Hi Kitty:

I am not sure is this is the proper place to send this email, but I
was reading morelife.org and came across:

"extrusions from the first pressing of fresh hemp seeds. This is
obtained from Hempola and is primarily sold as animal snacks"
http://morelife.org/personal/health/dietregmore.html

I have tired calling Hempolla many times but never get a person to
talk to, so I thought I might ask you: What was the extact item that you all
order? I found from their US order form the following:

22 Hempola Hempseed Meal 1lb $2.49
25 Hempola Protein and Fibre Powder 1lb $19.99

Link to US order form: http://www.hempola.com/ecommerce/usshop.htm

Could you let me know which item you all get please.

Thanks and sorry for the trouble, I just could not determin which item
was the extrusions as nothing on the site says extrusions.

Warmly,
Erich Brueschke

UPDATE:

Finally received a call from the people at Hempola and they informed
me that they no longer ship products to the US since the beginning of
the year because their product has been disappearing at the border,
and it is just costing them too much money to continue to send to the
US to individual customers.

They did say that they have had no problem shipping to a distributor
of theirs called hemp-sisters.com.

I called them, but they don't sell the extruded hemp seeds as there is
little call for them they said.

Oh well, I guess shelled hemp seeds will have to do.

Warmly,
Erich Brueschke

[I don't remember if Hempola ever carried their animal treats on their website
product list. The website still carries a US order page (the prices are exactly
the same in US$ as the Canadian prices) even though from what they told you it
appears that some US Customs agents don't keep current on the US hemp
importation laws.

Paul and I visited Hempola, located in Barrie Ontario north of Toronto, the
first time in early summer of 2004. We wandered around the barn, which serves as
their store in the warm months, asking questions about the processing of the
hemp. A couple glass dishes of different length green fibrous-looking extrusions
about 3/8" in diameter were strategically located at the checkout counter and
near other hemp food items (they also carry hemp fiber clothing) with an
invitation to try it out. We both did and found the taste rather interesting -
dry, different, but pleasant. The clerk explained that they were the results
from the first pressing of the hemp seed for its oil. After several siftings,
these extrusions are then turned into hemp flour.

I noted that these "treats" were also being sold in large plastic buckets; the
clerk said that horse owners and some who had many dogs purchased it that way.
We bought two 1 lb bags of these "animal treats", fully intended for us, along
with some hemp flour. (I also made note of one of their reference books and
obtained it later online.)

It was a few months later in October (snow was on the ground) that we returned
(to the smaller winter store in the barn storeroom) and purchased a large
quantity of the "animal treats" - they put the amount of approximately 50 pounds
in a large sack and into the trunk of our car. As I recall, Paul transferred
part of the contents to 2 plastic buckets retained from dried dog food used in
years past by our deceased dog Moose, leaving the rest in the original sack, all
of which he carried in 3 trips up to our 2nd floor apartment in Toronto. We
later brought one of these buckets to Arizona and the other has just been
emptied and transfered to a smaller container at our Harcourt Park cottage.

We have used at this time probably 80% of that large purchase and plan to visit
Hempola again in September or October to buy the same amount. I will contact
them first to make sure that they can still supply us with this quantity. If
they have a large calling for the hemp flour, they may retain more of the
extrusions for further siftings and have less to sell as "animal treats". BTW,
the clerk acknowledged eating them himself and was not surprised that we found
them good with dried fruits, especially prunes.

Erich, I'll send you a small amount of the extrusions (Paul and I personally
refer to them as "hemp turds" ;) to see if you like them. If you do, we can then
make arrangements for a larger quantity.

**Kitty]

[The price for the hemp extrusions was considerably cheaper than the hemp flour
likely since the flour required more work in grinding and sifting out the fiber,
and the flour was sold for human consumption whereas the extrusions were sold
for animal consumption. We also figured that the extrusions would be better for
us because of their more fibrous unprocessed state. We bought the extrusions in
a bag, because they were charging a considerable amount for the plastic bucket
containers mentioned above. We are not sure, but we think that price was CDN$80
for the 50# bag that we bought. --Paul]