideas, while staying anchored in something consistent underneath it all.

Beach has been involved in the hemp world since the early days, founding Hemptations in the mid-90s, long before hemp re-entered mainstream conversation in the U.S.In this conversation, we get into what those early years actually looked like, what it meant to build a store centered entirely around hemp products in Cincinnati, Ohio, and how his perspective has taken shape over decades of advocacy, culture, and industry change.This is a conversation about being early, about holding a certain kind of energy over time, and about what it looks like to stand behind something long before it becomes widely accepted.

Apples in Winter. A conversation podcast. Launches March 20.