Humboldt
A logical and convenient stop between San Fransisco and Portland is Humboldt county. Some of you might associate Humbodlt with giant Redwoods, the charming Victorian village of Ferndale, or even the gold-mining town of Eureka. These are all interesting characteristics of the region, but our experience of the place was filtered through the lens of Humbodlt’s massive (yet appropriately mellow) marijuana industry. We came through the town of Arcata, and contacted one of Adam’s high-school friends. Lets call him “Landon.” Now Landon is not uptight about this whole thing, and encouraged me to photograph the operation, but for the sake of my own paranoia, I will keep his identitiy concealed.
Landon gave me a new lease on the classic stoner movie/television character. He has friends with dread-filled knit caps, dripping with Rasta/Weed paraphinalia, who sit on his overstuffed velour couch and gaze blankly at surf videos for hours on end. There was the classic stoner chick, long blond hair, belly hanging out of her midriff top, mangy dog in tow, just soaking up the sun in the backyard. He has a book in his bathroom entitled, “Naked Chicks and Weed,” whose content happily fufills the promise of the title. Landon loves to imagine (aloud) the surf of far-off locations, ranigng from Southern California to Indonesia. He regales us with stories of festivals and tripping on mushrooms, and is always occupying his hands with crushing, rolling or smoking weed. He stays busy.
His garage is FULL of weed. His plants have been sprayed down with a sugar solution (something about them liking the carbohydrates) and it actually sparkles. The room is kept warm and the grow lights give off a yellow-green hue that fills the room and really makes you understand the origin of the slang, “chronic.” This is not just a hobby, it is a busineess; Landon is no slouch when it comes to marketing. He beams with pride when he tells us how ne named his own strain of weed, “Pineapple Express” just as the movie hit theatres.
