$12,500! Can you believe it? That what Contemporary Books, now an imprint of McGraw-Hill, paid me as an advance back in 1992 for my book Everyday Wonders: Encounters with the Astonishing World Around Us. It was, to put it mildly, a shitload of money, paid for our second-hand Miata, now 32 years old—it’ll see me through. Contemporary offered me a three-book contract at the time, which I turned down: too much work, went traveling instead. Moved out of the Bay Area. Bought a house in Mexico. Made more friends than I deserve. Not to mention many more: “Hey Barry!” “Um, oh hi, howya doing?” acquaintances. And here I am, OTCC, late Wednesday afternoon, looking for inspiration for Sunday’s GOU.

Photo: Barry Evans.

Look no further. Check what you wrote in that book 30 years ago that made it worth so much to a publisher. Maybe there’s still something worthwhile. Start with the introduction. Hmmm, it’s a bit ponderous, trying too hard, but still, a couple of paras don’t seem too bad at this long remove:

This book is about the present, because it’s about awareness: noticing, stopping, looking, heeding, remarking, observing, beholding, discerning, perceiving, asking, examining, probing, considering, pondering, weighing, appraising, studying…right now. It’s about wonder.

Oh yeah, I remember, I felt I had to justify the title, Everyday Wonders. I asked Stephen Jay Gould if “wonder” was an adaptive trait, angling for a blurb on the back cover (“Barry has captured the essence of humanness! Buy this book!”) Actually, he snorted (he was a great snorter). “You may be thinking of curiosity,” he finally allowed. My awkward interview with him is in the book. Super smart guy, brilliant writer, funny lecturer. And a pain to interview.

Where were we?

Children enter school as question marks and leave as periods, wrote author and educator Neil Postman. I believe that what I’ve termed curiosity-wonder is innate to children, but that as adults we sometimes need to be reminded of it. Does the five-year old child who is full of questions lose his or her innocence and become the eighteen-year-old full of answers, as Postman implies?

I couldn’t leave it at that, I had to answer my own rhetorical question.

It’s instructive and awe-inspiring to watch and listen to the innocent spontaneity of humans during the first 1500 or so days of their lives, up to age 4 or 5. Every other utterance is a question about something and everything in their environment…

How wide is up?
Is the sea alive?
What shape is red?
When will I grow up?
Where is heaven?
What are the birds singing?
Why does ice cream taste happy?

Back then, I was, apparently, an expert not only in etymology, but also in Old English folklore:

Thirteen hundred years ago, “wonder” was only a noun, synonymous with “miracle” or “marvel.” Beowulf, written around A.D. 720, contains some of the oldest English prose ever written. In stanza XIII, we encounter the word for the first time:

Then, so I’ve heard, there were many warriors
Round the gift-hall that fine morning;
Chieftains came from near and far,
Long distances, to look at the marvel, the monster’s tracks.

In the Old English verse, the last line reads, “geond wid-wegas wondor sceawian, lathes lastas.” There it is, wondor, translated here as “marvel.”

Huh. Who knew? After a few more paragraphs of deathless prose:

Other times when stargazing, I walk away from my telescope and just breathe, (This just happened, new moon evening two weeks ago, Kneeland airport with our local astronomy group). That’s when I experience long moments of awe-wonder, awe-full, precious, profound times. I know of no words to better express such moments than these, from John Fowles: (I used to devour Fowles’ novels.)

“…like lying on one’s back as we did in Spain when we slept out looking up between the fig-branches into the star-corridors, the great seas and oceans of stars. Knowing what it was to be in the universe.”

That’s all folks.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Bomb Threat Prompts Lockdown at Mad River Community Hospital Saturday Morning

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Press release from the Arcata Police Department:

On 10/8/2022 at about 11:57am, officers from the Arcata Police Department responded to Mad River Community Hospital on the report of a bomb threat.

While responding to secure the hospital, which had been placed on a lockdown per their protocol, Arcata Communications was able to quickly identify the caller.  The caller is known to the Arcata Police Department from previous contacts with them which have consisted of behavioral health assistance.  Due to these prior contacts with Arcata Police Officers, it was quickly determined that there was no threat to the hospital or community.

Once on scene, the on-duty supervisor for the hospital was contacted, advised of the situation, and they cancelled the lockdown.

APD officers, assisted by an officer from the Cal Poly Police Department, who have also had contacts with the subject, responded to their residence to conduct a welfare check and assist with any mental health crisis they may be experiencing.  Officers tried repeatedly to make contact and provide assistance to the subject, but they would not leave their residence or communicate with officers. 

The Arcata Police Department’s Community Outreach Team is following up with social service organizations in the region to continue providing the community member with any assistance they need.

Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata was under a short lockdown late Saturday morning after someone called in a bomb threat, David Neal, chief executive of the hospital, confirmed with the Outpost this afternoon. 

The threat occurred at about 11:55 a.m., Neal said, when the hospital received a call from a female voice saying that there was a bomb inside of the hospital. Following standard protocol, the hospital informed all employees, contacted the police department and went into immediate lockdown until the police arrived to deal with the situation. 

Once the Arcata Police Department arrived, it was pretty quickly determined that there was no bomb and the lockdown was lifted after only about 25 or 30 minutes, Neal said. Neal also said that the police were able to identify the person who had called in the threat. But whether or not an arrest was made in unclear.

The Outpost‘s call to APD have not yet been returned. We’ll update when we know more.

News of PG&E spraying power poles alarmed Humboldt County residents. Humboldt, Trinity, and Mendocino Counties have a long and storied history in challenging the application of pesticides.

On this week’s EcoNews, Gang Green talks to two veterans of the Pesticide Wars, Larry Glass of Safe Alternatives for our Forest Environment and Patty Clary of Californians for Alternatives to Toxics, about the long history of citizen activism against spraying.

It is with some sadness I share that I’ve left Humboldt.

After 43 years in the area, I moved to SoCal to serve as Grow Manager for Glass House Farms. I’ll be working on exciting collaborations in the area of genetics and am excited to farm at scale.

We are maintaining our home in Humboldt and will frequent the area when possible. Regrettably, I am putting The Cannabis Conversation on hold for now as I get adjusted to a new pace of life and get settled into my new role.

In this farewell piece, I will share my experiences in writing this column and farming cannabis in Humboldt. I will also offer a few predictions regarding the industry.

The exposure the Lost Coast Outpost gave me was amazing. While my intent was simply to share ideas and create dialogue and spirited debate, the column put me in touch with some really awesome people. Along the way, I was able to help multiple farms in the Emerald Triangle with pro-bono consulting and made some really meaningful industry connections as well.

While my voice is just one of many thousands emanating from the cannabis industry, it was a joy and a pleasure receiving feedback, commentary, DMs and LinkedIn connections resulting from my work.

While many of my beliefs are unpopular among cultivators, I simply reflect on what I am seeing, hearing and experiencing as a grower in the world’s most competitive cannabis market. And while larger operations are increasingly normal, it’s still staggering to see the efficiency and economies of scale now deployed within the space.

With extensive capital outlays, operations are able to tool up, automate and produce products at a fraction of the cost of less efficient operators. I’ve seen a boatload of growing and finished flower over the past weeks and the quality from these greenhouse operations is good – in many cases, far better than mountain-grown sun-scorched, bronzing and foxtailing deps.

In fact, I’ve seen many Instagram posts recently of open-air, Triangle-grown deps that were cooking and bronzing with sucked-up, scorched pistils. No bueno. Presumably, people post things they are proud of … surprises me every single time I see this, and reminds me of my frustration as a hill grower with limited environmental controls.

While my heart will always be with my brethren in Humboldt and the Triangle more broadly, not much will be left of the industry there soon. Farms are laying off employees, lowering wages, getting further behind on bills and cutting corners with cultivation practices to control costs. Unfortunately, growing can become a downward spiral. Without sufficient labor or high-end inputs, quality suffers, offer prices drop, sales stagnate and things spiral out of control – quickly.

I admire the love, dedication, commitment and sense of community espoused by the Humboldt cannabis community. It’s hard watching people struggle, and I pray the market opens up in time to allow for the preservation of our history and heritage. Ethical farmers are among the kindest, most generous folks I’ve met and my sincerest hope is for continued prosperity for all who play by the rules.

Unfortunately, larger interests are slowing down the push for national legalization. A recent publication noted that pharmaceutical companies, known for large political contributions, lose significant value with each legalization event. As consumers move from dangerous narcotics to cannabis consumption for medical relief, stock values weaken, as do drug sales. Big pharma largely opposes cannabis (until they buy their way into a national market) and that is one reason political will to open up cannabis markets has lagged. Other issues, such as re-election risk, social equity inclusion, misinterpreted social externalities and concerns around high THC products and youth consumption also hinder progress.

While there is some renewed chatter about interstate commerce after a recent application of the dormant commerce clause in relation to medicinal cannabis sales, it seems that a functional national market is still a way off. With more competition from other states, permitted farms are having a harder time diverting products to the illicit market, which has been the lifeblood of most “legal” farms for years.

While some farms plan to lay fallow next season, hoping things shake loose nationally, elevated property payments and the increasing cost of living won’t allow farms to be sidelined for long. Money simply goes away too quickly. While some will dig in and spend savings to fight it out, I fear an even more pronounced rush to the exits after this season, further depressing property values and complicating a successful transition plan for most family farms.

In hindsight, I suppose we should have known better, that California, a state known for an industrial ag complex would throw family farms under the bus. After an entirely disingenuous road show garnering NorCal votes for legalization – things changed, quickly! We asked to be treated like agriculture and to be taxed, and we got both.

As I look to the future I see sun-grown greenhouse flower dominating the smokeable flower market. The large multi-state operators are heavily reliant on indoor production and I see that becoming increasingly problematic, not only from a production cost standpoint but also from an environmental one in a federal context with potential EPA involvement.

The MSO strategy of operating in the limited license states or catching states as they transition from medical to rec may make sense in today’s market, with relatively elevated prices for indoor flower in some place, but I see their business models collapsing over time. High-quality sun-grown greenhouse flower produced for $100-$150 a pound will ultimately displace most indoor and bodes well for California cannabis operations with scale and efficiency.

My experience farming in Humboldt was a mixed bag. Being immersed in the natural beauty of our mountainous regions was a life-changing experience I’ll never forget. Precious encounters with wildlife, working through the radical weather swings throughout the growing season, pushing my body to the limit, and connecting with nature and the higher purpose of saving and improving lives was magical.

Witnessing firsthand the blatant hypocrisy and lawlessness of many licensed farms was troubling. Far from the upstanding storyline around environmental stewardship and ethical operation, I never once worked on a farm in Humboldt that played by the rules. Illegal surface water diversion, product diversion, tax evasion, environmental abuses and worker abuses continue to plague the industry and destroy its reputation. Why do you think so few people care that the industry is crumbling? Why do so many localities ban cannabis activity?

A fair number of citizens recognize this and will never support an industry with so many skeletons in the closet. It’s a shame, too. Some farms are ethical in business and care for the environment, for community and for making the world a better place. Unfortunately, they are often tarnished by money-hungry or cash-strapped operators who break the law, burn plastics, bury garbage onsite, mask diesel spills with excavation, pollute the night sky and drain the creeks, springs and rivers, while talking about loving Humboldt all the while. I’ve seen a lot of repulsive behavior among licensed cultivators and find it ironic that such “earth-loving” folks would argue against generator regulations, surface water restrictions, environmental compliance and regulatory oversight.

My sincerest hope is that the challenging market conditions will drive the bad actors out of Humboldt once and for all. I hope for a national marketplace soon so that kind, loving, conscious farmers can shine brightly and tell their stories to the world.

I hope that Humboldt, and the Emerald Triangle more broadly, can diversify their economies and survive what promises to be a very challenging near-term disruption. Property values are coming down, people are being laid off, and I fear economic desperation will further exacerbate violent crime in the region. I hope that families can remain in the area they call home and sincerely hope that cannabis farmers can find a lasting foothold in the business they love.

It is with sadness that I say farewell for now. My heart is with you always Humboldt, and I look forward to gracing your shores once again.

Love and prosperity,

Jesse

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The Pony Keg Mobile Bar was a 1970s horse trailer. At least until the day co-owners and operators, Kara Bennett and Hailee Nolte purchased it from a Craigslist seller in Sacramento.

Today, it is pink, repurposed and filled with a collection of decorative mementos that make it quintessential Humboldt.

“It’s cozy!” said Nolte of their bar on wheels — which is technically a “dry bar.”

That doesn’t mean that they only serve alcohol-free drinks. It means that they provide everything necessary except the alcohol. It’s an interesting way to circumvent the State of California’s alcohol laws (ABC Regulation # 23399.1). Since they are running a mobile bar, getting a liquor license can be overly bureaucratic.

They often partner with local businesses, or they book weddings, and other soirees. More importantly, they partner with local non-profits like Humboldt Made to uplift other local small businesses.

Depending on the logistics of an event, they calculate roughly how much alcohol they need and send the number to their client, who then acquires the necessary beverages, which Pony Keg serves at the event.

As local bartenders, Bennett and Nolte originally found each other as coworkers before finding themselves in the thick of the Humboldt Hustle.

A 40-year-old Eureka resident, Bennett moved to Humboldt in 2016 from the Bay Area. Trying to survive in the Bay Area as a dental assistant and then as a personal trainer, she realized that she did not want to do those things indefinitely.

“It made me miserable. Every day I’d tell people, ‘OK we’re ready for you,’ and their reaction was always, ‘Aw fuck’.” Bennett continued. “When you bartend you have all these people that are so excited to see you.”

Bennett began bartending on the side until she and her partner were getting priced out of their home. Often Bennet would visit Humboldt to go camping and on her very last camping trip she told her partner, “This is where I wanna live.” For the last seven years, bartending was the easy choice for her.

Nolte considers herself an overachiever. After earning her master’s degree in Environment and Community at Humboldt State University, she could not find work in her field because she was considered underqualified.

“While in school and after, I always had two to three jobs just to maintain a certain standard of lifestyle … which was paying rent and feeding myself.“ Nolte laughed, “I had two waitressing/bartending jobs and a gig in outdoor education.”

The day Nolte moved to Humboldt, she started class for her master’s degree and began her first shift bartending, all while her family helped move her and her partner’s belongings into their new apartment. With hardly any money to her name, she hardly has had time to have fun.

“I still haven’t gone to Richard’s Goat, and finally saw a movie at the Minor this year.” said Nolte.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, both Bennett and Nolte felt the pressure of loneliness and uncertainty. So they sought that out with each other and thought up the idea for the Pony Keg Mobile Bar.

Every Thanksgiving, Bennett would have a large get-together, but in 2020 her head count went from the usual 30 people down to three. That included her partner, herself and — recovering from food poisoning — Nolte.

Drinking into the night, they talked about how they missed bartending large events and reminiscence quickly turned into a conversation about building a concept for a bartending business.

“What do we want to do it in?” Nolte asked. ”So we found this pink fucking trailer on Craigslist and started saving money to start this business together.”

After they saw the trailer, they held meetings about their vision and committed themselves to it.

“We wanted two things out of our trailer,” Bennett continued. “We want it to go on the most rugged roads of Humboldt and not have to connect it to any power.”

The first nine months since purchasing the horse trailer were filled with marketing, building out the concept and dealing with getting their LLC license. Because their concept was so specific, the county was not sure how to handle their paperwork at first.

“We were working for ourselves for free,” said Nolte. “We had to be patient and resilient before we could even start.”

They wanted to emphasize that they could serve local beer on tap, and the easiest way to do that was to install taps for pony kegs in the trailer. With that, they designed the rest of the trailer with a local lens. Most of what you find in the trailer are repurposed materials or things made by other local makers.

There is a wall of stickers from local artists and businesses, a collection of cocktail recipe books that make up a tiny library, and most of their bottles used for mixes originally came from local distilleries. They have tables and chairs made out of old kegs. Nearly everything that comes with the trailer was either donated or repurposed and in some cases both.

Their concept was put to the test in April for a wedding event in Southern Oregon. In the pouring rain, the trailer was set up in the middle of a steep driveway. The ability to set up anywhere without power came in handy, but it was also a learning experience.

“We updated our contracts so that we can reserve the right to say no to certain things,” said Nolte. “If you want us somewhere we don’t approve of, we’ll leave. You can’t put us on a cliff or a 90-degree driveway.”

Both Bennett and Nolte continue to have day jobs four to five days a week especially as their season is coming to a close, with only one wedding left on the books. Next season, the Pony Keg Mobile Trailer already has 10 weddings booked. With their community and popularity growing, they’re looking toward the future with excitement.

“We’re building the second trailer,” said Nolte. “We purposefully didn’t book anything during the holiday season so we can take care of ourselves. But also if people call us for something last-minute, we’ll definitely consider it.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to call a special legislative session in December to push for a tax on oil industry profits, the latest escalation in a feud over soaring gasoline prices that Newsom calls greedy and manipulative.

Newsom said today that he would convene the special session on Dec. 5, the same day that a new class of lawmakers is sworn in. The work will take place on a separate track from the regular session to focus attention on what Newsom said has become one of the most urgent priorities for Californians: an “inexplicable” gap between gas prices in California and the national average that has grown to a record $2.50 a gallon.

“This is just rank price-gouging,” Newsom told reporters following a speech in Sacramento, adding, “There’s nothing to justify it. Nothing. Not one thing.”

Gas prices in California have soared in recent weeks to an average of $6.39 per gallon, as of Friday, according to AAA, near the highest they’ve ever been. That compares to a national average of $3.89 per gallon.

Analysts have blamed maintenance-related shutdowns at several refineries in California, constricting the supply of a special blend of gasoline mandated by the state to reduce pollution.

But Newsom said that the stoppages had knocked less than 6% of production offline, not nearly enough to justify the surge in costs at the pump. He said oil companies were clearly taking advantage of the situation to manipulate prices and pad their profits.

“This is one of the greatest fleecings for consumers in world history,” he said.

In a statement, a representative for the oil industry said the Legislature could better use its time reconsidering decades of energy policy that have driven up costs for Californians, rather than passing another tax that would only raise prices further.

“If this was anything other than a political stunt, the governor wouldn’t wait two months and would call the special session now, before the election,” said Kevin Slagle, a spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association. “This industry is ready right now to work on real solutions to energy costs and reliability if that is what the Governor is truly interested in.”

Newsom, who originally unveiled his plans for a so-called “windfall tax” on oil companies a week ago, had few additional details to share today. He said he had been studying examples from other countries, including Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, and exchanging ideas with legislative leaders over the past few days. The plan could take the form of an excise tax, he said, with revenue being returned to taxpayers as rebates.

Despite his urgency, he said convening the special session in two months would give his team time to “get our ducks in a row” — developing a strategy that can get through the Legislature, where a two-thirds vote by both houses is required for any tax measure, and stand up to expected legal challenges by the oil industry.

“It’s about doing it right, not fast,” he said. “We want to be deliberative.”

While Newsom’s proposal was cheered by environmental groups, it remains to be seen what level of enthusiasm there will be in the Legislature, where the governor twisted arms to pass a sweeping package of climate measures over the summer. (The oil industry has already filed a referendum to overturn one of those, a setback requirement around oil and gas wells.) Dozens of new lawmakers will be taking office in December and the first issue they will now be asked to consider is a tax.

“A solution that takes excessive profits out of the hands of oil corporations and puts money back into the hands of consumers deserves strong consideration by the Legislature,” Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, a San Diego Democrat, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Lakewood Democrat, said in a joint statement. “We look forward to examining the Governor’s detailed proposal when we receive it.”

Republicans, who comprise a superminority of the Legislature, criticized the tax plan as insulting and said that it would drive up prices further because oil companies would pass on the cost.

“The only reason to call a special legislative session would be to suspend the gas tax, reduce the fees and regulations that make California gas so expensive, and allow permits to increase production to lower gas prices,” Assemblymember Vince Fong, a Bakersfield Republican who is vice chairperson of the Assembly budget committee, said in a statement.

Today, Newsom once again rejected calls to suspend the state’s 54-cent-per-gallon gas tax, because he said oil companies would simply pocket the savings. He said a windfall tax was the bold approach needed after years of “too timid” studies and investigations into excessive gas prices in California.

“That just offsets their greed and avarice,” he said of suspending the gas tax, “when in fact we should be going after that greed and addressing the anxiety of people at the same time.”

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