Buckeye Relief is gearing up for the company’s first harvest of medical marijuana plants.The company which is located in Eastlake, was the first level one medical marijuana cultivating facility to be operational in Ohio, is now anticipating being the first level one medical marijuana facility in the state to harvest.

Buckeye Relief received the go ahead to grow with their licensing on July 25 and by August 28 had over 50 varieties of plants growing in various stages.

The harvest of approximately 1,500 plants is expected to begin sometime between Dec. 5 and 10.

After the initial harvest the company will continuously harvest plants in three-week cycles.

Buckeye Relief is one of the businesses still waiting to hear if the State of Ohio approves their application for a processor/extraction license which would allow them to extract oils from the plants to be used in a variety of products such as lotions and edibles.In the meantime, the company will harvest the flowers from the plants, and dry and package them to sell to Ohio dispensaries.

The company had originally anticipated the product being sent to dispensaries by the end of December but an extra step requiring every strain to be registered after testing by an independent outside lab could slow the process an extra seven to 10 days. This would delay the medical marijuana flowers being on dispensaries’ shelves until around the second week of January.

“For our first harvest cycle things have gone great,” Buckeye Relief owner Andy Rayburn said. “There have been a few little problems which were all handled, but there have been no major problems.”

“We are just that much closer to having product for patients,” Leslie Brandon,  director of communications and community engagements for Buckeye Relief said.

Buckeye Relief currently has 25 full-time employees plus multiple contract workers.

With the start of the harvest approaching, the company will continue to hire new employees through January.

Additional employment information and application procedure can be found on their website.