May 16
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Call It Cannabis

By Education, Media

Steve Gieder, Executive Director of Humboldt Green helped encourage California politicians to start using the term cannabis instead of marijuana. Back in 2015, Gavin Newsom the Lieutenant Governor of California traveled to Garberville with the Blue-Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy to hold a public forum to hear from the Emerald Triangle Farmers directly. This event marked a pivotal day in California cannabis history. The packed town hall meeting brought together the California Lieutenant Governor, Assembly member Jim Woods, local law enforcement, farmers, concerned community members and local stakeholders. During the first half of the meeting, the community listened to politicians explain how new State laws would unfold during legalization and how Humboldt’s braintrust of all things green would be a huge influence.

Steve Gieder recounts his experience at the meeting, “During the first half of the discussion, I kept cringing as I listened to the politicians and law enforcement repeatedly use the “M” word. Marijuana is a word that was coined during National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger’s war on drugs. Most of the people in that room did not have a clue about the history of the “M” word.”

The second half of the meeting featured a Q and A session between audience members and the regulators. Gieder listened as community members used different terminology to describe our most valued agriculture crop. “I stood in line and listed to the concerns of our Humboldt cannabis community”, explained Gieder. The Executive Director of Humboldt Green stepped up to the microphone to educate and convince the visiting politicians to stop using the derogatory term marijuana and to start calling the healing plant cannabis instead.

“When I took the mic, my emotions took over as usual and I began my calculated approach to helping the big wigs hear our collective voice. I explained that I was a member of California Cannabis Voice Humboldt and asked the regulators to acknowledge that they were using the derogatory made up term marijuana. I shared with them that our farming community does not approve of the “M” word and asked them to instead use the scientific and progressive term cannabis. I told them it was time to leave the “M” word behind,” stated Gieder.

Lieutenant Governor Newsome and the Blue-Ribbon Commission was very receptive to Gieder’s suggestion. They apologized for using the derogatory word and changed their terminologies immediately. Gieder explained, “The crowd was feeling it and the politicians thanked me for my contribution to the meeting. After the event was over I approached the panel and they embraced me, and we took photos together.”

Steve Gieder of Humboldt Green

Futurist Ken Hamik, long-time friend and business associate of Gieder was also present at the Town Hall Meeting. “I captured this photo when a single voice (Steve Gieder) stood in front of the Lieutenant Governor of California and said don’t call it marijuana, call it cannabis,” shared Hamik.

Gieder’s statement had a huge impact that day in setting off a wave of change. The Blue-Ribbon Commission continued their tour throughout California and in every town they visited along the way they championed using the word cannabis instead of marijuana.

In January of 2016, Assembly member Rob Bonta was successful in updating Assembly Bill 1575 to replace the word marijuana with the correct term cannabis.

“By speaking up, we helped change cannabis history and it’s something I’m really proud of,” said Gieder.

Visit KMUD.org to listen to the May 29, 2015 live broadcast recording of the Blue-Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy; Public Forum in Garberville. Steve Gieder speaks at the 28:09 mark.

Apr 02
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State Cannabis Licensing Authorities Provide Provisional Licensing Update

By Government

CalCannabis sent out a press release to provide an update on California’s provisional cannabis licenses that will help prevent gaps in licensure when active temporary licenses expire.

NEWS RELEASE
State Cannabis Licensing Authorities Provide Provisional Licensing Update


SACRAMENTO, March 29, 2019—The Bureau of Cannabis Control, California Department of Public Health, and California Department of Food and Agriculture are taking steps to prevent gaps in licensure when active temporary commercial cannabis licenses expire.
Each licensing authority is tracking expiration dates of temporary licenses and intends to issue a provisional license to qualified temporary license holders before their current temporary license expires. To qualify for a provisional license, an applicant must:
(1) Hold or have held a temporary license for the same premises and the same commercial cannabis activity for which the provisional license will be issued; and
(2) Have submitted a completed license application to the licensing authority, which must include a document or statement indicating that California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance is underway.
If you are contacted by your state licensing authority for additional information, please respond promptly so that processing of a provisional license is not delayed.

Please note that a completed application for purposes of obtaining a provisional license is not the same as a sufficient application to obtain an annual license. Licensees issued a provisional license are expected to be diligently working toward completing all annual license requirements in order to maintain a provisional license.
Temporary or provisional licensees must meet all statutory and regulatory requirements in order to receive an annual license.

Mar 14
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Joe Knows – Soil Management

By Consulting, Media

Joe Moran of 1 Degree Consulting talks about the importance of a Soil Management Plan on this week’s episode of Joe Knows. Tune into the Humboldt Green YouTube channel each week for industry news and information.

Joe Knows Soil Management – 1 Degree Consulting

Joe knows soil! Managing your soil is a huge component of growing cannabis. It’s important to test your soil and water, not just for a healthy yield, but you want to be able to past testing and get your product into the hands of consumers. There are two soil models in cannabis farming, managing native soils and importing soil to your farm. There are some negatives and benefits for each model.

When you import soil there are a lot of costs you have to consider. The purchase costs, freight, delivery, soil storage and above ground irrigation. The positives are that you don’t need a huge nutrient regime because the soil comes loaded with food. Water storage, diversion and reporting of water usage are some of the bigger elements to importing soil. Above ground containers can also use a lot of water.

Benefits of using native soil and having plants in the ground is that you save on purchasing and labor costs, plus there’s already a water source in the ground. The water retention value for native soil is greater than farming in a container. The native soil already has minerals and nutrients, but the important thing is that you want to get it tested because you might have deficiencies or too much of one property.

Farmers can consider both models, but you need a soil management program for farm to be successful. If you’re going after your County permit, you need an Operating Plan, Soil Management Plan and a Site Management Plan for your waterboard enrollment. The team at 1 Degree Consulting can help you write the plans that are needed for compliancy.

Seasonal year-round planning is important when it comes to soil management, whether you’re doing it during the growing season or during the wintertime. The Soil Scientists at Dirty Business Soil inside of Northcoast Horticulture Supply, can test your soil, water and plant tissue and create a custom Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) based on analytical results. NHS can then create a custom soil and amendment blend based on your NMP and offer Farm-Direct pricing on all of your supply needs.

Mar 04
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Maintaining Your Legal Cultivation Status In Humboldt County

By Consulting, Government

The following letter was made available by the Cannabis Services Division in Humboldt and sent on Thursday, February 28th.

“Dear Cannabis Annual and Interim Permit Holders,

Humboldt County is dedicated to helping you succeed in the legal California cannabis market and we need to share important information with you. As of January 1, 2019, temporary state licenses for commercial cannabis cultivation are no longer available from CalCannabis. To continue to hold a license to legally cultivate this season, you will be required to obtain either an annual or provisional state license once your temporary license expires. In order to be in a position to obtain an annual or provisional license it is imperative that you have either a Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement (LSA) or an Operation of Law letter from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). If you have not yet submitted a complete LSA notification to CDFW please do so immediately.

It is also critical that you respond to any request for information from CalCannabis in a short period of time to ensure that your application does not suffer unnecessary delays that could threaten your ability to legally cultivate cannabis in Humboldt County. If your temporary license expires and you do not obtain an annual or provisional license, you are no longer legally allowed to cultivate cannabis in Humboldt County even if your Humboldt County permit is valid.”

To learn more about how to submit a Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement or an Operation of Law letter from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, please visit the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife.

1 Degree Consulting can help you with your LSA or CDF. Call our office at 707-890-6600 so that we can help get you on the road to compliancy.

Mar 01
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Joe Knows – Local Permitting & State Licensing Update for 2019

By Consulting, Education

Cultivators need a local and state license to operate and have plants in the ground. Joe Moran of 1 Degree Consulting talks about extension of interim local permits, state licensing and the track and trace system. If you are a cultivator and do not have your local permit or state license you could be part of the spring gap and not be able to put plants in the ground until all of your paperwork is lined up.

Contact 1 Degree Consulting so that we can get your farm on track to compliancy and get you closer to harvesting the fruits of your labor. Call the 1 Degree Consulting office to make a Phase Zero Discovery Meeting appointment at 707.890.6600.

Feb 21
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1 Degree Consulting

SB 67 Cannabis Licenses Fact Sheet

By Government

Senator McGuire and Assemblymember Wood have introduced SB 67 as a short term solution to alleviate the significant backlog of annual license applications. The following SB 67 (McGuire) fact sheet was provided by Christopher Nielsen, Legislative Director.

Summary
Cannabis licensing authorities (State Depts., for example)
were authorized to issue temporary licenses until January 1,
2019, that are valid for 120 days and may be extended for
additional 90-day periods at the discretion of the licensing
authority. Due to the processing time for annual licenses
being much longer than expected, thousands of temporary
licenses are set to expire in the coming months before their
annual licenses are considered and/or processed. SB 67 will
provide licensing authorities the ability to grant extensions
until they process the annual application backlog for the
estimated 10,000 temporary licenses.


Background
The state’s licensing authorities, the Department of Food
and Agriculture (CDFA), Dept. of Public Health (DPH),
and the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) were able to
issue four-month temporary licenses to applicants, with
opportunities for 90 – day extensions. The temporary
licenses required proof of local authorization and entitled
the holders to engage in commercial cannabis activity
without completing the annual licensing application
requirements, including CEQA review.
At the end of last year’s session, the legislature was made
aware the local CEQA review was going to hold up the
issuance of annual licenses going forward. To buy more
time for the locals to conduct CEQA reviews, the
legislature passed SB 1459, which authorized a licensing
authority to issue a provisional license to an applicant if theapplicant holds or held a temporary license, demonstrated
substantial compliance with CEQA while local review was
still occurring, and the applicant completed all other
portions of the application. This provisional license
authority sunsets on January 1, 2020.


Problem
The temporary license was intended as an intermediary step
while the state and local jurisdictions managed their own
efforts to come into compliance with the cannabis
regulatory structure. However, due to the significant
amount of annual license applications that came in during
the fall of 2018 after the legislature adjourned, there are
over 10,000 temporarily licenses currently in the system
that will be eligible for a provisional license.
This massive volume of temporary licenses creates the real
risk that not all provisional annual license applications can
be processed prior to temporary licenses expire. CDFA,
DPH, and BCC have been working diligently to address the
sheer volume of licenses that came in prior to the
temporary license authority was lost, but there is no
guarantee they will process all the applications prior to
temporary licenses expiring. For example, over 1000
temporary licenses issued by CDFA are set to expire in the
month of March 2019 alone, with thousands more over the
following months.
In a time where the golden state is working overtime to
bring the cannabis industry out of the black market and into
the light of a legal regulatory environment, we can’t afford
to let good actors who want to comply with state law fall
out of our regulated market just because timelines are too
short and departments have been unable to process
applications in time due to the sheer number of
applications.


Solution
SB 67 allows CDFA, DPH, and BCC to extend temporary
licenses held by licensees while their annual application is
being processed so long as the annual application was in
before the temporary expired and one of the following
applies: The application is being held up by the local
authorization. The application is delayed by the lake and streambed alteration review process. The application is within its period where applicants are provided 90 days to correct incomplete applications.
Further, SB 67 requires any licensing authority who uses
the extension authority to provide certain metrics to the
legislature about how the provisional annual applications
are being processed. SB 67 creates a short-term solution do
avoid an impending crisis, and this reporting will allow the
Legislature to have a fuller conversation about licensing
through the 2019 legislative session, as SB 67’s authority
expires January 1, 2020. Additional discussions – about a
longer term fix to the backlog – will be advancing in a
parallel effort in the coming weeks and months.

Senator McGuire and Assemblymember Wood have introduced SB-67

Jan 22
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2019 Humboldt Green Week

Humboldt Green Week 2019

By Events

Humboldt Green Week is a manifestation of culture advancing the ideals of our community while building bridges, honoring the environment, supporting the local economy, and promoting music, art, and solutions through action.  Join us in showcasing a week of gatherings to celebrate Earth Day and this special place we call home. Humboldt Green Week 2019 runs from April 12th to the 22nd.

Humboldt Green is currently searching for musicians, artists, performers, non-profits, environmental and community groups as well as local businesses to participate in Humboldt Green Week 2019. 

Become a sponsor of Humboldt Green Week and have a hand in bringing people together to build bridges in our community. Are you an educational center that has something to share with the youth? Guided walks, child yoga classes, drawing instruction, drum circles, museum visits would all be great additions to the 2018 calendar.  Let us help promote the great things you have to offer.

Humboldt Green Week partners with local Non-Profit Organizations to celebrate the great work that is being done in Humboldt County. If your NPO is interested in tabling space at one of the many HGW events, please contact our Green Team staff. If you would like to submit an event, volunteer or be involved in Humboldt Green Week in any way, please email Lori@HumboldtGreenWeek.com. #HGW2019

Oct 12
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Winterization Workshops

By Education

Dirty Business Soil and Northcoast Horticulture Supply will be teaming up for two Winterization Workshops during October and November. We will be discussing why harvest time is considered to be the beginning of your next cycle. Winter is a time to increase organic matter and microbes in your soil, along with optimizing your pH and removing most, if not all of the salt build-up. You can bring a soil sample in to any NHS location to have it analyzed for salts and current nutrient levels – we can help with getting your soil optimized for spring! Winterization components such as compost, cover crops, straw mulching, and compost tea will also be discussed in detail. Preparing your garden and farm for Spring will help build a healthier soil and help reduce erosion, pests & disease! Register at nhs-hydroponics.com/events.

October Winterization Workshop

Location: Eureka NHS 852 W. Wabash Avenue

Date: Saturday, October 27th

Time: 1:00 to 3:00

Cost: $25.00

Purchase Tickets

November Winterization Workshop

Location: NHS – Fortuna Feed 126 Dinsmore Drive

Date: Saturday, November 10th

Time: 1:00 to 3:00

Cost: $25.00

Purchase Tickets

  • Preps production areas for the following cycle by resting and rejuvenating with OM, Microbes, and ground cover.
  • Optimize pH and removes salt build-up: liming and leaching.
  • Soil health builder – nutrient retention, biology, N-fixing, humus building.
  • Erosion reduction.
  • Pest and disease reduction.
  • Ecological and economic principles/benefits.

WINTERIZATION

Compost

Cover Crop

Cardboard – If sheet mulching.

Straw Mulch

Compost Tea Applications – as much as you want, even none if you are low tech or lazy or whatever the reason – you will still get benefits from simply sheet mulching and getting compost in there.

Liming Agents – need a pH measurement to know how much liming agent is needed.