Blog CemeteryThe Illicit Greenhouses of Sonoma County
September 22nd 2006 00:29
In northern California, sometimes referred to affectionately by residents as ‘nor cal’, there exists an abundance of farmland. Should you drive north on highway 101 past San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and through the wealthy suburb of Marin county itself, you will soon find yourself in the luxurious green pastureland of Sonoma. Here there exist cattle ranchers, sheep ranchers, and a plethora of wineries whose crop are world-famous, and a minority of farmers whose crop is more often known as “world-infamous.”
These gentlemen and ladies simply refer to themselves as “growers”, and as their crop as “the crop”. For several generations now, growers of the crop have banded together as a semi-underground society of agrarian semi-outlaws, some arguing with the government over jurisdiction of marijuana, others operating entirely legitimate businesses that transact with doctors who may prescribe the crop to patients in need.
Reggae music is also popular in this part of the world for some reason. During my sojourn to Sonoma, I stayed on a permaculture farm whose main crops were wine grapes, tomatoes, and an exotic lime from New Zealand whose name I have forgotten. But a few miles’ drive into the various downtowns in the evening often yielded the steady skank of reggae music emanating casually from the local taverns.
In fact, the entire swatch of coastal land from Sonoma county north to Portland can somewhat be described as a neo-agrarian paradise with what one can assume reggae (or sometimes it is heard as ‘dub’) to be just a thematic element. Or is it merely thematic? One of the largest reggae gatherings on the West Coast (and possibly, the world) takes place just over the state border in Oregon at a festal little backwoods town each year.
One thinks of the greenhouse as a larger metaphor – a place where certain delicate plants can grow. How delicate now is the life of a farmer in America, that is, of any farmer who seeks to conduct a profitable enterprise outside of the major wineries of Napa county (next-door) lovely as they are, or the agribusiness monolith Monsanto? Where there are restrictions a farmer may hope for freedom, where there are prohibitions one can hope for legalization.
These gentlemen and ladies simply refer to themselves as “growers”, and as their crop as “the crop”. For several generations now, growers of the crop have banded together as a semi-underground society of agrarian semi-outlaws, some arguing with the government over jurisdiction of marijuana, others operating entirely legitimate businesses that transact with doctors who may prescribe the crop to patients in need.
Reggae music is also popular in this part of the world for some reason. During my sojourn to Sonoma, I stayed on a permaculture farm whose main crops were wine grapes, tomatoes, and an exotic lime from New Zealand whose name I have forgotten. But a few miles’ drive into the various downtowns in the evening often yielded the steady skank of reggae music emanating casually from the local taverns.
In fact, the entire swatch of coastal land from Sonoma county north to Portland can somewhat be described as a neo-agrarian paradise with what one can assume reggae (or sometimes it is heard as ‘dub’) to be just a thematic element. Or is it merely thematic? One of the largest reggae gatherings on the West Coast (and possibly, the world) takes place just over the state border in Oregon at a festal little backwoods town each year.
One thinks of the greenhouse as a larger metaphor – a place where certain delicate plants can grow. How delicate now is the life of a farmer in America, that is, of any farmer who seeks to conduct a profitable enterprise outside of the major wineries of Napa county (next-door) lovely as they are, or the agribusiness monolith Monsanto? Where there are restrictions a farmer may hope for freedom, where there are prohibitions one can hope for legalization.
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Comment by Brenton
Dr Spin
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Comment by Always Eighteen
Always Eighteen
It's also funny how they listen to reggae!
Comment by Chantal