DIG INTO
THE DETAILS
At Ethos, our Soil to Shelf promise means we’re involved in every step of the process—root to retail—with no shortcuts and absolutely no remediation.
We’re committed to craft-quality flower, guided by five core beliefs: staying remediation-free, prioritizing terpenes and total cannabinoids over just THC, taking a hands-on approach with every plant, choosing small-batch breeders over hype strains, and keeping legacy genetics alive.
Better is better—and from Soil to Shelf, we know we do it better.
From Seed to Shelf:
The Cannabis Plant Lifecycle
Every cannabis plant tells a story, but not every story starts the same way.
Some plants begin as seeds, carrying a new combination of genetics waiting to be discovered. Others begin as clones, preserving the genetics of a plant that has already proven itself. From there, months of growth, careful observation, harvest, drying, curing, and evaluation shape what ultimately reaches the shelf.
At Ethos, every stage matters. Here’s a closer look at the journey.
Root Development
Vegetative Growth
Flowering
Harvest
Drying & Curing
Selection & Evaluation
Packaging
Exploration
Drying & Curing
Drying & Curing
Selection & Evaluation
Packaging
Exploration
Root Development
Building the plant
Root Development
Building the plant
Root Development
Building the plant
Root Development
Building the plant
THE ETHOS OF GROWING
This video playlist covers our approach to cultivating top-tier flower and how you can determine that quality for yourself in our products.
Start watching now to learn what sets Ethos apart.
Meet the People Behind the Plants
Great cannabis doesn’t happen on its own.
Behind every cultivar we grow is a team of people making thousands of decisions—from genetics and irrigation to environmental controls, plant health, harvest timing, and everything in between.
And while our cultivation team shares the same commitment to the plant, they didn’t all take the same path to get here.
Some came from horticulture and agriculture. Some learned to grow cannabis long before legalization. Others found their way to cultivation after careers in entirely different fields.
Together, they bring decades of experience, curiosity, and a genuine respect for the plant to every Ethos harvest.
Meet a few of the people bringing Soil to Shelf to life.
Steve Garner
Vice President of Cultivation
Twenty years in. Still solving the puzzle.
Steve has been with Ethos for ten years, and his roots in horticulture run deep. He earned a horticulture degree from the University of Georgia and built a career in commercial production long before cannabis. He ran propagation for a 750-acre nursery, designed and operated acres of hydroponic lettuce farms, and consulted on perennial production with growers around the world.
His history with the plant goes back much further. Steve planted his first seeds in a field at 14. By college, he’d moved on to building indoor grow rooms, ordering seeds from Holland and helping friends do the same. Georgia didn’t exactly welcome that kind of horticultural experimentation, so he set it aside until 2012, when he moved to Colorado to grow cannabis legally and commercially.
Today, Steve’s days depend on where he is. At a grow site, he inspects crops, evaluates genetics, checks in with the team on what they need, and looks for improvements and wins worth sharing across sites. At home, his work ranges from facility design, equipment troubleshooting, and production planning to data analysis, sourcing genetics, updating grow methods, and long-range strategy.
Favorite part of the job: The problem-solving.
Of all the plants Steve has grown, cannabis is the most rewarding, the most frustrating, and the least understood. Growers have to perfect appearance, aroma, secondary metabolites, moisture content, and more across a huge range of genetics, with no established manual to follow. That endless challenge is exactly what keeps it interesting.
Favorite Cultivar: Chem 4 (all-time) and Lemon Alderaan (right now)
Beyond the Grow: Steve owns more than 60 guitar pedals. The collection keeps growing, and there’s no end in sight.
Nicholas Cole
Cultivation Manager | Ohio
A lifelong student of the plant.
Nick’s path to cultivation didn’t begin with a plant science degree—it began with music.
After earning a BA in Music from the Hartt School of Music, his interest in growing became increasingly serious. In 2011, he found someone willing to teach him more about cannabis cultivation in exchange for vegetables. By 2015, he’d entered commercial cannabis cultivation, gaining experience growing at scale while continuing to deepen his understanding of the plant. He later helped launch an organic hemp operation before joining Ethos in 2020.
His experience also reaches back before legalization, when opportunities to learn cannabis cultivation looked very different. Nick grew outdoors and later helped establish small indoor grows, experiences that taught him hydroponic cultivation, environmental management, and—perhaps most importantly—how to recognize a special plant.
Today, he spends his days monitoring environments and irrigation strategies, scouting plants, troubleshooting, maintaining biosecurity, and working alongside his team to tackle the never-ending challenges of a living crop.
Favorite part of the job: The smells.
And don’t ask him to choose a favorite cultivar. Nick loves the strange ones—the aromas that resemble everything from tennis balls and burnt rubber to rotten fruit and gasoline. For him, the seemingly endless aromatic possibilities of cannabis are part of what makes the plant so fascinating.
Beyond the Grow: Nick still makes music and, unsurprisingly, keeps growing and gardening at home.
Giulianna Ciocca
Senior Manager of Cultivation | Pennsylvania
Always learning. Always growing.
Giulianna has been with Ethos for six years, but her agricultural roots stretch beyond cannabis. She holds a BFA and completed the Sustainable Urban Agriculture program at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Before joining Ethos, she worked across worker cooperatives, for-profit farms, and nonprofit farms growing herbs and vegetables.
Cannabis became a natural extension of something she’d already discovered she loved: growing plants that can help people.
Today, Giulianna supports the Pennsylvania cultivation team and helps keep production moving toward its goals. Her favorite part of the job is simple: she learns something new every day.
Favorite Cultivar: Super Lemon Haze
As someone who enjoys pheno hunting, Giulianna is particularly proud of the expression the Ethos team discovered.
Beyond the Grow: You’ll probably still find her around plants—Giulianna enjoys foraging and spending time outdoors.
Dustin Query
Cultivation Technical Manager | Pennsylvania
Where plants meet precision.
Dustin has spent more than six years with the cultivation operation, including several years working with the original Natural Selections team before it was acquired by Ethos.
His path into cultivation started as a major career change. After years in food and hospitality, he was ready for something different and found his way into cannabis through a team that included friends and acquaintances.
Today, Dustin works on the technical side of the grow—monitoring irrigation values and climate conditions, making sure equipment operates correctly, troubleshooting problems, and developing tools that help the cultivation team work more efficiently.
Favorite Cultivar: Super Boof
For Dustin, it’s the whole package: great structure, orange-forward aroma, standout trichome development, and a flavor that delivers on what the flower smells like.
Beyond the Grow: Dustin grew up around horses and horse shows—and apparently has some credentials to prove it. As a kid, he became a pretty accomplished calf roper, including earning the title “Pee Wee Speed Champion.” And yes, there are fancy belt buckles involved.
Different Paths.
One Cultivation Philosophy.
There isn’t one way to become a great cannabis cultivator.
Our team brings together formal plant science, traditional agriculture, technical expertise, commercial cultivation, legacy knowledge, and years of hands-on experience.
What connects them is curiosity.
Cannabis is a living plant. Every cultivar presents something new to observe, understand, and learn from. That’s why one of the principles behind Soil to Shelf is simple:
Let the plant lead.
Create the right conditions. Pay attention. Keep learning. And give every cultivar the opportunity to show you what makes it special.
