The oldest known piece of material dates from around 8000BC and is made from hemp fibres. From that time onwards hemp was used extensively to make clothing, rope, animal feed and paper. Economies were based on hemp, navies relied on it, wars were fought over it and laws were passed that required farmers to use part of their land to grow it. Great artists, such as Van Gogh and Rembrandt, used hemp canvases and hemp oil based paints and the American Declaration of Independence was drafted on Hemp paper. Henry Ford even produced a car that was largely made from hemp plastic and designed to run on hemp fuel.

Then marijuana was made illegal and so was growing hemp - even industrial hemp which has no psychoactive properties at all. Research and development of this versatile plant became impossible.

Luckily, the laws on growing hemp have been relaxed over recent years and hemp products are making a big comeback as the many uses of hemp and its practical, health and environmental benefits are being rediscovered. Many large companies, such as Ford, BMW, Mercedes, The Body Shop, and Calvin Klein are now using hemp to make their products more environmentally friendly.

The Practical Benefits of Hemp

Hemp is the strongest natural fibre in the world - ten times stronger than cotton - so hemp clothing lasts longer than cotton clothing. Hemp fibre is also naturally anti-bacterial and anti-fungal which means they don’t have to be washed quite as often. This results in less detergent and water being used and less wear-and-tear on the clothes themselves.

Parents have also reported that these same anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, along with hemp’s natural absorbency, make hemp fibre nappies excellent for reducing nappy rash and thrush.

Hemp paper is also longer lasting than wood pulp paper. In addition it doesn’t yellow with age making it ideal for archival purposes.

The Health Benefits of Hemp

Hemp has been described as one of nature’s super foods. Hemp oil contains the ideal balance of Omega 3 and 6 required for human health, it has a full amino acid spectrum meaning it provides complete protein, and it has a massive trace mineral content.

Hemp oil, like cod liver oil, has also been found beneficial in keeping joints healthy with the added advantage of being veggie/vegan friendly.

The Environmental Benefits of Hemp

One of the biggest benefits of hemp is that its cultivation requires very little or no pesticides or herbicides. Hemp is naturally resistant to insect attack and it grows so rapidly and creates such a thick canopy as it does so that weeds don’t have a chance to get a foothold. By comparison, cotton crops use 30% of the world’s agrochemicals.

Hemp can also produce more product per hectare than conventional alternatives. For example, a hectare of cotton plants only produces half as much fibre as a hectare of hemp. Incredibly it would take four hectares of trees to produce the same amount of paper as a single hectare of hemp. When you take into consideration that a hemp crop can be ready in four months compared to twenty to fifty years for trees and hemp paper can be recycled up to seven or eight times rather than two or three for wood pulp paper, the potential for reducing deforestation to make paper is stunning.

Hemp has many other environmental benefits too. It can be grown virtually anywhere - it doesn’t require warm conditions or large quantities of water like cotton. It puts very little strain on the soil - it has a very large root system that can absorb nutrients that might be out of reach from other crops plus it constantly sheds its leaves throughout its growing cycle adding rich organic matter to the topsoil and helping it retain moisture. In fact a hemp crop often improves the land it is grown on.

Shopping for hemp products

I have been adding shops that sell a wide variety of hemp products to the HotZest directory over the last couple of days including:

• The Hemp Market - Hemp foods, body care and clothing
• The Hemp Shop - A wide range of Hemp Products including food, clothing and paper.
• Braintree Hemp - Hemp Clothing
• The Hemp Store - Hemp Clothing
• Twinkle - Hemp Nappies

Do you have a favourite hemp product or store that sells hemp based goods? Let me know in the comments.

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Technorati Tags: clothing, environment, food, hemp

Tags: clothing, environment, food, hemp

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