The Golden state. The Wild West. California has always been at the leading edge, literally and figuratively, forging new ways of thinking, crafting a new lens through which to see the possibilities of the horizon, although it has also had its moments of contraction, especially in relation to cannabis.

The Autumn cornucopia overflows with the ripe fruits and vegetables of the season and here in California the harvest includes cannabis. Northern California is where the culture of cannabis cultivation rose up in reaction to the early twentieth century prohibition of the common weed. The so-called “ditch weed” of the early twentieth century was still to be found growing wild along seasonal river beds, in dry temperate mountain ranges, off the ocean coasts and even tucked into the tundra lands of Siberia. These wild strains are now referred to as “land races”, these originals are the genetic stock of the strains we know today. Some of you may remember these land race strains from the reefer heydays of the 1960’s and 1970’s: Acapulco Gold, Congolese Red, Afghani Kush, Durban Poison, Lambs Bread, Thai Stick, Panama Red, their names are associated with their place of origin, their “terroir” .