Fall leaves color the hills and a different kind of fall foliage waved its tutti frutti scent down the main street of Garberville around noon today.  Passerbys inhaled the pungent sweet odor and turned to each other questioningly.

“A truck just drove by filled with marijuana,” explained Lisa Music, owner of Pizzazz, a hip clothing store in that Southern Humboldt town.  Encountering startled looks, she hastened to add, “A sheriff’s truck.”

A few minutes later, a horse trailer pulled by an official vehicle and accompanied by two other sheriff trucks parked just outside the Eel River Conservation Camp.  Peeking like prisoners through the slats were large green marijuana buds.  The pungent scent wafted over the hills and mingled with the other fall foliage.  It is harvest time again.

UPDATE:  According to Brenda Godsey of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s office,  there were operations today on the Woods Ranch, Sprowel Creek and in Seely Creek that could have been the source for the harvest.