Elaine Ingham Compost Tea workshops

Monday thru Friday of next week, in Castro Valley CA

it’s all written up at

http://bdcann.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/compost-tea-workshops/

or better yet at

http://www.soilfoodweb.com/04_news/calendar.htm

now exists the biodynamic cannabis association !

hurray!

now there is an umbrella organization to serve all aspects of the development of biodynamic cannabis: find the site at http://bdcann.wordpress.com

we’ll call them “bd-cann” and we’ll call us what we call us… bdcga  or the biodynamic cannabis growers’ association, when we’re in town….

Brutal Sentencing for Reverend Lepp

a dark day today as the venerable Rasta Reverend Eddy Lepp was legally-unjustly sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, plus 5 years of supervised release to follow, for growing sacramental ganja. what difference does it make if it was 32 plants or 32,000? (it was the latter)

martyr and hero

miserable story

next step: the US Congress must repeal or change the law in question, which “requires a 10-year term for growing at least 1,000 marijuana plants.”

Realize that these repressive laws are not only applied to psychoactive plants but to anything the fascisti do not want us to make for ourselves, including all sorts of foods, medicines, and other necessities of life.

Please show your support for Reverend Lepp however you feel to do so; let this be a turning point in our efforts to make this planet worth trying to live on once again. frick!

(link) emergency! need … more … laws

courtesy of the Media Awareness Project comes news of our sleepy little town…

GRASS VALLEY’S TOP COP WANTS POT SHOPS BARRED

Rising crime statistics surrounding metropolitan medical marijuana dispensaries have prompted Grass Valley police Chief John Foster to ask for an emergency moratorium on pot shop operations in town.

No one is currently trying to open a dispensary, but we want to be proactive and not run into problems that have occurred throughout the state,” Foster said Monday.  “The problem now is that the city has no regulations in place.” [*snip*]

(full story)

brainstorming the future of bdcga

around a fire at the Ruins  the other afternoon, we came up with the following as a first-list of things bdcga could do /become /aspire to…

If you are or want to be a biodynamic cannabis grower, help us by contributing to the discussion.

• offer horns for members
• offer preps for members,  of our own making if possible
• help to develop & disseminate special preps for & possibly from cannabis
• some sort of bdcga book service/e-docs
• create/maintain a ganja apprenticeship / wwoofer (longer & shorter-term) locator service like attra’s — listings open to “sustainable” producers, trim scenes, dispensaries, seed-breeders, ganja tourism, etc
• contribute to the support and development of members’ ganja tourism / education activities: “learn to grow, learn to trim, learn to dispense, etc  the bdcga way on your vacation”
• how about a “research apartment” / time-share (s) in amsterdam, jamaica, malawi, etc ! (could connect w/previous idea & following one)
• annual get-together/confrence/tours/festival
• sponsor scholarships (cultivate tomorrow’s bdcga). send a young adult to Emerson on a cannabis scholarship
• other charitable activities… donate heifers together etc..
• support creation of  bd seed service (s)
• contribute to development of a network of bd clone suppliers in each state/province
• support production of films, events, etc promoting bd + cannabis
• in terms of education: to elucidate both biodynamics as a holistic life-way, and its realization in terms of farms which value cannabis, on a level useful to dedicated professionals
• to be a friendly, welcoming, wholistic and positive group (as most all bd groups are)
• getting some sort of useful discussion forum set-up for convenient, ongoing, quasi-private-feeling discourse among “members” – method/platform? mailing list, private forum, pick an existing discussion site, ?

Future posts will examine many of these subjects

audio link

earlier this year on radio station KSLG, three Humboldt County bloggers conversed about local cannabis-growing – mp3

bdcga researchers discover new uses for ganja!

In addition to all of the wonderful benefits afforded by Cannabis to humans and all Life, which we already know about, there could still be new discoveries and elucidations to be made regarding the gifts and blessings which come from association with this Herb of Herbs.

One which has come to our attention lately, is the usefulness of the Cannabis plant as a gauge of freedom, or its absence, in a particular area, as well as to indicate things like greed, fear and brainwashed-ness in nearby humans.

Readers will quickly appreciate the usefulness. Here’s just one example: we’re having the hardest time finding a place to live at this moment, even though we’re very skilled land, garden and farm-workers generally (and lovely folks :) !), just because we want to grow our legal cannabis prescriptions near our domicile. The county we live in is supposedly fairly pro-herbs, but a great many who are “into it” are “into it” only in the sense of “something to exploit”.

Some landowners are just prejudiced against cannabis, or expect that their neighbors are. Even though all of them might use herbs freely! But it’s low-class, like having gypsies on your property. Others cannot see anything but dollar-signs whenever the plant comes up; whether that makes them resentful or exploitive depends on character.  Others still haven’t adapted to the fact that this is a legal, healthful activity, and think they could “lose their land” somehow, even though since the advent of legal cannabis, nothing has ever happened to anybody, anywhere around here, for letting a couple of tenants grow their 6 plants each, nor is there any reason to expect any problems this year. We’re not even commercial growers! Doesn’t matter!

Try this experiment: plant out 5 or 10 beautiful ganja plants in your front garden. then, just Watch and Observe!

Now this aspect of our Plant, seemingly to “disturb” others so,  may sound like a “problem”, but the plus side here is that we save months or weeks, maybe years… of involvement in a place, which could only wind up in disappointment, since we can see clearly and quickly that freedom and clarity and enlightenment and charity of spirit must be lacking wherever the blessed Ganja is intolerable.

By the light of this candle we will seek out a place in the wildernest.

for love? or money

“they put us in the dungeon, only Jah save our soul”

Q.  Is there such a thing as ganja abuse?

A. Yes.  Ganja abuse is as common as the abuse of anything else that can’t defend itself.

But  lately, it has been much more prevalent because of its cash price, which is inflamed due to prohibition but which is also naturally rather high since people value its influence in their lives enough to be willing to pay what it costs to make it, plus.

In many parts of california and other places, marijuana-growing attracts vast numbers of people with dollar signs in their heads,  much like gold fever did, or alpaca-farming, or the “pyramid schemes” of not too long ago.  I have nothing against people making money, and how could a farmer be unhappy that there is a farm product that can get a fair price for the time and trouble involved?

The thing is, if y’all but knew, “mercenary ganja-farmer” is a contradiction in terms. Yes, someone with extra medicine can sell it for a good price.  Yes you can sell most anything in many markets, though thankfully standards are now getting higher each year.  But growing good ganja and mining the marijuana plant for dollars are totally different activities, despite superficial similarity.

As for our family, we’re “mercenary free” as of 2009; henceforward we’ll be careful to only deal with others like us, who’d be doing just as we are if there were no market whatever for cannabis, simply because we love and appreciate this plant so, that it will always be the Heart of our gardens…

Further, it’s my opinion that this distinction or one very like it must be part of what bd cannabis is about. A successful bd winery may have many commercial considerations to factor in each day just as most farms do, but if they were to view their vines as simply a means to an end ($) then that’s not real bd, which necessarily comes out of Love and the wish to Serve

Or as a friend of mine from “team fortress” once said, “if you’re just playing ‘to win’ then your playing sux”

Blessings and best wishes for a great season for the northern hemisphere!

DTN visits harborside

A great episode of Dean Becker’s Cultural Baggage show was the March 4th of this year show, in which Dean visits Harborside Medical Marijuana Dispensary on Oakland’s beautiful waterfront. Leading the tour is CEO Steve DeAngelo. Harborside is certainly a candidate for “best all-around”  legal cannabis dispensary in the world today; don’t miss this one!
Harborside’s website

DTN's Dean Becker

bd lecture notes: stages of manuring

the greatest thing to happen to us in agriculture so far, was to have the fortune to attend the lectures and activities during the visit of Manfred Klett to Steiner College in sacramento, last spring.
in particular, Manfred’s embodiment of all that it means to be a spiritual farmer proved to us, beyond any words, the reality of this Way of living, and the fact that if we can give all our exertion and devotion it could be possible for us too. Dr Klett is a Friend, a Brother to all who love Life, and a true Scientist as well. we will be thanking him all our lives

the first lecture was entitled “stages of manuring”. the reader will notice that the term “manuring” refers to all one might put on the land of amendments and fertilizers.
“stages of manuring” lecture notes (pdf)

Gardening Elder, Carola Ashford

i grew up, like a lot of kids these days, without any particular connection to gardening of any sort, or to the elements of life with which gardening connects us. i mean, through playing i did have connection to the air, to the water, to the soil, to the plant (lawn grass, anyway) and insect worlds.
but as a young adult, gardening (like many things) was a mystery i thot had nothing to do with me.

i was working as a clerk at builders’ booksource in berkeley around ’97 when the book Gardens of Alcatraz came out. my present farming and gardening work is a direct consequence of being found by this book. numerous fertile ideas and images will no doubt occur to any interested reader of this little portrait of gardens which had been left to themselves for decades.

what i didn’t realize then but do now, was that while encountering these gardens and having my imagination uplifted via this little book, i really was identifying with the prisoners, who also thot, until it came to them, that gardening had nothing to do with them. only after gardening had taken me by the hand for a few years already did i even realize that i was and had been a prisoner myself, or consider alternatives, things which are now core parts of my awareness

This week we read of the passing of Carola Ashford, project manager for the Alcatraz gardens project.

Carola Ashford, Alcatraz gardener

here’s a quote from the Parks Conservancy page announcing the Carola Ashford Alcatraz Gardens Fund

“Carola came to Alcatraz in 2004, having been awarded the Marco Polo Stufano Fellowship by the Garden Conservancy. After her fellowship, Carola stayed on as project manager for the Alcatraz Gardens Project, becoming the driving force behind restoration of the island’s exceptionally unique gardens and inspiring countless others with her enthusiasm and vision.

“Carola’s passion for the gardens and their history led her to create a thriving, unique program for bringing the historic gardens back to life. She planned and designed garden restoration, finally planting the last areas in the winter of 2009. A meticulous researcher, Carola sought out former inmates, Alcatraz residents, and their families for first-hand stories of garden life on the Island. Photos, interviews, and archival material were all incorporated into the beautifully restored landscapes, breathing color and vibrancy back to the island after decades of neglect….

“Carola’s commitment and charm inspired all those around her. Her colleagues and friends in the Alcatraz garden volunteers, the Garden Conservancy, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service will remember and continue her work in the blooming landscapes of the Island. The restored gardens are a visible testimony to Carola’s special combination of creativity, hard work and quiet persistence.”

also see Travel with the Gardener.com visits Alcatraz

Oaksterdam Update – thanks to Dean Becker and DTN

in Canna-Touring California we described some first impressions of  today’s “Oaksterdam”…

Richard Lee, president of Oaksterdam U (msnbc image)

Dean Becker has recently been broadcasting from the field, doing some great shows from oakland this week. Those interested in keeping up with current events in california mmj will want to hear his recent shows. So far look for Cultural baggage and Century of Lies, from 2/24 and 2/25 – you’ll see links in the right sidebar or else at www.drugtuth.net

getting deserved credit on these programs  for helping to shift the reality as well as the debate is oaksterdam u.  news on their site says they plan to open a satellite campus in michigan!  good for michigan…

a few words about lunar phases

good day folks
here’s some fabulous info about lunar phases from one of the bd gurus…I won’t say his name because he is not a big fan of the ganj’ but great info nonetheless…

so the question is how we can apply this to cannabis?

germinating seeds and taking cuttings just before the new moon in theory will influence the plant to put more of it’s energy towards root growth while germinating seeds and taking cuttings a few days before the full moon might influence the plant to put more energy during it’s total life cycle towards above ground growth, and therefore make more glorious flowers…these are things we need to play with to experience and overstand

lunar phases - page 1	lunar phases - page 2	lunar phases - page 3	lunar phases - page 4
lunar phases - page 5	lunar phases - page 6	lunar phases - page 7

more like this please

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is one of the best orgs going in the effort to reclaim some basic liberties for cannabis.

reported law enforcement encounters which led to arrest, jan.09

Bookmark their blogpage as well as the main site. The recent post “Reality Check: The State of California Enforcement, January 2009” provides the kind of info of which we need more: in this case, where are the hot spots for persecution of medical marijuana patients and their allies, based on cases reported to their office. (=Join the organization, and keep in touch with them.) You can see (wish there was more specific info to examine) that seizure of property is one of the main motivators for over-aggressive, intrusive police activity.

More ASA: their forums are very useful – example: Things in Mendocino are very scary right now …

their excellent booklets on medical marijuana as it relates to a variety of conditions, to read or download

secure communications

As cannabis-growers,

and as lovers, enjoyers, grateful recipients –

(not “users” — Jesus!! )

of the blessed gānjā ….

… All what *we* do is fully legal, certainly in the eyes of JAH, but amazin’ly enough, for the time being, also under the laws of the “government” of the area where we live. The only danger for us, aside from weather and such, comes from the law-breakers, namely the thieves, and the law-breaking “law enforcement officers” who rebel against the clearly-expressed will of the Peeps. These groups do pose potential threat, and them are just the devious sort who’d spend their time snooping on unencrypted transmissions, looking to “feed on” the labor and sacrifices of others…

For this reason,  i’m set up to use PGP/GnuPG to send encrypted email (encrypted text files as attachments to an email).

On the other hand, i post a lot of stuff out on the web that is normally not talked about. As do lots of folks! its a great thing about the internet.

My theme for this post is, be as alert as you can reasonably manage to be…i might put photos of my garden on a blogpage, but i don’t think i’d send someone the street address/directions to my garden in an unencrypted email; and encrypted mail would be safer than most telephones also.(Iphone example)

about such encryption: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Privacy_Guard

Basically, PGP has it that there are a pair of keys for each user, the “public” key which is shared openly, like your email address, and the “private”, which you use to *decrypt* messages sent to you which have been encrypted with the public key.

There are various softwares to use this tech for the different operating systems.

If the reader wishes to exchange encrypted communication with me (for instance), install the relevant software (it may already be installed on a linux or osx system), get my email and public key from the bdcga site, and if i get your public key then i can send you encrypted mail back. We decrypt and view the text message with a special pgp-aware viewer which doesn’t make temporary files to get lost somewhere in the computer’s storage, then “shred” the file with a special app which mangles it beyond recognition…

It’s better than nothing!

and, Security is a concept, which does not in any way exist in reality !!

associations generally

whether the subject is flower-arranging or flower-farming, aquariums or commercial fishing, it’s good to get together with others who share your interests, and exchange ideas, support each other, share learning, warn of pitfalls…

most areas and most types of agriculture with any degree of activity have agricultural associations that provide a way to get to know other producers in your area, to facilitate cooperation on everything from production to p.r., and to save everyone headaches by keeping a flow of good information about laws, methods, product demand, etc.

it doesn’t take much, and sometimes it doesn’t even have any set spot to happen in, but wherever farmers meet around the area, at  a feed store, at church, they might stop a few moments and “just chat”. useful stuff! even tho a listener might not hear all the value in it.  sometimes it is justified to have a hall or an office somewhere, for a grange or a dairy herd improvement association or a breed group…

local farmers' association building-kastellia, greece

in our field of interest, growers are separated from each other by various factors. some reflect real conditions, some old habits. maybe some are imaginary, and only in our own mind, yet they still exert effect

it’s a great thing that since the internet, and the arrival of discussion forums like the old overgrow and the sites linked-to here, we have a pretty good opportunity to learn from others, especially about techniques for growing herbs. but the limitations are many, and as an interface it doesn’t work for many

standing near a longass line of vendors  at a fine northern california dispensary yesterday, i was struck by what a tremendous resource we all had in the room there – namely, each other! it could easily get to where someone local would find it worthwhile to go down there on that day of the week when all the purveyors assemble, even if they themselves had no business to transact! but just to network, to chat. it would make a lot of sense to do so, in fact.

many of these establishments actually have rules against vendors conversing with each other! an interesting fact. besides security concerns… it does tend to seem like an attempt to retain power over a fragmented group of relatively powerless producers. in fact i don’t find that the dispensaries that i’ve been to who have that rule seem to be actively exploiting producers much, but then we mostly only visit the “good ones”. certainly it’s true that the dispensaries  do have a *lot* of herbs to choose from and can be very picky, but really i don’t see how this could be bad

but for the growers, it *is* bad to be fragmented, and weaker for not having all the allies we could have amongst ourselves. in an area like san francisco, or… redway…  there could certainly be a cannabis growers’ hall, like the steam-fitters or electrical workers. of course the flaw would be rats and narcs, at this stage. but someday…

the biodynamic movement has wisely put energy into fostering the existence and acceptance of community supported agriculture (csa’s), whether they offer biodynamically-produced  stuff or not. local agriculture beats commodity agriculture, no question. in my opinion, bdcga also should think, besides about how to grow bd cannabis, about how to encourage those qualities, which we want to see come into the  activity, outside of any “sectarian” concerns. like, encouraging and sharing with all our brethren who are also good-hearted.

trouble-maker that  i am, i started quietly ranting to my line-mates about ideas like this, and to my slight surprise, everybody  around me responded with some degree of hearty appreciation… i might of made a couple new friends, and anyway it was better than standing there in nervous silence for an hour ! and dispensary staff who were within  earshot seemed to appreciate that all our conversations were an important part of doing our best to raise the level of the activity in general, which, as we keep saying, is what we all want. we already thought that this particular place shares such aspirations overall, in distinction to others which have a shorter view, and it seems to be the case.

thanks for all the help, everybody!

Dawon, our mascot

for the time being anyhow… our “blavatar” for bdcga is an image of Dawon

Dawon is the mount of the goddess Durga. Durga may be considered the more “confrontational” form of Parvati, feminine counterpart of Siva. Dawon is depicted as a she-tiger, a lioness, or some kindofa tiger-lion

destroying illusion is the general theme here
akin to the Lions of Rasta, depicts natural fierceness overcoming delusion and unrighteous powers which try to control what they shouldn’t… 

“Dawon, a sacred tigress (sometimes drawn as a lioness) originated from Tibetan legend but was later adapted to Hindu mythology. In the later myth, it was offered by gods to serve goddess Durga or Parvati as mount for rewarding her victory. As Durga fought with ten weapons wielded on her arms. Dawon supported its master and attacked the foes with its claws and fangs.” -wikip.

GWAaaar!!

welcome c-ray!

today brings the first post from new brother c-ray. feels great to have a teammate on this blessed adventure! it’s going to be a good season….

Everyone wants to be organic….

But who wants to be biodynamic?

greetings fellow green warriors, protectors of the soil, keepers of the faith and holders of the flame I am c-ray your brother from the earth mother happily here to share little bits of info and images about the majickal world of bd that I have come across in my journeys.

in ’95 I came across a freaky book called Secrets of the Soil that instantly turned me on to the fact that there is more to gardening then tilling the soil, planting seeds, adding fertilizer and watering…so I looked around and found lots more to read about this fascinating subject

bio-dynamics is a great word…the combination of the greek words bios (life) and dynamos (force) but it doesn’t really say much kinda like a ying yang symbol doesn’t say a whole lot…really it doesn’t matter it could have been called anything so long as the knowledge is passed on and we are able to do our part in the garden putting our soul into the soil in order to produce wildly delicious and nutritious food and medicine

biodynamics according to my current understanding is actually a system of medicine for the earth that is very similar to naturopathy and homeopathy.. so if one wants to be a biodynamic farmer gardener then one will want to be conscious about that fact and realize that the garden and land that one lives on is a living breathing entity and can benefit from nutritious food and medicine just as much as we can…so we need to watch and listen and feel and meditate and be one with our patient the garden so that we may be able to provide medicine that will help heal and bring all into balance

back in the day a wildman from Austria named Rudolph Steiner, a so-called spiritual scientist, had gathered a number of farmers who represented the old and sacred ways so that he could download to them some serious info…it was 1924 and they were meeting for a few days at an estate in koberwitz in silesia and I can only imagine that he blew their mionds with his few lectures because here we are 85 years later talking about it religiously

and yes it was a serious download and fortunately it was transcribed and turned into a book and called “Agriculture: Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture” which is basically the bible of biodynamics so if you want to be a true zealot then you need to find that book and read it cover to cover several times…it might not make total sense though because it is esoteric stuff and probably something was lost in the translation, fortunately there is an awesome book called A Biodynamic Farm by Hugh Lovel that is written in modern language which is good but also because the author is great writer and he breaks down all the concepts so that they are easily understood…he even adds some key info from the future about homeopathy and radionics in bd, which we will have to talk about later

Steiner passed on some pretty awesome info but he also said something like: these are just some ideas I had floating around in my head on how we can make things in the world of agriculture better, the state of agriculture is in a decline spiritually speaking we have left the old ways and we need to change things up so we can back on track, it will take some time and some folks might hold onto these concepts I am speaking of as the be all and end all but really you need to use them as a starting point and use them achieve understanding then come up with some other ideas so keep it real it’s all good…just heal the earth and get the medicine out there

I’ll be back soon with more fun and games, here’s a nice tune from Bad Brains that I am listening to this morning

http://www.deezer.com/track/overs-the-water-album-version-T776399

have a stellar day and keep it green!

on second thought, avoid grasscity.com

i’ve mentioned it a bit in some posts below, but with more experience i’d have to say that this is a site to avoid.

the incompetent moderators there delete posts and ban users completely capriciously; and while there are many good users, there are so many squares and narcs that beneficial discussion is very difficult

a much better choice would be the forums at either icmag.com or cannabis-world.org

enjoy!

best new ad

many ganjaphiles were disappointed this week when the reigning swim champion “denied” the holy herbs, calling his “actions” “regrettable” and that sort of stuff…

what could have been regrettable? was the bong cracked? the herbs moldy or devoid of thc? smelly bong water? someone made a joke while he was inhaling and he splash-snorted some smelly bong water on himself? did someone keep talking and talking incessantly and compromise his high? had the really good stuff already been smoked before he got there? uh…

no, of course and sadly, he was talking about the fact that some endorsement deals might have been compromised by the fact that he was caught living life on a camera and the image “got out”…

in the long term of course he’ll realize what is obvious: only his hypocrisy in denial is regrettable.

hopefully someday the young man gains in intelligence and wisdom, and ads like the below will adorn the walls of speedo and goggle shops, and headshops worldwide

"hopefully, this is from the future!"

(bitchen art by Aaron Layton)

some bdcga members

recently noticed this thread on bd-farming at cannabis-world.org

excerpting this post, a self-introduction from our own bdcga members yes-I and t’ruth garvey
(hey that’s us – well so far we’re the only ones here… gotta post something )

my wife and i are bd farm workers in california. in 8 years we’ve had some exposure to a wide variety of food making, first in washington state and now a couple years down here. we live in a very active mj area and are as stoked as possible (cali-talkin’) to have a chance to study ganja with some amount of legal protection…

one aspect of announcing an interest in bd cannabis, is that most bd farmers are *not* interested in cannabis or in anyone who has such an interest. we’ve encountered some disdain, some wild vituperation, and some whispered agreement that there is much of value to the plant -but that its not to be discusssed openly…

i do understand all my bd brethrens…
-for one thing “steiner did not ‘get high’”- cannabis is just not part of their materia medica
-for another, it is frustrating for “straight” farmers barely scraping by, to see lazy f-d-up neighbors buying new rigs or whatever

there’s more shades and nuances of why it’s a tough sell… the elders def don’t want you taking the youngers down to the river and getting em all high…

i think these difficulties are temporary tho, and that eventually our beloved flowers will be accepted and loved in all reasonable purity. wine is a good example. wine is obviously an asset to a farm district, nobody worries you’ll be slipping jugs to their kids or whatever. or, you can let a child have a bit of wine at a family meal, as they do in “normal” countries, without having your kids taken away from you and getting sent to penitentiary… coming out of prohibition, as we are now, its natural that people’s minds are all confused..

i also admit i don’t mind disturbing dirt sometimes… i am so clear in myself that there is ample, ample room to work all one’s life with ganja and have it just get more and more positive, more Ital.
i’m not ashamed, i’m not ashamed, i’m not ashamed, to shake out my nats…

wine-making is a good analogy for lots of our considerations, including for why biodynamics will ultimately bring a lot to the world of cannabis!

best wishes and look forward to chatting with you soon

yesIah garvey

video proof of unreliability of sniffer-dogs

we’ve known forever that drug-sniffing dogs can be made to “falsely alert” whenever the handler wants them to

unfortunately this is not currently recognized by judges!

barry cooper has made this subject one of his pet projects: this video shows actual horseshit policing out of williamson cty, texas.

unscrupulous life-hatin’ maafaas…

see other similar clips at nevergetbusted’s k9 test page

canna-touring california

icmag.com and grasscity.com are 2 discussion forum sites where i post from time to time… i’m thinking that i may occasionally mash-up some of my posts there into a blog-post here & see how that works.

one interesting thread on grasscity considers whether energetic, devoted people who love cannabis – u.s. citizens, let’s say – would find it possible & desirable  to visit california, touring dispensaries and other places of interest. the writer starting the thread expressed an interest in one day operating something like a dispensary in another state, currently coming on-line with mmj provisions.

do they have these in missouri?

my background in the culinary world, and as a farm apprentice, says that this is exactly the sort of thing one ought to, in fact must do, to go to the sources, and to see all the great producers etc. Bill Buford’s book Heat is a great depiction of this journey from a cook’s perspective…

of course california is important historically in marijuana cultivation, partly for the same climactic features that have suited the area to lots of kinds of agricultural production, partly for cultural features which it really shares with the whole west coast of the continent.

at the moment the reality of medical marijuana in california certainly makes it a must-see for anyone interested in the plant. british columbia and oregon should be included in the itinerary of any canna-traveller who can tour the entire region. washington state will be great someday, but at the moment the politics there are non-functional

i guess maybe i hijacked this thread on grasscity i’m referring to, cos’ the last 3 posts are mine… you can continue the discussion in the comments section below… btw we were using the term “clubs” instead of the more correct “dispensaries”. again to clarify these are all my posts, pulled out of the thread. here’s the relevant lettrage:

Re: Going to California

---

come out to cali now! for a season or two, get your prescriptions, find a garden/s to work at, be a trimmer, etc. and you can visit all the clubs in the offseason or on your days off. it is worth it to come out here if you are into this plant!generally clubs are where money is- bay area, socal, etc
important producing areas may be elsewhere, where local jurisdictions or other conditions (public sentiment, economies being otherwise-depressed, rugged terrain) are favorable for herbs cultivationa la wine or other artisanal agricultural products, i think its worth it even for those who want to be in other parts of the business to get to know production really well thru experience. what i’m saying is i would advise to settle in a good production area. maybe someplace like sonoma county, with favorable laws, great growing conditions and easy access to super bay area activities including dispensaries and lots of other related stuff

i personally love humboldt and all the surrounding counties and would be glad to live and work there. realistically that market is “flooded” and so a high % of their produce needs to go elsewhere

one thing you could hope to set up on a spring trip, would be to return at the right time in the fall for “working vacation” as part of a trimming crew. many times crews camp or stay on-site. if you are getting a better idea of where you might like to be eventually, this of course can be a gr8 way to get to know some folks in the area too. if you do this, watch out for a-holes that don’t pay their trimmers properly! best wishes!

next post:

Re: Going to California

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ps. an important and fascinating part of the puzzle here is the fact that while the state laws set certain minimums for what’s allowed to qualified patients etc, local jurisdictions (especially counties, also cities) are legally allowed to increase (not decrease) these limits. also some cities seem to have said that they are not into regulating anymore what anybody wants to do with cannabis. otoh some counties, and certainly plenty of individuals (LEO, bureaucrats, neighbors) are “against” the whole thing and try to undermine the program and persecute mj users and advocates. really its all very fuzzy, what one can get away with or not varies almost moment by moment and block by block…
probably wherever we are trying to work for awhile to come we’ll need to have a relationship with a *good* attorney who is *into* fighting mj cases

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Re: Going to California

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we’ve had some discussion based on this thread, in pm’s, and w/permission i’m pasting it back in here cuz it seems relevant … my contributions are based on limited experience in one geographical area & i’d love to know a lot more about how things vary from area to area..—-

paste:

Quote:

how easy is it to get a job with a grower like you said? i would absolutely love to come out and just start at the bottom like that and just get into the business and the culture, and see what happens from therehow much money does someone working for a grower make like as a trimmer? is that job legit or illegal?quick question – how many months do you have to be a CA resident until you can get your medical mj card?

Quote:

hii wish you really well! im really passionate about the plant also and am doing all i can to improve my understanding and skills Quote: how easy is it to get a job with a grower like you said? um.. it depends? on where you live (how many folks are growing around you), how chill it is in that area, on what kind of luck you have connecting with like-vibed folks, and on what your plant skillz are, and on other factors. “prime gardener” is a great learning job but there are fewer of those and they do tend to go to those with exp if you can get to help harvest then you can see the garden and so on, sometimes trimmers never even see the plants growing environment in an area with a lot of growing, there is also a whole bunch of associated trades: -clone-seller -hash-maker (work deals for leftover trim) -garden-builders – like tradesmen or heavy equip. operators, room builders – everyone needs to find someone “kewl” to help build their gardens -a friend did trim-catering: delivering lunch to a bunch of trim scenes. a very feasible business. etc etc Quote: how much money does someone working for a grower make like as a trimmer? as a trimmer i guess the market is around 20$/hr cash paid daily. many times you might be paid by “done weight”, which can be pretty good if you’re pretty good and the grower is pretty good… or you could be surprised sometimes by how long it takes to get a pound completed! depends a lot on what you’re working with. some growers definitely abuse their trimmers, so one has to choose ones workplace carefully. not just to avoid getting taken advantage of, but also to find something you really enjoy doing. also you usually get a free lunch and a bunch of other treats (cookies and pop and whatnot) on a good crew. there may be free onsite camping, in some areas it could be mandatory for security reasons. bitchin growers let you enjoy some (or a lot of) herb while working, take a bit home, whatever. many are money-lovers as you could expect and imo that brings things down fast. funky dollar bill the skill of being a good trimmer/trim crew member is something worth respecting, expecting to put some time into, being humble about, etc. karate kid principles apply. this is another reason to try to find good crews to work for, to hope to sit next to some masters of the art and imbibe their wisdom and methods. if you become really skilled you’ll have way more work opportunities than you can fulfill. otoh on a mediocre crew you could even “learn” a bunch of bs. this season i saw lots of people being “trained” to mash airy buds into little balls by squishing them Hard and twisting… some youngsters travel between production areas as the harvest hits sequentially and trim for a couple months fulltime that way Quote: is that job legit or illegal? i’m guessing technically its usually not legal, but no one out here is going to get charged for working on a trim crew at this point. in general it is not legal for you as a the prescription-holder to sell extra medicine you produce in a garden, a paradox for the “legal distribution” dispensaries. its interesting what a cross-section of the populace you can meet at many trim gatherings. lots of seniors trim every year, many have been doing so a long time. it is a great seasonal multigenerational harvest-festival work-gathering, in the best cases. growers worry that their trimmers will leave the scene covered in weed dust, get pulled over or something, and shit will get traced back to the site. but trimming itself.. i wouldnt put it on your tax returns! Quote: quick question – how many months do you have to be a CA resident until you can get your medical mj card? for me it was none – i got my card the month i moved here. don’t think i violated any rules there

i like information-sharing, cuz i want this endeavor of ours to continue to improve. there’s so much room for improvement!

we have to love our history, it’s our roots, and the story of our elders also (there certainly are elders in our work of course). prohibition (etc ) has made it a story of an underground thing, it tested courage and clarified the hollowness of the square-ocracy. it also screwed us in many ways, people still lack information and endure rumor, superstition, fear, fucked-with weed, etc

but maybe a new day rilly is coming when we can stand tall and proud with our plants, show them off in the sun like in a vineyard, teach our children about the blessed ganja without risking losing them and going to penitentiary…

joy and blessings

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Re: Going to California

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greetings and blessings
some further thoughts on this worthy subject…

regarding oaksterdam university – like [user] i was a bit predisposed to guess that it was a more exploitative than real enterprise. stopped in there for the first time yesterday and was really knockt out with how heartical and substantial it is. i bet that it would benefit anyone who takes part in it. they are just starting a semester program (meeting 1x/wk for a few months) and have also just added a “student union” space in a building across the street so participants can get together in between time. fun!

Oaksterdam University

-btw while in there i met very memorable young man named adam who rents bikes in oaksterdam (Oaksterdam Bike Rental, 410 15th St., 510-290-1883) does a pedicab business (OaksterCabs), and contributes to the u. bless this young man, as his efforts do for others! and keep an eye for his big smile if youre in that neighborhood, a trustworthy elder-in-the-making he is

one interesting aspect about a place/phenomenon like oaksterdam u., as may be obvious to many, is that by teaching how to do any and everything, and by bringing others -or many others -into the business, they may be seen as weakening the position of those who have benefitted from high prices fueled by prohibition. so they are ticking people off on both sides of the issue! to put it one way, eddy lepp‘s vision of plentiful good 500$/lb marijuana is not the vision that, say, many of the folks in and out of the local hydro shop, or many of the vendors at the clubs, or many of my friends putting their kidz thru school, are hoping to see come true.
i’ve always said, at trim tables for instance, that id be doing the same things each year even if there were no commercial market for marijuana. that typically gets a cold reaction which surprised me at first. i guess a person’s expectations of this plant do have a lot of impact on how they experience it.

fwiw i think that similar to wine, freedom for mj would mean that (as now) there’s an ample market for a “6$ bottle” and just as much for a “$100 bottle”. if you aren’t into wine you may not be aware how easy it is to sell 100$ bottles of wine if it’s super fuckin good–there’s never enuf sfg anything. certainly some parts of that price spectrum might tend to get clogged with too much product but in general there’s people that want a whole range of different stuff, if you can find them and they can find you. which is a beautiful feature of the dispensaries for sure

some of the dispensaries offer classes and get togethers on a variety of subjects…including growing herbs. had the chance to see the white-board at the harborside dispensary
http://harborsidehealthcenter.com/moreinfo.htm
left over from a growing class and they go into some depth! it would also probably benefit just about anyone to attend one of these.
harborside is a  fantastic dispensary; definitely among the finest we’ve seen. not too far from the little “oaksterdam district”  blocks of downtown. working at or visiting a place like this would be a great education/must-see for anyone wanting to do similarly, anywhere else in the us!

on further reflection and after another trip around the bay area i think that a voyage like [user] was wondering about is possible, especially if you could allow a month or so for best results. take/rent a vehicle you can sleep and eat out of? i’m pretty sure that it is possible to get a prescription more or less upon arrival if you go to the “right place” wherever that is…

one interesting factor is how much the dispensaries (and everything ellse in this business) varies from one enterprise to another. there is the most amazing range of variation. some are great, some are fine, some are icky. ones that seem icky to me may be just what others are looking for…? some are different on different days, some are operated with amazing dedication
here’s one list statewide
http://westcoastcannabis.com/page/collective-guide
we use the printed version from each issue of this publication to navigate around…
in the printed version they list some recommended ones at the top of the list, which we’ve found really helpful
you see also alot of delivery services on there

if i were you i would try calling up as many of the dispensaries as seem possibly attractive to you, trying to find out when you could reach the owner or manager at a time when they aren’t too busy, and just tell em whet you want to do. i bet somebody would be willing to bring you in for a short internship or let you watch for a day, especially after meeting you or whatever, if you are persistent and find the right person/wavelength, if only because what unifies all these businesses as far as i can see is how different they are from each other! it certainly wouldn’t hurt everywhere you go if they had talked to you before anyhow and are expecting you! we have found amazing hospitality and fast friendships in our favorite dispensaries, and wanted to get away from others quickly
you can find out in a general way which places seem to have integrity from reading what folks say about them online (w/ grains of salt)

if none of that comes together beforehand i’d come anyway and tour the dispensaries after getting a prescription and a patient id card. shouldn’t take more than a week to get that together in a populous area; could be real hard in a less populated county

one thing id say about visiting dispensaries generally: if you go expecting/intending to “like” all the staff, and you can act friendly and pleasant, you will probably find that they are all pretty kewl folks. some places have a “hard” front to them and it can be intimidating at first, but that usually melts away and you can appreciate that the various kinds of exposure to “the street” understandably make the folks who work there nervous. for example. but the workers in the clubs frequently respond with real gratitude if you can do simple things like learn and remember their names and say “thank you, you are nice” or words to that effect. like anybody i guess!

best wishes to all who wish to advance the craft…

stuff that’s happening in this state now seemed impossible 20 years ago, so go ahead and vision the future we need and deserve it to be!

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Re: Going to California

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unless there’s “clone farmers markets” where you live….
http://www.goodkarmagrowers.com/clonemenu.html
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=46616&page=21
maybe you can’t get ‘em home but that’s a nice country picnic !just remember you need that ‘scrip’ first
then if you take that cali prescription, and a california id (you can get one at the dmv–or a drivers license– if you have a good mailing address) you can also obtain a patient id card from the “patient id card center” (good name right?)
http://www.patientidcenter.org/
having that card helps a lot too – currently 40$while the official id card/d.l. from the dmv would take a couple/few weeks to arrive in the mail, the piece of paper you get from the day of your dmv visit is currently good enuf at the patient id center and also at many dispensaries (of course in combination with your ‘scrip’), that wouldn’t be able to service you or let you in at all if you have a local prescription but only out-of-state id…

c-l-o-n-e f-a-r-m-e-r-s m-a-r-k-e-t . . . . .
great balls o fire!

__________________
“wanted for questioning by authorities: may have received fresh raw milk as a gift from a neighbor”

please join in

Happy New Year to all !

in the northern hemisphere it is really already spring in many places, and the upcoming gardening year is rising to greet us
what is going on in the southern hemi i have no idea! as i’ve never been…. perhaps a contributor will enlighten

as you can see this site currently “holds a space” for those whom we hope and expect will appear, who wish to take part in the application of biodynamic practice and understanding to cannabis cultivation. no doubt many are already engaged in this adventure, and hopefully we will be able to learn together here, from work that they have already done or are doing now

if you, reader, are one whose interest in this subject is strong, feel free to contribute to this site and to the discussion…

suggested new year’s resolution: hug more cows this year!

beautiful photographs

Jamie Ashley takes some awesome pictures, and is willing to share them with you

including this one of himalayan charas growing in beautiful tune with its environment

http://www.pbase.com/jamieashley/wallpapers

also enjoy his blog at http://outtheresomewhere.net/

Small Farmer’s Journal – Draft Horse Farming

SFJ is a great resource for all involved in holistic land care.Their twin foci are farming with draft animals, and traditional farming and farm-life generally. If you don’t know the publication and these topics are of interest to you: Subscribe! you won’t be disappointed..

http://www.smallfarmersjournal.com/

“Subscribe now and receive 2 FREE Back Issues with your first Regular Issue!” says the website so now is your time…

more info:

http://www.smallfarmersjournal.com/.docs/pg/about.html

more about “Small Farmer’s Journal – Draft Horse …“, posted with vodpod

NEVER GET RAIDED Preview- Growing Outdoors

A 10-minute preview of Barry Cooper’s “Never Get Raided”, from nevergetbusted.com

more about "NEVER GET RAIDED Preview- Growing Out…", posted with vodpod

discussion

there is a thread at www.icmag.com which i hope will persist, for the discussion of our pet subject.

if you don’t know international cannagraphic, suffice it to say that they are our allies in the quest for quality herbs we can all “feel good about” and with

after you join the site, please post to the thread here: BDCGA

Welcome to us all, the B.D.C.G.A.!

Biodynamic Cannabis Growers’ Association

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or, the BDCGA

look, here we are, associating!

high! i’m no expert, just a very interested gardener and farmer who wants to be part of the project, “part of the team” to explore and develop the relevance of biodynamic ideas and techniques to cannabis-growing.

from a biodynamic perspective, i would add here: also our team would be working on the question, “how can cannabis-growing best fit into the farm-organism?”

bd has been proven to be great for wine-grape-growing and winemaking. also vice-versa, the success of bd wines has been super for the biodynamic movement.

in terms of outcomes, biodynamics does very well at yielding a high, high quality product. we could conjecture that bd’s produce excels qualitatively because of its particular concern with giving plants and animals access to subtle energies/foods/experiences

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the movement called biodynamics was initiated around 1924 when Rudolf Steiner, (a polymath and spiritual teacher formerly aligned with Mme Blavatsky; he was also the originator of waldorf childrens’ education) gave a series of lectures in response to concerns raised by students of his who were involved in ag, about the bad effects they could already see from industrial chemical-based farming. steiner wasn’t a farmer, he drew on his wide general knowledge, his memories of growing up in a world of preindustrial peasant agriculture , and his spiritual visioning, to present in these lectures the beginnings of a new/old way for man to serve and live on the earth. since then many others have researched and experimented to get bd to where it is today, still developing and also with a lot to offer anyone interested in natural farming or holistic living

you can see translations of Steiner’s lectures online at the rudolf steiner archive

bd, to me, is not *primarily* a bunch of techniques (though there are those), but a gestalt, a worldview.

if there’s a biodynamic group in your area (North America), attending one of their meetings or field-days would be a great way to get an “all-centers” experience of biodynamics

a good, evocative  film from new zealand profiling Peter Proctor, author of Grasp the Nettle ,  a biodynamic farmer working in india, called “how to save the world” .

there’s also info about bd at these sites
biodynamics.com
biodynamic.org.uk

best wishes, all!

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trimming machines suck !!