Come to harvest in Humboldt where even the lint catchers in laundromats may hide pot.  Join my co-reporter, Lisa Morehouse, and I as  we talk with locals to explain how this small area’s financial picture is evolving.

Lisa is working on a series called New Harvest:The Future of Small Town California for radio.  Two of her pieces have already been heard on the California Report.  She has explored the demise of the olive industry in Lindsay and how the town has reinvented itself.* And  corporate wine’s takeover of Boonville* making the locals into “vassals.” On January 7th, our piece will also air.

As we work on the story, we’ll put  sweet little excerpts and photos here on my blog.  Today’s post features our interview with Tara Sutherland (pictured below)  whose roots run deep into the Humboldt soil—her ancestors include both the local Wailaki Indians and some of the first white settlers. Listen by clicking on the link below as she explains how marijuana money keeps local businesses healthy. Her description of the laundromat is delightful.

Click on this link to listen to the laundromat scene.  From load to finish it is less than a minute to listen to.

Piles of clothes in the laundromat, many of them from marijuana growers represent money flowing into Humboldt’s economy. In our piece, we’ll be interviewing several local business folk (including Ernie Branscomb—one of my favorite local bloggers and owner of the Branscomb Center in Garberville) and members of nonprofits (including Joe Hiney of the Mateel Community Center.)

You can support Lisa’s independent journalism on Spot.us (a wonderful site with a plethora of good stories waiting to be funded.  I’ll post about it in a few days.)  There is little reporting done on rural life.  Here is your chance to help promote stories about our world.

For more about laundromats in Humboldt click here.

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*to listen, download the audio.  Both are wonderful pieces but I can’t make the listen-online version work.