Born From Grit. Rooted in Purpose. Crafted for Real Life.

Real Life Botanicals starts with one man who didn’t have the luxury of failure; he simply had to make life work.

Before the licenses, the headlines, and the equipment, it was just Steve Halton—a fifth-generation farmer and young father in rural New York trying to support a family that eventually grew to five. While most people in their twenties were still figuring out where to begin, Steve was already building something sustainable.

In 2018, backed by a small angel investment and a whole lot of determination, he launched CNY Hemp Processing in Canastota, NY. What followed quickly positioned him as one of the leading industrial hemp farmers and processors in the country. Through grit, curiosity, and that trademark stubborn New York spirit, Steve brought the first hemp decorticator to the state; proof that he wasn’t just growing hemp; he was engineering a future.

But life has a way of testing the strongest people.

In 2020, Steve lost nearly everything in a painful divorce. Family fractured. Stability shaken. Starting over wasn’t optional, it was survival, so he rebuilt from the ground up. As a single father raising two young children, he leaned on the one constant that had never failed him: the cannabis plant.

And rise he did.

Through sheer resilience, Steve secured his cultivation license, followed by his processing license, becoming one of New York’s original AUCC license holders. More than a grower, he emerged as one of the most vocal advocates for New York farmers.

As a founding board member and Vice President of the Cannabis Farmers Alliance, Steve helped lead the historic protest that made national news: placing 50 pounds of cannabis on the steps of the Capitol in Albany to call out the painfully slow adult-use rollout and fight for the livelihoods of growers statewide.

Real Life Botanicals is the next chapter of that story.

This brand wasn’t born from venture capital, hype culture, or coastal “green rushes.”
It was born from real life, from struggle, rebuilding, advocacy, parenthood, and an unwavering belief that cannabis should support everyday people navigating everyday challenges.

It’s cannabis for real people:
working parents, blue-collar grinders, wellness seekers, night-shift warriors, and anyone doing their best to take care of themselves and the people they love.

No fluff. No pretense. Just honest, reliable plant medicine grown with integrity.

Real Life Botanicals is where everyday life meets elevated support.
Because real life is hard; but cannabis helps.