A husband-and-wife team

Turn to Stone

In ancient Greek mythology, Medusa had the power to turn anyone to stone who dared to glance at her face. Today, that power is wielded slightly differently by the two cultivators behind Medusa’s Eden. Meet Dexter and Virginia Holmes, a husband-and-wife team growing some of the most fire cultivars in Southern Maine. With their love for growing to guide them—and tech that allows them 24/7 data-monitoring in the garden—the sky's the limit.

“The house is probably 200 years old. It has an all-dirt cellar. Like, it's just dirt. That's what’s crazy. It's pretty cool.”

Dexter Holmes, Owner and Operator

Pulling up to their five-acre property in the small town of Buxton, Maine had us wondering if we were in the right spot (thankfully, we were). This is where Maine’s booming medical market has brought Dexter and Virginia, settling on a quiet plot of land that gives them plenty of space to grow, now and into the future. On the farm you’ll find them raising chicken, with kale, tomatoes, and cannabis being the other staples growing outside. The house itself harbors an indoor garden as well, with tech to help guide them when they’re away making deliveries to their patients.

“Art is really the foundation for this business.”

Dexter Holmes, Owner and Operator

Before getting into cannabis, Dexter actually started off on a slightly different path, attending art school in upstate New York. As a painter and an artist, he was able to create something that emotionally moves his audience, educates them, or maybe even prompts a question in their minds. Then 2020 happened, and the chance of a lifetime fell into his palette. Trading canvases for cannabis, Dexter now utilizes his art skills in their canna-business, which shows in their branding and product packaging.

It wasn’t such a Herculean task to talk the couple into swapping their lives in the city to come out to rural Maine and grow cannabis. With the pandemic in full swing and their future up in the air in New York, the property presented itself—a little slice of heavenly growing space, for both indoor and outdoor grows—and the decision was made. They were moving to Maine.

“We make a pretty good team, and with the data just, it's just been super helpful.”

Virginia Holmes, Head Cultivator

The key to Dexter and Virginia’s success boils down to solid teamwork, utilizing each other’s skills to run all areas of their business. If you’re looking for the person who’s all about data (and drybacks), Virginia’s tapped in. No matter where she's at—in the garden or out on a delivery—Virginia is in touch with data coming in about their plants’ substrate EC, Water Content and Moisture Activity, and environmental factors like VPD. Whether she’s spending time with her plants or her husband, the end result is a lot more freedom and flexibility to step away and focus on the tasks important to their business. 

Now that they have a system in place to give them visibility into their garden no matter where they are, the future for Medusa’s Eden truly is whatever Virginia and Dexter want it to be. Their goals include expanding into the next great frontier in the Northeast, New York. They’re looking at developing eco-friendly packaging for their product line, something we can all appreciate as consumers. And as the medical market continues to evolve, we can expect to find their flower and concentrates in even more dispensaries around the Pine Tree State, elevating the offerings and experience that their patients have come to know and love.