SpeesCees
Well-Known Member
The Morocco Story
There are growers and growers in this world.
Most of them are professional growers, a few have truly fallen in love with the plant. On the XX-file page you can read what I was doing there, but within the ranks of Moroccan growers real marihuana freaks are hard to find even though they have quite an old history of cannabis culture…
Moroccan marihuana culture hardly goes beyond sowing, harvesting and selling. The many fields and natural cross-fertilising in the Rif mountains ensure strong plants. Typically I hardly encountered any hermaphrodites, often indicating degeneration of a species.
Because I was married to a Moroccan woman, built a farm and lived there for almost five years, I have a lot of experience with Moroccan hash culture which I love to share with real marijuana freaks.
After I had been visiting Morocco for years on end to arrange my 'purchases', it was a weird experience to penetrate the misty Rif Mountains deeper and deeper in the select company of my fellow travellers. The ambience can be very spooky indeed in these mountains. No way back, I had decided to go and live there! The rented truck full of building material roared en shaked as if it really was tested to its limits. And that was exactly what was happening; at some stretches we only ascended at an alarming speed of 5 km/hour. But finally we arrived at Bab'Bebberet, where there was diesel and food for the last haul to Tamaroute Sahel, where we were to conquer the trails with our battered old truck. Halfway the 'path' to the piece of land of the family, things went wrong. The driver refused to go any further.
We worked our asses off moving all the building materials on horseback to the construction site. Fortunately the reception by my wives uncle (whom I knew for a year already) was very warm en spontaneous. After a fat joint we decided that all of the family would help to move the goods to the construction site. 'Dear' uncle did nothing but yelling orders, drinking tea, smoking dope and generally bullying the others!? Later on I learned that such behaviour is quite normal for Moroccan men, as it is in kif culture. Women do all the physical labour, except for the sieving!
For them it wouldn't make any difference whether they would grow for example corn. Kif means work, kif means money, kif is just an agricultural product. The Rif is an area that develops very slowly. These farmers are pretty hard nosed! Often they've had conflicts with the ruling regimes, because they would not accept any power from outside the Rif area. They have NEVER been occupied! Not by the French, not by the Spanish, never! They sat on top of their mountains and said: go ahead, come on up!! Hahhah, that was difficult, nobody managed to get these mountain people away or even under their thumb. And up till now this has never happened!
The plough is made of wood, because an iron plough often breaks on the numerous stones in the soil. The largest stones on the surface have been removed, by the women of course. But what remains unseen on the surface, doesn't count and is not removed. Using a tractor for ploughing on these fields is not a real possibility. Seeds are strewn around loosely, and after that a horse with a harrow. Early sowing happens, as well as late sowing. It's a matter of having the nerves to take a risk, with a possible double harvest as a reward. The latter technique by the way is quite rarely used in the Rif.
Sometimes, no rain falls on one side of the mountain. Here you can see the result.
I've heard many tales from growers in the Atlas Mountains about two harvests. When the rainy season comes as it is supposed to come - as is usually the case - the farmer doesn't need to worry. From this point on only his eyes, ears and mouth are involved! The rest is up to Allah, his wife and daughters. The funny thing is, one side of the mountain can yield a marvellous harvest, while the other side - only two kilometers away as the crow flies - doesn't yield anything worthwhile that year. (see picture) This happens because on that side of the mountain simply not a drop of rain falls.
The slope of not to steep a mountain, in the right year with the right amount of rainy days and hours of sunlight, is ideal for reaping a record harvest. Of course there are 'some' other factors that deserve serious attention. Nutrition for example! You would be amazed to see how much chemical fertilizer is thrown over these fields. Large amounts of NPK are given, but unfortunately, the rest is forgotten, overcropping happens on an alarming scale.
Some smaller farmers exploit a plot of land that is small enough to be fertilized by the dung of their cattle. In these cases the fields are flat and usually close to their farms. The best kif is still produced on this type of field, but there are too little of them to be of substantial meaning for the total production. It has to be said these farmers use this method not because of ecological ideals, but only because for them it's the cheapest way to operate. After a good year they usually invest in chemical fertilizer for the next harvest. At little expense reasonably good irrigation systems could easily be installed in most areas of the Rif. Water and generators are available, add some pumps and some tubes, and go! But, no. To set up something like this money has to be spent, and that is the last thing a Rif farmer will invest. When the seed is sown, the rest is up to Allah, and that's it! I have to say Allah has done a pretty good job the last couple of years. I've never seen a people that so readily weeps and complains while seated on top of a mountain of money because they are supposedly so poor. On the other hand, there may be some cultural component in this behaviour I haven't been able to fully understand. The will to remain independent and the saving of funds for possible bad times to insure this, definitely are part of the equation.
From the beginning to the end of July it's a pleasure to dwell in the mountains…
Just imagine the smell!
When the worst part of the rainy season is over, there is still some rain falling, but not so much that it causes powerful streams of drain water, and the plants develop quickly. The light green color of Moroccan seedlings is simply amazing! A sativa, and actually a proper variety, but a fast flowering variety at that. Grown for so long in this culture, the plants you find in the fields of the Rif are a long shot from the original Indica species. The same thing can be observed with 'our' plants in western grow culture, but the big difference is that we actively grow and select, while in Morocco nobody gives a damn about that and leaves selection to mother nature.
Sometimes the seedling just rapidly shoot up, sometimes they grow laterally before they shoot up. These variables have to do with temperature, humidity and hours of sun. Farmers prefer to see plants initially grow wide before they shoot up, just like we do. But the strange thing is, in the end it really doesn't make a big difference in weight, as long as no extreme droughts happen.
Before sieving, the kif is left for an hour in the sunshine
and becomes more easy to sieve.
About 50 to 60 days after germinating the women enter the field to pull out the male plants. Here and there one is left, because pollinating is supposed to supply the farmer with seeds for the next season. Apart from that, it's virtually impossible to spot all the males in a field this big, not to mention the neighbouring fields. In other words, I have never succeeded in growing sinsemilla in Morocco. The plants that are used are not suitable for growing indoor under bulbs. Although the plants produce lots of resin, are easy to sieve and usually have pretty potent resin, it would do no good trying to grow them indoor at home. Once the plants have survived the storm of 'male-killing women's hands', they receive a little more space and light, and once the weather has improved, the growing starts to go real fast. Some fields are sold already before the harvest. Sometimes because the plants look exceptionally well on a terrain that has not yet been exhausted by overcropping, mostly because the farmer needs the advance badly to maintain his family.
Harvesting is mainly a job for women and children. Using a simple sickle, the plants are cut at the base of the stalk and left to dry in the field. Sometimes (too often actually) they are pulled out with the roots and left to dry, which usually results in lot of soil spilling over the plants. It is not just probable this is done on purpose: it is absolutely sure, because the extra weight the sand brings along is more than welcome. After three days of drying and turning, the kif is bundled and brought to the drying shed, sometimes using mules or horses, but mostly on the backs of women and children.
Together with uncle Ali, 5 years of only the best!
The drying shed is a space that is easily shut off from light. There are wooden pallets on the floor to avoid cold or humidity creeping up. The bundles of kif - weighing between 1 to 1,5 kilo dry weight - are put on the pallets in an interwoven pattern and piled up all the way to the ceiling. A fermentation process takes place, even though the plants have been left for three days in the field. Fortunately the farmer knows exactly when the kif is too humid for stapling. However, the taste of Moroccan is absolutely impressive when it is pure and well sieved. For me it remains one of the best!
After three months the kif is ready to be sieved! But usually the farmer is more interested in waiting a little. Kif that has been stored for about a year, is riper and fuller and less 'wild' when sieved. More potent I wouldn't say, but it's absolutely a lot more pleasant to smoke. Compare it to freshly harvested indoor grass, which is also wild, which improves after a week or so of drying and becomes riper, more relaxed and more tasty. Just like wine, the product we produce from our little plant needs time to mature. Usually the farmer will only commence sieving when he is sure he can sell. Sometimes he sells plants, sometimes hash.
Sieving in full motion. The system is far easier than many imagine.
He needs the seed, so it is important the sieving takes place at home, and he is guaranteed to get back his seeds. He prefers to sell to 'smart asses' for a particular sieving. When he sieves it, and the client agrees with the quality and price, the remaining kif is his. That's not the stuff tourists will take back home, because they usually think it is disposed product. But you will be amazed to see all the things that happen with this kif. It really brings a lot of money to the farmer, which he doesn't get when he sells his plants. How the sieving takes place you can see in these pictures, where me and some locals are sieving at uncle Abd Ali's.
The bowls are made of plastic, the sieve is made of synthetic fabric they usually buy in a local store. It's a strong and very closely woven fabric, so you can only see through when you hold it up against the light. Very fine, but quite strong as well. The fabric is stretched over the bowl and tightened with crumbled up pieces of paper. The bowl is placed inside a big plastic bag, measuring 2-2,5 meter deep. At the bottom, the bag is knotted, because these bags come from a large roll, which allows cutting to measure. Now you grab a bundle of kif, stick it into the bag, while you hold the part where your hand is at the entrance of the bag. The plastic is wrapped around this part of the stalk like a 'handle', so that the bag is completely sealed. The stalk inside the bag is held exactly over the sieve.
And voilá! That's in the pocket.
Then you use a sturdy stick to hit the bush of kif inside, and only the stalks remain. With one gracious but above all swift movement you pull out the stalks, and leave the plastic bag closed for a while to capture the free floating particles inside. A good siever is capable of sieving 600-700 grams of zerozero a day, a real pro will be able to do one kilo in the same amount of time. Usually there are groups of sievers, mostly all of them young men who aren't married yet, and get paid by the day. These guys are so incredibly stoned they won't notice a thing if they would smoke a joint. They snort the best hashpowder all day long… but their sieving is top rate!
After five years I dare say it. Whenever you'd ask me what is the best possible Moroccan hash, I have the definite answer. Before sieving very large quantities of kif, the floor, walls and ceiling of the workspace in which the sieving takes place, are covered with plastic foil beforehand, so you work in a kind of tent. When Allah agrees, and the weather was nice and dry and the plants were well dried, you will be able to scrape the finest of the finest from the ceiling after the work is done. These are the tiny little drops of resin that had only just started to grow.
The kif, the powder and the hash. Ready for transportation.
This stuff you find in concentrated form is called Chrystal hash. The following story illustrates the quality of this stuff. Once I was arrested in my hometown in Holland for alledgedly 'mixing LSD with hash'. What happened? I had just returned from Morocco, and shared a big fat chillum filled with this Chrystal hash in the local youth centre with some local boys & girls. As they say, 'we lived happily ever after', but it sure was a land of dreams that was located very, very far away. Geez, even me myself had never smoked the stuff in a chillum and… extremely powerful is probably too weak an expression to describe the effect... Way too powerful if you weren't warned in advance!
The farmer only knows one word when it comes to kif: KIF! Hash is kif, seed is kif, the plant is kif, the stuff is kif! Their choice of words is rather limited, and as long as something is in any way related to the plant, it's called kif! He distinguishes 4 clearly different qualities. Those who think the farmer is only calculating and therefore tampers with his hash, makes a mistake. The average farmer is more than happy when he can receive the current market price for his plants and doesn't care for tampering the product.
He distinguishes: Spoetnik The best!
Zero-Zero Without plant particles
Première Normal but honest quality
Trash Known by everyone (including the farmer, unfortunately)
For all clarity: so called 'soaps' or 'mirrors', this supposedly beaten stuff, is simply made of garbage and preparations. Sorry, my dealer friends, but I've seen TOO much of what they do to get this quality. Quite disgusting actually! You better smoke your own homegrown than that stuff, believe me. Why don't you try Santa Maria, my favourite gal!
Many hands, light work.
One hundred kilos of kif produces about 400-600 grams of zerozero, discarding rare exceptions. Just like here, you can easily fool yourself in Morocco if you start to calculate before the harvest is done! Some fields yield a lot of hash from plants that didn't look so good at first, sometimes beautiful plants yield next to nothing. Many factors are involved. The orientation of the mountain, high or low, much or little rain, temperature, nutrition, time of sowing, too densely or too loosely sown etc. 100 kilos of kif can yield 1-1,5 kilo of premiere quality, but then there is no more zerozero, and only rubbish remains. When the farmer prepares sputnik or zerozero there is always something good left to process later on. As long as the kif is not sieved (but is stored dark and chilled) the resin remains of surprisingly good quality, and it definitely seems time can influence quality positively. Once sieved a decaying process starts. Sieved powder can be kept very long, but once pressed, quality decreases every day. Freezing is an option. The reason of this degradation is that with pressing you heat the resin, open the core of the drops by breaking the outer shell, and press it to one mass. The protective layer gets broken, and degradation sets in.
Our press gave a lot of hand work but was very effective!
Since we are discussing the subject, I'd like to tell some of you to stop talking rubbish, which irritates the hell out of me. I'm talking about people who refer to 'seeing' THC on plants. The plant does not show visible THC! The stuff you can see is resin! And inside that resin you find a percentage of THC! And the amount of resin doesn't say a whole lot about the potency!
An old law says kif may be grown in the Rif on certain conditions. The king tried to get around this law, but nevertheless the farmers still refer to this old law, and with a lot of success. It remains a fact that you can't simply force your will on the Rif people. It has to do with culture, a culture that nowadays hardly survived in the rest of Moroccco. Rif people don't care at all for government policy. They don't say so, but they act that way. The are allowed to sow, harvest en sell. But - at least according to the letter of the law - not to sieve! Either are they allowed to enter the 'asphalt road' with kif. When you know this situation, you realise the farmer has a problem; selling his merchandise without taking risks.
500 kilos of hash, 250 kilos of primo quality!
He REALLY makes money when he gets involved with an organized transport abroad. But… that means he'll have to wait for his money and be prepared to share the risk. If he's not prepared to do so he will not get his hands on Big Bucks. As long as the farmer wants to stay away from the 'asphalt road', he will only reap the going kilo price for kif. To avoid problems on the asphalt road there are plenty of possibilities. They have one thing in common: they cost money, a lot of money! It's not simply a matter of 'bribing', but more like: we feed each others children. The relation with a district governor IS important to 'be able to feed each others children', and thus supposedly help each other. The situation has improved, the regular farmer is not as suppressed as he used to be, but I've witnessed briberies that were really quite disgusting. However, if you don't have money in Morocco, there's only one advise: GET OUT!
Until this very day it's not advisable to enter the area where I built my farm. Quite some people in Tamaroute have never looked any further than the mountain they view from their homes. And uh… many tourists have returned empty handed from the area. Stripped of everything! That is the Rif: first make sure you have the right contacts, or they'll get you. Nobody is waiting for you and your little camera to come shooting their field of kif! Those are rough nature folks with a strong survival instinct. And 'money' is a magic word to them. Most of them need it very badly indeed. Don't forget the average farmer has quite some mouths to feed! But, Inshallah, there will be many plants next year! More and more actually. And Allah smiles benevolently upon the Moroccans. After battling fiercely through the ages the Rif people come out as a people that never were conquered. As a matter of fact, lately the region slowly shows signs of development, but entering Tamaroute Sahel as a tourist… that's still not an option! The tourist board may be planning their little policy safely in Casablanca, but rest assured… that's something the Rif people don't read!
This chicken lives on hempseed and water… So speedy you'll never get hold of it!
Of course, it is 'important' to know how they manage to cultivate ever more territory with kif?! Judging from the paperwork from uncle George's war on drugs, the cultivated territory is slowly decreasing, stimulated by hefty subsidies. But in the real world the territory that is cultivated with kif expands every year. It works like this: A farmer has three sons, who probably like to continue their fathers business. This causes a land problem, so land has to be gained, but how? They simply strike a deal with the forester, burn a piece of forest and secretively sow for a couple of years until they receive a users permit that is accepted by the authorities, which by the way, is simply for sale. Once the forest is burned down, there is kif, and that's it! In the meanwhile, the forester was occupied with something else. The word of this forester, who makes a living for his family, is never written on paper, but is taken bloody seriously. The families know exactly who has burned which part, and leave each other in peace.
Thank you Cees!
