sonoma

On a Saturday evening in late July, the smell of cannabis perfumed the air of a sprawling Rohnert Park office park. A small fleet of German luxury vehicles and at least one Aston Martin filled the parking lot, while a professional photographer stood stationed on a green carpet outside a...

Sonoma County has officially opened the door to the newly regulated cannabis industry, starting with a Sebastopol-area farm run by a married couple who has been producing marijuana and low-dose tinctures for nearly a decade. The Fiddler's Greens farm, founded by Shannon and Cameron Hattan...

California marijuana growers north of San Francisco were facing mandatory evacuation orders as well as potentially millions of dollars in crop damage and loss amid widespread wildfires in the region. Erich Pearson, director of SPARC Farms in Glen Ellen south of the Tubbs Fire reported on...

Just as grape growers keep watch for the moment of peak ripeness, cannabis farmers have for generations monitored the color of the bud's trichomes, an aromatic crystal resin that transforms from clear to milky white, then gold to amber. For many, the signs are there. It's time to bring the...

Predicting the marijuana future is as risky as growing marijuana itself. Still, it’s safe to say that while cannabis flowers will always be beautiful, the cannabis industry, which is now blooming, will not provide a pretty social and economic picture. Over the past 80 years, no one in the White...

"The illegality of cannabis is outrageous," Carl Sagan said in 1969. "An impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world." Sure, but what else would you expect...

The number of applicants seeking permits for cannabis projects in Sonoma County nearly tripled this week, as those interested in legitimizing or launching cannabis businesses rushed to file before Sept. 1 when the county began applying costly land-use penalty fees. The flurry boosted the...

Sonoma County tried to coax cannabis operators into stepping forward early and applying for local permission to do business with the promise of reduced land-use fines. But with the Aug. 31 deadline to avoid those costly penalties just one week away, the county has received a paltry number of...

Twenty people representing cannabis business interests, real estate, schools, rural neighborhoods and other concerns were appointed Tuesday to advise the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on its rules governing the region's emerging pot industry. Chosen from more than 100 people who applied...

Locally sourced bat guano and other manure-based fertilizers will power Erich Pearson’s biodynamic pot farm outside the city of Sonoma, which seeks to harness the forces of the earth, the cosmos and the free market. Craft cannabis is becoming a cousin to craft beer in Sonoma County, and the...

In the epicurean world, Northern California is famous for two intoxicants — wine and weed. With recreational marijuana about to be legal in the Golden State, some cannabis entrepreneurs are looking to the wine industry as a model. On the elegant terrace of a winery overlooking the...

Imagine if all the grape growers, vintners and wine retailers in Sonoma County had to get in line at a county office to stay in business. It'd be a crush. Cannabis industry operators of Sonoma County are set to experience just that. County workers are preparing to be slammed Wednesday when...

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – In the heart of Northern California's wine country, a civil engineer turned marijuana entrepreneur is adding a new dimension to the art of matching fine wines with gourmet food: cannabis and wine pairing dinners. Sam Edwards, co-founder of the Sonoma Cannabis Company...

I operate Peace in Medicine and SPARC cannabis dispensaries located in Sonoma County and San Francisco, respectively. Our organization also farms cannabis indoors, outdoors, and in greenhouses. For nearly 20 years now, our team has included approximately 150 employees, many of whom call Sonoma...

Sonoma County — Voters in unincorporated Sonoma County on Tuesday will consider approving a business tax on cultivation and sales of medical and non-medical cannabis to fund essential services including roads, public safety, fire services and housing. Measure A was placed on the special...

The Sonoma County Growers Alliance, which represents some 260 cannabis cultivators and related business interests, is opposing the Measure A commercial cannabis tax scheduled for a Sonoma County vote on March 7. The top tax rate of 10 percent would jeopardize profitability of some cannabis...

Last year The Sun provided some perspective on the "Potconomy," the coming of the legalization of marijuana. In that article, we noted that one pot dispensary in the City of Sebastopol contributes $250,000/yr. in sales taxes to that city's coffers, and that the City of Sonoma was way behind the...

The thing about traveling frequently in wine country is that you hear rumors, about everything from people and jobs to prices and deals that may or may not pass the smell test. You learn to take them all with a grain of salt. But one of the most persistent murmurs I've heard this year —...

"Green Is Gold," a critically acclaimed new independent film from Sonoma filmmaker Ryon Baxter, is set amid the ever-shifting cannabis industry of Northern California. But according to its writer, director, editor and star, the gentle drama is hardly what most people might expect from a movie...

Sonoma County is putting out a welcome mat for the medical marijuana industry, but it may not be as big as the industry would like as it emerges from the legal shadows. Under California’s new medical marijuana law, cities and counties are allowed to regulate the location of pot-growing sites...