HUMBOLDT GROWERS: BEHIND THE REDWOOD CURTAIN.

Northern California’s Lost Coast is a wonderland of rolling hills and ancient forests, steeped in outlaw history. The place is the Bermuda Triangle of the West, shrouded in the mystique of the countercultural revolution that has taken place here over the last 35 years. Humboldt County growers have set the international gold standard for quality in cannabis production. With looming legalization, Humboldt Growers is moved by a keen sense of urgency, a concern that Humboldt County small farmers, with their exceptional product, will be cut out of the medical trade. We are at ground zero. Our reputation is unrivaled. Our local genetics have dominated the world market for over 30 years.

Through a combination of research and interviews, we are bringing to light issues and offering solutions relevant to cannabis farming in Humboldt County. Humboldt Growers is about offering answers. Humboldt Growers wants to help guide the Humboldt cannabis farmer in the creation of high quality medical cannabis products. To accomplish this, we will define and encourage artisan growing and artisan processing. This “artisan lifestyle” is fundamental to balancing economic and environmental sustainability. We want the best medical products, whether flower, tincture, salve, or clones and seeds. And to get that, we want to reach out on our blog with information in compliance with California state law that cannabis farmers can use. We encourage readers to remain in strict compliance with municipal, county and state laws and regulations; as well as adapting to future, ever-changing applicable laws. This compliance is crucial since cannabis is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government

We will address the labyrinth of compliance as well as political issues; and we will explore the state of the art in genetics, farming practice, appropriate stewardship of our lands, and safe use.  By engaging together, we can support each other and provide ourselves with a headstart and a base from which we each can form our own future business initiatives.

We want Humboldt County’s reputation to continue to dominate the world of cannabis as it has for many years.

Resist

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you may contact us at answers.humboldtgrowers@gmail.com

we encourage readers to remain in strict compliance with municipal, county and state laws and regulations; as well adapting to future, ever-changing applicable laws.

first 2017 harvest…

Here is our Cookie, harvested as of this minute. a little small, good color, pretty things.

Had our first taste. This vintage almost has an alcoholic after taste – rich, lingering in the throat. Fragrant. Very stony – testing at 22% THC.

Indica, Sativa & Hybrid – What Are Differences?

It’s a beautiful, HOT, sunny day at Humboldt Growers.  This season at Humboldt Growers we have planted GSC (Girl Scout Cookie, “Cookie”), Headband and Jack Herer.

GSC: A popular hybrid, it’s a cross between OG Kush and Durban Poison, giving a sweet/earthy scent. The effects of the this particular strain according to Leafly are: happy, relaxed, euphoric, uplifted and creative.  The medicinal aspect of the strain helps with stress, pain, depression, lack of appetite and headaches.  Cookie has an earthy sweet scent that is also pungent.

Headband:  Also a hybrid is a cross between OG Kush and Sour Diesel, she has a smooth, creamy smoke with hints of lemons and a bit of diesel.  Headband’s effects will include: happy, relaxed, uplifted, euphoric, and creative.  Medicinally Headband will target stress, depression, pain, nausea and fatigue.  Headband has an earthy, diesel scent that is quite pungent, she’s delicious!

Jack Herer: A very popular and one of my favorite Sativa dominate strains named after the cannabis activist and author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes.  Jack Herer is a cross of Haze with Northern Lights #5 and Shiva Skunk.  JH effects are happy, uplifted, energetic, euphoric and creative, whereas it’s medicinal benefits help with stress, depression, pain, fatigue and lack of appetite.  JH has an earthy, pine and woodsy scent, perfect for a day hike in the beautiful Redwood Forrest.

Today, we’re going to break down the differences between Indica, Sativa and Hybrid strains.  Back in the day I don’t ever recall having so many choices, but then again I wasn’t what you would call a weed connoisseur .  When I first started using medical cannabis I was at a loss, I had no idea where to start or what to research, there was just so much information out there, it was overwhelming.  And oh my goodness, walking into a dispensary for the first time was beyond intimidating, I walked in and walked right back out, took me nearly a year to step foot into another shop.

The first noticeable difference between indica and sativa strains is the plants structure. Indica plants have shorter, wider leaves, and are typically darker in green, they can grow up to 4 feet tall making them ideal for indoor grows.  The sativa plant has longer more narrow leaves, she is lighter in green color and can grow upwards of 20 feet, making it perfect for your outdoor grow.

Indica strains typically have sedating/relaxing effects which induce a full body high thus giving a “couch-lock” feeling.  Indica’s are great to treat body pain, muscle relaxation, reduce seizures, sleep aid, nausea suppressant and also helps to relieve stress and anxiety. Grab a movie, blanket and your favorite munchies, kick your feet up and enjoy the relaxing effect of your favorite indica.

Sativa’s are best known for their uplifting effects providing energy and creativity, it’s a fabulous strain to get the creative juices flowing.  Sativa’s generally provide stimulation and energy making it a good “wake and bake” and mid-day smoke.  Sativa’s are great to smoke while on a hike in the beautiful Redwood Forrest, a day at the beach or just shopping for some fresh, yummy, local produce at the farmers market.  Sativa’s are also know for fighting depression, and increases focus and creativity.

Hybrid cannabis is a cross between Indica and Sativa plants, most genetics are of some sort of hybrid.  Hybrid cannabis takes the best of both worlds, some strains are indica dominate, while others are sativa, and there are also 50/50 hybrid strains.

I found a little web-site that I like to call the “Weed Bible” a.k.a. Leafly.  This is my go to site for most things cannabis.  If you’re unsure of a strain, or you are looking to treat a certain ailment check this site first.  Medical Jane is also a great go to for all things cannabis.

Leafly

Medical Jane

How To Clone A Mom

In today’s blog I will write about how to clone from a mom.  First lets address the verbiage that will be used, a “mom” plant is the mother plant which typically receives 18-24 hours of light each day, this keeps the plant in a vegetative state where it will not bloom and produce buds. Cuts are made at one of the top nodes of the mom.

Always start with strong, healthy moms. A clone is a cut you take from the mother plant. With sanitized and sharpened pruning shears you want to make your cuts from the top branches.

Your cutting area should be clean and free of debris, ensure you have new/unused razor blades, and any rooting compound.  Once you make your cut, place the cutting in a glass of room temperature water, take one cut and place on your cutting board, with a new razor make your slice at an angel of 45 degrees at a node. Always leave 2 nodes below the cut.

Score the cut at the base and dip into a rooting compound and place the cut into a rooting cube.

Within 10-14 days you should start to see healthy, white, fuzzy roots.  We will discuss repotting the plant in next weeks blog.

 

Stress | Anxiety and Cannabis

Greetings all!

Today I’m going to address a few ailments that I’ve struggled with nearly my entire life in hopes to bring awareness to this very real problem.  In 1987 I experienced my first earthquake at age 13, it was the single most terrifying experience ever.  All of a sudden out of no where the earth started to shake violently, I saw my mother tossed side to side down our hallway, I saw my dad nearly drop to his knees while trying to grab my mother, my brothers running around not knowing what to do and me, I was just frozen. And then just like that it was all over!  And that my friends was the first time I experienced an anxiety attack, I had no idea what was going on, all I knew was my heart was racing, I was hyperventilating, all I could do was point and cry, I couldn’t muster the words to speak, I was literally frozen with fear.

As an adult I still experience panic/anxiety attacks. I was hopped up on all sorts of pharmaceuticals for anxiety/depression, OCD, anything they could give a pill for they did and I happily took it. From early 20’s until my late 30’s I popped pills for back pain, stress/anxiety/depression, and quite honestly, I just wanted to feel numb, until I was put into a situation where a friend rescued me with cannabis.

My mother lived in Colorado during the time she had a stroke and there was nothing I could do, I felt lost and helpless.  I was on the phone with doctors, neurosurgeons and the nurses, my mother was being well taken care of. Me on the other hand, no so much.  I had to keep it together for my mother and my kids who were visiting her at the time.  I hadn’t slept in nearly 3 days, I was exhausted, my stress and anxiety was so severe I was physically ill throwing up, horrible headaches, feeling of nausea never ceased, uncontrollable shaking and that feeling of nervousness, I just couldn’t shake it.

My good friend who’s an old time hippie handed me a little bubbler, a container of some OG and a little silicone jar of wax.  She showed me how to pack the bubbler and incorporate the wax, she said it will help with sleep as well as take the edge off. Honestly, I didn’t believe her, all I could think about was how paranoid I got thinking the Anaheim Police were flying over my house after my buddy and I smoked a blunt in my back yard when we were 18.

I broke off some wax, placed it on top of my cannabis, lit up, took a hit, and holy moly cow – that first hit, that first head high, it was GLORIOUS! I immediately felt relaxed, I couldn’t believe it!  I took another couple of hits, walked around my house and started to giggle thinking to myself “omg, I’m so high, this is so great!”.  Before I knew it, I was waking up the next day totally refreshed and revived.  I didn’t want to open my eyes, I didn’t want to face the possibility of feeling “hung over” from smoking cannabis.  Much to my surprise, I wasn’t hung over, I felt amazing, I was finally able to get the sleep I needed! I instantly fell in love with cannabis!

As stated in last weeks blog, everyone has to experiment with flower, concentrates and edibles to find what works best.  Personally, heavy Indica’s are a favorite for night time and sleep.  I still suffer from anxiety but am well in tune with my body, and can get a handle on it once the onset of it starts to surface.  If I don’t want a heavy Indica during the day, I typically will smoke or vape a Hybrid, Indica dominate oil or flower.  If I know I’m going to be in a stressful situation like festivals or business conferences where there’s thousands of people running around, I’ll take a small dose of an edible and always have my vape pen on me locked and loaded.

Toke on friends, cannabis is a clean and pure medicine for multiple ailments.  Check out some of these links for more information:

Best Strains for Anxiety

CBD & Anxiety

Best Cannabis to Relieve Stress

 

Cannabis Edibles….What you should know about dosing.

As a practicing medicinal cannabis patient I’ve had to experiment with multiple cannabis products to find what works best for my ailments.  I’ve had to smoke a lot of different kinds of cannabis before I found the perfect Sativa and Indica.  Edibles, flowers and concentrates all have a different “high”, and each induce a different effect, and I use each one for different times of the day.

My first recommendation is to listen to your bud tender, more times than not they have been trained and have also tried the products they work with so as to better serve the patient. Always start with a low dosage, you can always build the high, but you can’t “un-eat” the edible, start slow and low.  I typically wait 30-45 minutes after I eat an edible, if you see the effect is less than desirable, take 1/2 of a dose, at this point you will have consumed 1 1/2 doses, build 1/2 dose at a time and wait up to 30 minutes to gage full effect of the medicine.  I always suggest to first time patients of edibles to try the treats at home, be in a safe and comfortable environment.  You’ve all heard stories of patients consuming too much of an edible and being couch locked, don’t fret, the worst thing that will happen is you’ll fall asleep.  Keep in mind, edibles are a “body” high, whereas smoking/dabbing is a “head” high.  Follow the recommended dosage on the package, and wait, and then wait some more, then slowly add until you reach the sedation that suits you.

Edibles are great for pain management and insomnia. Once you’ve gaged your target dosage, I personally slowly incorporated flower into the night regimen. I typically smoke a heavy Indica for night-time which helps relax me until the edible kicks in.  During the day if I’m experiencing back pain (due to roll-over car accident) I can pretty much have my pick of any of these lovely strains and more: Girl Scout Cookie, Jack Herer, & Tangie.  GSC is a bit of a heavy hybrid, but still a go to favorite.  Both Jack and Tangie are lighter Sativas that also help if you struggle with anxiety and depression.

I have a patient who is a Veteran, and Veterans have a very special place in my heart (if you are a Veteran reading this, or Active Duty, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!), he completed several tours in Afghanistan, needless to say he came home with debilitating PTSTD.  He started to recognize he was becoming anti-social, was becoming increasingly agitated, slowly falling into a funk.  He reached out and as mentioned in the beginning he had to experiment with different products to see what works best for him.  Much to my surprise he contacted me a few days later letting me know he took a dose of edible the night before, “I’m a square in at work and damn, this is awesome! No anxiety, feel balanced, great energy”.  His message brought tears to my eyes, a Veteran, a man who willingly fought for his country and whether we agree or disagree on our government and politics, the fact remains the same, these men and women put their lives on the line for each and every one of us.  To be able to assist a Veteran, and help improve his quality of life is more than I could have ever wished for.

The cat’s out of the bag!  There is medicinal use for cannabis which targets multiple ailments. Our senior citizens are turning to cannabis as it’s showing to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

Remember – no matter what edible you ingest, start small, wait (did we mention wait) and discover what works for you.

Please click on the links below for some helpful information and resources:

MedicalJane: Introduction to Edibles

HelloMD: Best Edibles for Insomnia

LeafScience: Beginners Guide to Cannabis Edibles

Photo By: Rebekah L. Baez

Edibles: Homemade by our very own ranch cultivator, Gale.

Hiring is over for this year…

Thanks for your applications. We will hold them on file. We are looking forward to a great year.

steve

Demonizing Our Farmers…

There are always bad apples. But the demonizing of our local Humboldt growers as a group is not innocent; nor is it warranted. It is not innocent as there often seems to be an agenda as a subtext to this kind of thing. It is unwarranted because our County’s growing community has hundreds and hundreds of hardworking, and kind, people who are NOT trying to take advantage of anyone. Or cheat; or steal.

I feel that the people who are pushing this narrative need to get off their high horse and start looking for ways to better our situation, instead of trying to shut down the local farmers through innuendo.

A recent fictional story on Redheaded Blackbelt tried to capitalize on the false perception that growers are all mentally addled low lifes. We have a problem with low lifes, no doubt; but it is not our farmers.

The narrative that is sensational is not always the real one.

What about the farmer whose latest employee couldn’t get back to Spain, so they gave her the money she needed and didn’t ask anything? Come on, people are helping people all over Humboldt.

What about the farmer that paid their worker their fair compensation even though that worker cut loose and left them hanging? They could have said screw you, but they didn’t.

What about the farmer that can hire the same people over and over again, thus helping them to have a steady income? Could this be the action of someone trying to rip their worker off?

Just like the police officer that stopped to help an elderly man to change his tire recently – the action of a real human being – our farmers are real human beings – not caricatures of some imaginary bad guy.

Humboldt Growers is looking for a Cultivator…

hello,

We are interested in filling our new position of Cannabis Cultivator. Please email us a cover letter, resume and your references if you are interested.

This job could start immediately. Our Cannabis Cultivator will interface closely with our Product and Field Managers. Our farm team is project oriented. You will assist at every level of cannabis production.

We are a small nursery, offering both nursery products as well as cannabis products. Just now, the focus in the nursery will be on our wholesale maples and our herbal products; while the focus of our cannabis products will be directed to seeds, clones and medicinal preparations. We want to win awards this year!

We are very rural; housing in town is very limited so we offer some options on the Ranch. If you do not want to live and work in the country, don’t bother with us. If it seems that we might be a fit, we would like to interview you.

We are looking for professional candidates who realize the potential of a job with us. We want people who can think outside the box. Perhaps that person is you.

Please get in touch. Thanks.

steve

answers.humboldtgrowers@gmail.com / Box 1666, Redway, CA 95560

 

No on Prop S and Prop 64

Both Prop S, the County cannabis tax proposal and Prop 64, the State cannabis legalization initiative, are disasters. These proposals are both poorly thought out. And Prop 64 smacks of collusion with big money and big corporations. Without question, these proposed laws need to be defeated.

Raising tax dollars on the County’s cannabis cultivation is not a crazy idea. That revenue could help the residents of Humboldt. But the effort must be delayed until farmers have had an opportunity to establish themselves. Immediately charging Humboldt cannabis farmers, at minimum, $5000 to $10,000 per year (not to mention a possible $15,000 to $30,000 per year) will put a severe damper on our growers; in fact, this tax will almost certainly push cannabis farmers back into the black market and probably keep them there. Why is the County so coy about when cannabis farmers will need to pay these square foot taxes? Is it before planting or is it at harvest? There are a lot of bumps between one and the other. Proposition S is too much, too soon.

Prop 64, AUMA, is a disaster for California and its cannabis farmers. AUMA is very poorly thought out legislation. It smacks of big money and big corporations attempting to set the law up to benefit them and, in the end, not the small farmer. There are many problems with this initiative, but, perhaps, the biggest issue is that it will almost certainly drive, again, the cannabis farmers who are attempting to become compliant with the law back into the black market. This black market has supported the illegal growers for many years and if new laws attempt to overly restrict or overly tax these growers, they will throw their hands up.

Humboldt Growers Collective urges each of you to vote against both Proposition S and Proposition 64.
Thank you.

Steve Dodge
Humboldt Growers Collective, Garberville, CA

No on AUMA

The timing is wrong on AUMA; MRRSA needs more time to settle in. Basically, MRRSA is the State’s first chance at dealing with the cannabis black market – and, frankly, there is every reason to think that the black market will lead the industry for several more years. We are asking farmers to come out from behind the curtain, but not providing the assurances or the necessary help they need to do so. Farmers in Humboldt think that AUMA is just another scam intended to benefit the wealthy and the established at the expense of the local farmer.

Why not just modify, thru the legislature, the current MRRSA regulations? This would, at least, help to cut out the suspiciously wealthy middle men brokering the AUMA effort. This would, at least, let the People speak on this – thru their legislators. AUMA, itself, is written to try and satisfy too many players:

No smoking while walking; what’s this? It will certainly be ignored and it will provide a pretext for arrest.

Inability to reduce prices on products when needed; sometimes, what you grow is just not up to standard, but with AUMA, you will be stuck with it.

Helps the small farmer for a very small window; so the law will hold off the onslaught on the small farmer for a short while – that’s nice.

No samples; will cannabis be a legal business or not?

Why jail time for more than six plants per individual; this is absurd. How about a fine?

Regulations and taxes hammer the small farmer too hard; this is true of MRRSA as well. In fact, this issue is the one thing that could kill MRSSA’s success. It will destroy AUMA’s chances as well. People will fall back on California’s very well entrenched black market.

Finally, why is law enforcement given such leeway with a product that would be legal. Why can law enforcement enter any cannabis business without warrant and “inspect”? Sounds like a pretext for arrest again.

This law is setting the State up for failure. Humboldt Growers Collective does not support this and urges you to also reject this Initiative.

Thank you.

Steve Dodge
Humboldt Growers Collective, Garberville
answers.humboldtgrowers@gmail.com