Hemp expert shares children’s story

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This article was published 04/05/2023 (742 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An internationally renowned hemp expert has brought a children’s book to new audiences, beginning with children at the Jake Epp Library.

Anndrea Hermann took part in story corner at the library on Friday, before heading to Di Reggae Grill for a book launch party for the book, Everyone Loves Trallala.

But the Kleefeld and Grunthal area resident is first to admit that she’s no author and has never before dabbled in children’s books.

Instead her life’s work has been in hemp. From Joplin, Missouri, Hermann graduated in 2002 from Southern State University with a B.GS. in Hemp Ecolonomics. She later moved to Manitoba and worked in the growing hemp industry, before completing a Master’s of Science in Hemp Fibre Agronomy at the University of Manitoba.

It was while attending an organic trade show in Nurnberg, Germany in 2012 that she first became aware of the book telling the story of a little hempseed.

“I was just like a kid,” she said of the moment she saw the German language book in the back of a booth. “I saw the images and was like, this is so amazing.”

The book she saw was titled Alle lieben Trallala, by Markus J. Altenfels and Roswitha Mayr with illustrations by Rooobert Bayer.

The synopsis is simple.

Trallala is a hempseed, who lives on an organic farm called “Hempworld”. One sunny morning, a friendly, elderly, black and white tomcat tells Trallala about the field of singing flowers on the farm.

Trallala wants to visit this mysterious field; she pleads with the cat to take her there. And so, begins an exciting adventure into the world of hemp.

Trallala learns a lot about the amazing plant she will one day become. Her experiences with the animated characters on the farm remind her of how important it is to have good friends.

The story touches on friendship, diversity, addressing fears, making new friends and experiencing life.

Hermann can’t speak German and said she didn’t know the details, but was still captivated by the book, bringing others by that booth to take a look.

“At the end of the day they brought me the book and gifted it to me,” she said.

Later that year she welcomed Norma Urban to her home through WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms), a cultural exchange program. Urban was from Germany and translated the book into English.

That’s when Hermann knew what she must do.

“I said, this is amazing. You translate it, we’re going to get the rights to this book and we’re going to get it in English,” she said.

A decade later that’s the reality.

A chapter book based on the original has been developed as well as a developing kids’ version for young readers.

That version is also available in French and Spanish and will soon be available in Japanese, Polish and Ukrainian.

And while it’s an engaging children’s story, Hermann said it’s important to her because it’s the first she’s seen that shares industrial hemp with children.

“I’m really working to get the developing reader into as many languages as I possibly can to share about what industrial hemp is,” she said.

Some changes to the book have been made. While the original was based on a real farm in Austria, this version takes place on the Great Plains, a region to which Manitoba belongs.

Characters in the book are named after people Hermann knows, including Joey and Delores (her host family when she arrived in Canada), her son, mother, grandma and even her son’s friends.

Hermann said she feels children can get excited to learn that hemp can be made into vehicle components, plastics, clothing, musical instruments, building materials and food.

“To see them open up to that concept hopefully will spark the next great farmers and agronomists,” she said.

Demonstrating her allegiance to the industry, Hermann read the book to the children in Steinbach while wearing hemp and cotton blends.

She said Manitoba was a leader in getting hemp legalized in Canada in 1998. For many years it had been stigmatized because of ignorance and misinformation about the crop which is often confused with cannabis.

“The Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers and farmers in Manitoba are the ones that really plugged in and said we’re going to make it happen,” she said.

Since she’s been involved in the industry, Hermann said she’s seen positive change.

“We’re seeing countries around the world start to cultivate industrial hemp and recognize it as an agricultural crop,” she said.

And thanks to her energy, Trallala will help spread the word, educating the next generation on a commodity grown right here in Manitoba.

Hermann said her personal story, of rising from a poor Missouri family to being where she is today, is one of inspiration.

“I don’t care where you come from,” she said. “If you have a passion and a dream for something and you really put your energy to it and you kind of lock in on it, it can come true. It can become a reality.”