Blazing Oaks 2016

[Blaze]

Finally had a nice sunny day today, the weather this spring has been cold and cloudy. Growth has been slower than I like to see as a result, but everything looks healthy. The light dep greenhouse should be ready to flip fairly soon though. Since it was sort of a hodge-podge of genetics that got planted due to it being so last minute, some of the smaller clones still need to catch up. Because of this I have been selectively pruning in order to get the canopy more evenly filled out before I start to flower them.

Got my soil test back this week and I should have all my needed amendments here by early next week. That should give the soil a good two weeks to cook before the full season outdoor is planted. For the most part the soil tests looked up but the Ca/Mg ratio is starting to get out of balance, we need to add more Ca this year and less Mg. Cannabis uses a LOT more Ca than Mg from what I've seen, so there is always more Mg left in the soil the next season while the Ca is usually almost totally depleted. Plus calcium should always be in a higher amount than Mg anyway, usually at about a 6 to 1 ratio according to the soil lab. This might be a little tricky because most organic sources of Ca also have either Mg, P, sulfur, or other element in them.

The weeds and some volunteer asparagus have absolutely shredded my weed cloth already. The asparagus has been a nice surprise to snack on when I'm out there working but the weeds are a real pain. @Seamaiden or anyone else, I've read that dish soap and white vinegar can make a good organic herbicide, has anyone actually tried it yet?

Looks like I will be getting my first apple harvest this fall if all goes well too! Two of the four apples I planted 4 years ago are loaded with fruit. The third one has a few fruit but it won't be much. The fourth one has been slow and struggled ever since it went in, I think I might replace it next year with a different variety.

The geese are going well, I can't believe how fast they grow. They have at least quadrupled in size int he two weeks I've had them. Our broody hen hatched her clutch this week - we got 11 chicks out of 13 eggs and so far all 11 have survived. Looks like we have a good mama hen after all, a ratio that high is great, even for an incubator.

Wrapped up the day by grilling up some perfectly medium rare T-bone steaks along with fresh corn, mushrooms and bread. Warm weather means time to fire up the outdoor camp kitchen and get grilling and smoking again! I picked up some pork belly recently so some home made chipotle bacon and roast pork belly will definitely be on the menu here soon.

 

[geologic]

Wrapped up the day by grilling up some perfectly medium rare T-bong steaks

The best kinda steaks...

 

[Ned Kelly]

Used water and vinegar 50/50 works but u have to keep applying from my experience every second day for 10 days .

 

[Seamaiden]

I've read that dish soap and white vinegar can make a good organic herbicide, has anyone actually tried it yet?

Yes, it didn't work. Maybe I wasn't as diligent as I should have been, but the weeds I used it on threw their heads back and scoffed at me, so I left in shame.

Two of the four apples I planted 4 years ago are loaded with fruit.

Now is the time to thin them out. You'll get bigger and tastier fruit if you thin.

Our broody hen hatched her clutch this week - we got 11 chicks out of 13 eggs and so far all 11 have survived. Looks like we have a good mama hen after all, a ratio that high is great, even for an incubator.

Fantastic! I thought you had two who were brooding, though. Did the other one give it up? I now have two chicks, each a week apart, new Momma broody hen is VERY protective, bordering on aggressive. She's always been aggressive though, when she was just a chick I thought for sure she was a rooster, she was that aggressive.

I see chicken dinner in someone's future! :D

 

[Blaze]

Fantastic! I thought you had two who were brooding, though. Did the other one give it up? I now have two chicks, each a week apart, new Momma broody hen is VERY protective, bordering on aggressive. She's always been aggressive though, when she was just a chick I thought for sure she was a rooster, she was that aggressive.

I see chicken dinner in someone's future! :D

Most of the work seems like it's being done by the original broody hen, the other one just sort of sits around and watches most of the time. Occasionally I find 1 or 2 chicks under her. We've got one little chick that is noticeably faster and stronger than the others - even at 3 days old it was able to leap up and out of the coop and was tearing around the chicken yard.

 

[Seamaiden]

If you can, mark that chick somehow. Even if it's a rooster, it's vigorous and you may wish to maintain its genetics.

 

[geologic]

Have you seen the video of Mother Goose--
getting the po-leese to help save her gosling???

 

[Blaze]

No, I had not, that is pretty cool. So far it seems like they definitely are a lot smarter than the cows or the chickens we have - much more personality too. They've been a fun addition to the ranch. My 3 year old is absolutely in love with them, she has dubbed herself the 'mama goose' and plays with them everyday (and apparently our dog is the 'papa goose' lol).

 

[royfree2grow]

I think something like what Humboldt passed would be reasonable. Their guidelines are for the most part in line with what the state passed too, which makes things simpler. There are different licenses for different types of cultivations (indoor, outdoor, greenhouse) and different tiers for how large the garden is. The larger the grow, the higher the tier, the more restrictions and fees you have to deal with. There are limits on how many permits can be held by each individual and on each property to prevent a couple of large operations from planting like 20 acres and putting all their neighbors out of business. The tier 2 cultivation for outdoor and greenhouse is 10,000 square feet, or about a quarter acre, which I think is reasonable. I believe Humboldt will be allowing larger tier 3 grows of up to a few acres but they are much more heavily regulated so I don't think we will be seeing too many of them.

The MRRSA act already outlined all this stuff very clearly, that is why it is so frustrating to see our local officials fumbling everything so badly - the heavy lifting has already been done for them. Other than the issue of personal cultivation and concerns over restrictions on distributors I think that MRRSA was actually a well thought act for the most part.

It should be regulated and overseen by the Agriculture department, just like any other crop, NOT the Sheriff department. Mendocino really needs to get away from this whole plant count nonsense too, and go with square footage. The MMRSA act regulates everything by square footage, as does the water board. Plant counts are a totally nonsensical and idiotic way to regulate production - a single plant can produce anywhere from 1 oz to 15 lbs. Canopy space instead of plant counts also makes enforcement and regulation far more simple and easy - so long as you are within your canopy area, numbers don't matter. Not to mention plant counts push people to have to grow smaller numbers of larger plants, which is very inefficient. Bigger plants require more labor, more water, more fertilizer and soil, and usually of lower quality, all of which put the farmer at a competitive disadvantage.

Zoning is another big concern, depending on how they implement that it could screw over a lot of people. I agree that commercial production should not be in residential neighborhoods (I can't run cattle in town for example), but allowing the smaller tiers of cultivation for Rural Residential and smaller parcels, with the larger tiers on larger properties with Timer Production, Agriculture, Rangeland, and Commercial zoning is reasonable. If they end up restricting it to just the type 1A ag zoning like they did in Lake County, 99% of the growers in this county will be locked out right off the bat since the only areas that have that are the vineyards down on the valley floors.

They really need to address the aspect of nursery production too. That was one of the other really stupid reason to have a plant count - it makes compliance almost impossible because you ALWAYS need to start more seeds and clones to account for males, duds, and casualties to pests. Would you ever see a tomato farmer germinate *exactly* how many seeds they would need to plant their acreage? Of course not - they would go out of business because they wouldn't have enough plants. Also how is a nursery supposed to stay in business if they can only propagate 25 plants (which is how it is right now)? Poorly thought our restrictions like that just force people to cheat or to just ignore the guidelines out right, which has the exact opposite effect of what regulations and guidelines are supposed to achieve in the first place.

I hear you bro but relatively you guys are not that bad.. I'd give *everything just to be able to grow ANY number of plants without the fear of the police knocking on my door and a mandatory jailtime of 2 years... up here regulation is very far from being implemented. But the grass is always greener on the other side right?...

Everything looks really great man! beautiful job!

 

[Blaze]

I hear you bro but relatively you guys are not that bad.. I'd give *everything just to be able to grow ANY number of plants without the fear of the police knocking on my door and a mandatory jailtime of 2 years... up here regulation is very far from being implemented. But the grass is always greener on the other side right?...

Everything looks really great man! beautiful job!

That's very true, we don't have mandatory minimums here for cannabis anymore which is huge. We are sort of stuck in this weird limbo now though, where we have agencies like the NCRWB (North Coast Regional Water Board) wanting people to pay fees and sign up for their program, yet it offers no legal protection. So they want your money, but they still want to be able to bust you too. It doesn't help that the county board of supervisors is utterly incompetent and refuses to do their job and craft some sort of local program. It is pretty sad - Mendocino has been at the forefront of cannabis cultivation for decades, yet now we are getting left in the dust.

Some of what has been coming down from the NCRWB is really concerning as well. They still absolutely refuse to certify any local third party inspectors for their program and as far as I can tell are operating without and over-sight or public input. They can literally make up the rules and regulations as they go along and have already changed their guidelines since the program started a few months ago. They seem to think they are the cannabis police, and have been flying the entire county with helicopters looking for violations...

 

[papapayne]

found your thread finally!! Great info and work my friend! Can definitely see the passion and professionalism in every picture, and post. Your a credit to growers everywhere. Its definitely hard position they have left growers in, I dont personally set out to be a criminal, and certainly don't want to live under the law. But when the laws we the people vote in are so radically changed...I know here in Oregon the prop 91 to legalize that the people voted on looks nothing like the monstrosity on the books now. It seems clear the government is corrupt at every level, so what do we do? All I know is I love growing, Ill be growing when there's no money in it. hell the grower in my would love it to be so accepted I could plant my cannabis right next to the hops and no one give it a second look. The business sense in me fears when Monsanto and Phillip Morris gobble the market. They will have to pay off Pfizer first though lol

Anyway, sorry for the rant! Plants are looking on time, and once the weather is in our favor, It will be epic seeing in go.

Thanks for the contributions to the cannabis community,

stay free stay high

papa

 

[GrowGod]

Awesome thread man love the livestock and plants!

 

[Blaze]

found your thread finally!! Great info and work my friend! Can definitely see the passion and professionalism in every picture, and post. Your a credit to growers everywhere. Its definitely hard position they have left growers in, I dont personally set out to be a criminal, and certainly don't want to live under the law. But when the laws we the people vote in are so radically changed...I know here in Oregon the prop 91 to legalize that the people voted on looks nothing like the monstrosity on the books now. It seems clear the government is corrupt at every level, so what do we do? All I know is I love growing, Ill be growing when there's no money in it. hell the grower in my would love it to be so accepted I could plant my cannabis right next to the hops and no one give it a second look. The business sense in me fears when Monsanto and Phillip Morris gobble the market. They will have to pay off Pfizer first though lol

Anyway, sorry for the rant! Plants are looking on time, and once the weather is in our favor, It will be epic seeing in go.

Thanks for the contributions to the cannabis community,

stay free stay high

papa

Thanks for the kind words papa! I do worry there is a big storm brewing on the horizon for Northern California growers and our way of life here. We will definitely be fighting an uphill battle against incompetent and corrupt government at both the state and county level. There are a lot of special interests that are pushing hard to put the small farmer out of business and take over the industry. It is going to be a turbulent and uncertain couple of years ahead of us.

I figure all we can do is just keep doing what we've been doing all along though. We work hard on fine tuning and improving our process every year, and always push to improve our efficiency and quality as much as we can. Having to deal with lawyers, taxes, regulations, branding, etc is definitely new territory though - it is all changing so fast that sometimes it makes my head spin...

 

[MendoGiantZ]

i could understand if they wanted to regulate the product to make sure it meets health regulations and make sure nothing really bad is put in the weed but it has nothing to do with that. It's all bs paperwork and corporations trying to eliminate the small farmer. I agree with you a big change is on the horizon I just wonder how it's all gonna go down.

 

[Little Hill]

The biggest thing we can do is vote. Get your friends to vote. In our small counties the vote really does count as opposed to the national elections. Second thing to do is attend planning commision and board of supes meetings and speak. Present a well constructed arguement and make your voice heard. Ive seen this work.

Most politicians are asshats. It comes with the territory. But you can get through as they want nothing more than to be reelected. Until growers show up in mass to the ballot box we have retirees brainwashed by reefer madness calling the shots for us.

 

[Blaze]

It does work! We had a big victory in Mendocino yesterday, the BOS voted unanimously to approve an emergency cannabis cultivation measure for this year until the final guidelines are approved, which will probably be late this year or early next year. You get enough people at these local meetings, enough times, and bit by bit the local politicians will start to listen.

The final details need to be approved but we will be able to grow up to 99 outdoor plants or 9,990 square feet of greenhouse space with no plant limits, and permits will being to get issues probably by the end of the month. A 'zip tie' will have to be purchased from the Sheriffs department, and each zip tie will cover either 1 outdoor plant or 100 square feet of greenhouse space.

There are of course other regulations that must be followed, such as minimum parcel sizes, correct zoning, a 6' metal wire fence around the grow, etc but this was a HUGE step in the right direction. You will need to get a cultivation permit from the county, and a third party inspector will also be approved to do inspections for the Sheriffs department so you do not have to have a deputy out in your grow. Most likely it will be a representative from the Small Farmers Association as they were the ones that did it before under the old 93.1 cultivation program.

I need to wait to see what the final details are since they could still throw a monkey wrench in the program at the last minute, but I might be making a last minute scramble to get more plants out in the garden. At the very least everything I am growing this year looks like it should be 100% legal. I have all the correct set backs, zoning, and all other requirements and permits needed to do the 99 plant / 9,990 square foot cultivation legally. I will be beginning the process this summer to prepare a 5,000-10,000 square foot cultivation space for next year. There is a prefect spot on the ranch that is nice and flat, with all day solar exposure, totally hidden from view from any public roads, and it already has an approved permit for a dedicated irrigation pond, we've just been waiting for when a legal cultivation program finally came together to make it all happen....

 

[MendoGiantZ]

Thats awesome @Blaze ... Even if they don't get everything totally perfect this year its a sign that they are willing to move in the right direction.... Ten thousand square feet of green house would be awesome--(thats a lot of light dep)

 

[MendoGiantZ]

you could have 10 greenhouses that are 10 x 100 and have rotating harvests every week...

 

[Blaze]

Thats awesome @Blaze ... Even if they don't get everything totally perfect this year its a sign that they are willing to move in the right direction.... Ten thousand square feet of green house would be awesome--(thats a lot of light dep)

It would be a ton - 4 times more than what was allowed before. It is probably a lot more than we could realistically scale up to in a single season without compromising the integrity and quality of the meds we grow. Which is likely just as well the state and county still have a lot of details to work out and AUMA could change it all in November anyway. But at least now we know we can do *something* and participate in the emerging legal California cannabis market. Looks like this next year is going to be busy, busy busy.

 

[MendoGiantZ]

I was about to say your gonna be super busy. ;)