Gonna be awesome, man, right on.
regarding collecting scraps..
Just tell them your girlfriend wants raised beds in the spring for her veggie garden (its winter here, & Im collecting from the grocery stores and coffee shops and I'm new to town, so don't be shy, people like to help and not be wasteful! Just go in a couple times, buy a couple things, and then pop the question after you've broken the ice so to speak, I bring in a clean pail every week and pull the coffee grind pail out and take it home, just make sure they dont have holes aha)
as per curing, I love my 100 and 200 day cures, its true, and for competition, at least 6 weeks would be ideal, but I also smoke samples half way through flowering. as well as after one week of cure. Some strains like a longer cure, it depends on their metabolism but the pink gravy is a light eater, food wise, so they traditionally cure quite well and smoke really nice really soon.
Find a nice middle ground that works for you, and when you get abundances you can afford the longer periods naturally.
As for your 12 n 12 from seed, sweet, should be fun. That said, I would top the gravy, put her in veg, pull 4 clones at least if not six or 8, and veg another few weeks .. then flower the mother and veg the clones out a month or two if you can.. then you get a good 5 plants off one seed, if not more. Killer