Showcase #343: Licensed Recreational Cannabis Gardener from Portland, Oregon

Welcome to the Urban EDC Showcase! Each week, we feature a member of the EDC community and the gear they rely on every day. Want to be featured? Submit your gear photo.

From Portland, Oregon by way of the swamps of Louisiana, Travis (@tbabyedc) is a gardener for a licensed Oregon recreational cannabis farm (oh yeah). In addition to plying his green thumb, Travis also doubles up as a contractor, electrician, and designer to get the job done. Read on to learn how Travis curates an EDC that can keep up with him, and find out what he's looking to acquire next. 

What's in your carry?

• Knife: Spyderco Shaman
  I love this knife. Brilliant design, great action, great feel. It’s a beast and can handle any and every job I throw at it. It was phenomenal right out of the box, but adding the slim micarta scales from RC Bladeworks really dialed it up a notch and made it feel that much nicer in hand.
  
  I’m also a big fan of lanyards for accessibility, and the micarta ScoopyLoops bead complemented the scales too well to not be paired with this knife.
  
  
• Pen: Ti2Designs Techliner (Super Shorty/Titanium)
  This is such a great little EDC pen. I had been carrying the Fisher Space Pen forever, and while I thought (and still think) it was great, I wanted to upgrade to something a little more substantial while still retaining the small profile and not taking up too much pocket space.
  
  This was the perfect choice! It writes like a dream, feels great in the hand, and the magnets are super snappy which gives it a huge fidget factor.
  
  
• Flashlight: Foursevens Preon:
  Easily my most used piece of gear. This is my second Preon, the first being the aluminum version from Prometheus Lights (who took the design over from FourSevens and has done a stellar job with it).
  
  The simplicity of use, solid feel, compact size, and excellent lighting capability make it the perfect EDC flashlight in my humble opinion, and when I saw a copper version available from a buddy I had to jump on it. 
  
  
• Worry Coin: Turning Point Machine Works
  Who doesn’t love a worry coin?! An absolute must for my personal sanity. This one comes from Turning Point Machine Works, who is steadily turning out top notch beads, coins, etc. Check them out!

What's your story?

My name is Travis Wainwright. I grew up down south in the Louisiana swamps, but have been up in the Pacific Northwest (specifically Portland, OR) for about 15 years.

I work as a gardener for a licensed Oregon recreational cannabis farm, specializing in indoor growing. It’s definitely a labor of love, and having the right gear on hand is a must, because I regularly switch roles from gardener to contractor to electrician to designer and back again.

My dad instilled in me from an early age that it is an absolute must to carry a knife and a lighter on my person at all times, and that has stayed with me all my life (not pictured is my trusty brass Zippo, but believe me, it’s in my pocket!), so it’s been pretty natural for me to branch out into the wide world of EDC. There are not many feelings more satisfying than having the right tool for the job on hand when you need it.

Besides my gardening work, I also co-own and run a small manual screen printing business (with my lovely partner Manda), Æon Press PDX. Everything we do is done by hand, start to finish.

Between that and my day job, I’m left with precious little free time, but when I get it I enjoy playing music, designing new art to print, and getting outside into nature. The PNW is unbelievably beautiful, it’s such a treat to live here and get to enjoy it.

Favorite EDC Tool?

Gotta love the Shaman. It’s just such a great knife! I rotate my knives regularly, but this one definitely wins in the overall pocket-time category.

What's On Your Gear Radar?

I’m a big fan of GiantMouse Knives, so I’m always on the lookout for new releases from them. At the moment, though, I’m probably most excited about the upcoming Vox F5.5. And one day I’ll get around to picking up a CRK Sebenza (been on my list for a long time)!