Aid is on the way for struggling farmers in two of the Emerald Triangle’s three counties, with funding available to help improve drought resilience and licensing compliance.
Cannabis for Conservation (CFC), a Humboldt County, California-based 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit, announced $2.5 million in grant funds to assist small cannabis farmers through the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Cannabis Restoration Grant Program via the Qualified Cultivator Funding Opportunity, according to a Feb. 28 press release.
Small farmers in the Emerald Triangle, an area where the economy is built on cannabis farming, have been “pushed to the brink” due to the impact of legalization, Cal Matters reports. It’s a region with over a quarter million people, and nearly everyone living in the region is either directly or indirectly reliant on cannabis. Cannabis has been the area’s staple crop since the ‘70s, with some farms in operation for generations. The rollout of grant funding couldn’t be more urgent, according to locals.
The two grants that were announced—Implementing Drought Resilience Strategies on Humboldt County Cannabis Farms and Provisional to Annual License Transitions for Trinity County Cultivators—will collectively assist 89 farms across eight priority watersheds with environmental work.
“We see a great opportunity for conservation with this nascent industry, especially given that many farmers own large tracts of land in one of the most biodiverse ecoregions on the planet,” said Jackee Riccio, the co-founder and executive director of CFC.
CFC’s Drought Resilience Program aims to improve sustainable water consumption on some 17 farms. They will do this by installing rainwater catchment systems, increasing water storage capacity, and/or hardening and improving irrigation. This, they believe, will improve on-farm drought resilience and reduce direct impacts to water sources during low-flow periods.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “the frequency, intensity, and duration of drought events” is increasing at rates not seen before.
The point of this isn’t to transform small farms into monopolies, however: CFC stipulates that none of these water improvements will be used to increase cultivation footprints, farm size, or number of licenses, but rather reduce or eliminate extraction from water resources during dry periods and in some cases, convert farms to 100% water storage.
The Provisional to Annual License Program, on the other hand, aims to assist 72 Trinity cultivators in achieving an annual County and Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) license. The grant aims to provide professional help to small farmers to finalize annual licenses, including “completing documentation for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance and Special-Status Species Mitigation and allow for a Technical Advisory Committee between CDFW, CFC, and the county to quickly resolve licensing obstacles that arise.”
CEQA is a California law dating back to 1970 that requires environmental review of proposed cultivation projects. All annual state cannabis licenses must comply with CEQA. The DCC may only issue an annual license once a project complies with CEQA. In addition, DCC has requirements for standard operating procedures, training employees, and how operations must be set up.
CFC’s applied conservation approach focuses on collaborative, on-farm research, biodiversity enhancements, and environmental education.
The goal is to bring together scientists and farmers to implement peer-reviewed conservation practices, with benefits provided to wildlife, land, and water.
“Working with farmers and transforming monocultures into functional agroecosystems is a priority strategy among conservationists globally and we’re doing our part in that here, in the heart of cannabis country to return to the back-to-the-land values that this industry was born from,” Riccio added.
Deep in the heart of the Emerald Triangle, a 40-acre plot of land is the home of a small regenerative farm that serves as a connection between Earth and a community of consumers eager to enjoy the benefits of its natural bounty. Welcome to Moon Made Farms.
The small cannabis cultivation operation is nestled into an oak grove in southern Humboldt County, the hub of California’s legacy marijuana industry. Tina Gordon, the steward of the land and founder of Moon Made Farms, says she realized it was a magical place when she first visited in 2007 to make a documentary film about the property’s previous owner Joani Hannan, a 1950s and ’60s drummer who blazed a trail for mid-twentieth century queer performers. After leaving behind the grit and decay of the big city, the tranquility and interconnectedness of the farm’s natural surroundings spoke to Gordon’s soul and revealed what was missing in her life.
“It shifted my consciousness and opened my eyes to the fact that we’re living on a living planet,” Gordon said. “Being from an urban area — from a city — I didn’t recognize that I was living in captivity.”
Gordon marveled at the abundance of nature she found in her new home: clean air, untreated water, a clearly visible night sky and food harvested fresh from the land. Most importantly, the secluded piece of the Emerald Triangle is where her relationship with cannabis fully blossomed.
“Once I was here, I fell in love with the plant,” she said.
Growing healthy cannabis is only part of the picture.
A New Calling
When she first moved to Humboldt, Gordon had no intention or even interest in becoming a cannabis cultivator. But when she saw the health and vigor expressed by plants grown in healthy soil and natural sunlight, she was inspired to make herself a part of the living process. Before long, she was learning to pay attention to the quality of the soil and how to improve its fertility naturally. She ensured the other plants growing among the cannabis were beneficial companions, providing natural protection from pests and disease. And as she nurtured and developed her garden, Gordon discovered her new passion was spilling into other aspects of her life.
“When I started taking care of these plants, I started taking care of myself better,” Gordon says. “And that’s how I embrace this plant as a living being—as my teacher.”
After Hannan’s death in 2012, ownership of the property passed to Gordon, ushering in the beginnings of Moon Made Farms.
Providing natural medicine remains at the core of Moon Made Farms.
Natural Medicine Grows in the Sun
Now in her 15th year in Humboldt County, Gordon has transformed Moon Made Farms into an undeniably successful space that produces healing medicine from plants grown in natural soil and sunlight. Her cultivation practices surpass those of typical organics, eschewing the use of herbicides and pesticides while incorporating techniques that go beyond substituting inputs and build the health of the soil. And she isn’t alone. With a like-minded supply chain of suppliers, processors and retailers, Gordon works to provide natural medicine that remains at the core of Moon Made Farms.
“The mission of Moon Made Farms is to honor the most powerful plant on the planet that expresses in the female form, and that’s cannabis,” Gordon says. “And by honoring this plant, we’re participating in creating a regenerative supply chain.”
Part of that chain is Jesse Dodd, an Emerald Triangle cannabis breeder who works under the handle Bio Vortex. Dodd’s work with Gordon is a collaboration combining their deep knowledge. After discussing which traits Gordon wishes to maximize in her medicine, Dodd performs crosses likely to produce the desired qualities in the next generation of plants. By working together, they create new varietals that are bred just for Moon Made Farms. Gordon takes over from there, coaxing the new seeds to their lush and productive potential.
A framed photo of former property owner Joani Hannan, a drummer who paved the way for queer artists in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
“I feel very happy that the seeds have a very good home at her farm,” Dodd said. “She shows them off really well. They can come to their full expression and just amazing beauty and quality in both CBD and THC varieties.”
Gordon says her journey building Moon Made Farms is ultimately an expression of her commitment to healthy living. Even before she moved from San Francisco, she had a keen interest in nutrition, exercise and pursuing a more healthful lifestyle. On the farm, that natural tendency could fully express itself. Now integral to her persona, that commitment is expressed in the therapeutic benefits of sungrown cannabis, which Gordon compares to the qualities of organic produce or grass-fed beef. In concert with full-spectrum sunlight, clean water and fresh air, Gordon cultivates healthy plants and clean medicine.
“We want to bring people something that’s pure, that’s healthy, that’s grown to the highest standards, and that’s truly an expression of this place, because we want to make people’s lives better,” Gordon said.
Tina Gordon, founder of Moon Made Farms (L) and life on the farm.
Sustainable Cannabis
Looking ahead, Gordon says that supporting farmers who use sungrown, regenerative practices will not only result in clean cannabis, but also a healthier planet. With climate change bringing ever intensifying fires, floods, and other global catastrophes, farms that nurture our ecosystem rather than exploit it will take on new significance. Gordon envisions a polyculture economy in which small farms produce medicine in addition to food and other agricultural products needed by local markets.
“This is what’s going to support communities,” Gordon said. “This is what’s going to provide the public with the best possible cannabis.”
Growing healthy cannabis is only part of the picture. Cultivating a genuinely sustainable, healthy cannabis economy depends on a community of individuals and families willing to invest in their health as well as the well-being of the environment. Key to that investment, Gordon says, is a marketplace of buyers who educate themselves on the origins of their herb.
“The questions I want consumers to ask are, ‘Where is this cannabis from?’ ‘Who grew this?’ ‘How did they grow it?’” she said. “And, to get visibility into the source.”
With that transparency, all members of the supply chain, from seed producer to end user, can be empowered to cultivate a healthier planet for all.
This story was originally published in the print edition of Cannabis Now.
I love it when a new product comes along that’s been designed with the core function to make life better, easier and cleaner. A product that makes me say, “Wow, I need that.” The truly revolutionary Ciro bong cleaner is one such item. The first-of-its-kind countertop appliance is the healthiest, most sustainable way to clean your pipes, bongs, grinder and trimming scissors by removing all the sticky resin using sonic waves—and in under 15 minutes without harmful and expensive chemicals.
Derivative of the Latin word for circle, the Ciro glass cleaner is the brainchild of two Emerald Triangle-based women, Laura Costa and Cara Cordoni.
“The Ciro comes from the heart of Humboldt County,” Costa says. “In addition to being great farmers, we’re also engineers, architects and artists.”
The Ciro cleans glassware and accessories in minutes.
How the Ciro Works
By harnessing industrial ultrasonic cleaning technology, the Ciro cleans the dirtiest bongs, pipes and other cannabis accessories and apparatus such as scissors and metal grinders. And it does so without using any nasty chemicals in a few minutes.
According to Costa, the sonic energy creates “cavitation,” tiny bubbles that explode against the resin, blasting it off the surface material and eliminating the need for solvents or other chemicals.
The device is unique because the product’s design doesn’t require the bong to be submerged. Instead, it only needs to be filled with water. The Ciro’s six-inch base fits most bongs and if you want to clean dirty pipes, grinders or other accessories, simply pop them in a glass of water and place it in the Ciro. Adding a few drops of biodegradable dishwashing liquid emulsifies the resin, making for easy cleanup.
“The cannabis industry is loaded with waste,” Costa says. “One Ciro is about the same cost as about a dozen bottles of cleaner that you’ll never have to buy again. We’re very proud that we created something that eliminates a lot of single-use plastic and toxic chemicals from the environment.”
The Ciro uses ultrasonic waves to create tiny bubbles that blast even the toughest resin off the glass.
The Benefits
The Full Flavor: Getting the full taste of the terpene profiles is one of the highlights of smoking cannabis. If you’re using a dirty bong containing stagnant bong water, you’re doing yourself and the flower a disservice. “You wouldn’t drink wine from a dirty glass,” Cordoni says. “So why would you smoke weed from a dirty bong?”
Reduced Respiratory Risks: Smoking out of dirty bongs and pipes isn’t just bad for the taste of your flower; it potentially poses health risks, too. Gross stagnant bong water is a haven for bacteria and other microbes that latch onto the gas and resin found inside your bong. Resin-encrusted bongs are a breeding ground for harmful bacteria and pathogens. Smoking with them can lead to illnesses like strep throat and pneumonia.
Easy Cleanup: Cleaning bongs can be complicated and time-consuming, not to mention damn near impossible if you have dexterity issues. The sleek hands-free design of the Ciro makes it super easy to use, especially for patients and disabled users who often struggle to maintain the level of cleanliness that they deserve with traditional methods.
Environmentally Conscious Engineering: As well as eliminating toxic chemicals and reducing the need for single-use plastic, the Ciro is also engineered for performance and durability and includes a lifetime warranty. Costa and Cordoni developed a circular business model that will repair or reclaim products at end-of-life.
Ciro founders Cara Cordoni (L) and Laura Costa (R).
Necessity and Innovation
The Ciro was born out of a two-fold need: a way to clean cannabis smoking apparatus and support her family as they worked through farming bureaucracy, Costa says.
“Many small farmers in the Emerald Triangle didn’t make it through the oppressive red tape and permitting costs of legalization after Prop 64,” Costa says. “Many farmers and their families had to pivot and find other ways to provide for their families.”
Costa is a skilled electrical engineer who spent part of her 20s rewiring airports in the South Pacific. She’s married to a legacy farmer and has spent years overseeing trim crews, tinkering with inventive ways to clean resinous apparatus. Costa built the first Ciro prototype using a thrift store cake pan as Exhibit A to her resourcefulness.
Cordoni is a San Francisco native and accomplished business builder, managing and coaching teams at various Fortune 500 companies and cannabis startups. Her passion for nurturing cradle-to-cradle product development extends into developing profitable businesses that prioritize protecting people and the environment.
“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished with Ciro,” Costa says. “We have the potential to provide a less wasteful and healthier cleaning and consumption experience for the cannabis community.”
Ciro has launched for pre-sale on Indiegogo. A pledge of $185 reserves one Ciro + accessories at 26% off the retail price of $250. Multiple packs are available for dispensaries at a more generous discount. To see Ciro in action, or to pre-purchase a unit, visit @ciro_humboldt.
An earthquake rocked Humboldt County on Sunday, shaking California’s famous Emerald Triangle cannabis cultivation region for the second time in two weeks. The earthquake on New Year’s Day, which measured 5.4 on the Richter scale, followed a stronger quake that shook the area on December 20, leading to the death of two people. Sunday’s quake was one of more than 300 aftershocks that have rocked the region since.
“It’s typical to have an aftershock that is about one magnitude unit less than the main shock,” Lori Dengler, a former geology professor and an expert on earthquakes and tsunamis, told local media after Sunday’s temblor. “So this is very typical of most aftershock sequences.”
“Today’s earthquake (was) clearly on a different but related fault,” Dengler added.
Sunday’s quake occurred at 10:35 a.m. local time and was centered about nine miles east of the Rio Dell area of Humboldt County, according to information from the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no reports of casualties or major damage, although California Route 211 through the area was temporarily closed to give inspectors time to check a bridge over the Eel River for potential damage associated with the quake, the California Department of Transportation reported.
Earthquake Results In Power Outage
The temblor caused a power outage in the Rio Dell area, which bore the brunt of the earthquake that shook the area 12 days earlier. Pacific Gas and Electric reported that the outage affected between 500 and 5,000 utility customers, according to media reports.
Gage Dupper was displaced by the December earthquake, which knocked his home off its foundation. He told reporters he has been living as a “nomad” since then.
“Today was another pretty big one,” said Dupper. “Still feels like we are shaking to me. We just can’t catch a break it seems.”
Gage noted that he was working in Fortuna, adjacent to Rio Dell, when Sunday’s quake shook the area again.
“But even just here it felt like the ceiling was going to come down,” Dupper said. “We nearly lost our power here as well. I was in the middle of talking to a resident of the assisted living community I work for and you could just see the panic in their eyes when it started. She was just trying to pay her rent. It certainly tossed us around a bit.”
Sunday’s Quake Follows 6.4 Shaker Last Month
The earthquake that shook the Humboldt County area on December 20 measured 6.4 on the Richter scale and caused significant damage in the region. That quake injured 17 people and was blamed for the deaths of two residents, a 73-year-old and an 83-year-old, who died as “a result of medical emergencies occurring during and/or just following the earthquake,” according to a statement from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office’s Department of Emergency Services.
The December quake also resulted in a power outage in the Rio Dell area, with more than 72,000 customers affected, and a water main break caused the area to lose water service, as well. Damage from the quake was reported in Ferndale, Rio Dell, and Fortuna, Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci said in a press conference in Sacramento. Damage was most extensive in Rio Dell, where at least 15 homes in the community of 3,000 were deemed uninhabitable. Another 18 homes sustained moderate damage, officials reported after a partial assessment of the area.
Rio Dell’s water system was shut down while leaks in the vital infrastructure were repaired. The local firehouse was distributing drinking water, and portable toilets were set up outside City Hall for area residents to use. Local resident Cassondra Stoner said that she was shaken awake by the early morning quake that rocked the area last month.
“It felt like my roof was coming down,” Stoner said. “The only thing I could think about was, ‘Get the freaking kids.’”
California’s famed Emerald Triangle cannabis-growing region was rocked by an earthquake early Tuesday morning, leading to the deaths of two local residents and leaving tens of thousands of people without electricity. The earthquake, which registered 6.4 on the Richter scale, also caused about a dozen injuries and damaged homes and businesses in the region.
The ground started shaking at 2:34 a.m., with the temblor centered near the town of Ferndale, a community about 210 miles northwest of San Francisco in Humboldt County. The epicenter of the quake was offshore, about 10 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
Humboldt County, along with neighboring Trinity and Mendocino Counties, make up California’s infamous Emerald Triangle, where for decades cannabis farmers have grown top-shelf marijuana famous around the world. Johnny Casali of Huckleberry Hills Farm reported that his legacy cannabis operation in southern Humboldt County lost electricity during the power outage but did not suffer any damage from the shaking. Chris Anderson of Redwood Roots said that southern Humboldt County was not hit very hard by the quake, but he had heard reports of broken water mains and homes being knocked off their foundations in the central part of the county.
More Than 70,000 Lose Power
Damage to buildings and infrastructure is still being assessed throughout the region. Approximately 72,000 Pacific Gas and Electric customers reportedly lost power as a result of the earthquake. By late Tuesday, the utility company had restored power to about 40,000 customers and expected electrical service would be restored for the remaining homes and businesses without power within 24 hours. The outage involved a main transmission line into the area and repairs were slowed by rain that prevented a helicopter from assessing damage sustained by the line.
In a news flash, the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services reported that “two individuals have died as a result of medical emergencies occurring during and/or just following the earthquake.” The dead include an 83-year-old and a 72-year-old, according to media reports. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reported that at least 11 people were injured during the quake. Injuries sustained in the temblor included a hip fracture and a head injury, according to media reports.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Humboldt County on Tuesday evening. Brian Ferguson, a spokesperson for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, noted that two hospitals in the area had lost power but were running on generators. Ferguson also said that damage in the area appeared to be minimal considering the strength of the earthquake.
Residents in the Emerald Triangle are used to the relatively frequent earthquakes. But some said that Tuesday’s shaking was more violent than the rolling motion of many of the region’s tremors.
“You could see the floor and walls shaking,” Araceli Huerta told the Associated Press. “It sounded like a freight train was going through my house.”
Rio Dell Bears Brunt Of Temblor
Damage from the quake was reported in Ferndale, Rio Dell and Fortuna, Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci said in a press conference in Sacramento. Damage was most extensive in Rio Dell, where at least 15 homes in the community of 3,000 were deemed uninhabitable. Another 18 homes sustained moderate damage, officials reported after a partial assessment of the area. Approximately 30 people have been displaced by the damage, but officials warned that number could climb to as high as 150 after a full assessment of the impact of the earthquake is completed.
Rio Dell’s water system was shut down and will remain out of operation for up to two days while leaks in the vital infrastructure are repaired. The local firehouse was distributing drinking water, and portable toilets were set up outside City Hall for area residents to use.
Local resident Cassondra Stoner said that she was shaken awake by Tuesday’s quake.
“It felt like my roof was coming down,” Stoner said. “The only thing I could think about was, ‘Get the freaking kids.’”
Other than the emotional shock of the early morning quake, Stoner’s family was not harmed. But when she arrived for work at a local retail store, ceiling tiles had fallen, and shelves had toppled over, strewing merchandise across the floor.
The earthquake occurred in an area known as the Mendocino Triple Junction, where three tectonic plates meet off northern California’s Pacific coast.
“We’re in this moment of geologic time where the most exciting, dynamic area of California happens to be Humboldt County and the adjacent offshore area,” Lori Dengler, professor emeritus of geology at Cal Poly Humboldt, told reporters.
It was a familiar scene walking up to the 2022 Emerald Cup Harvest Ball. The sun was poking through rain clouds; the ground was wet and slightly muddy. I regretted not wearing boots. “We’ve almost been cursed,” joked Tim Blake, founder of the Emerald Cup, “but I don’t want to call it that. We need the rain.”
Despite the bad weather, a big crowd turned out on day one. Emerald Cup 2022 sold more single-day tickets at the box office than the total amount of pre-sale tickets sold for the entire weekend. This is the first time in the Emerald Cup’s 19 years that we saw bonafide hip-hop artists in the musical lineup, including The 707’s own E-40 headlining the opening night and Bay Area local Kamaiyah carrying the crowd on the last day. A more diverse musical lineup led to a more diverse crowd of people who were otherwise unfamiliar with the event.
The Department Of Cannabis Control (DCC) and The Emerald Cup have been working together for the past two years to make the event more beneficial to farmers, which includes opening their doors to different aspects of the greater cannabis culture.
“To me, it’s all about unity,” Blake said at a sit-down with the DCC’s Chief Engagement Officer Cassandra Di Benedetto and Deputy Director of Policy and Research Christina Dempsey. “We’re not going anywhere. You guys need us, and we need you. So we have to work together.”
Along with the DCC having its own booth at the Harvest Ball in 2022 where licensees could interact with their team in person, they also led a panel discussion to better understand how the agency is supporting the industry by developing new strategies, resources, technologies and education.
“It’s been great for us to interact with farmers and see their pride in their work,” Di Benedetto says. “We’re here because we believe in a safe, equitable, sustainable, regulated market.”
The Seeba Creek booth.
With more than 150 booths, brands were able to connect directly with customers to bring them some of the best deals of the season in a compliant way, and without having to go through a traditional retail storefront.
“A regulated event is a successful event,” Dempsey says. “We want to be good partners in making sure that we’re clear about our expectations and also providing good information, good resources and good opportunities to ask us questions.” The newly created role of Chief Engagement Officer allows individuals to connect directly with the department via Zoom as well.
Attendees of the Harvest Ball 2022 found refuge from the rain in the Hall of Flowers Pavilion and the Puffco Pavilion, two of the event’s larger sponsors. Available for purchase included everything cannabis—products, accessories, cultivation equipment, seeds and clones. I spent some time at the Equity Trade Certification booth with Root’d 510 admiring Oakland Extracts, a long-time staple in the industry and Saffy THC, the only Black-owned and Jamaican-owned equity brand in Humboldt County. Another couple of honorable mentions are Sanctuary Farms, especially the fruity terpene profile on their Prickly Pear, and Sense’s Glitter Bomb, which certainly lived up to the name.
Prickly Pear from Sanctuary Farms
Creating Opportunities to Grow Together
Having larger and established brands in the same room as small independent farmers also created an opportunity for customers and licensees from different demographics to connect and learn from each other. While the DCC is currently exploring many different routes to providing relief to our struggling industry, it’s important for the entire community to keep having conversations that keep the ball rolling forward.
“I want to take an opportunity to just really acknowledge the challenges that are being experienced right now in the cannabis market, across the supply chain and also with small and legacy farmers and equity businesses,” Dempsey says in response to my question about what the DCC is doing to provide relief to some of these legacy farmers. “I feel very proud of the strides the DCC has made to listen to licensees and to make changes that are responsive to the things that they really need.”
The DCC just adopted a consolidated regulatory package that simplifies regulations and eases some of the burdens small farms and independent brands are facing. “The other thing that I think that we’ve done is push Metric to make some changes that also reflect some of the pain points that our licensees were experiencing,” Dempsey says.
Alas, there’s always work to be done, and the DCC knows it.
Cannabis colas on display at the Harvest Ball 2022.
“There’s a lot that we’ve done but we also acknowledge that there’s a lot more to do, and we’re cognizant of that, and that’s why we think it’s so important to be at these events, to have an individual who’s really interfacing with the community, to have office hours and to make sure that we’re available and accessible.”
While The DCC continues to work towards stabilizing the market, Blake encourages the state to stop looking at the cannabis industry through rose-colored glasses.
“They’re not in the same reality we are,” he says. “They’re not really understanding what’s going on here, the boots-on-the-ground. It took 50 or 60 years for the liquor industry to allow craft breweries and craft vineyards to have direct sales and to do those things, but we don’t have that time. We have a large legacy industry here and we need those direct sales now.”
When Humboldt State University journalism major, Ingrid Hart, created the Humboldt Honey in 1983, she had no idea the young woman pictured wearing the uniform we’ve all come to know as part of the culture of cannabis would cause such a stir, or continue to be relevant to this day.
In the early 80s, posters posing the questions “Are you a Nerd?” or “Are you a Valley Girl?” were doing the same thing, detailing the wardrobes of a nerd from the film Revenge of the Nerds, or Moon Unit Zappa’s one hit wonder, Valley Girl, inspiring Hart to bring the Humboldt Honey to life, posing the question, “Are you a Humboldt Honey?”
“I created the poster of the young woman for myself, and never planned on printing more than one for my own room,” she explained. “At that time I didn’t know about press runs and that one poster would cost as much to print as one thousand, so I had the minimum printed at a thousand copies.”
While most in the community understood the uniform, the conservative faction of Humboldt County, comprised of the lumber and fishing industries, were appalled. How could someone glorify a character from the drug community? Everything they fought against and hated about the cannabis community was represented in this one photo of a hippie girl, and they were not happy about it.
On April 17, 1983, Humboldt’s daily newspaper, the Times-Standard, put the poster on the front page above the fold, helping it to sell out in less than two months. Hart had distributed it to about 15 shops around the county at four dollars each, with the intention of making it affordable for students.
“Sam Blackwell did a story for the Times-Standard,” she continued. “When the story ran my vibration was so high the posters ran out quickly and everyone wanted more. Then the nasty grams started and I received lots of hate mail. I’m an intuitive, sensitive person and it really affected me.”
She agreed to an interview on a radio station she was unaware leaned conservative, and was bullied live on air by callers hating on her Honey.
In those days there weren’t any cell phones, with phone number listings published in a physical phone book given free to every household with a landline. Hart said she ended up having to disconnect her phone to stop the calls.
“I shut the whole thing down,” she said. “I just couldn’t deal with the negative energy surrounding her. It was just too much for me. In my mind, she was a positive force to be reckoned with, not something to be hating on.”
In the 40 years since the first printing, Hart said she’s barely earned a penny from the Humboldt Honey, who she has never marketed or merchandised since she arrived on the scene in 1983. Albeit, except for one shop in Humboldt who has sat on a stack of posters for years, selling a few here and there as a novelty for tourists.
“After 40 years, this is a gift I’m giving back,” she surmised. “I never wanted to make money off of her, that would go against everything she represents and that I believe in. You can see it in her garb—she’s not a sell-out.”
Courtesy of Ingrid Hart
The Subject
As a journalism major at Humboldt State University, Hart’s Honey reflected much of herself and her values, shared by what the young woman was holding, reading, and subsequently advocating.
Hart had studied each and every piece on the young woman, creating a prototype with her roommate first, then seeking out someone in the community to feature in the poster.
Her subject, Leoni Nicol, was found in front of the old quonset hut that was the first Arcata Co-op, in the Humboldt city known as 60s by the Sea. The photo was shot by local photographer, Patrick Cudahy, as technically his first commercial shoot.
Nicol was from Scotland and was just passing through town. We could assume she may have been a Trimmagrant, one of the thousands of young people who follow the growing season, trimming cannabis flower for money as they travel through the Emerald Triangle.
She wasn’t dressed as a Humboldt Honey when Hart found her. As an aside, Nicol had been part of British punk band, The Molesters. According to an article penned by Kevin Hoover, of the weekly, the band’s single can still be heard online at Rhapsody.com/themolesters.
“What she’s wearing represents what we all believe in, and what I believed in at the time and still do,” Hart said. “She even has Liberty Caps in a velvet pouch her bag, because I too was experimenting with psilocybin mushrooms at the time.”
As another reflection of the times, the hits of mushrooms were dubbed Liberty Caps, as they were said to liberate your mind. How ironic that the psychoactive mushrooms are now being widely accepted in the U.S. and around the world as medicine, used as a reset for a bevy of mental disorders, including depression. Proving further that our Humboldt Honey is still relevant today.
The Anatomy of the Humboldt Honey
You can still find the Humboldt Honey in the hills of Humboldt County, but her presence isn’t limited or confined to tending weed within the fertile redwood soil in Northern California.
Around the world there are progressive communities who still aspire to the norms and beliefs of the 1960s, in which she was spawned.
You’ll find the Humboldt Honey and her counterparts at The Farm in Tennessee; in Austin, Texas with its patch of blue in a sea of red; in the State of Vermont—said to be the Humboldt County of the east coast; in the south of France in Marseille, where they grow some of the finest weed in the country (turned into the finest hash); and in Amsterdam, where the High Times Cup was launched in 1988, just five years after the Humboldt Honey made her debut.
“She’s really about comfort and the farming life,” Hart said. “You wake up in the morning and it’s cold, so you layer. As the sun comes up, you peel off the layers. This look is all about practicality. But, she’s also making political statements of the times.”
Her layers are made of hemp and cotton. Her No Nukes t-shirt is part of her personal belief system. On her head is Bobby McGee’s dirty red bandana, made famous by the song, “Me & Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin. The button on her fringed hippy vest warns, Question Authority—something we are still doing today where cannabis is concerned.
High Times would have rather she hold a copy of its iconic magazine, but this honey is reading Rolling Stone, Mother Earth News, Mother Jones, and the book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, by author Tom Wolfe; wherein he details his acid-laden, cross-country ride in the infamous converted school bus, Further, with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.
And, of course, she’s holding a joint filled with Humboldt’s finest weed.
“Beloved plant medicine opens our Sixth Chakra and fills our minds and hearts with ideas and potential possibilities,” Hart surmised. “I probably wouldn’t have created this iconic being if a veil hadn’t have been lifted from my consciousness while in Humboldt. Because my life before Humboldt was completely different from the life I found to the north.”
Hart’s Humboldt Calling
Hart was born in Brazil, but the family moved to the United States and the conservative enclave of Orange County, California, when she was just seven years old.
“I loved the beach, but my third eye wasn’t opened up in Southern California,” she laughed. “I grew up in the 80s, in the time of Reagan—it was called the me generation—with an attachment to designer labels; the importance of what kind of car you drove, how big was your house, and what neighborhood you lived in. I grew up in a materialistic society in SoCal.”
After high school she first studied at Orange Coast Community College (OCCC), writing for the college paper, as a features writer, penning human interest stories.
“I first smoked cannabis in college—actually, after I met Sailene Ossman,” she explained. “We both worked at Hamburger Hamletand we’ve been friends ever since. We did a lot of magic mushrooms together, made leis for our hair with flowers, wore dayglow colors and listened to Jefferson Airplane. She came up to Humboldt with me to check out the university, and we both fell in love with its alternative lifestyle. It felt like we came home for the first time being there.”
Ingrid and Sailene Ossman “tripping the lights fantastic” on Liberty Caps (psilocybin mushrooms) circa 1981 / Courtesy of Ingrid Hart
The two ended up attending the iconic North Country Fair on the Plaza in Arcata, still run by the “Same Old People,” founded in 1974, and still continuing today on the third weekend in September. There they purchased two old-school, cannabis-laden chocolate brownies out in the open in the middle of the event.
“There was food, music, and everyone was dancing,” she recalled. “It was a magical place and still is today. We were amazed that we could buy a pot brownie like that. It was a different world, but one we were anxious to be a part of.”
Ossman would go on to establish Venice Beach, California’s first cannabis delivery service. Today, she owns the Brewja Elixir in Joshua Tree, California, serving up CBD and herbal elixirs. Ossman has also penned a book on CBD Cocktails (Cider Mill Press, April 2020).
“I knew I would fall in love with the rivers, the ocean, and the redwoods,” Hart added. “But, I was also excited about living in a place that had a higher vibration with the plant, grown with love. And one thing I remember is, I never had to buy weed in Humboldt, because it was everywhere.”
Aside from a degree in journalism from Humboldt State University, Hart would go on to obtain a master’s degree in cultural spirituality from Holy Names University in Oakland, California. She’s also certified as a Conscious Aging Facilitator from the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
As an author, Hart won an award for penning the book, My Year in California: A Journey Toward Midlife Renewal, detailing one year spent in California City, an experimental development from the 1970s, that Hart called, “a life affirming journey.”
The Humboldt Honey commemorative poster will be available January 1, 2023, sold at $25 each, still keeping it affordable, as the Honey would have wanted.
“Humboldt was a happy and carefree time for me,” she concluded. “The Humboldt Honey was a defining moment among many moments in Humboldt that would define my life, and still influences my life today. Many people say they left their heart in San Francisco, but I left my heart firmly planted five hours north of the city by the bay in Humboldt, where the spirit of the Humboldt Honey still lives today.”
For more information on the Humboldt Honey, or to pre-order the poster visit, www.thehumboldthoney.com.
Stepping out of the unregulated medical marijuana market in California and into the world of legal, adult-use cannabis, with licensing and high taxes to follow, has been no small feat for most farmers in Northern California’s hail from the Emerald Triangle, which includes Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties. Considered by many as the cannabis capital of the world, this is where many of the cultivars we enjoy were first developed.
One such Southern Humboldt County farmer, Sunboldt Grown owner Sunshine Cereceda, was comfortable in the medical marijuana space, using the cooperative model where patients supported farmers. There, she developed and branded cultivars of her own, like Loopy Fruit, Wanderlust, Delphina and Redwood Summer.
Cereceda saw the writing on the wall with issues of legalization for the small farmers to the north, and her message is the still the same: Farmers need to brand themselves, their farms and their cultivars in order to effectively compete and be known.
They also need to do away with the middleman—or the “Bro Distro”—as Cereceda dubbed them. This refers to the old-school method of moving material and product on just a handshake, with the small farmer at home often getting the short end of the deal. It worked to a point back in the day, but today trust is being exploited by what she calls “corporate sharks.”
“Cannabis has always sustained us, even through the hard times, so why is it not going to get us through now, after all these years?” Cereceda asks. “In my mind, the small cannabis farmers need to change their mindset. They need to do away with all the bad habits developed in the past unregulated markets in order to move forward.”
Cereceda went on to explain that in the days of prohibition, they were functioning without a future. But now, small cannabis farmers can leverage their own history as they legally build their businesses.
“Rookies and bad habits built the industry during prohibition. From my roots in activism, I understand the challenges of the messenger,” she said. “But we have this product that’s already branded from our region—we’re known as rockstars in the industry. There’s no stronger cannabis community in the nation. We’re just in transition. It’s a learning curve, to say the least.”
Born Into Activism
Cereceda’s mom brought her to Southern Humboldt from her birthplace of San Luis Obispo, CA, when she was seven years old.
“I was raised by an activist,” Cereceda says. “My mother organized and protested nuclear energy and weapons. She was there during the Diablo Canyon rally in 1978 with [CA Governor] Jerry Brown—she was one of the organizers.”
Part of her mother’s advocacy included protecting the redwoods, and Cereceda followed in her footsteps, majoring in geology at Humboldt State University. “I studied geology mostly because it’s Mother Earth, and I wanted to understand the earth” she said. “I thought it was all about plant life, but then I realized it was the rocks and the earth itself.”
The degree led her to work on road inventories for Humboldt Redwoods State Parks, followed by a gig with Pacific Watershed Associates.
Watershed stewardship is an important issue in California and is directly tied to the health of the forests and rivers. For decades, the watershed was largely ignored by small and large-scale cannabis operations from both the unregulated medical and illicit markets during the days of the Green Rush. They would reroute water coming down the mountains to suit their needs, with unpermitted roads crisscrossing the hills, making it nearly impossible for literally hundreds of hill farmers to come into compliance today.
It’s important to note that the erosion of the roads is also a direct result from the timber industry, now expected to be corrected and paid for by the farmers.
“During a town hall meeting prior to legalization, water experts were brought in to let us know that, even in a drought, we could gather enough water to care for our crops using rain-catchment systems,” she said. “Cannabis farmers have taken the lead in responsible water use for agriculture in the state.”
For the Love of Farming
Responsible agricultural practices are key in sustainable and regenerative farming, which is what the Emerald Triangle is known for. But it’s not enough to compete in an overregulated market, where the farmer feels the brunt of taxation—not only on the farm, but also on the shelf, as retailers bump their losses down to the farmer at check-out.
“Farmers are at the end of the line in a capitalistic system, and we carry the tax burden as it gets kicked down from retailers and brands that buy bulk and package it themselves,” Cereceda says. “I’m lucky that I have good retail partners, but that took time and consistency to establish. If you’re still using your Bro Distro, you’re losing a big chunk of income.”
With the promise of distributors and umbrella brands representing farmers a clear disappointment—garnering a mere $400 to $500 per pound—Cereceda says it’s time for farmers to represent themselves in the marketplace and build a brand.
Doing all the work herself with her team, from seed to shelf, including packaging, Cereceda said she’s been able to get $1100 to $1200 per pound.
“Farm management skills [and] managing workers—it takes a lot of years and a concentrated effort to be good at it, and that all adds to your bottom line” she says. “You can’t just get a license and think it’s all going to work out alright with your output. Historically, we pay for our operation out of each harvest, but that’s like working paycheck to paycheck with no guarantee your next crop will be moved. Our distribution right now is weak.”
Reducing risk plays a big factor in succeeding in the regulated market, and Cereceda says the more a farmer opts out of their own work, the less they’ll make. It’s just common sense.
“How about growing what you can move yourself?” she asks. “This is capitalism, count your blessings. This is how it works. The middleman will take all your profits if you let him. And your Bro Distro isn’t much better. It takes one year to grow a crop; it takes several years to grow a business.”
One distributor Cereceda speaks fondly of is Berner, CEO and co-founder of Cookies, with longtime Southern Humboldt Farmer, Kevin Jodrey in the mix.
“Berner is underrated,” she says. “He’s doing a great job supporting farmers and has gotten more customers off the black market on the streets and into shops than anyone else. He allowed so many black-market growers back in the day to prosper growing his genetics—they got brand recognition for his cultivars. Can’t say enough good about Berner.”
Berner is a stage name for San Francisco Bay Area hip-hop artist, Gilbert Anthony Milam, Jr., who branded his Cookies cultivar during the medical market in California. Cookies was made legendary after the Scouts of America forced him to shorten the name from Girl Scout Cookies to Cookies.
Branding a Life
Showing the face of the farmer—telling their stories in today’s social media marketing mindset is everything.
The once shy Cereceda is now posting photos of herself on social media from the farm, holding her colas in the forest, telling the stories of how they were created and named—sharing her charmed farm life with the world.
Typically, it takes years to create a cultivar. It’s not uncommon for each farmer to have specific stories surrounding the work, the detailed variations of the flower, and the cultivar’s name, which often involves a sentimental or meaningful story from the farm.
Sunboldt Grown’s website beckons, “Taste the Redwoods,” noting all cultivars are grown in the loamy ancient soil, taking on nuances, just as in viticulture in the South of France and the growing of grapes for wine taking on the essence of lavender or rosemary nearby.
The plants are grown in the flood plain deposits of the Eel River, with no additional water needed. This is called dry farming, and the farmers refer to themselves as “terroirists” (from the French word terroir, meaning earth or soil), who allow for the place to be expressed in the flower they grow.
Cereceda’s crops are also grown by the cycles of the moon, not uncommon among farmers. In fact, the historic Farmer’s Almanac still provides lunar cycles as a planting guide. The almanac explains that just as the moon’s gravitational pull creates the tides of the oceans, it also promotes plant growth by creating more moisture in the soil.
“Wanderlust was inspired by sailing on the ocean,” Cereceda says. “The word implies an urgency to be moving, to not settle in one place.”
From its website, Wanderlust is a hybrid of Blue Dream and Agent Orange, with flavors of lemon-lime zest and fresh Douglas Fir needles, finishing with a splash of orange juice. The smoke is medium-bodied with a dense, velvety richness. A ten-week strain, its delicate flower is sensitive to the cold.
“Redwood Summer is named after the campaign and initiative from 1990, to stop the clear-cutting of all old-growth redwoods,” Cereceda said.
The backstory to the Redwood Summer campaign is heartbreaking and personal to the region. Earth First! began the movement. It was led by Judi Bari during the Timber Wars that continued into the 1990s and ended when Bari and her partner Daryl Cherney were seriously injured after a pipe bomb was planted in their car. The cultivar is a tribute to Bari and the movement that continues to educate and protect the old growth forests.
Delphina was created by crossing Purple Nepal with Rebel Moon (NorCal Diesel). Cereceda uses this cultivar to make old-school, solventless, bubble hash as it yields high-quality resin. A sweet and savory aroma, it’s spicy, and the smoke is likened to breathing in the forest floor, delivering a deep state of relaxation and euphoria.
“Delphina is a Greek woman from Delphi, Greece, where the Earth Goddess Gaia was first celebrated,” she said.
According to author Darian West, the Oracle of Delphi was considered the most influential woman of the ancient world from 800 BC until 393 AD, when her last recorded entry predicted the end of the Roman Empire, declaring, “All is ended.” Delphina proclaimed Socrates the wisest man in the world, predicted the rise of Alexander the Great and foretold the death of Nero.
Farmer as Influencer
Small cannabis farmers have a hard time getting out of the illicit market. For the most part, they can’t afford licensing; can’t move product; distribution is weak; taxes are high; and ordinances are unreasonable and/or ill-informed to begin with, causing undue hardships.
“Everyone is codependent in this space,” Cereceda says. “The handshake deals don’t work anymore. The days of your best buddy distributing for you are over.”
For the first time in history, cannabis farmers are feeling the brunt of growing the world’s most illicit and beloved herb on the planet. Just as with food farmers, they aren’t getting a living wage, with no subsidy from the US government to bail them out when times are hard, or the price per pound is too low to pay the bills.
“Everyone is borrowing on us, and we’ve been way too complacent about it for far too long,”’ Cereceda says. “On the other hand, this product—this cash crop—is from Mother Earth, and the fact that we’re doing as well as we are up here is just amazing to me. We need to own our right to be here and work smarter.”
Stepping out of the unregulated medical marijuana market in California and into the world of legal, adult-use cannabis, with licensing and high taxes to follow, has been no small feat for most farmers in Northern California’s hail from the Emerald Triangle, which includes Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties. Considered by many as the cannabis capital of the world, this is where many of the cultivars we enjoy were first developed.
One such Southern Humboldt County farmer, Sunboldt Grown owner Sunshine Cereceda, was comfortable in the medical marijuana space, using the cooperative model where patients supported farmers. There, she developed and branded cultivars of her own, like Loopy Fruit, Wanderlust, Delphina and Redwood Summer.
Cereceda saw the writing on the wall with issues of legalization for the small farmers to the north, and her message is the still the same: Farmers need to brand themselves, their farms and their cultivars in order to effectively compete and be known.
They also need to do away with the middleman—or the “Bro Distro”—as Cereceda dubbed them. This refers to the old-school method of moving material and product on just a handshake, with the small farmer at home often getting the short end of the deal. It worked to a point back in the day, but today trust is being exploited by what she calls “corporate sharks.”
“Cannabis has always sustained us, even through the hard times, so why is it not going to get us through now, after all these years?” Cereceda asks. “In my mind, the small cannabis farmers need to change their mindset. They need to do away with all the bad habits developed in the past unregulated markets in order to move forward.”
Cereceda went on to explain that in the days of prohibition, they were functioning without a future. But now, small cannabis farmers can leverage their own history as they legally build their businesses.
“Rookies and bad habits built the industry during prohibition. From my roots in activism, I understand the challenges of the messenger,” she said. “But we have this product that’s already branded from our region—we’re known as rockstars in the industry. There’s no stronger cannabis community in the nation. We’re just in transition. It’s a learning curve, to say the least.”
Born Into Activism
Cereceda’s mom brought her to Southern Humboldt from her birthplace of San Luis Obispo, CA, when she was seven years old.
“I was raised by an activist,” Cereceda says. “My mother organized and protested nuclear energy and weapons. She was there during the Diablo Canyon rally in 1978 with [CA Governor] Jerry Brown—she was one of the organizers.”
Part of her mother’s advocacy included protecting the redwoods, and Cereceda followed in her footsteps, majoring in geology at Humboldt State University. “I studied geology mostly because it’s Mother Earth, and I wanted to understand the earth” she said. “I thought it was all about plant life, but then I realized it was the rocks and the earth itself.”
The degree led her to work on road inventories for Humboldt Redwoods State Parks, followed by a gig with Pacific Watershed Associates.
Watershed stewardship is an important issue in California and is directly tied to the health of the forests and rivers. For decades, the watershed was largely ignored by small and large-scale cannabis operations from both the unregulated medical and illicit markets during the days of the Green Rush. They would reroute water coming down the mountains to suit their needs, with unpermitted roads crisscrossing the hills, making it nearly impossible for literally hundreds of hill farmers to come into compliance today.
It’s important to note that the erosion of the roads is also a direct result from the timber industry, now expected to be corrected and paid for by the farmers.
“During a town hall meeting prior to legalization, water experts were brought in to let us know that, even in a drought, we could gather enough water to care for our crops using rain-catchment systems,” she said. “Cannabis farmers have taken the lead in responsible water use for agriculture in the state.”
For the Love of Farming
Responsible agricultural practices are key in sustainable and regenerative farming, which is what the Emerald Triangle is known for. But it’s not enough to compete in an overregulated market, where the farmer feels the brunt of taxation—not only on the farm, but also on the shelf, as retailers bump their losses down to the farmer at check-out.
“Farmers are at the end of the line in a capitalistic system, and we carry the tax burden as it gets kicked down from retailers and brands that buy bulk and package it themselves,” Cereceda says. “I’m lucky that I have good retail partners, but that took time and consistency to establish. If you’re still using your Bro Distro, you’re losing a big chunk of income.”
With the promise of distributors and umbrella brands representing farmers a clear disappointment—garnering a mere $400 to $500 per pound—Cereceda says it’s time for farmers to represent themselves in the marketplace and build a brand.
Doing all the work herself with her team, from seed to shelf, including packaging, Cereceda said she’s been able to get $1100 to $1200 per pound.
“Farm management skills [and] managing workers—it takes a lot of years and a concentrated effort to be good at it, and that all adds to your bottom line” she says. “You can’t just get a license and think it’s all going to work out alright with your output. Historically, we pay for our operation out of each harvest, but that’s like working paycheck to paycheck with no guarantee your next crop will be moved. Our distribution right now is weak.”
Reducing risk plays a big factor in succeeding in the regulated market, and Cereceda says the more a farmer opts out of their own work, the less they’ll make. It’s just common sense.
“How about growing what you can move yourself?” she asks. “This is capitalism, count your blessings. This is how it works. The middleman will take all your profits if you let him. And your Bro Distro isn’t much better. It takes one year to grow a crop; it takes several years to grow a business.”
One distributor Cereceda speaks fondly of is Berner, CEO and co-founder of Cookies, with longtime Southern Humboldt Farmer, Kevin Jodrey in the mix.
“Berner is underrated,” she says. “He’s doing a great job supporting farmers and has gotten more customers off the black market on the streets and into shops than anyone else. He allowed so many black-market growers back in the day to prosper growing his genetics—they got brand recognition for his cultivars. Can’t say enough good about Berner.”
Berner is a stage name for San Francisco Bay Area hip-hop artist, Gilbert Anthony Milam, Jr., who branded his Cookies cultivar during the medical market in California. Cookies was made legendary after the Scouts of America forced him to shorten the name from Girl Scout Cookies to Cookies.
Branding a Life
Showing the face of the farmer—telling their stories in today’s social media marketing mindset is everything.
The once shy Cereceda is now posting photos of herself on social media from the farm, holding her colas in the forest, telling the stories of how they were created and named—sharing her charmed farm life with the world.
Typically, it takes years to create a cultivar. It’s not uncommon for each farmer to have specific stories surrounding the work, the detailed variations of the flower, and the cultivar’s name, which often involves a sentimental or meaningful story from the farm.
Sunboldt Grown’s website beckons, “Taste the Redwoods,” noting all cultivars are grown in the loamy ancient soil, taking on nuances, just as in viticulture in the South of France and the growing of grapes for wine taking on the essence of lavender or rosemary nearby.
The plants are grown in the flood plain deposits of the Eel River, with no additional water needed. This is called dry farming, and the farmers refer to themselves as “terroirists” (from the French word terroir, meaning earth or soil), who allow for the place to be expressed in the flower they grow.
Cereceda’s crops are also grown by the cycles of the moon, not uncommon among farmers. In fact, the historic Farmer’s Almanac still provides lunar cycles as a planting guide. The almanac explains that just as the moon’s gravitational pull creates the tides of the oceans, it also promotes plant growth by creating more moisture in the soil.
“Wanderlust was inspired by sailing on the ocean,” Cereceda says. “The word implies an urgency to be moving, to not settle in one place.”
From its website, Wanderlust is a hybrid of Blue Dream and Agent Orange, with flavors of lemon-lime zest and fresh Douglas Fir needles, finishing with a splash of orange juice. The smoke is medium-bodied with a dense, velvety richness. A ten-week strain, its delicate flower is sensitive to the cold.
“Redwood Summer is named after the campaign and initiative from 1990, to stop the clear-cutting of all old-growth redwoods,” Cereceda said.
The backstory to the Redwood Summer campaign is heartbreaking and personal to the region. Earth First! began the movement. It was led by Judi Bari during the Timber Wars that continued into the 1990s and ended when Bari and her partner Daryl Cherney were seriously injured after a pipe bomb was planted in their car. The cultivar is a tribute to Bari and the movement that continues to educate and protect the old growth forests.
Delphina was created by crossing Purple Nepal with Rebel Moon (NorCal Diesel). Cereceda uses this cultivar to make old-school, solventless, bubble hash as it yields high-quality resin. A sweet and savory aroma, it’s spicy, and the smoke is likened to breathing in the forest floor, delivering a deep state of relaxation and euphoria.
“Delphina is a Greek woman from Delphi, Greece, where the Earth Goddess Gaia was first celebrated,” she said.
According to author Darian West, the Oracle of Delphi was considered the most influential woman of the ancient world from 800 BC until 393 AD, when her last recorded entry predicted the end of the Roman Empire, declaring, “All is ended.” Delphina proclaimed Socrates the wisest man in the world, predicted the rise of Alexander the Great and foretold the death of Nero.
Farmer as Influencer
Small cannabis farmers have a hard time getting out of the illicit market. For the most part, they can’t afford licensing; can’t move product; distribution is weak; taxes are high; and ordinances are unreasonable and/or ill-informed to begin with, causing undue hardships.
“Everyone is codependent in this space,” Cereceda says. “The handshake deals don’t work anymore. The days of your best buddy distributing for you are over.”
For the first time in history, cannabis farmers are feeling the brunt of growing the world’s most illicit and beloved herb on the planet. Just as with food farmers, they aren’t getting a living wage, with no subsidy from the US government to bail them out when times are hard, or the price per pound is too low to pay the bills.
“Everyone is borrowing on us, and we’ve been way too complacent about it for far too long,”’ Cereceda says. “On the other hand, this product—this cash crop—is from Mother Earth, and the fact that we’re doing as well as we are up here is just amazing to me. We need to own our right to be here and work smarter.”
In the mid 1970s, by the time John Casali was five years old, his mother, Marlene Farrell, had relocated them from his birthplace of San Francisco to a farm in Southern Humboldt County.
Starting in 1967, more than 100,000 people gathered in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and Haight-Ashbury district, where mostly young people identifying as hippies engaged in drugs, free love and anti-war activism. Deemed “The Summer of Love,” the social phenomenon offered the world a window into America’s growing counterculture.
When the festivities ended in 1969, many traveled north to live off the land. Dubbed “Back to the Landers,” they settled mainly in three regions in Northern California: Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties, which all make up the Emerald Triangle. The area is known for its legacy farms that started the cannabis industry. That includes Casali who is still homesteading his mother’s property, Huckleberry Hill Farms, 50 years later.
John Casali of Huckleberry Hill Farms, a legacy, family-run farm in Humboldt County, California.
At Huckleberry Hill Farms, Casali’s mother grew their own food. She planted fruit trees and grape arbors that still produce today, alongside flower gardens woven throughout the idyllic hillside property. The garden isfilled with the history of the cannabis cultivars they’ve painstakingly produced over the years, in memory of loved ones now passed.
Casali’s earliest memories are of those following his mother around the garden. “Cannabis was always part of our life from the very beginning, but it wasn’t the only crop on the farm,” Casali says. “I can remember running around with my mother as early as 10 years old, helping her cultivate the plant, but also tending to a grape arbor, fruit trees and the vegetable garden we ate from. Cannabis was just another crop that allowed us to survive and thrive in the country.”
Growing their own food, fishing commercially and logging and/or chopping firewood for others are just a few ways those living a rural life survived on the north coast of California and Oregon. Cannabis was grown on the side as a subsidy. Many produce farmers also grew cannabis in a don’t ask, don’t tell scenario that served them well for years. That is, until the helicopters came.
CAMP California
The Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, otherwise known as CAMP (1983 – 2012; 2015 – present) is a multi-agency law enforcement task force under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Justice that coordinates local, state and federal agencies, including Army soldiers and National Guardsmen, with a common goal of eradicating unlicensed cannabis cultivation and distribution in the state.
What CAMP did was federally fund, or subsidize, a bevy of local law enforcement for the failed War on Drugs. Just as with the failed DARE program taught in schools by paying police officers to teach kids about drugs, CAMP created a cash flow to otherwise lowly paid law enforcement, causing them to become dependent, and subsequently support, the failed War on Drugs at the polls. This only perpetuated the ignorance surrounding cannabis, a benign and beneficial plant.
No matter that California legalized medical cannabis in 1996, and had permitted adult-use since 2016. City, county and state agencies were guaranteed an income for raiding local, legal medical farms and associated entities for years under federal prohibition of the plant. With the combined funding, CAMP utilized helicopters in its multi-agency task force, forcing the plant–meant to grow outside in the sun–inside.
This changed the face of cannabis farming for decades–if not forever.
The Raid
When he was 15 years old, Casali begged his mom to start his own farm. Not young enough to purchase an 11-acre parcel on his own, she co-signed, and he provided the down payment for a sweet spot along the Eel River in Southern Humboldt.
“Mom and I would compete for the best crop,” Casali says with a smile. “But then CAMP started in the ’80s, and by the early ’90s, my parents decided that fishing would be safer, so they left me to take care of the family farm.”
CAMP helicopters forced farmers to grow under trees and often underground in shipping containers to hide. The plant that once provided five or ten pounds at full growth out in the sun now produced substantially less in its hidden, stunted capacity.
But hiding wasn’t enough, and one morning just after sunrise, 30 federal agents arrived at the farm. They never handcuffed the farmer or his friend and neighbor Todd Wick who were both 24 years old at the time. Rather, they handed Casali a little yellow speeding ticket, saying they’d be back if they needed to talk to him further. Fourteen months later, they returned, offering up a hefty $275,000 bail for Casali.
“My mom put up the house and everything else she owned to get me out of jail,” Casali says. “For the next three years, Todd and I drove from Southern Humboldt to the federal courthouse in San Francisco to fight for our freedom as cannabis farmers—as good people, never wanting to hurt anyone.”
Some 100 supporters from Humboldt arrived for the sentencing that included mandatory minimums of ten years, all the way up to life. Casali and Wick surrendered in the summer of 1996, just a few months before California would vote to legalize medical cannabis in the state—the first to do so in the country.
“There was no appeal process based on the new medical laws,” he says. “Because we had no more money left to fight for both appeals, Todd went through the process and lost. After that, we were resigned to be in the system until we served our time.”
Farming In Prison
Because Casali and Wick were farmers, licensed and able to operate heavy equipment, much of their time served was spent working agricultural crops associated with theUS Penitentiary at Lompoc, at around 12 cents an hour.
A little-known element of the failed privatized prison system is its eventual transferring of jobs that used to be done by private citizens. Not all jobs in America went overseas during the 1980s. Everything from manufacturing foodstuffs to shower doors to the 411 information line went to prisoners for pennies an hour—a travesty not often discussed in the politicking of job gains and losses in the US.
Since the Lompoc prison camp didn’t have a residential drug program, Casali was transferred to Nellis Airforce Base, where he said he actually learned something about drugs and addicts.
“While the program didn’t apply to me and my cannabis use or farming of it, I learned a lot about true addicts out there, and how they really lose their ability to control what they consume and how much,” he says. “Personally, I don’t believe cannabis falls into that category at all.”
Casali added that, ironically, the prison system is loaded with offerings of any drug desired, and it’s up to the prisoner to abstain or face consequences of a higher security stay with less privileges.
After serving eight of the ten-year sentence for good behavior, Casali was released to a half-way house in the Tenderloin, San Francisco’s notorious (and worst) neighborhood. He then came back home to Humboldt and began farming his beloved cannabis once more, under California’s newly established cooperative medical cannabis compassionate care program.
“I had 50 people here in this community waiting to help me get my life back in order,” Casali said. “Everyone here knows it could have happened to anyone.”
Call it a barn raising at its finest, the struggle’s nothing new to cannabis farmers across the country in newly legalized states. They support each other while fighting issues of inequality, exorbitantly high taxes and ridiculous ordinances at every turn.
These farmers struggle through the same challenges as our food farmers—drought, storms, frost, low prices at market. But they’re also confronted with the failed War on Drugs, brutal governmental raids, prison time and subsequent criminality upon re-entering society.
The only difference between cannabis farmers and food farmers is that there aren’t any government subsidies for a low return in the ever evolving multi-billion-dollar cannabis market. There’s no category for small, craft cannabis farmers that would help them compete with large-scale corporate operations that sprung up across the state after legalization in 2016.
Price Per Pound
In the old legal medical market of California, the price per pound could fetch somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000. In California’s regulated recreational market, the farmers were promised up to $1,200 per pound, per contract. But in the final analysis of bringing it to market, farmers were offered a take-it-or-leave-it deal of just $400 a pound, contract or not. How did this happen?
“It costs me close to $500 to grow one pound,” Casali says. “To give you an example of a neighboring ag situation, Napa Valley grape growers are taxed $15 per acre and cannabis farmers are taxed between $4,200 to $5,000 per acre. That’s $1 per square foot; making cannabis the highest taxed agricultural crop in the world.”
Add $161.28 California State tax per pound, then $150 or so per pound to trim, plus Water Board, Fish & Game fees and untold thousands of additional dollars for improvements made for most farmers to come into compliance. Anyone can see that, on paper, this is the beginning of the collapse of the historic, heritage small cannabis farmers.
“We’re predicting that by the next season, we’ll lose 50% of our small farmers up here,” Casali says.
To provide a better overall idea about what California’s cannabis industry to the north has been through since the legalization of adult-use began, the County of Humboldt estimated that there were 15,000 small cannabis farmers operating when legalization went on the ballot with Prop. 64 in November of 2016—with no issues of meeting supply and demand, and nary a pound left on any shelf.
Today, there are currently 400 permit holders in Humboldt County alone, with Casali predicting 200 will have to stop farming in the next year, unable to afford to farm in a legal market.
“When we lost the one-acre rule the night before legalization, that put a nail in the coffin of most of our small farmers,” Casali says. “The corporate farms, or those with the most financial backing, began buying up the smaller farm’s licenses, beginning what’s called ‘stacking licenses.’ One large-scale, well-funded farm nearby has maybe 20 licenses stacked right now.”
The one-acre rule was supposed to be the saving grace for the small farmer. The way it was taken away the night before legalization with lobbyists in a secret, closed-door meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom left many appalled. Many people called it a “good-old boys club” of wealthy California cannabis entities looking to operate beyond promised limits.
Cooperative umbrellas were another way the small farmer hoped to survive, but with a $400 per pound reimbursement, even those entities fell short at market.
Finger pointing aside, one issue slightly overlooked is the lack of safe access or retail space available for moving plant material from the farm. With a national insistence that the plant is not beneficial, many conservative cities and counties have banned cannabis access points.
Growing A Mother’s Love
Casalis’ partner, Rose Moberly, joined him three years ago, relocating from her home state of Colorado, where she too learned to farm cannabis at an early age. “We both went to community college but gravitated back to our true passion, farming the plant,” Moberly says.
Sadly, Casali’s mother passed away while he was serving time. One year to the day of his imprisonment, she died of a heart attack while pulling canned goods from a freezer; she had planned on bringing them to Casalion her next visit to see him in prison.
“My mother taught me everything I know about farming,” Casali says. “This farm is her legacy, and I just had to find a way to honor her. So, we created a new cultivar from a favorite strain she created, Paradise Punch, by crossing it with both Blueberry Kush and Lavender Kush, to make Mom’s Weed.”
When Moberly became part of his life on the farm, Casali said it could no longer be just about him.
“Rose’s mom, Margie Zietz, battled cancer and passed away in 2020,” he says. “We took Paradise Punch and crossed it with Rose’s mom’s favorite strain, Wishful Thinking, creating Margie’s Magic.”
For the small cannabis farmer still standing, many feel that branding is the key to success in the new market. Personalized cultivars grown in the sun for years in loamy redwood soil can’t be compared to indoor, large-scale operations. Promoting this difference is critical, and branding Huckleberry Farms “Mom” cultivars has been key in getting their flower to market.
Crystal Clear
Aside from the hard work and red tape that comes with being cannabis farmers, there are perks and magic to be found in the hills of the Emerald Triangle, with Casali and Moberly offering up wishes to special visitors via crystals.
“We had a load of rocks delivered from the local quarry and noticed some of the rocks smashed were hollow and full of crystals,” Casali says. “So, we began putting them aside and saving them for guests to open up.”
Everything about Huckleberry Hill Farms feels sentimental. The crystals, the mother plants, the fruit trees and grape arbors. The general layout of this small, less-than-an-acre farm has been landscaped with love and intention—with the cannabis plant and the people who love her memorialized at every turn. It’s a true trickle-down culture, straight from the farm, that not many will ever be aware of as they enjoy Huckleberry Hill’scultivars.
“Cannabis is a profoundly mysterious plant,” Casali says reflectively. “And such a powerful, healing plant, that even after working with it my entire life, it feels like I’ve just begun to truly understand her. Rose and I are just grateful to be here another season. To be able to farm this land that my mother found for us and loved. Did I take one for the team by serving time in prison? Yes, and no. We’re going forward with love and good intentions for this life we love on the farm. That’s really what it’s all about.”
