Brandon420's Living Soil 2022 Second Run

Blowing it up with pictures i just came across from March/April this year.





























 
Yes the filter is underneath the tank
I try to strain solutions into the tank too



I'm in Humboldt... we do have a farm just a few miles away in Mendocino too ran by a good Buddy... But pretty much the Emerald triangle. Right next to Trinity and Mendocino... can literally see all counties from the property.
Very cool, B.C.+ Emerald Triangle, best smoke there is.!👍
 
Blowing it up with pictures i just came across from March/April this year.





























Too bad there not magic shrooms. Lol 😂
 
There is magic mushrooms in one of the pics... i innoculated the greenhouse with cubensis.
They didn’t look magical initially but I widened the picture and your right. I used to pick em in Florida when I lived there. I knew where a couple of cow pastures were that they didn’t spray. I’d go out after it rained and pick em out of cow pies. Always gave em a couple of thumps to release spores for next time. Did you know that if you put them in a jar of raw honey (gotta be raw) and put them in a dark place for a couple of months until it turns dark it’ll turn the honey magical.
 
Taking a quick minute to post some 2 year old memories the popped up. When the august complex fire of 2020 almost jumped across the Eel river and got us.... still smoked out our whole crop. Was a devastation for many farmers that left, as after the fire was somewhat under control on the other side of the river they didn't let people in to access their farm land for over 9 days. I never left for evacuations and kept the farm under control, water tenders and dozers ready, livestock fed and watered, neighbors plants watered, and communication rolling with people that got off the hill. Many people lost their crops to not being able to water for 9 days, and the rest basically lost it to smoke damage and lack of sun for multiple weeks at a time for the rest of the season. I believe there was a 2 week period of sun after the August Complex fire, but otherwise the sky was typically completely smoked out and sunless, lightless. The first week of the fire it was hard to tell the difference of day and night... the weather patterns were trippy with cold and hot winds at any time.

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Wow that sounds like a harrowing experience, glad your ok. :thumb:
I remember a volcano 25 years ago or so, wiped out our whole summer.
But not nearly as bad as you had it.
Is there such thing as insurance for that? Fire smoke etc....
Must have been devastating for everyone, so sorry. :Namaste:
I'm glad you bounced back and kept everything safe.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend my friend.
Though I know you work 7 days a week.
Take care.




Stay safe
Bill284 :cool:
 
Might just be the last year for Big Rock Farms.... after the landowners 30+ years of work fighting through legalization and jumping through every hoop imaginable to get here. Can't seem to make it work with sales... the best fresh weed in Humboldt right now is getting offers at $200-300/ pound.... any pounds that aren't perfect to the buyers specs won't sell at all locally. Supposedly if you are willing to drive and know the right people some product can move at sustainable rates.... Going to try the rosin route for this next harvest.... but odds seem to be against us in every other part of the business right now too. County wants more and more money... not just a little money but tens of thousands of dollars from these farmers that can't even make a profit in the first place.
Also, fucking county has been doing no-notice inspections and cutting plants down on legal farms nearby the last week. The county really is trying to put the last nail in the coffin on these long-time og growers that are doing it right and given the county millions to grow legally.
But, breathe in, breathe out, and cough that bong hit out. Things are happening this way for a greater reason I'm sure, and I look forward to the next adventures.
There is the possibility of just keeping the Airstrip permitted and growing next year and shutting all the other farms down.. a lot up in the air right now,, all year really.

Anyways, Here's a close up of the Z3 and the Cali OG from the hugel beds at the airstrip. Going to finish the year strong with some happy ass plants. Stopping and thinking about shit too much can get real depressing fast.


 
I feel you MF, I really feel you. There are some moments in history, my friend, when the best we can say is that we're not at war. I can't pay your bills, but I do like to think that remembering I'm not alone is all the difference I need to keep on keeping on during these moments when bone meets bone. You're not alone. There's me, there's @420, your pals and business partners, and the beautiful lady in your pic (hopefully). My play would be to try and keep both the property and the option to grow on it all healthy in my back pocket as long as was financially possible and to keep my eyes and ears open for some possibilities that are maybe not exactly what was initially hoped for, but which the market is asking for, even if that one day comes in the form of a buyer, the right buyer. Better to take the initiative in these situs often, even if that means pulling back. Do it under your terms and you're maintaining control. Best to you mate, you'll stick around I hope.
 
I feel you MF, I really feel you. There are some moments in history, my friend, when the best we can say is that we're not at war. I can't pay your bills, but I do like to think that remembering I'm not alone is all the difference I need to keep on keeping on during these moments when bone meets bone. You're not alone. There's me, there's @420, your pals and business partners, and the beautiful lady in your pic (hopefully). My play would be to try and keep both the property and the option to grow on it all healthy in my back pocket as long as was financially possible and to keep my eyes and ears open for some possibilities that are maybe not exactly what was initially hoped for, but which the market is asking for, even if that one day comes in the form of a buyer, the right buyer. Better to take the initiative in these situs often, even if that means pulling back. Do it under your terms and you're maintaining control. Best to you mate, you'll stick around I hope.
Thanks @ReservoirDog ... means a lot. Great words of advice too.... giving the market what it still wants and buys is what it takes for a business to survive. I've wanted to push certain things a certain route for a while... and we are getting to the point where it's easier for me to make my case on other ways to sustain the business. Breeding for genetics people want and selling seeds/clones is better than growing for selling pounds around here. Making compost, castings, and organic inputs on large scales to sell... and a huge list more of ideas... But also so many factors to consider. And really, I grew pyschedelics before this and wanted to start a huge operation in that area... I don't really want to grow pounds of mushrooms any more... but i have a lot of ideas in the mushrooms side of things that could be potentially profitable too.
But I feel the signs of the universe pushing me to branch out on my own for my ideas... so who knows what next year holds in store... I really try to be optimistic about the future... focusing on the long-term and not the short-term.

Doing some scoping tonight. Got to make sure those plants are healthy and those bugs are elsewhere.

 
It's really sad. I thought things over there would at least be better than they are on this side of the country. Scares me to see and hear this. Makes me question a lot more than I already do with our local and federal governments, makes me more angry. More confused.

Not saying you have a laissez-faire attitude but I'm beaming with pride just seeing how you aren't letting this shake you.

I say to myself often, everything for a reason.

My hopes are that the reason for this takes you places you never dreamed of.

Until then, keep smoking that top Humboldt smoke you put out and try to stay mindful.

Sending the good juju your way MF
 
Sorry to hear that, MF.

Maybe try processing some of the harvest into shelf stable products like topicals, gummies and such? Could give you extra margin and a way to store some of the harvest and tap a broader market if/when federal legalization takes place. I see the administration is weighing decriminalizing our favorite herb. Trying to buy a few votes before the election no doubt.
 
Might just be the last year for Big Rock Farms.... after the landowners 30+ years of work fighting through legalization and jumping through every hoop imaginable to get here. Can't seem to make it work with sales... the best fresh weed in Humboldt right now is getting offers at $200-300/ pound.... any pounds that aren't perfect to the buyers specs won't sell at all locally. Supposedly if you are willing to drive and know the right people some product can move at sustainable rates.... Going to try the rosin route for this next harvest.... but odds seem to be against us in every other part of the business right now too. County wants more and more money... not just a little money but tens of thousands of dollars from these farmers that can't even make a profit in the first place.
Also, fucking county has been doing no-notice inspections and cutting plants down on legal farms nearby the last week. The county really is trying to put the last nail in the coffin on these long-time og growers that are doing it right and given the county millions to grow legally.
But, breathe in, breathe out, and cough that bong hit out. Things are happening this way for a greater reason I'm sure, and I look forward to the next adventures.
There is the possibility of just keeping the Airstrip permitted and growing next year and shutting all the other farms down.. a lot up in the air right now,, all year really.

Anyways, Here's a close up of the Z3 and the Cali OG from the hugel beds at the airstrip. Going to finish the year strong with some happy ass plants. Stopping and thinking about shit too much can get real depressing fast.


What do you think the county is up to? Ya think maybe it’s big corporations wanting to push indie’s out. They bought their way in here maybe trying a different route where you’re at.Idk?
 
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Hi MyceliumFarmer,

Sorry to hear about the farms story, its a real shame to see this awesome operation halted at some point because you cant make end meet. I really hope you can still get to grow and make a living some how. I've been reading for some time what Humboldt County and the other counties of the triangle want to do with the industry... like the Control Denomination of Origin (DOC) same principal the use for wine but exclusively for traingle grown cannabis, I dont know how far advance it is but I know they preping for it, it would give triangle cannabis a whole new level of prestige but would also rise the level of scrutiny and regulations, making it impossible for smaller operations to compete with big money backed up cannabis operation growing to get this denomination.

On another note I wanted to ask you, are you purposely growing Calendula flowers as companion for the cannabis? I tried that this year.


All the best.
 
Hi MyceliumFarmer,

Sorry to hear about the farms story, its a real shame to see this awesome operation halted at some point because you cant make end meet. I really hope you can still get to grow and make a living some how. I've been reading for some time what Humboldt County and the other counties of the triangle want to do with the industry... like the Control Denomination of Origin (DOC) same principal the use for wine but exclusively for traingle grown cannabis, I dont know how far advance it is but I know they preping for it, it would give triangle cannabis a whole new level of prestige but would also rise the level of scrutiny and regulations, making it impossible for smaller operations to compete with big money backed up cannabis operation growing to get this denomination.

On another note I wanted to ask you, are you purposely growing Calendula flowers as companion for the cannabis? I tried that this year.


All the best.
There are a lot of efforts and groups, like Sun Certified, that are making efforts to help Emerald Triangle cannabis stand out in the market. So that's cool... I know I could do some things to make this place more profitable, but without going into the gory details... I can do the same stuff elsewhere and be compensated more fairly for my time. Humboldt cannabis will never be dead dead, but some landowners don't have the adaptability it takes to stay alive. These guys aren't business majors, they are highschool drop outs that were growing in the woods their young years.

Calendula and yarrow were planted in the corner of all the beds my first year here, before my management. I keep them going in the beds because they are good companion plants... I use the flowers from the calendula to make skin salves too.


 
I got question for you. Since you big grower . Tris. On sugar leaves and flower itself. When do y'all pick. What do y'all look for.. inquiring minds want to know. . Like me.
Try to follow the half amber on the flower rule... but in the years past when we were full scale so much of it had to do with weather, dry barn space timing, and how long it will take to harvest.
 
There are a lot of efforts and groups, like Sun Certified, that are making efforts to help Emerald Triangle cannabis stand out in the market. So that's cool... I know I could do some things to make this place more profitable, but without going into the gory details... I can do the same stuff elsewhere and be compensated more fairly for my time. Humboldt cannabis will never be dead dead, but some landowners don't have the adaptability it takes to stay alive. These guys aren't business majors, they are highschool drop outs that were growing in the woods their young years.

Calendula and yarrow were planted in the corner of all the beds my first year here, before my management. I keep them going in the beds because they are good companion plants... I use the flowers from the calendula to make skin salves too.



On point with companion plants. Wish you all the best man, we struggling to find affordable land to lease me and my partner want to grow food and medicinal flowers. It’s been impossible to find 1 acre at affordable price.

This is sample of one of our potential products, seems like consumers now want value added products.
484B6781-48DF-424B-8FB7-CE6EC1D13840.jpeg
 
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