Sensi Magazine - North Bay (March 2020)

I N O RT H BAY M A R C H 2020

HONORING Celebrate the power and creativity of women ›››

FEMME FARMERS Agriculture in a woman’s world

WABI-SABI The art and philosophy of imperfection

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NORTH BAY SENSI MAGAZINE MARCH 2020

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F E AT U R E S

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34 28

Femme Farmers

The light of legalization shines on women who are proving their role in cultivation.

In a New Dimension

Paper engineers create the first pop-up book to explore the world of cannabis.

Beauty in Imperfection

The delicate art of wabi-sabi and how difficult it can be to live out the philosophy

D E PA R T M E N T S

9 EDITOR’S NOTE 10 THE BUZZ News, tips, and tidbits

16 THE LIFE Contributing to your

health and happiness SIZE MATTERS The wins and woes of tiny homes HOROSCOPE What the stars hold for you

to keep you in the loop SPACED OUT A new dispensary takes you on an adventure of the senses.

THE NEXT VIAGRA? Product THE SCENE promises longer-lasting sex. Hot happenings and hip hangouts around town OWN HISTORY The Rio Theater is for sale.

GLAMPING Soothe your spirit at Sol Spirit Farm.

GOOD READS New releases for your bookshelf CALENDAR Celebrate the power and creativity of women all month long.

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ON THE COVER International Womenʼs Day is March 8, but celebrations in the North Bay last all month long.

50 THE END

The destruction of wine-country fires can’t hold a candle to love.

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SANTA ROSA / CALIFORNIA

CANNABIS CO-MANUFACTURING PERMISSION TO COME ABOARD!

A DV I S O R Y B OA R D

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Strictly Topical Pain Relief Topicals VaperTip Vape Supply & Consulting Wana Brands Edible Gummies

FACE BOOK Like Sensi Media Group for the parties, topics, and happenings we’re obsessed with right now.

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EXECUTIVE Ron Kolb Founder, CEO ron@sensimag.com Mike Mansbridge President mike@sensimag.com

T

Alex Martinez Chief Operating Officer alex@sensimag.com EDITORIAL

Stephanie Wilson Co-Founder, Editor in Chief stephanie@sensimag.com Doug Schnitzspahn Executive Editor doug.schnitzspahn@sensimag.com Nora Mounce Managing Editor nora.mounce@sensimag.com Leland Rucker Senior Editor leland.rucker@sensimag.com

Robyn Griggs Lawrence Editor at Large robyn.lawrence@sensimag.com Helen Olsson Copy Chief Melissa Howsam Senior Copy Editor Bevin Wallace Copy Editor

Melissa Hutsell, George Rose, Isabella Vanderheiden, Mona Van Joseph Contributing Writers DESIGN Jamie Ezra Mark Creative Director jamie@emagency.com Rheya Tanner Art Director Wendy Mak Designer Kiara Lopez Designer Josh Clark Designer Jason Jones Designer em@sensimag.com PUBLISHING Nancy Birnbaum Publisher nancy.birnbaum@sensimag.com Sam Delapaz Associate Publisher sam.delapaz@sensimag.com B U S I N E S S /A D M I N Kristan Toth Head of People kristan.toth@sensimag.com Amber Orvik Administrative Director amber.orvik@sensimag.com Andre Velez Marketing Director andre.velez@sensimag.com Neil Willis Production Manager neil.willis@sensimag.com

EDITOR’S NOTE

The character of the place we call home

dramatically impacts our personal worldview. From quotidian experiences like finding a good dentist to fighting traffic, where we live matters. In the far-flung environs of Northern California, the mutual sense of pride and identity attached to home is even stronger juxtaposed to an increasingly polarized nation.

As an instructor of cultural anthropology, I teach my students to observe our community for microcultures or significant groups that share values and norms around a particular hobby, religion, or occupation. During their semester-long research project, students attend local Shamanic ceremonies and AA meetings. They go duck hunting and interview tattoo artists. At a glance, it seems as if anthropology cares more about documenting differences between various cultural groups than finding what’s universal. But looking back at my students’ projects, I see far more affinity than variation in core values about family, community, and quality of life in the North Bay. I want to share what my students continue to learn is important throughout our community: Clean water matters. Protecting native species matters. Helping the homeless and mentally ill matters. Drug rehab programs matter. Respecting local tribes and sacred lands matters. Having the freedom to pursue creative occupations matters. Feeding our family healthy food matters. And most central of all, engaging and contributing to our community matters. How we share these values can look very different. Yet, a county social worker, a politician, and a farmer might very well be working toward the same essential good.

As you flip through our Spring to Action issue this March, we hope you find threads of common ground and shared perspective woven throughout our colorful pages. From female farmers leading the industry to creative solutions to California’s housing crisis, our March issue was created to celebrate the myriad ways we come together and spring to action for our community every day.

How we share our core values can look very different. Yet, a county social worker, a politician, and a farmer might very well be working toward the same essential good.

With love + luck,

Hector Irizarry Distribution distribution@sensimag.com M E D I A PA R T N E R S Marijuana Business Daily Minority Cannabis Business Association National Cannabis Industry Association Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Nora Mounce nora.mounce@sensimag.com M ARCH 2020

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Dazed and Gratified Plan a visit to the interactive cannabis experience known as Doobie Nights.

Are you old enough to remember sneaking off for a few surreptitious tokes and then trying to mask your doobie breath from mom and dad? We’ve come 180 degrees since then, and to help us celebrate our freedom in style, a conceptually innovative experience has been created in Santa Rosa called Doobie Nights.

This virtual “viper’s paradise” reflects a serious devotion to all that’s cannabis, and offers an incomparable sensory symphony which is informative, hospitable, warmly friendly, and stocked with goodies geared to 10 N O RT H BAY

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improve the quality of most folks’ lives.

Offset with “architecturally mapped LED lighting,” sculptures, artwork, music, and spaciousness, the ingestibles are displayed with an eye to visibility and easy access, and are sensibly arranged. Cannabis-infused lychee gummies, Colombian cookies, handcrafted joints, cannabis-enriched strawberry milk chocolates, and salted caramel almonds are all spaciously stocked, along with more conventional means of delivery.

An interactive informative touch-screen wall provides

a learning experience, and state of California track-andtrace methodology ensures purity and quality. A 420 happy hour may be in the works, and the candidness and honesty of the emporium’s personnel is refresh-

ing, as well as comforting.

Offering “fun and a feeling of wonderment,” as well as a place to score (with plenty of parking available), it’s worth an over-21 outing.

Doobie Nights / 10 a.m.–7p.m. Daily 3010 Santa Rosa Ave. / Santa Rosa

CONTRIBUTORS

Aaron H. Bible, Dawn Garcia, Stephen D. Gross

BY THE NUMBERS

11.DOLLARS 3M THE NEXT VIAGRA? Promescent promises longerlasting sex.

Although PE, or premature ejaculation, doesnʼt have quite the same stigma as ED (erectile dysfunction), it can definitely become a barrier to intimate and meaningful lovemaking. In case you hadnʼt noticed, men tend to reach an orgasm during heterosexual lovemaking about three times faster than women—5.5 minutes vs. 18 minutes.

According to the new brand Promescent, up to two billion women go without orgasms each year as a result. Makers of Promescent, a climax-delay spray, claim it prolongs lovemaking. Check it out for yourself and see if it improves your sex life. promescent.com

The asking price for a newly listed 130-acre Sonoma property that once housed the Sun-O-Ma Nudist Colony

40

PERCENT Percentage of cabernet sauvignon grapes grown in Napa County, the most of any variety

2016

“It’s time for us to get off our high horses about parents who like to unwind with a little cannabis.”

—Brandie Weikle, senior writer with CBC News, on thestar.com

Own a Theater Egypt has its pyramids; Rome, its Coliseum; and Monte Rio, perched near the Russian River, its relic of antiquity, the Rio Theater. The WWII Quonset hut began its metamorphosis in 1949 as the handiwork of Monte Rio merchant Sid Bartlett, who aimed to turn it into a theater. A mural depicting the area adorns the outside, while, inside, well-chosen motion pictures were screened shortly after their initial release, along with live productions like Rocky Horror. For 40 years, the ceiling inside was lined with remnants of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “Running Fence” art project (c. 1972–1976), which stretched white nylon fabric over 24 miles from Highway 101 to the Sonoma coast. Inside, a potpourri of whimsical local art depicting the area’s rich history adorns the walls.

Complete with a concession stand and a restaurant that fronted on a broad deck, the venue offered decent breakfast and lunch selections. The upper level was rumored to be haunted. The ghost was apparently resolved once a successful Kickstarter campaign delivered new projectors ordained necessary by the film industry. Call it yours for $895,000.

The last year the independent Sonoma Stompers won the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs league championship. They lost in the championship game in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

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THE BUZZ

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BY STEPHANIE WILSON, EDITOR IN CHIEF

1 READING ROOM The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf, $27). Showcasing her signature literary prowess, Mandel explores the infinite ways we search for meaning in this much-hyped new release, expected March 24. Also out this month: It’s Not All Downhill from Here by How Stella Got Her Groove Back author Terry McMillan.

2 STREAM THIS Freeform’s The Bold Type. Now in its third season, this sleeper hit could be your new favorite series. It’s mine, in no small part because it centers on three young women working for a New York mag. But also because it’s witty AF, aspirational, and depicts successful women who are defined not by their relationships but by their careers. It’s empowering, and you should watch it for free on Freeform, or on your favorite streaming platform.

3 LISTEN UP NPR’s Life Kit podcast offers tools to keep it together.

And by you, I mean me; I need all the help I can get. Picking out a lightbulb last fall had me staring mouth agape in a store aisle for a half hour trying to make sense of all the options. After listening to “Picking Out a Lightbulb, Made Easy,” I know which bulb’s for me. Life Kit’s episodes are short, to the point, and offer tips on how to do things like start therapy, start a book club, master your budget, remove stains, and juggle paperwork, appointments, and repairs. Basically how to adult.

4 GROWING TREND Pot in Pots. The Swiss-cheese-leafed Monstera is last year’s “It” plant. Cannabis is the hashtagable houseplant of 2020. Get in on the trend. Depending where you live, you can find clones or seeds at select dispensaries with an easy google—while you’re at it, look up local laws regarding home grows. Cannabis cuttings (a.k.a. clones) are pretty easy to root—check Leafly.com for tips—and you should definitely bring some to your next plant swap.

Spread the word, spread the love.

“Clean drinking water is a human right. I won’t stop fighting until the law sees it that way too.”

—Ilhan Omar, US representative from Minnesota, on Twitter

THE BUZZ

VOX POPULI

KATE PINTOR

Strengths Coach & Business Relationship Consultant Eureka

___________________

Seeing the rebuilt neighborhoods with cars in their driveways again after two-and-a-half years post Tubbs Fire. I drive through and can’t wait to see people walking their dogs again!

Question: What gives you hope this spring?

FAWN GILMORE KRAUT Relationship Coach Santa Rosa

MATT ANDERSON Senior Sales Executive, Mammoth Microbes Willits

___________________

___________________

Seeing so many people committing to love fiercely!

Having my boys (ages 1 and 5) help me in the garden and watching them grow too! Happy planting everyone!

TONI NELL

One Page Business Plan Expert Santa Rosa

___________________

Having been introduced to many people in the cannabis industry lately, I am wowed by the deep level of integrity I see people operating with and how welcome I’ve been made to feel!

VANESSA BROWNSTEIN

Senior Sales Consultant San Francisco

___________________ Personal, professional, and community growth.

Every day is a chance to learn something new and connect with someone new.

GOOD READS Meryl Streep on the Couch by doctor Alma H. Bond is a look at the inner workings of actress and activist Meryl Streep. Bond, a clinical psychoanalyst, is known for her couch sessions with famous women in history like Barbra Streisand, Hillary Clinton, Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and Michelle Obama. Streep approached her when researching the role of psychoanalyst for her film The Psychotherapist and what follows are stories, insights, and a deeper appreciation for Streep as a woman, mother, activist, and actress. Bond was married to the late Streetcar Named Desire actor Rudy Bond.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM

Available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and bancroftpress.com.

Itʼs Not How Good You Are, Itʼs How Good You Want to Be

by Paul Arden may possibly be the most encouraging book anyone in the marketing, publishing, or advertising worlds can read. Pages and pages of honest, inspiring anecdotes, quotes, personal stories, and failures and successes make this book a must-read. Answering everyday questions with logical responses, Arden has written a cohesive handbook for navigating through the terrain of

life by altering your conditioned mindset. The message: it doesnʼt matter what job you have or where you are in your journey. His positivity and intellect will make it near impossible not to accomplish something epic in your life.

Available on amazon.com.

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Your success is our success.

Tiny homes are an obvious solution to housing and climate issues. Why isn’t it easier to find places for them?

TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE

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of McMansion Mania.

Shafer’s 130-square-foot home (yes, you read that right), built for $40,000, was a hard “no” to all that.

It was also cozy and inviting, and Shafer described himself as a claustrophile (someone who loves closed-in spaces).

Shafer won the Philosophy and Innovation Award

in our Natural Home of the Year contest because his adorable house embodied everything the magazine stood for, and he wasn’t afraid to say things. He said that we Americans like our homes like we like our food—big and cheap—and he was the first to figure out that putting a tiny house on

PHOTOS BY POVY KENDAL ATCHISON

Size Matters

I visited Jay Shafer’s meticulous American Gothic–style house in a sun-dappled Iowa City backyard shortly after we launched Natural Home magazine in 1999. The Dow had just surpassed 10,000, mortgage credit requirements were melting into oblivion, and America had a bad case

wheels makes it an RV and therefore not subject to city and county minimum-size standards and codes. He wasn’t shy about his intention to make tiny homes a revolutionary alternative in a housing market headed for disaster.

“I am certainly not proposing that everyone should live in a house as small as mine,” Shafer wrote in the letter accompanying his contest entry. “Such minimalism would be excessive for most people. What I am saying is that the scale of our homes should be as varied as the spatial needs of their inhabitants, and that it is those needs rather than government regulations and conspicuous consumption that should determine house size.”

Shafer’s message was radical, and largely ignored, in the frenzy

leading up to the 2008 crash. But his company, Tumbleweed Tiny Homes, built a following, and he built a name for himself as the godfather of a fledgling tiny house movement (one blogger called him “the George Washington of simple and sustainable living”).

He wrote The Small House Book and was on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Then he lost the company in a business dispute and his house in a divorce, and he was homeless for a while, living in a pigpen inside a shed. Determined never to live that way again, Shafer designed a 50-square-foot home that cost $5,000 in Sebastopol, California. He gives master class workshops at tiny house festivals around the world (including the Tiny House Festival Australia in Bendigo, Victoria, March 21–22).

operating and maintaining them costs a lot less.

When the International Code Commission made changes to its residential code to facilitate tiny house construction in 2018, it reported lifetime conditioning costs as low as 7 percent of conventional homes.

That reality is driving the spike in interest in tiny homes, which are getting a lot of attention as a solution to the affordable housing and homeless crises, with the added bonus of being A Status Symbol for kinder to the planet than Humble Braggers a traditional three-bedThough 82 percent of room/two-bath. Whether renters say they would like to buy a home some- they live in tiny homes for financial reasons day, according to Fannie or not, climate-aware Mae, homeownership is homebuyers get a status at its lowest point since symbol that flaunts their 1965. Ordinary people can’t afford the American honorable choice to reduce their footprint and Dream (median listing live with less—no easy price: $310,000). In the thing to do, even in this Bay Area, homebuyers post-Kondo age. paid twice their annual It doesn’t hurt that tiny income for a house in the homes—generally defined 1960s; today, they shell out nine times their year- as homes with less than ly salary. Only 13 percent 400 square feet—are now readily available in every of millennial renters in style, from your basic the United States will shed to sleek Dwell-worhave enough cash to put thy models. You can buy 20 percent down on a plans and build a tiny house in the next five house yourself or pick out years, according to an one online and have it Apartment List survey. shipped to you. You can Tiny homes are much cheaper, with prices rang- even order one on Aming from $10,000 to more azon. Used tiny homes, along with inspirational than $200,000 (averagstories and information, ing about $65,000), and “The evolution of tiny houses has paralleled the digital revolution, since this whole tiny thing started at the turn of the century,” Shafer told foxnews.com in 2014. “Once it became possible to have a remote little phone instead of a landline and a wall-mounted flat screen instead of a 2-foot-by-1foot chunk on the dresser, folks started seeing the potential for living in what basically amounts to a laptop with a roof.”

LIVE TINY AND FREE More than twice as many tiny homeowners—68 percent compared with 29 percent of all US homeowners—have no mortgage, and 78 percent own their own home.

SOURCE: thetinylife.com

LEFT: The dining table in Jay Shaferʼs 130-squarefoot home can be taken down and stored in a closet when not in use.

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Elevate. Pamper. Rejuvenate.

Flamingo Resort SONOMA COUNTY

THE LIFE

TRY TINY

Think you might love a tiny house? airbnb.com, vrbo.com, glampinghub. com, and getaway.com all have tiny home listings to sample the lifestyle.

SECTION

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN TINY HOMES

can be found at sites like tinyhousefor.us, tinyhousetalk.com, and tinyhouselistings.com.

Tiny Home Nation: 10K Strong More than half of Americans would consider a tiny home, according to a National Association of Home Builders survey. Potential buyers and just-dreamers flock to check out micro-houses, “schoolies” (converted school buses), and vans at tiny home festivals like the Florida Suncoast Tiny Home Festival in St. Petersburg (March 28–29) and the People’s Tiny House Festival in Golden, Colorado (June 6–7).

But the reality is that only about 10,000 people in North America—the lucky ones who have managed to find parking spots—actually live in tiny homes.

Like anything that disrupts the norm in a conformist capitalist culture, building a tiny home in a world of ticky-tacky boxes is not easy. The good news is that times are changing, as municipalities consider tiny home villages as a way to house the homeless and marginalized communities. Still, most states only allow tiny homes to be parked in rural areas (Massachusetts, California, Florida, and Oregon are somewhat more

lenient). Because most zoning laws in the United States don’t have a classification for tiny houses, most owners have to follow Shafer’s lead and register them as RVs, trailers, or mobile homes.

In most places, zoning ordinances won’t allow you to buy land, park your tiny home/RV, and live happily ever after.

You either have to rely on the kindness of family and friends with backyards or pay a monthly park fee to rent a space in one of the tiny home villages cropping up across the country. Park Delta Bay, an RV resort in Isleton, California, now has a row reserved for tiny homes. At Village Farm, an RV resort that’s turning into a tiny-home community in Austin, Texas, residents pay about $600 to $700 a month to park and use the services.

Slowly, city and state governments are responding to homebuyers’ demands for tiny home

opportunities beyond RV resorts. Portland, Oregon, (but of course) has relaxed its ordinances to allow for everything from tiny house communities to tiny house hotels. In Rockledge, Florida, citizens demanded zoning changes allowing for a pocket neighborhood with homes ranging from 150 to 700 square feet.

A tiny home community for low-income residents is under way on Detroit’s west side, and Vail, Arizona, built two dozen 300to 400-square-foot houses for schoolteachers.

Advocacy groups have been paving the way for tiny homes since Shafer and a few friends founded the Small Home Society in 2002, and they’re seeing a resurgence. In 2017, a group of University of California-Berkeley students launched the Tiny House in My Backyard (THIMBY) project to promote research and development and raise awareness of tiny house communities.

Operation Tiny Home is a national nonprofit that helps people “maintain a life of dignity” through high-quality tiny housing and empowerment training programs.

In Canada, activists calling themselves Tiny House Warriors are taking the revolution to the next level, placing “resistance-homes-on-wheels” along the pathway of the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline. “We are asserting our inherent, God-given right to our lands,” says Kanahus Manuel, a leader of Tiny House Warrior.

“We’re defending what’s ours, and tiny homes are how we’re doing it.”

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Interior and exterior of the Letʼs Get Stoked tiny house model from Rocky Mountain Tiny Homes.

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THE LIFE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mona Van Joseph has been an intuitive since 2002. She is an author, columnist, and host of Psychic View Radio. She created dicewisdom.com, which also has a smartphone app. mona.vegas

HOROSCOPE

MARCH HOROSCOPE What do the stars hold for you?

TEXT MONA VAN JOSEPH

you are—and totally step JULY 23–AUG. 22 back from the people Listen to the compliwho are taking advanPeople are about to ment that presents ittage of your good nature. prove to you how much self to you as a critithey love you. March is cism; energies will make MAY 21–JUNE 20 when your gratitude toyou better through jealward people who are ousy and roadblocks. It It’s time to apologize for supporting you will make could be that you realize the things you have done all the difference. it’s time for a change. to hurt people. If your ego won’t let you actual- AUG. 23–SEPT. 22 MAR. 21–APR. 19 ly call them to apologize, write them a “spiritual” There are angels surThere is something to letter telling them you rounding you. Pennies celebrate that presents were unfair to them and and feathers in your path itself to you. To thank the that you are sorry. are likely. This is a month universe for this opporof being aware of how tunity or inspiration, do- JUNE 21–JULY 22 things are lining up for nate to an organization a you. Accept all invitations. few times this month.

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

SEPT. 23–OCT. 22 APR. 20–MAY 20 The door to your future couldn’t open any wider. Coincidence will be your Do not try to impress If you want the job, you best friend this month. anyone who isn’t treating can have it. If you want It’s time to drop (old) you well. Please agree that relationship to go ideas that you can’t have with the vibration that to the next level, you what you want…you toyou are perfect the way can have it. tally can. Pay attention!

FEB. 19–MAR. 20

PISCES

LEO

GEMINI

VIRGO

ARIES

CANCER

TAURUS

LIBRA

OCT. 23–NOV. 21

DEC. 22–JAN. 19

Practice saying nice things about people. Do not take on the bad karma right now of backstabbing those who truly do not deserve it. Ask yourself: “Am I basing my opinion on someone else’s agenda?”

When you focus on one thing at a time, you are a genius. Avoid multitasking this month. Better to spend the time to make sure it’s done right the first time.

SCORPIO

PISCES, ENERGIES WILL USE JEALOUSY AND ROADBLOCKS TO MAKE YOU BETTER THIS MONTH. IT COULD BE THAT IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE.

CAPRICORN

JAN. 20–FEB. 18

AQUARIUS

Embrace the high energy of spinning lots of You are the owner of this plates right now. You are lifetime and acting as the chef who has many though you do have the pots simmering, and it’s power to change things time to admit that you will make all the differlike it this way. Thrive by ence this month. You will making the magic hapget a sign that you are on pen with all the resourcthe right track. es available to you.

NOV. 22–DEC. 21

SAGITTARIUS

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FEMME FARMERS Agriculture has long been considered a maledominated field. But as the light of legalization shines, women are stepping up to lead the cannabis industry.

TEXT MELISSA HUTSELL

RIVETING TIMES: Siobhan Danger Darwish is the co-owner of Humbolt CountyĘźs Blessed Coast Farms and co-founder of Grow Sisters, a collective of women in the cannabis industry.

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PHOTOS BY JACQUELYN WARNER

R

esearch shows that women have shouldered the agriculture load—quite literally—throughout history, according to a study conducted at the University of Cambridge.

In the study, which was published in Science Advances in 2017, scientists found that existing research on agriculture and tools in prehistoric societies had only focused on male skeletons. So, they set out to study the bones of Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age women. Their bones showed evidence that their lifestyles were largely defined by intense manual labor, suggesting that females farmed, while males hunted.

Prehistoric women, it seems, were instrumental in the development of agriculture, from tilling soil to grinding grain to harvesting crops.

Despite science and history, society views modern farming as male dominated. Today, the cannabis industry is changing the conversation.

As a true champion of counterculture, the cannabis industry is embracing its femininity—becoming one of the first billion-dollar markets to do so.

In celebration, we spoke to the badass lady farmers

nabis farm in Humboldt.

Along with her partner and a friend, Willett grows organic vegetables, hops, and fruit trees alongside cannabis. “It’s Cost of Compliance old school Humboldt, The daily farm chores Ebb and Flow where you get the family Chiah Rodriques was born only scratch the surface of the physicality and grit environment mixed in and raised on a “back-tothe-land hippy commune” required to run a canna- with the cannabis production,” says Willett. bis farm—especially in in Mendocino County’s Like Rodriques, Wilthe era of compliance.

Redwood Valley, where lett misses working with River Txai Farms is she still lives today. Rothe plants. “I’ve taken on transitioning into the driques is the cofounder more of a CEO position, state’s track and trace of Mendocino Generations, a collective of com- system. Though the team which means that I’m responsible for compreviously used a simipliant small farms—23 pliance,” she explains. lar system, there’s lots percent of which are “[With Proposition 64], to learn—and increased owned and operated by paperwork, compliance, women—and the market- overhead costs. “We branding, marketing, have to hire somebody place director at Payne’s who does all of our track and chasing down disDistribution in Willits. tribution for sales is a and trace, and accountIn addition to her fulling data entry,” explains full-time job.” Still, it’s time job, Rodriques and her husband own and op- Rodriques. “This is new. one she wouldn’t trade for anything: “No white erate River Txai Farm, and Farms used to nevpicket fence for me!”

Arcanna Flowers, a collec- er, ever write anything says Willett. tive of organic, sun-grown down. We were trained to hide our notebooks.” cannabis farmers. Their Shifting Paradigms Nowadays, cultivators farm is home to their fammust keep track of every- For decades, cultivation ily, a 10,000-square-foot thing, including how much (known colloquially as cultivation facility, and a “growing”) was thought nutrients and water are 12,000-square-foot nursused. “There are so many of as a male role, while ery, which provides two women were relegated to harvests per year. Typical details a farmer has [to trimming and leafing. As mind just] to keep their days on the farm consist the founder of Emerald head above water,” she of watering, monitoring, Employment, a staffing and pest control, says Ro- says. “We spend so much agency that connects time with paperwork and driques. They use a rainwater catchment system, computers that it’s hard to workers with jobs at compliant cannabis facilities, get out in the garden.” so pumping and cleaning Willett is noticing a paraTime management the farm’s pond is a condigm shift. is also a big challenge stant chore.

“We’re finding that for Brooklynn Willett, In addition to cannamore females are getting co-owner of Lagniappe bis, Rodriques and her into basic cultivation Family Farms (prohusband grow companfrom start-to-finish,” she nounced Lan-yap), a ion plants throughout explains. “It’s opening their property. “There’s a 6,800-square-foot canof the Emerald Triangle about life on the farm, and the challenges and opportunities of being a woman in the cannabis industry.

constant ebb and flow of what needs to be planted and what needs to be harvested,” she says.

“Women have a strong intuition for things that grow.

There’s nothing more beautiful than watching women working with this female plant that heals.”

—Brooklynn Willett (above), co-owner of Lagniappe Farms

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up a lot more job opportunities to the people who were locked into the old way of doing things.”

Misogyny is a reality on the hill, and off of it. It’s not uncommon to hear of women being strongarmed out of sales or partnerships, or cat-called by neighbors or farmhands.

Siobhan Danger Darwish is the co-owner of Blessed Coast Farms, the first licensed farm in Humboldt County. She explains that the issues affecting women in cannabis are the same nuances in every other industry.

“The difference is cannabis has the opportunity to raise the standards across the board,” says Darwish, who co-founded Grow Sisters with her sister, Sloan Reed, a collective of women in the cannabis industry. “With the attention and financial momentum emerging in our industry, now is the time to draw attention to these inequalities,” she explains.

Darwish also created the Sister, Grow Your Own and Know Your Farmer educational video series to empower plant and people—and spotlight inequities in the industry.

legality offers protection from some of the dangers and isolation of the black market. “It opens things up more, not only for women, but to everyone,” says Byers.

Byers speaks from personal experience. Prior to Sisu, she co-founded a 215 compliant brand.

After 18 months building the business, she found herself forced out—and on the receiving end of

“There’s a constant ebb and flow of what needs to be planted and what needs to be harvested.”

—Chiah Rodriques, co-founder of Mendocino Generations

threats. Rather than risk her freedom, Byers chose to wash her hands of the situation but suffered harassment and online trolling for two years.

“It was really pursuing real licensure and legitimacy at a state level after Prop 64 that enabled me to have a legal foot to stand on,” Byers explains.

Byers moved to Humboldt from Ohio in 2013 to study holistic medicine

CULTIVATED: Chiah Rodriques was raised by Mendocino back to the landers. Today, she runs a collective of farmers.

Building Safer Spaces Shannon Byers, co-founder of Sisu Extracts, says the light of M ARCH 2020

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• Permitting & Licensing • Regulatory Compliance • Business Law • • Intellectual Property • Local & State Advocacy • • Combined 20+ years of experience in cannabis law • • Director, International Cannabis Bar Association •

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at the renowned Dandelion Herbal Center.

There, she established strong relationships with women herbalists who were also cannabis cultivators. “Being able to go to facilities that were run or managed by these women made it safe for me to [visit alone],” Byers explains. “I was able to obfuscate a lot of dangers that I’ve heard other women encounter by being completely off the grid.”

Byers was inspired by how other female farmers operated. “They propagated a culture of respect for the plant, respect for the earth, and respect for their employees,” she says.

Byers strives to do the same at Sisu, bringing women into the fold and “treating our community of employees as close to family as possible by giving them a real stake in the game,” via employee ownership plans. Sisu’s supply chain is run entirely by women who help coordinate pick-up and production schedules, run machines, and distribute manufactured goods.

“I respect the hell out of everyone fighting the good fight of legalization,” says Byers. “But I really feel impassioned when I get to collaborate alongside other women in the industry.”

WONDER WOMEN: Farmers like Darwish follow in the footsteps of hard-working prehistoric women.

“I respect the hell out of everyone fighting the good fight. But I really feel impassioned when I get to collaborate alongside other women.”

—Shannon Byers, co-founder of Sisu Extracts

A Strong Intuition for Things That Grow “Cannabis is a female plant,” says Willett.

“Women have a strong intuition for things that grow. They have a gentle hand and a nurturing spirit. There’s nothing more beautiful than watching women working with this female plant that heals.”

Rodriques believes women bring unparalleled creativity, resilience, and beauty to the cannabis industry, whether it’s in the garden or with their brands.

Plus, she adds, “Women get shit done!”

Growing up in the industry, Rodriques and Darwish recognize the intrinsic role of women in its past, present, and future. “Women were

the cultivators, the product makers, the kitchen witches, and the ones to sell the products. That was the cannabis movement,” says Darwish.

Now more than ever, women have the opportunity to lead the industry, she adds. “Where a man’s focus might be to get the job done, a woman is more likely to get to the heart of the job,” says Darwish. “We’re more likely to put the delicate touches into the products by giving love and time to the plant or the job.”

Like the women who came before, the females of cannabis are pioneers, nurturing human wellness—and their own inherent skill sets—along the way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melissa Hutsell is an award-winning freelance writer and editor based in the Bay Area. She specializes in business and cannabis with a focus on global market trends, statewide policy, equity, industry innovators, and leadership.

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Paper-engineering obsessives create the first pop-up book to explore the world of cannabis.

In a New TEXT LELAND RUCKER

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Dimensional Cannabis: The Pop-Up Book of Marijuana Poposition Press, $50 marijuanapopup.com

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ollaboration is a wonderful thing. When my friend Rosston Meyer told me a few years ago that he was planning a pop-up cannabis book, I thought it sounded like a great idea. I knew Meyer ran an independent publishing house designing popup books in collaboration with artists. Meyer is a designer with a passion for art and pop culture, so I imagined his books were a modern upgrade of the old-school pop-up books I played with as a child—3-D elements and foldouts, tabs to pull and wheels to spin— but with a modern aesthetic that appeals to adults. “A pop-up on pot would be cool to flip through and play with,” I remember thinking. “I hope he does it.”

A few years later, Meyer came around to show me a physical mock-up of his pot-themed popup, which he’d titled Dimensional Cannabis. What he showed me was a modern art form I wasn’t aware existed. Yes, the book featured 3-D elements and foldouts, with tabs to pull and wheels to spin, but what I had pictured was similar only in concept. These were intricate and elaborate kinetic paper sculptures that painted a picture and brought it to life. I was blown away. So, when he asked if I’d be interested in writing the words to go on the pages before me, I signed on immediately.

Altogether, Dimensional Cannabis took more than three years to complete, with a total of nine people contributing to the final product published by Poposition Press, Meyer’s independent publishing house. A small press, Poposition designs, publishes,

and distributes limited-edition pop-up books that feature artists or subjects that Meyer finds of deep personal interest. He got started in the genre in 2013, when he started working on a collaboration with Jim Mahfood, a comic book creator known as Food One. The resulting Pop-Up Funk features Mahfood’s diverse designs transformed into interactive three-dimensional pop-ups. The limited-edition run of 100 copies were all constructed by hand.

Since then, Poposition has worked with a number of contemporary artists to publish titles like Triad by cute-culture artist Junko Mizuno and Necronomicon by macabre master Skinner.

Meyer has been fascinated by pop-up books since he was a kid, and in 2013, he began concentrating on paper engineering and book production. “After making a couple books focused on just artists, I thought that creating a popup book about cannabis would be a good idea,” he says. “There’s nothing else like it in the market, and there’s an audience for adultthemed pop-up books.”

For Dimensional Cannabis, Meyer collaborated with Mike Giant, a renowned American illustrator, graffiti writer, tattooer, and artist. Giant’s medium of choice is a Sharpie, and Giant’s detailed line work is instantly recognizable.

An avid proponent of cannabis, Giant illustrated the entire Dimensional Cannabis book.

Giant and Meyer met at a weekly open studio Giant hosted in Boulder. “When the idea of doing a pop-up book about cannabis came up, he asked if I would illustrate it,” Giant says. “I’ve been an

advocate for cannabis use for decades, so it didn’t take long for me to agree to work on the project.”

Meyer began by sending Giant reference materials to visualize. “I’d get it drawn out, hand it off, and get some more stuff to illustrate,” Giant says. “He’d send me previews of the finished pages as we went.

It was really cool to see my line drawings colored and cut to shape.

That process went on for months and months until everything for the book was accounted for.”

The process of making pop-up books is called “paper engineering.” I love obsessives, and the engineers who put this book together, make no mistake, are the ones who spend endless hours figuring out the tiniest details of the folds and materials necessary so that water pipe emerges every time you open the paraphernalia page.

“David Carter and I started talking about the idea a couple years prior to actually starting on the book,” Meyer says. “The initial concepts for each spread were figured out, and a different paper-engineer peer was asked to design each spread so that the book had variation throughout.”

Dimensional Cannabis is divided into six pages, or spreads, covering the cannabis plant’s biology, medical properties, cultivation, history, and influence on popular culture. The paraphernalia page features many items we associate with cannabis consumption over the years in America, from rolling papers and pipes to vaporizers, dabs, and concentrates—and that foot-long bong that miraculously appears as you turn the page.

One spread opens to the full plant, with information on its M ARCH 2020

LEFT: Dimensional Cannabis includes six pop-up pages, including this colorful, meditating figure that dominates the medical spread. It was designed by Isabel Uria.

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Photographer @jade.turgel.photography

|

Product collaboration with @highrizeca

Left: The paraphernalia spread shows the many ways people consume cannabis, and includes many items, including a clear, acetate bong, rolling papers, and a vaporizer. It was produced by Ray Marshall, who, Meyer says, “basically knocked it out of the park on his first version.”

Below: Well-known illustrator Mike Giant provided the cover, with Kevin Steele providing the coloring for the bookʼs six pop-up spreads

unique and fascinating properties. Another opens to a colorful, meditating figure with text about the healing properties of cannabis. One page is dedicated to its cultivation possibilities, basic genetics, and the differences between indoor and outdoor growing.

The history spread takes us back to the beginnings of the curious and long-standing connection between humans and cannabis. Engineer Simon Arizpe had worked with Meyer before and jumped at the chance to work on that one. “I wanted it to be Eurasian-centric as the viewer opens the page, showing the early uses

of cannabis in ancient Vietnam and China,” Arizpe says. “As the viewer engages with the pop-up, cannabis’s use in the new world spreads across the page,” he adds.

“We decided [to focus] on moments in time that were either politically relevant, like weed legalization, or culturally significant, like Reefer Madness.”

Arizpe feels like the entire project is an example of what can be done working with talented people outside the traditional publishing engine. “Rosston came up with an idea that has a big following and made it happen,” he says.

“It is pretty exciting when people can do that out of nothing.”

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For Meyer, who says he likes a good sativa when he’s working, the project was a labor of love that spans all his areas of interest. “Not only was this a great experience putting together such a unique book, but having different paper

engineers work on each spread made this a real collaboration,” he says. “There have only been a couple pop-up books produced with a roster of engineers. Dimensional Cannabis is for cannabis lovers and pop-up book collectors alike.”

POP-UPGRADE If the book alone isnʼt enough to decorate your coffee table, Poposition Press offers two more ordering tiers, complete with extra merch to maximize your enjoyment.

The Collectorʼs Edition ($240) includes an enhanced pop-up book with gold-foil case wrap, a foil-stamped slipcase, The Good Stuff enamel pin, and a Hemp art print on hemp paper.

The Connoisseur Edition ($420) comes with a wooden laser-etched slipcover, two sets of enamel pins, a Dope art print, and a Gramps art print, both on hemp paper.

Meyer originally conceived a scene showing people looking at the book, which morphed into a celebration of the universality of the plant in many cultures and people throughout history.

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Confessions of a Wabi-Fraudie, or Pay No Attention to Whatʼs Under the Stairs.

TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE

I had so much shit.

I got rid of most of it.

Wabi-sabi me?

W

hen I started writing about wabi-sabi, right around 9/11, the Japanese philosophy of finding beauty in imperfection had a serious underground following. But most people still thought wabi-sabi was that spicy green stuff you eat with sushi. Marie Kondo was, like, 10.

Wabi-sabi was a great umbrella for a lot of conversations I was enmeshed in as the editor of a green lifestyle magazine: simplicity, the Slow movement (starting with Slow Food and evolving into Slow Everything), reduction, recycling, reuse. It was still pretty early for a lot of those conversations in 2001, though, and it was early for wabi-sabi in America too.

In those first few months after the planes hit the towers, my agent and I and a handful of people in publishing were pretty certain Americans would retreat and nest, plant Victory gardens, and live more thriftily, as they always had during times of war. I got a fat advance to write The Wabi-Sabi House just as Americans—at the directive of President George W. Bush, who told them it was the patriotic thing to do—embraced easy credit and went shopping. My book wasn’t the runaway bestseller we thought it would be.

Wabi-sabi—if you’re being real about it—is a tough sell for Americans.

An ancient philosophy with roots in Zen, it’s about revering austerity,

nature, and the everyday and accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. A reaction to the prevailing aesthetic of lavishness, ornamentation, and rich materials in 15th-century Japan, wabi-sabi is the art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in earthiness, and revering authenticity above all.

“It’s everything our sleek, mass-produced, technology-saturated culture isn’t,” I wrote in The Wabi-Sabi House.

“It’s flea markets, not warehouse stores (today I would say Amazon); aged wood, not Pergo (today I would say vinyl planks); rice paper, not glass. Wabi-sabi celebrates cracks and crevices and rot, reminding us

that we are all transient beings—that our bodies, as well as the material world around us, are in the process of returning to the dust from which we came.”

Well, this didn’t land all that well in the forever-rich, forever-young early aughts, which launched the Kardashians and eventually crashed into the Great Recession.

A simple, unpretentious oasis in a weary world.

In 2011, while Americans were still smarting from the financial meltdown four years earlier, I wrote a follow-up book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House, for a small, progressive Canadian publisher. I didn’t get a fat advance. But it seemed like the time might finally M ARCH 2020

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be right for wabi-sabi, and I wanted to see it have its day. If everyone embraced it, we would have a completely different world.

Wabi-sabi was born from the Japanese Tea Ceremony, a simple Zen ritual for making and sharing a cup of tea that warlords in 15th-century Japan turned into a means of showing off their immense wealth through gaudy Tea houses full of gilded imported goods. The wabi way of Tea (wabichado) grew out of a backlash to that, championed by a master so powerful his style is practiced to this day. Sen no Rikyu’s quiet, simple Tea ceremony, with tea served in locally fired bowls and flowers in fishermen’s baskets, was what everyone wanted. Wood, bamboo, and hospitality were in; porcelain, lacquer, and pretension were out.

Japan had just gone through several centuries of war and extravagant consumerism, and Rikyu’s Tea ceremony provided the simple, unpretentious oasis that society craved. For wealthy merchants and shoguns, it felt like the ultimate luxury, the epitome of high art. For peasants and commoners, it made the art of Tea accessible.

Preparing and serving the bitter green tea

Being a wabibito means living modestly, satisfied with things as they are, owning only what’s necessary for its beauty or utility.

became a means for everyday samurai, who had few material comforts, to escape for a moment and share a ritual. Ichigo, ichie, or “once in a lifetime,” is perhaps the most important tenet when learning the art of Tea. We never know what might happen tomorrow, or even later today, but right now we can stop for a cup of tea.

Wabi, the name for Rikyu’s style of Tea, was often used by poets to evoke melancholy. One of my favorite descriptions of it is “the feeling you have when you’re waiting for your lover.”

It evokes a little monk in his torn robe, enjoying a night by the fire, content in poverty. No one’s quite sure how or when the word sabi got hooked up with wabi, but conjoined it takes on an entourage effect. Meaning “the bloom of time,” sabi connotes tarnish and rust; the enchantment of old things; appreciation for dignified, graceful aging. Wabi-sabi, then, is a philosophy that reveres age, imperfection, and natural order.

We don’t practice Tea in this culture, though, and it can be hard to see how it translates for 21st-century Westerners who drink lots of coffee.

Like all good philosophies, wabi-sabi gives us

a launching point toward thinking about what matters. To practice it, or to become what is called a wabibito, means living modestly, satisfied with things as they are, owning only what’s necessary for its utility or beauty (ideally, both).

But what’s under those stairs?

Both of my books have entire chapters on the importance of uncluttering and how to do it. I’m something of an expert.

Unfortunately, they both have chapters on decorating with salvage and flea market finds and how to find them, so I’m something of an expert on that as well. These areas of expertise don’t play nice together, as you can imagine.

I wrote Simply Imperfect post-divorce, after I’d moved into a townhouse and left most everything behind. Looking back, I’m hilarious. “Living in a small space keeps me from acquiring things,” I wrote.

“Except for storage, my little house has just enough of everything.”

I was so smug and such a wabi-fraudie, hiding everything under the stairs in the basement.

My townhome had a terrible little crawl space, far too deep and narrow, that encouraged layers upon layers of crap to

5 COMMONSENSE STEPS TO DECLUTTERING YOUR HOME 1. Donʼt try to do your entire house at once. Move to larger areas once youʼve had smaller success.

2. Spend a few minutes per day cleaning so it doesnʼt get overwhelming.

3. If in doubt, throw it out (or give it to a charitable organization like Goodwill).

4. Get rid of two items every time you buy a new one.

5. If you canʼt get rid of it, hide it well.

Storage should make up 10 percent of your homeʼs square footage.

Based on an excerpt from Simply Imperfect

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build up. When the space became impenetrable, I would stand in the doorway and throw stuff in. The woman I bought the house from warned me about it during the closing. She’d thought she could show the house furnished until she looked in there. When it came time for me to sell the place 10 years later, I felt her pain.

“Where the hell has all this stuff been?” everybody asked as I unearthed bins and boxes of my memorabilia, my kids’ art projects, photo albums, toys, sports equipment, appliances, file cabinets, record albums, CDs, books, dishes, phones (four of them!),

textiles, dog beds, jars, tools, old paint, door, light fixtures, screws, nails (so many screws and nails), and assorted other crap I had tucked in there and forgotten about over a decade.

“In hell,” I would say.

Clutter smudges clarity.

I spent a solid three months clearing out that townhouse, mostly under the stairs. I dumped a camper truck and several carloads of stuff at Goodwill and left weekly loads for the Vietnam Veterans Association. I had a garage sale and got depressed watching no one want my coffee table books and pink midcentury nesting ashtrays,

even for a dollar. I got tired of being rejected by my son when I texted, “Sure you don’t want those red dishes from your childhood?”

Some people did want my junk. It felt good to give away an Eastlake chair I tripped over in my bedroom for nine years to a furniture refinisher who understood its value and could give it the love and attention it deserved. I sold my daughter’s bed to a woman who had gotten rid of everything to hit the road in her van 10 years earlier and was starting over again.

I gave her all the bedding too. When it was all over, I felt like I’d had an ayahuasca-strength purging.

“Clutter smudges clarity, both physically and metaphorically,” I wrote in Simply Imperfect.

“Things you’re holding onto because they were expensive, because they were from your mother-inlaw, or because you might need them someday are all getting in your way. In a wabi-sabi home, space and light are the most desirable ornaments.”

I bought an Airstream with brilliant space and light, limited but efficient storage, no room for furniture, and no basement.

After all these years and all these words, I might finally be a wabibito.

If not, I can always find a bed on Craigslist.

Live Wabi-Sabi without buying anything.

Everyone from NBC News to Rachael Ray is talking about wabi-sabi. It doesnʼt seem like most media get the philosophy at its core, though, since they use it as a basis for featuring new products that consumers should buy to get the wabi-sabi “look.” Here are a few tips on getting to wabi-sabi without buying a bunch of shit.

• Pay attention to your daily bread. Is the food youʼre eating in season, and is it available locally? The meals you choose and prepare connect you with the earthʼs cycles and where you live, and youʼll live a healthier life. Buy food from your local farmersʼ markets and ask your grocer where different items came from.

• Bring a small gift when invited to someoneʼs house or even to a meeting—nothing extravagant, just a small gesture (homemade jam, apples from your tree, or a luxurious bar of soap) that lets them know theyʼre appreciated.

• Next time you sweep the floor, consider it a meditation. Opt for the broom when possible.

• Offer every visitor a cup of tea. Serve it with something sweet. If no one comes by, enjoy a cup of tea by yourself in the late afternoon.

• Keep one vase filled with seasonal flowers, ideally picked within a mile of your home.

• Take a walk every day.

• Learn to knit or crochet.

Partially excerpted from Simply Imperfect

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THE SCENE SECTION

Headline Goes Here Lorem ipsum quam que dolor res.

TEXT AUTHOR A. PERSON

PHOTO CREDIT

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GO THERE

Sol Spirit Farm solspiritfarm.com

Glamping Out A cannabis retreat offers the opportunity to unwind and connect in the wilds of Trinity County.

PHOTOS BY GREEN GODDESS MEDIA

TEXT ISABELLA VANDERHEIDEN

Sunlight fell through towering trees and onto South Fork Road as I made my way to Sol Spirit Farm, east of Willow Creek in Trinity County. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from a weekend of “glamping,” but I had done a little research: a millennial mashup of “glamorous” and “camping,” glamping appeared to be lavish tents illuminated by white lights and adorned with hip furniture, perched amid breathtaking views. However, none of the glamping resorts advertised online were situated on a working cannabis farm deep in the Emerald Triangle.

As I pulled into Sol Spirit, farm owner Judi Nelson bounded down the dirt road to meet me on her golf cart with her cat, Nazmira, in tow. After helping my friend and me with our bags, Nelson showed us to one of three bell tents situated near a field of clover, backed up

against the forest’s edge.

Inside the tent, two twin beds held a gift basket filled with three Sol Spirit Farms pre-rolled joints, a T-shirt, and a water bottle. After showing us the bathroom facility—three private composting toilets and showers—Nelson left us to get settled and get ready for a tour.

The Sol Spirit property has been a farm since the 1940s, but when Nelson and her husband, Walter Wood, purchased the farm

in 2002, they redesigned the property with permaculture principles in mind.

“Everything we take out of the land, we try to give back or make better,” Wood said. “Many people are under the impression that indoor growing produces a better product, but I want people to know we can create the same quality by going with the earth instead of going against it.”

After the garden tour, the guests, family, and farm employees all

gathered together under a large tent for a homegrown meal of veggies and locally raised pork. I felt like a family friend instead of a guest staying on someone’s property. After dinner, we socialized at the dab bar with the other guests, including Humboldt Cannabis Tours owner Matt Kurth who was also checking out Sol Spirit for the first time.

“The setting is spectacular,” Kurth said. “Set in a deep canyon along

“I love it here so much. This area is so magical and beautiful, I want to share it because it makes me happy.”

—Judi Nelson, co-owner

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a wild river, but with easy access from a paved road. … Sol Spirit is a great example of how we grow cannabis in the Emerald Triangle.”

Eventually, we made our way back to our tent and crawled into bed, which beat the heck out of sleeping on the cold, hard ground, especially when accented by the soft burbling of the river.

After a bountiful farm breakfast the next morning, the group set off for a day of rafting along the South Fork Trinity River. While the itinerary promised “a float down the river,” in reality, there were a few precarious rapids, but no one fell out of the boat. We did get stuck several times, and it quickly became apparent who had limited rafting experience (including

me!). Despite the rough waters, it was a beautiful day on the Trinity and an excellent way to get to know new people.

Later that evening, I sat around the fire with Nelson and Wood as we looked at the stars and talked about the origins of their farm. Nelson told me how they were both Deadheads in their youth, which is how they landed in the Emerald Triangle. After enjoying the experience of growing cannabis for personal use, they decided to buy property in Trinity County and live the farming lifestyle full time.

“We jumped at the chance to go compliant because we wanted to have retreats and visitors at our property,” explained Nelson. “I love it here so much. This area is so magical and beautiful; I want to

share it because it makes me happy. When you add cannabis into the mix, it really adds something to the experience and helps people to relax.” Eventually, the couple hopes to build another house and open a bed and breakfast on their property.

The following morning, I sat in a swinging chair hanging from a tree near our tent. I looked across the field of clover framed by the Trinity Alps and listened to the river murmur and the chickens cluck in their coop. I felt at peace. I didn’t want to return home to pending deadlines, rent checks, traffic lights, and the other mundane stresses of reality. I embarked on this glamping adventure expecting a fancy tent, but left feeling like I’d found a new family for the weekend.

“Everything we take out of the land, we try to give back or make better.”

—Walter Wood, co-owner

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THE SCENE CA L E N DA R

On the Calendar

March in the North Bay is full of happenings celebrating female power and creativity.

TEXT HELEN OLSSON

March will hit the North Bay with ferocious bluster in 2020 as we celebrate the March 8 International Women’s Day all month long with female-powered plays, music, happenings, and history. It’s the ideal time to get out and enjoy the budding spring.

Book your calendar as soon as possible since many of these events require advance tickets and will be wildly popular.

Marin Arts and Crafts Show Feb. 28–Mar. 1, 10 a.m.

Marin Civic Center, San Rafael artsandcraftsshow.com/ marin.php

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Heroines, Harpies, Featuring a coland Harlots: A lection of one-act Woman Speaks plays—Women at Feb. 28–Mar. 8 6th Street Playhouse, Santa Rosa 6thstreetplayhouse.com

Large, Women at Home, and Devising Women—this event is the ideal way to

kick off the celebrations. It will include talk-backs and meetand-greets with the playwrights, directors, and the production team.

European music, will team up with some of the North Bay’s top female performers for a concert in honor of International Women’s Day.

Ballet Hispánico

Women inPower, International Women’s Day Celebrations

Mar. 2, 9:30 a.m.

Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa lutherburbankcenter.org

International Women’s Day Concert with Dirty Cello Mar. 7, 8 p.m.

HopMonk, Sebastopol hopmonk.com

World traveling blues and bluegrass band Dirty Cello, who play a mashup of blues, bluegrass, rock and Eastern

Mar. 7, 12:30 p.m. internationalwomensday.com

Join Women inPower for a day of powerful voices to discuss topics of gender equality, parity, community involvement, and taking action. Award-winning journalist and author of How to Start a Revolution, Lauren Duca will serve as keynote speaker.

THE SCENE CA L E N DA R

Schooner Freda B, International Women’s Day 2020, Sail on San Francisco Bay Mar. 8, 1:15–4 p.m.

Slip 465, 100 Bay St., Sausalito schoonerfredab.com/ ticketed-sails/

Sit back, relax, and learn a bit about San Francisco Bay’s famed great women, including Sally Stanford, Janis Joplin, Lotta Crabtree, Julia Morgan, and Alma de Bretteville.

Wine Country Women of Sonoma County Mar. 14, 5–6:30 p.m.

The CIA at Copia, Napa bit.ly/397Z6tu

be featured during the event.

Yountville Live Mar. 21 tasteofyountville.com

alongside emerging and Grammy Award-winning musicians.

Luvplanet. Plus, there will be dinner from Preferred Sonoma Caterers with vegan and gluten-free options, and a silent raffle.

Mar. 22, 7 a.m.

Oxbow Commons Park, Napa napawomenshalf.events

California Artisan Cheese Festival

32nd Annual This multiday Sonoma Home celebration of food, and Garden Show wine, and music Join the Wine Napa Valley Mar. 20–22 Women’s Half Country Women of features some of Marathon and 5K Sonoma County for Sonoma County Fairgrounds, the world’s best a sip and signing.

Wine and bites from the book will

Grace Pavilion, Hall of Flowers, and Shade Park, Santa Rosa sonomacountyhomeshow.com

chefs and Napa Valley’s most revered wineries

Pints for Paws Mar. 23, 5:30–8:30 p.m.

Lagunitas Brewing Company, Petaluma scwildliferescue.org

Join Lagunitas to help save the lives of sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife throughout Sonoma County. The event will feature music from local band Nicole Sutton & Mark McGee of

Mar. 27–29 Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Grace Pavilion, Santa Rosa artisancheesefestival.com

64th Annual Golden Gate Arabian and Half-Arabian Horse Show Mar. 28–29 Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Lyttle Cow Palace, Santa Rosa goldengateaha.com

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Fighting for freedom is Join the revolution at norml.org

P R O M O T I O N A L F E AT U R E A I TA A N D A S S O C I AT E S I N S U R A N C E M A R K E T I N G

Aita and Associates Chart a trusted path through government regulations

I

n the 35-plus years that Aita and Associates Insurance Marketing has been in existence, it has helped numerous clients with integrated employee benefit programs with stellar personal customer service. Its clientele has ranged from mom and pop companies to large multilocation companies with hundreds of employees.

Under the guidance of founder Nancy Aita, the company has earned numerous awards and certifications that have only strengthened its standing in the profession. One of the keys to its success is the strong team Aita has brought in, each an expert in their field and focused on helping

their clients take benefit programs to the next level.

The company’s senior account manager, with more than 18 years of service and administrative experience, sees that each client is assisted by a dedicated account manager assigned specifically to that client.

In this manner, a strong relationship develops based on expertise, reliance, and trust. All service staff members are duly licensed Life and Health agents ensuring the highest level of support.

Along with personalized hands-on service is the company’s emphasis on compliance with COBRA, ERISA, ACA, DOL, and IRS regulations. The

personalized “Administration Handbook” created by its in-house compliance officer, previously a human resources trainer for J.D. Powers, is available to every client. This handbook provides a collection of all documentation required of every business as set forth by the Federal Government, all gathered in a threering binder for ease of access and reference. This handbook is unique to the profession and provides an extra level of protection against fines and penalties for noncompliance.

Because of the expertise and capability of its staff, Aita and Associates can meet all of your company’s employee benefit needs. It’s not the numbers of staff of an agency, says the company, but rather the experience, capability, and expertise that distinguishes the Aita staff. That’s what makes for a successful partnership with its clients.

Call Aita and Associates for a free consultation and find out for yourself what their clients already know.

Aita and Associates Insurance Marketing Integrated Employee Benefit Programs aitaandassociates.com M ARCH 2020

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P R O M O T I O N A L F E AT U R E THE GALLEY

Helping Cannabis Companies Grow Ahoy Matey! The pros at The Galley help brands stay afloat in the cannabis market.

T

he Galley is the brainchild of industry veteran Annie Holman and her partner, Gina Pippin, who serves as the company’s CEO. The Galley is an 8,300-square-foot state-of-the-art facility that offers a cannabis campus designed to streamline all forms of contract manufacturing, thus allowing companies to bring their creations to market simply and easily.

“The Galley’s goal is to become the premier contract manufacturer in California, the largest single market in North America and, upon success, to license products nationally and globally,” Holman says.

Built to FDA and California Department of Public Health (CDPH) standards, The Galley offers five different production areas that can fulfill a company’s every need. Edibles, topi-

ty they deserve,” she says.

In an effort to ensure continued healthy growth of the industry, The Galley has constructed a large event center on-site that will host numerous educational events. In an effort to partner with the community, The Galley will also rent out the space to the public for private events.

So, to solve your cannabis production issues, create a new product, and to navigate the market, reach out to The Galley. You just may find the treasure you seek.

“The Galley aims to help the legacy cannabis brands who paved our way and took much risk in building this industry.

This completes the circle.”

cals, tinctures, vapes, pre-rolls, flower, candy, chocolates, and one-shot beverages can all be produced on-site in a highly automated environment that ensures consistency and quality. The company will also assist with testing, to ensure everything passes muster, and with distribution, to ensure that product gets to the market quickly.

One of the best parts of The Galley facility is that it caters to everyone, not just the larger producers that seem to be coming in ever-increasing numbers to the California market these days. “The Galley aims to help the —Annie Holman, The legacy cannabis brands who paved our Galley co-founder way and took much risk in building this industry,” Holman says. “This completes the circle.” Whether it’s new The Galley IP, out-of-state brands, or old guard Cannabis Co-Manufacturing and Distribution brands, all businesses are welcomed thegalleysr.com and treated with the respect and digni@TheGalleySonomaCounty M ARCH 2020

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THE END

Enduring Love Fire cannot take away passion.

This image of the LOVE sign at Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa was taken exactly one year before the destructive Tubbs Fire destroyed the place in 2017.

Ironically, the metal sign was un50 N O RT H BAY

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touched. The position from where this photo was taken is now the site of the entirely rebuilt Paradise Ridge Winery, complete with an outdoor patio and deck, which reopened last fall. The photo is the

final image in my coffee-table book Vineyard Sonoma County, placing an exclamation point on a seasonal tour of Sonoma County wine country. To purchase a copy of the book, head to georgerose.com.

PHOTO BY GEORGE ROSE

TEXT GEORGE ROSE

SONOMA COUNT Y’S DESTINATION DISPENSARY 1 8 2 5 E M P I R E I N D U S T R I A L C O U R T, S A N T A R O S A , C A fl o r a t e r r a c a . c o m | @ fl o r a t e r r a c a l i ce n se # C12- 0000185 - L IC