Ready or Not

Ready or Not

HappyDay Farms will have a booth at the Spring Market Day taking place this Saturday at Healing Harvest farms at Area 101. The booth will feature fresh salad greens, herbs, preserved goods and, oh yeah, I almost forgot, cannabis.

The venue is one of celebration and joy and I revel within this ambience. In order to gain entry into the market, attendees must present a valid 215 card, so there is never a question that anyone other than legitimate medical cannabis users will be approaching the booth.

We have a new shipment of HappyDay T-shirts.

Never has there been such a mutually beneficial arrangement in place, in the entire history of the universe. Patrons are inevitably stoked to see what HappyDay Farms has to offer, and we are similarly buoyed by the appreciation that is heaped upon us by satisfied patients.

This is in direct contrast to times past, when we who dared defy the manmade, unconscionable laws governing this gentle giant of a panacea for human pain and misery, were persecuted-not to mention prosecuted-unmercifully. 

The reason? Back in the 1930’s, under a political regime based on racism and prejudice, policy was adapted that placed cannabis in an unfavorable light, shunning hemp for the synthetic fabrics that were suddenly becoming the fashion style of choice in our culture.

Thus it was that the most benign and beneficial of all of the earth’s plants, was placed on a nationwide hit-list, despite the fact that up until this point in history, cannabis had been universally recommended by medical personnel since the beginning of time.

Some things never change and the medical value of cannabis is one of them.

At market our flowers are situated symmetrically on the table, strategically arranged so that the heavy hitters, in terms of THC content, are on one end of the spectrum, the CBD and less potent flowers on the opposite end.

The reason I say it is such a mutually beneficial venue, is that many of our patrons are so pleased with what we have to offer, that they are always-without exception-willing to make a contribution to our medical cannabis collective, in order to help us continue to produce that which serves humanity so well.

Lito and Casey = Great success!

What can we do, but offer said patrons some of our flowers, as a token of appreciation for their patronage? It is a marriage made in heaven, and it has been a long time coming.

My hat will remain forever tipped in the direction of those who have devoted so much of their time and passion, to establishing guidelines for the regulation and management of cannabis. This is not a process that could be delayed even one minute, because of Big Ag being perched to pounce on the cannabis market, the instant the gate opens up.

To have watched Casey, in conjunction with Hezekiah Allen, classmates up at Pacific University in Oregon back in the day, take on state government in Sacramento and the local Board of Supervisors, in Mendocino County, has been epic.

The entire process is so complex, so overwhelming, and so fraught with examples of ineptness on the part existing infrastructure, that it boggles my little pea-brain. What it also requires is vast amounts of time, a commodity highly sought after when one lives on a farm.

I see Casey’s posts on face/book, of him planting brassicas and salad greens by either moonlight or headlamp, whichever works more effectively, work being done long after I have retired for the night. I have a great deal of respect for someone who is so driven by what he does, that he goes to the utmost extremes to continue making it happen. 

The lineup

He will direct the spotlight away from him every time, but that does not diminish what he is accomplishing. There are some in our immediate community who chastise Casey for his actions, folks who are petrified of the proposed changes, and who take out their frustration on those most handy.

These may be people who have been siphoning water illegally, or who are not practicing environmentally-aware farming techniques, and who recognize that to follow the new regulations-legitimately-is impossible for them. 

It’s what might be referred to as being caught between a rock and a hard place, and when it involves the financial security of one’s family, it is a crushing blow.

But Casey did not create the situation-he inherited it-and there is no time to lie around and debate which is the best course of action. Those who sit around and simply talk about these matters are destined to do so forever. Or as my father Robert used to say, “He who hesitates is lost.”

Meanwhile, our collective continues to sign up new patients as venues such as the Spring Market Day at Area 101 thrive, celebrating the return of cannabis to its rightful place.

Maybe “return” is not so much the right word as “re-emergence.” Return would imply it was gone somewhere; re-emergence just means we have come out of the closet.

And we’re not going back.