Canna Culture had a ribbon cutting recently. Left to right are Winnebago mayor Jean Anderson, owners Amber, Jason and Brady Olson, and CEDA EDA specialist Macey Becker.

To the untrained eye, Canna Culture may look like nothing more than your average cannabis dispensary, but that couldn’t be further from the truth – if you were to step inside, you’d instead be greeted by shelves of organic fertilizer, pallets of potting soil, and all manner of gardening supplies.

“Canna Culture is really more of a niche garden center,” owner Amber Olsen explains. “We’re not allowed to sell any actual cannabis products or plants here; all we carry are the seeds and genetics so that people can grow their own.”

Canna Culture originally opened in Fairmont back in 2023, but has since relocated to its current location in Winnebago. Owned and operated by the husband and wife duo of Jason and Amber Olsen, along with their son Brady, Canna Culture’s spacious new location celebrated its official grand opening on Saturday, July 19, with a smaller ribbon-cutting event held earlier that week on Thursday, July 17.

“Our store focuses on organic growing supplies, and can support hydroponics gardening systems as well,” Amber shares. “We’re also looking to branch out more into the health and wellness side of cannabis products in the future, but that likely won’t be for a while.”

Amber and Jason have grown their own cannabis for medicinal use for eight years, and the idea to open their own garden center came out of a need for the specialized products that were hard to find elsewhere.

“It’s difficult to find the products you need to grow cannabis in a typical garden center, and while you can always order online, you can never be sure you’re getting the right product,” Jason explains. “We wanted a place with a much more hands-on shopping approach, so you can actually physically verify what you’re buying is legitimate.”

“The mom-and-pop shop approach was really important to us when we started Canna Culture,” Brady adds. “We like to have a lot of engagement with our customers; it’s how we get to know the community and share our knowledge with people who might not know a lot about what we do.”

Canna Culture’s new location at 215 North Main Street in Winnebago places it right along Highway 169, which makes it all the more accessible to the store’s vast customer base, which travel from places as distant as Fairmont, Mankato, and even Iowa to stock up.

“Our customer base is unique in that it won’t be a lot of Winnebago folks – rather, we bring our customers with us wherever we go,” Amber admits. “There aren’t a lot of places in southern Minnesota that carry gardening supplies like ours, so being located along the highway makes it a lot easier for our customer base to travel to us and access our store, which was a problem with our old location in Fairmont.”

Currently, the store stocks a wide variety of garden supplies, ranging from organic fertilizers and potting soil to portable greenhouses and, of course, countless varieties of cannabis seeds. There are also your typical cannabis-themed tchotchkes, like shirts, hats, and necklaces, along with an ever-growing stock of health and wellness products such as candles, lotions, and water bottles.

“Our goal is to bring in people who wouldn’t normally stop in at a cannabis store,” Amber shares. “A lot of folks who wander into our store won’t buy any seeds or soil, but they’ll definitely leave with a T-shirt. We’ve also got plans to share our space with other local businesses and artists to host workshops in our store, so even if you aren’t interested in cannabis at all, you’ll still get a chance to come in and see what we have to offer.”

Above all, though, Amber, Jason, and Brady emphasize the importance of keeping their store family-friendly and accessible to everyone, while also providing a unique perspective on the hows and whys of growing your own cannabis.

“It’s definitely not just a recreational drug,” Brady explains. “Cannabis provides people with another option for pain management when traditional medicine and prescription drugs don’t work. It might not be for everyone, but we believe that it can and does help people.”

“Our store supports all organic gardeners, regardless of what you’re growing,” Amber adds. “Ultimately, we’re here to share a different perspective on why people grow and use cannabis, and to provide affordable, quality gardening products to everyone.”