Outside the Box Cannabis Gift Ideas? - Etsy is a Cannabis Bonanza Including CBD from Cannabis-Growing Nuns

Sisters of the Valley, popularly referred to as the cannabis-growing nuns now return to ETSY after half a decade off the platform. The reunion seemed to be good as one of the sisters joked about the whole incident. In a bright tone, Sister Kate asserted that they thought their business would surely go under when ESTY rudely shut them out 5 years ago.

The story of the cannabis nuns was quite sensational in 2016. The group of nuns kicked against societal norms and began to grow cannabis at their convent and sell it for medical purposes. You should know that these sisters are not nuns in the traditional sense. They don't take the Catholic vows but have special vows of their own. Their vows are not to a god or religion but a unique lifestyle. Even though they don't bring to a religious group, their devotion and commitment are unquestionable.

The nuns, Sister Kate and Sister Darcy whose real names are Christine Meeusen, and Johnson Darcy sure made enough money from their cannabis enterprise. They grew cannabis by the lunar cycle and then produced organic health treaties for migraines, hangovers, and back pain.

The entirety of their products is CBD-based. Unlike THC, CBD is not psychoactive therefore it does not influence the mind. Rather it is a powerful myorelaxant and powerful pain reliever. Lately, vital research and studies have been carried out on the use of CBD to treat several conditions like cancers stress, epilepsy, depression, arthritis, among others.

The Sister's cannabis business thrived online as it gained a lot of traction on the ESTY platform. But as the Sister's business began to flourish, ESTY withdrew its shop online. At that time, the Sisters were already raking in £28,000 every month. But that source of income altered once ESTY shut them down.

Nothing personal

At the onset, it sure did feel personal. After about a productive one year and 3 months relationship with ETSY which drove in about £28,000 in sales per month, the shutdown was a big blow for the nuns. Coupled with that, the Sister received more bad news. They learned that most credit card payment platforms, as well as shopping platforms, had suddenly cut ties with the hemp industry.

Dedicated to moving forward, the Sisters enrolled a couple of University students to assist them to design an online store for their business. The Sisters were also able to get a provider issue them a credit card and were back in business just four days after ESTY shut them down.

The nuns claimed ESTY was very professional during the shift of their business. The online platform allowed the sisters to communicate with their customer base for a while after the shutdown.

Shopping around

Close to five years after ETSY closed down the Sisters shop, the sisters have been moving from one platform to the next. Their sales continued to grow, and their services and rates got even better.

The Sisters also recorded an increase in international sales which represents about 20% of their entire revenue. It got to a juncture where UPS began to court the sisters so they can make use of their services instead of the US post office they were originally using. Both the UPS and US post office eventually shared.

However, the Sisters claimed the experience with UPS was way below average. The sisters claimed the company would send back packages and question the nature of their shipments. But as nature would have it, COVID only made things harder. With general international transportation coming to a halt, their international sales reduced from twenty percent to four percent.

And when they thought things couldn't get more difficult, it did. The Sister's credit card processor, Square Inc informed them a few weeks back about some new developments. The company told them they have been restricted from shipping CBD products to Hong Kong, China, Iran, Iceland, Israel, India, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malaysia, and Russia. Another major blow to international deals.

Coming back full circle

To rescue the situation, the Sisters decided to return to ETSY and open a store to serve their customer base worldwide. It's indeed a full circle. Before ETSY closed down the Sisters' shop about 5 years ago, they only had a small range of CBD products. Presently, their businesses have expanded featuring a broad variety of products. Lots of these products have zero CBD, hence, they shouldn't be subjected to any international shipping regulations.

Before the sale of CBD products will be able to resume, the Sisters now have five sections of their store that are fully stocked. To find the store, you can input the word ‘sistersofthevalleyus’ into ETSY's search engine:

Soaps and sprays

Patches and Pins (that discern quality in agriculture and business)

Books & Calendars (the latest book known as Accidental Nun and a new book titled Book of the New Beguines is to be published around the winter solstice)

Miniatures (the sisters’ craft-yurt hobby, recycled barbie weed-nuns, and paraphernalia)

Sage bundles, sweetgrass, and palo santo sticks

The items to be featured in the store, of course, will be the sister's new mushroom coffee. The mushroom coffee is said to be in line with the primary goal of the sisterhood, which is natural healing.

As they try to pivot from the latest restrictions, they will now simultaneously operate two stores. They will also introduce a slightly modified and new product line on ETSY.

It should be noted that the sisters will also continue to sell their CBD products domestically and internationally to countries they have access to via sistersofthevalley.org

As policy changes, some stocks will be made accessible from one shop and other products from the other store. This simple strategy will be used by the sisters to keep them running and remain flexible to the ever-changing policies during these difficult economic climate.

Conclusion

Running a business in the face of ever-changing government policies is as difficult as it gets. However, the Sisters of Valley have proven not to be baffled by such. Hopefully, their return to ESTY will yield better fruits as they continue to navigate around these policies.