At the edge of the shadows of the Catoctin Mountains in Keymar, there stands a canopy of glass enclosing 17 acres of plants, protecting them from the cold air outside one afternoon in late February. Most of what was planted inside were flowers and annuals; for more than 35 years, Catoctin Mountain Growers has supplied mums for Mother’s Day and poinsettias around the winter holidays.
But tucked away from the main corridor, a very different flowering plant was growing under a high ceiling of glass, a plant that announced its presence with a distinctly sweet, sour and skunk aroma that was thick in the warm, moist air.
“These are probably smaller than you would picture,” Tyler Van Wingerden said, as he pointed to just one of the dark green — with a hint of purple — resinous plants in row after row on the concrete floor. “There's all the buds; you can see that sparkly oil. You can smell it if you just wipe your finger on it.”
“This is a very expensive facility, and I need to get paid so many dollars per square foot, per week,” Van Wingerden said. “Fiber does not do that.”
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