16 minute read
Richard Segovia
So, after years spent hiding in the dark, fearing they could come to arrest me and throw me in a cell at any given moment, at the end of my academic path, I decided it was time to restart my life. After all those years, my only regret is that I should have done this earlier!
When I first entered the cannabis community in Barcelona, I was shocked by the low quality, despite a relatively more favorable and friendly environment.
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Despite the initial shock, I was still highly motivated and confident of the quality I was going to achieve with my products. At the same time, I was also well aware that my fully organic approach was rather an unorthodox one and would not have found much support in the beginning. Yet, I was determined and not ready to give up. I wanted to make a difference, and I did.
As the founder of the Growers With Attitude Collective, I think my greatest luck is working with a great, rocksolid team that has become a family after so many years and adventures. I like to believe we could not have gone so far without the support of each of them.
In spite of all the difficulties and obstacles, we have grown stronger together and ended complementing each other. In more practical terms, this means 60 awards won in the last three years alone, making us one of the most titled collectives and more than just a reference in the European scene. In fact, nurturing and working with soil, rather than just plants, is the core of our philosophy. We believe we have great resources available to us already, and we aim to regenerate those by simply observing the natural habitat in which we live. As you can imagine, our cultivation methods and system are fairly simple yet flexible enough to adapt easily to any situation.
In a country where growing cannabis is still a crime, punished with jail time, we must find a compromise between what’s ideal and what’s safe, without necessarily harming the place around us.
In a situation where safety is not an issue, we never get rid of “old soil,” but we’d rather regenerate it and make sure it’s kept “alive.” Where safety is at stake, we simply repurpose our soil for other non-cannabis cultivars, such as a small home garden. This is only possible if natural soil conditioners, bacteria, and compost are exclusively used in the process. By doing so, our soil is not burdened with complex and heavy additives, which are difficult to “wash away,” and we can constantly monitor its quality and performance.
When growing cannabis indoors, our plants usually follow a strict feeding regime, based mostly on water, with the addition of few natural conditioners, such as organic compost tea, if specific genetics requires it. When cultivating outdoors, and if safety allows, we must tailor our modus operandi to the environment in which we operate. The most remarkable project we have worked on is a small greenhouse in the southern part of Catalunya, Spain. When we first arrived, this greenhouse was in a complete state of abandonment, with an unfertile and impoverished soil. After a few years of hard work, it has now become a heaven of colors, scents, and of course, resins of all kinds. I must admit, it was not an easy job, but that’s what makes it even more rewarding. Regenerating the soil and bringing it back to life in the greenhouse was an intensive, laborious, and painstaking job, and just like any other restoration/renovation task, it started with a good, old clean-up! The first step was to remove all the stones, weed out (not just a pun here) all the wild grass that was infesting the area, and ultimately turning it over.
I must take a moment here and provide a little explanation. In regenerative culture, a key concept is that of no-till farming, where crops are grown without disturbing the soil. The aim is to avoid unnecessary erosion, damage the mycelium in the substrate and keep the right balance within the soil web. However, in our specific case, and taking into account our needs to start growing as soon as possible, we have decided to skip this fundamental step and deemed to intervene in a more radical way. We started with sowing several plants rich in nutritive elements, cutting them down after a month, and mulching them with some hey. We proceeded by carefully and manually digging a small hole for each plant and fed them with compost tea for their entire life cycles. We spent the first year understanding how soil works, also taking into account water distribution.
The first year’s crop was satisfying yet well below the potential we could have achieved with a place like that. It took some time, and season after season, tweak after tweak, we managed to build a fertile and prosperous oasis. The vast presence of earthworms gives a more tangible proof of our hard work. You can literally find them by just digging a small hole anywhere in our greenhouse. They were introduced in small colonies, year after year, and they happily and quickly took over. We have organized the space into six long rows, filled with large beds that can host 10 to 12 plants each. The plants we are currently growing are smaller than the ones you can see in a Californian greenhouse. This is mostly due to legal limitations and constrictions. Indeed, it is possible to grow for personal consumption; however, the size of this cultivar is well beyond anything that can be defined as personal. Another key difference is that in places like California (or even The Netherlands, NDR), the limitation concerns the number of plants one can grow, where in Spain, the issue is rather the size of the final crop, regardless of the number of plants. Hence the need to grow smaller plants that are easier to hide too. All in all, the most satisfying aspect of this project is not just the possibility of growing high-quality cannabis, but rather the fact that we’re doing this in a place that was desert just a few months before.
This wonderful experience I am sharing with one of my business partners makes me even more aware of how much you can achieve by just following, observing, and respecting the nature around you. And I don’t want to waste any time thinking of how much damage we would have done (maybe irreparably) to that already malnourished soil if we were to incorporate artificial conditioners, synthesis fertilizers, or any chemical phytomedicine or pesticide, like those currently used by many commercial growers. Knowing that every time I leave that place, it’s better and more living than before is a great, enriching feeling. And even greater is the pride and satisfaction that come after winning numerous competitions and prizes with our products while staying loyal to our “only water” philosophy and beating all the odds. It is a small personal victory against all gatekeepers
and critics alike and a great step towards a more organic world.
I’d like to bring in one more example. As I previously explained, the overall quality in Barcelona was rather low back in 2016 and has since improved exponentially. Despite this, a very popular misbelief has always been that artificial fertilizers and nutrients are important ingredients for better cannabinoid and terpene production. Against all odds, in 2018, we won our first Spannabis Cup with our very special Gorilla Glue #4, grown in full organic soil and just water. With a record-breaking 32,6% of THCA, this strain and this cup represent a turning point in our history. Indeed, just after this, our work starts gaining more and more recognition, and our organic approach is generating curiosity increasingly. Our second award came in just after the first, during the same Spannabis Cup in 2018. With great surprise, our Barbara Bud Dry Sift Static Tech won the 1st prize in the Solventless category, beating an institution like Cuban Grower. This was an immense joy and an unforgettable moment for all of us.
Things got easier from there onwards as we went on to win more cups around the world, including several Spannabis Cups, 3 Ego Clash, and a bunch of other awards. All those have greatly helped to cement our reputation and achieving many of our goals. Among those, one surely worth a mention is the opening of our cannabis club in Barcelona in 2019. Over the course of the years, we have built a cohesive international network of like-minded people, many of whom are professionals from the United States.
As argued before, the cannabis community in Barcelona has grown considerably in the last few years, with many new crews popping up onto the scene and giving their contribution to the cause. And yet, despite the overall improvement and progress, those applying fully organic approaches or methods are still the minority.
With that being said, to be the first one to ever do something like this is an honor and a responsibility at the same time.
Raising awareness on those issues, of course within certain human limits, is the duty of all conscious men. Failing to do so can only bring to an empty and miserable existence. I can safely say that I belong to a restricted group of lucky people who have had the luck and persistence to achieve their goals and see their dreams come true. Unfortunately, this is not possible for everybody, and many do suffer the frustrating consequences of living in a controlling, merciless society. Once we become aware of this, we can kick start a change. Even if a tiny change, it is still a change.
The Mayor of The Mission District
INTERVIEW JULIE CHIARIELLO PHOTOS MIKE ROSATI
Richard Segovia, fondly known as the Mayor of the Mission District in San Francisco lives in a magical house covered in beautiful murals dedicated to the Latino Rock movement. Richard has devoted his life to his music and to his beloved community, I was honored to sit down with him and dive deeper into the history of Latino Rock in the place that it was born, The Mission District.
JC: You live in the Mission District in San Francisco, a place that at one time was 50% Latino. Can you tell us what it was like in the Mission District in the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and now? Why do you feel it is so important to protect?
RS: Well, back in the late 60s, when Carlos Santana played Woodstock, the whole Mission District changed. We went from the Battle of the Barrios to the Battle of the Bands. And he set a trend to where the Mission District now had a sound of their own, called Latin rock music. What it did, all the gangs stopped fighting and went into the Battle of the Bands. When we had a problem, we got a hall, St. Peter’s, the Mission Y, and we had a Battle of the Bands, and that’s how we would settle arguments, is through music.
Back in 1969, when this happened, it took us right into the ‘70s. The Mission District exploded because now we had something that was our own sound. You could go to every club on Broadway, and there would be lines of people to get into these clubs. Lines, the Basin Street West, The Peppermint Tree, The Orphanage, The Village, The Condor, all these clubs, Bobby Freeman, all this music started to explode. And we were in that big Latino movement that you can go any given day down Broadway street and see Tito Puente, see all these great stars. Cal Tjader walking down the street, having a cup of coffee, and the whole movement, because of the Latin rock sound of Carlos Santana, set the city on fire.
And what ended up happening, our culture started getting really strong. Then the city started giving us permits to do Cinco de Mayo, to do Carnaval, to do celebrations, the 24th Street Merchants Fair. We started doing all these big fairs, and the whole city was absolutely vibrant. You’d walked down the street, and you’d hear conga players. I guess everybody that was Latino became a conga player, and everybody musically was in the parks. We’d go to Dolores Park, and we would have rhumbas. The whole Latino community had risen now that we had something that we could call our own. And this went on all in the ‘60s, and through the ‘70s, there was live music everywhere, block parties, it was a very great and beautiful thing. The violence went down to nothing. People were just excited about this new movement of music called Latin rock.
JC: Beautiful. And why do you feel now that it’s so important to protect the Mission?
RS: Well, the Mission has been taken over by corporate companies and techies, and they even have gone as far as having their kids go to our schools now because a lot of our schools, they teach Spanish. These little Anglo kids are learning
to speak our language. Back in the day in the ‘60s, it was unheard of. My father wanted to name me Raul Segovia, but he knew I was going to be teased, so he named me Richard Raul. Back in the day, it was unheard of to even speak Spanish in the Mission District. Because back then, the Irish, the Italians, the Polacks, the Russians were all controlling this neighborhood. As you know, the San Francisco Mission District was built, as they say by the Irish, for $5 a day and a bucket of beer. My sisters never learned Spanish. My father rarely talked it. My mother never spoke it, but I was raised by my grandmother that never spoke a word of English.
My second language was learning to understand Spanish, never to speak it, but to understand it because of my grandma. Now what has happened is the techies have come in here and the real estate companies offering big money. Myself, for instance, my house was bought for $28,500. They come to my house, and they say, “Hey, I’ll give you $2.5 million for your home.” You get somebody that’s 60 or 70 years old that figures, well, I’ll sell and then I could take that money, go buy me another house somewhere in Brentwood for half a million dollars and have a million, two million dollars leftover just to live the rest of my life. A lot of people are selling out because these people are coming up and offering them a lot of money to get out. And now this new crowd of people that are coming into our neighborhood are eating up our culture.
Our Cinco de Mayo, our Day of the Dead, our Carnaval, and everything that we have, so now we call these people culture vultures because now they’re taking our language, our rhythms, our drumming, our Carnaval, samba, salsa, and they’re even having salsa lessons where these people come into the salsa. They get a great salsa band from the Mission that no longer live here, and they give them free salsa lessons. They’ve taken our culture and everything that we’ve worked hard for all these years. And to me, that is why I painted my house the way it is because I wanted to let the community and the city know that Latin rock music isn’t going anywhere, and I’m going to do my part to preserve it, probably the only thing that we have left.
JC: It is so important. I want to take it back again to Santana because you had the opportunity to sit in with him. The music that Santana created has forever changed the world, helping Latinos everywhere, to see themselves within the rock and roll diaspora. Can you tell us a bit about what his music meant to you and how it inspired your own musical journey as a musician?
RS: Well, that’s what I was just explaining, that the Santana family, from the beginning of my career, has been in my life. I
just realized now that back in 1975, I joined a band that was called Mabuhay. I drove our producer down to the studio in my beautiful car. I was the only one that had a nice car back then. I drove us over to CBS Records on Folsom Street, between Fourth and Fifth. He walked in, my producer Brent Dangerfield, who also produced Santana’s very first album. Can you imagine that? I hooked up with a guy, and he produced us at CBS Records. And as I’m walking into CBS Records, I looked towards the back, and I could see Carlos Santana dressed all in white, and he had been recording there with John McLaughlin on the Mahavishnu Orchestra album. And I went into the back room. I started playing the timpani drums, you know, those big kettledrums?
JC: Yeah.
“ I forgot to tell you that in RS: And that’s when I saw 2017, I was approached by the them. I thought, “Wow, those California Art Commission. They are the biggest timbales I’ve ever seen.” I went back there, wanted to do a mural on my and I started playing those house because they realized drums, boom, boom, to a 6/8. the publicity and what this We had this song called Ondale house meant. And they came up to me and said, “We want to Mariana. It’s like (singing), and it’s in 6/8. And I started playing those drums, and Carlos do your house as a mural, but came out of the room, “Hey, hey. we want you to do the mural Stop that. You’re going to get the way you want it done.” in trouble. Get out of here. Get out of here.” And I said, “Carlos, I’m just following my dream. In ‘69, when you played Woodstock, we were told what you’ve done to follow your dreams. And I’ve been following my dreams, and it’s amazing that I’m here talking to you right now and having Brent Dangerfield, who produced your first album with me, and what an amazing inspiration you have been for me, how you have changed my life.” And he says, “Okay, we’ll just go out of the room and keep doing what you’re doing. Find your own identity.” And that’s what I have done. I’ve been in an original band for my whole life. Puro Bandido, 43 years now, playing original material. Because of Carlos.
JC: Tell us about your band Los Bandidos. When did you guys get together, and what is the intention of the band?
RS: Well, the band that I started was put together by a friend of mine, Jose Majorca, who was killed in an accident. We kept his dream alive because it was our music identity, and all the songs that we were writing were born in the Mission, 25th Street, the Mission District blues. All the songs that I wrote were about our neighborhood and all the situations that have gone on in my life. Every song that we play, I could tell you, it’s not just that I came up with the song. Every song that I’ve ever wrote, it was influenced by Carlos Santana, him telling me, “Find your own identity, be your own musician. Don’t ride on my coattails. Be your own man.” We were a part of the Latino Rock sound. We call our music Border Rock because Puro Bandido is Border Rock, it means that it crosses all borders and it has no boundaries, border rock music. That’s the sound of
