Highly Rated
Mink & Kimball Extracts elevating growth with unique products.
By Jacob Kauffman
Photography by Glennisha Johnson, DWL STUDIOS
It’s hard to talk about medical marijuana’s rapid development across the country without gravitating toward terms like “innovative” and “entrepreneur.” Perhaps some of that comes naturally as part of the territory of any emergent industry. But some enterprises and individuals seem to stand out among this crowd, where everyone is clamoring to claim something new and bold. Take a look at a small operation budding along in the Arkansas Delta, producing unique products like THC-infused jams for patients, and it’s pretty clear that there are some interesting people hard at work in Arkansas’s medical marijuana scene.
Danielle Buntyon owns and operates one of Arkansas’s five licensed medical marijuana processing companies, Mink & Kimball Extracts. It’s not quite “mom and pop,” but it’s a true family affair. Buntyon and her mother are the sole full-time employees, and Danielle’s own daughter has also been a key inspiration and driver of her success.
“I’m passionate about connecting people with good quality, locally sourced food and I am passionate about helping people that are seeking better ways to support their health,” Buntyon said. “There’s no reason patients who don’t want to smoke or vape medical marijuana should be stuck only with that kind of limited options of edibles or gummies. I’m passionate about offering something unique, a higher quality experience.”
Medical marijuana cardholders can find Mink & Kimball products like Infused Watermelon Jam, Infused Mint Jam or Infused Strawberry Guava Jalapeno Jam at a range of dispensaries across Arkansas at a cost of about $40 for 0.4g at 400mg THC.
Buntyon is driven to honor her commitment to the craft. Back in 2018, before attaining one of Arkansas’s few medical marijuana processing licenses, Buntyon was experimenting in the kitchen — without THC — making a host of different jams and jellies and taking them to the farmers market in her hometown of Memphis.
“We grew and made what we could, seasonally,” said Buntyon, describing her first forays into making your typical morning toast spread a little more interesting. These garden-to-kitchen experiments ended up generating positive buzz. She began infusing her homemade products with hemp-derived CBD and soon started her first business, Jades Elevation, in Memphis. Buntyon runs a vertically integrated operation — growing, processing and distributing a host of products. The company describes itself as “a small family urban farm that focuses on providing the best hemp products from seed to experience.”
Buntyon studied agriculture at Tennessee State University and gained processing experience working in California and British Columbia before moving back to Tennessee and setting up her business operation’s home base in Memphis. While Buntyon established her brand in Memphis, she had her eye on Arkansas, where in 2016 voters approved medical marijuana.
Buntyon’s decision to take a leap of faith across the Mississippi River to step into the THC-game has continued to gain her praise and attention. She’s keenly aware that as a woman and as a person of color, her success is not necessarily the most common story in Arkansas’s medical marijuana industry. But Buntyon says she’s largely found support in Arkansas.
After an initial failed effort to secure a viable site for processing in West Memphis, a friend recommended she look about 15 minutes up the road at Marion, Arkansas. “They were so hospitable, it was so encouraging that they were open to what I was trying to do,” Buntyon said. She leased out a space with a commercial kitchen and set to work.
Buntyon claims her speciality is a unique ability to deliver quality processed products through the use of thoughtful remediation techniques designed to reduce the degradation of THC, CBD and other essential elements from the start through the end product. Navigating issues of scale, shelf life, safe processing techniques and streamlining food processing are at the heart of her operation. That even includes things like making specialty jar lids that are up to medical marijuana safety standards.
“There are many different types of consumers who come to me, whose needs aren’t being met because of restrictions to the law,” Buntyon said. “I love the [referendum] process in Arkansas. Coming from Tennessee, I can see how it’s a really great and unique thing. The people can demand real-world stuff. We need to move toward having a more robust market to make sure we’re meeting the needs of patients. That includes opening up the beauty of The Natural State and looking into the idea of consumption spaces.”
Arkansas may face some legal restrictions that prevents it from being at the cutting-edge of patient services or “weed culture” — Arkansas is by no stretch of the imagination California or Colorado — but entrepreneurs like Danielle Buntyon highlight what residents here have long known: Arkansas can be a land of opportunity. There is room for entrepreneurs to make their mark, there is a demand for innovation and quality, and there is something greater to work toward. Buntyon noted, “I am building something for me and my daughter. There are lots of benefits to breaking into this business, even if you aren’t making a million dollars a month … this experience, building this with my family, is worth a million dollars to me any day.”
