About
I'm John Waddup. I run cultivation operations at a licensed medicinal cannabis producer in Portugal, operating under INFARMED oversight. My day job is part engineering, part agriculture, part problem-solving — designing and running the systems that keep a large-scale cultivation facility producing consistently at quality.
I studied mechanical engineering at UWE Bristol, then spent the best part of a decade in large-scale construction and live-event production — building 20,000-to-60,000-capacity festival arenas, production-managing stages at Glastonbury and Boomtown, running bars and venues, working as a carpenter, operating heavy plant. Then cannabis took over. Nearly a decade in commercial cultivation now — California's medical and recreational markets first, then founding and building a GACP-licensed medical producer here in Portugal.
I live in Arrifana on Portugal's west coast with my family. We're renovating a house there — slowly, by hand where possible, learning as we go.
This site is where I write about both halves. Worklife is the facility — the craft, the engineering, the things that go wrong and how we fix them. Homelife is the house, the coast, the slower side.
Elsewhere
I also run two consultancies: