I’m in a similar situation and agree with everything you’ve said. Although I enjoy the ritual aspect of weed I’ve also found that I enjoy the actual effects far less than I used to, and when I take a few weeks off I don’t really miss it.
The worst part is the 3-4 days after quitting falling asleep becomes quite difficult so I need to make a point to go on long runs/bike rides to fall asleep easier
I’ve found melatonin to be a fairly mild, yet effective, sleep aid. I mostly use it to manage the clock on eastbound long flights (to fall asleep earlier than local time would have me do that.)
One thing to note about melatonin is there’s little consistency between the dosage listed on the bottle and the actual dose. Not a problem if it works for you but just something to be aware of, more info on the second heading here [0] if you’re interested
I’ve only started to notice this in the past year or so, it’s a bizarre feeling compared to just a normal hangover. Certainly dissuades me from drinking too much now.
I am in a French Facebook group called "La Confrerie De La Charcuterie Maison Officiel". Though it is mostly French folks and I can speak the language but Facebook does a decent job translating. I also used the information on https://www.leblogsaucisson.fr which can also be really easy to translate. The best recipe I did so far was this one: https://www.leblogsaucisson.fr/saucisson-fermier/ where I used two different casings (sheep and pork). The sheep one dried really quickly and the pork one is still drying.
In a nutshell... it's a lot like making sausages you'd cook to eat except the salt content is increased and you may want to inoculate the casing with some Mold-600(p. nalgiovense) like I do. The rest is about setting up the right environment for the sausages to cure and dry.
I use an Inkbird controller (ITC-608T 1800W) in a small wine fridge where I have a humidifier (a small fan on top of a bowl of water I fill from time to time), a dehumidifier (connected to the inkbird) and the thermometer circuit connected directly to the fridge and through the inkbird. It keeps the fridge at around 13C(55F) and 75-80% relative humidity with the settings I use and it does some really amazing results. One thing to note is that all equipment you connect has to have automatic on when power comes back on as the controller just turns the wall plug on and off.
[0] https://solokeys.com/