Solo on California’s Last Wild Coastline

[Music]
the vastness the remoteness the free
feeling out here no cell phone service
and the goal is to get out here it’s
like a different world her father
founded this area just small town
community stuff everyone knows everyone
far out in these Hills historically it’s
also been weed operations and there’s a
difference between a criminal and an
outlaw you guys holding on out here by a
thread we all had to rely on one another
with our lives at one point or another
now we’re that’s the closest real town
no trespassing the sheriff doing his
round sure it was wild back in the day
and I think it still is there was a lot
of freedom to live differently we were
running from the cops we were running
from helicopters it’s really a
significant part of what we dealt with
here in the Emerald Triangle beautiful
isn’t it it’s one of the most beautiful
places in the world that’s how I
[Music]
feel good morning guys today we have
quite an adventure we’re going south
from here into the Lost Coast a part of
California’s Coastline that’s the least
developed least inhabited out there from
what I’ve been told are people living by
Design away from society with very
interesting stories and very beautiful
landscapes let’s do this
[Music]
here we’re coming up on the town of
ferdale a lot of Agriculture out here
and from what I’ve been told this is the
Gateway town to the Lost Coast and this
is the last town of any size for the
rest of today the first and the last
how you
doing do you guys live in Ferndale here
used do it’s a nice little town yeah
what’s going on out here nothing that’s
about it nothing why’d you move lady
problems know there is a timeing some of
that stuff I’m okay thank you though
okay thank you you’re welcome it’s a
good little town I been I spent 60 some
years here and finally moved out you
know and I I I love coming back
different than a lot of California up
here fair to say I yeah I would say me
Northern California we’re only 85 miles
from New organ board and we’ve kind of
got our own mentality separate from
Southern California you know they try to
call San Francisco Northern California
that’s not even close okay so you guys
look at yourself more like Southern
Oregon than San Francisco or La
absolutely I don’t even an IDE what San
Francisco just like it’s like a
different world we put our names on on
these benches we spend so much time here
oh here’s your name Craig yeah exactly
two Donna and a Lloyd and a Craig that
one Donna yeah I’m sitting on your you
got your name on the chair yes we do
I’ve been here for 5 minutes in
Ferndale oh what do you think tell me
about it what up how is it how is
Ferndale I love Ferndale I would live up
here in a heartbeat where do you live
Santa Rosa this is peaceful people are
friendly uh we can sit out here all day
long and visit with strangers and they
talk to us oh no this is a great place
if I was raising kids I’d raise them
here this is a gateway to the Lost Coast
fair to say oh yeah it would be an
adventure the road is terrible you got
to go through patrolia into honeydew go
to the right okay and that’ll take you
up some really Wilderness time see you
guys what a cool
place beautiful architecture some cool
shop
one of the most beautiful small towns
I’ve been to it is so Charming they just
don’t make them like these anymore all
right if any of you are from Ferndale
out there watching this video tell us
about your town down below in the
comments we’d love to hear about it okay
we’re leaving patrolia 30 mi from my
understanding there are only
unincorporated communities from from
here on out today we’re going to really
get out there and get a little bit of
glimpse of the Pacific Ocean before we
go to the interior of the Lost Coast
[Music]
seen a lot of the world but this
is one of the most beautiful places I’ve
seen today just the vastness the
remoteness the free feeling out here
[Music]
so this is the one area when you look at
a map of California you’ll see Route One
go up the coast of the whole state
except for this one part that being the
Lost Coast as you can see way off in the
distance there through the haze Cliffs
go right down into the ocean and so the
reason they didn’t build the one for
this section was because it was just too
rugged and hard to do so so the road
went Inland and that’s why the Lost
Coast is called The Lost Coast cuz it’s
hard to get to Super remote out here as
you can see guys not one car we’ve
passed three cars now at this point it’s
just nothing but nature rugged extreme
nature not far from here are the
Redwoods some of the biggest trees in
the world and you can see throughout the
years storms
have brought out
whoa brought out these massive pieces of
wood here washed them up on shore and
created this
beauty stop by the Honeydew store it’s
pretty neat store there right in town
that you head over the Honeydew Bridge
you’ll see some cool places too before
you head store it’s just a neat like
it’s just kind of a hangout spot like
when the pot was really big a lot of
people hung out there you can get some
good stories there I’m sure oh cool you
guys setting up post for a ranch out
here yeah what are the industries out
here for the most part uh ranching was
the original industry and then uh now
the marijuana and there’s some logging
still out here too the logging’s still
going mhm okay you live in Ferndale yep
what do you think of it out here I love
it out here I don’t know driveing from
fero it’s like an hour here every day so
it’s a perfect amount am of time to come
out to go to work this small town
community stuff you know everyone knows
everyone so we tell people NorCal it’s
right at the Oregon border do the guy in
ferdale was saying it it feels more
aligned with Southern Oregon than
California oh yeah that’s probably good
explanation
yeah okay guys another 20 minutes of
driving in from the coast and we’re
finally in petroia let’s go check this
out
this little
guy here’s the petroia General Store and
this is where you’re shopping when you
live out
here his name is Taco yeah little taco
guards the store yeah he’s like the
mayor yeah Taco is the mayor of town
cash only right yep okay we had a
different dog
a German shepherd and one day I was
walking down the cooler aisle and on the
bottom shelf uhhuh she went in the
cooler with her and went in and forgot
the dog and it was laying at the door
help me help me oh was his face looking
out by
the I’m still in
here so why are spoiled yours are why is
the town called petroia was there oil
found here or something there’s a little
plaque on the corner okay and and it has
the little story it’s not good quality
and where we’re at it’s not worth
they’ve drilled a few times they drill a
few times yeah do you love it out here
love it and I have been out here over 40
years 53 it’ll be 54 this year wow has
it changed much or still the same a lot
it’s going back to what it used to be
yeah going back yeah how we don’t have
to pot
growers so it went from Timber to sheep
sheep cattle cows to weed to nothing for
a little while I didn’t it’ll go back
what’s it what’s it now I see a bunch of
ranches cruising in yeah there’s a
couple of ranches ranches left so right
now it’s like the weed is cycling down
and then something else will replace or
we’re hoping you’re hoping yeah okay
something’s got to replace it are like
people moving out of town now or
something yeah oh
the weed isn’t worth anything anymore
everybody paid all the money to get
legal and uh now they can’t sell the
weed to make a profit so there’s some
like you guys holding on out here by a
thread by a thread y something’s got to
change do you get tourists coming
through here is that what does that help
that that’ll wean off in the winter does
that help at all a lot it during the
Spring yeah yeah okay well cool ladies
I’m going to go check that out record it
yeah enjoy thank you take care you
too California’s first drilled oil wells
California’s first drilled oil wells
producing crude to be refined and sold
commercially were’re located on the
North Fork of the matol river
approximately 3 Mi east of here the old
Union matol oil company made its first
shipment of oil from here on June 1865
to a San Francisco refinery many old
well heads remain today oh that’s
interesting right guys I don’t know if
you can see that matle road here on the
maps I just talked to a school teacher
unfortunately he didn’t want to be on
camera but he said the big struggle is
being so far from
everything and he said the kids are
struggling out here just like
anywhere and I said well doesn’t it help
being out in all of this
Countryside doesn’t that make it a
little easier on them and he said no
it’s just economic issues there are a
lot of people just getting by right now
and that’s causing issues obviously for
raising kids I mean you’re seeing what I
see here there aren’t many jobs and if
that growing is not paying then what
replaces it
mat gr this is like Community Center
something like that gr yeah mat Grange
okay I not even familiar with that term
is that a northern California
Brotherhood type of thing it’s almost
like a paternal uh Club but it’s it’s
it’s sort of a gaing like it was for
Farmers like okay to gather and like
create Community for okay and support
the families around that farming Village
so it’s yeah it goes back to that and
there still is like an active National
and state Grange
hall I mean it’s been going steady for
100 years oh yeah cool it’s still active
it’s just right now it’s becoming a
construction site and then it’ll get
buttoned up and W come back up we just
have like a big dance stage oh nice yeah
good Community out here
yeah yeah pretty pretty amazing actually
yeah I spent like my 20s up here and
just moved back recently so how’s it
feel being back pretty good I mean the
valley is kind of emptying out a little
bit that’s what they said at the store
the petrer store yeah they said it’s
going through a down down cycle MH
people mve in and yeah pot doesn’t it’s
not it doesn’t make uh Financial sense
for or people have a hard time making
Financial sense of how they can be out
here cuz you can’t just grow some weed
or because there was was money in
general in the weed world and then
everyone could do anything because it
just greased the wheels it just worked
its way trickle down through everything
huh yeah you can be Barber out here
would have money to pay you so you could
right right you can still make it most
grades have like Bingo like some nice
and pancake breakfast it’s kind oh nice
you got a lot of old people out here a
lot of young people or what is it a lot
of older people right now yeah yeah and
there is there is a good amount of I
would say there’s like 150 200 200
people active and there’s a lot of
people kind of in the Hills that hide in
the Hills that hide yeah just things is
a dining hall oh cool so this is active
now people come in here yeah yeah we
used to have meetings in here there’s a
a mobile vet that’s coming out to do
stuff mobile vet yeah cuz you got to you
don’t have any of these Services out
here huh yeah nothing no and nobody I
mean people go to town maybe once every
two weeks or something like that what’s
Town Eureka how far an hour and a half
that’s the closest real town mhm you got
to love that style of living then you
have to be out here yeah it’s it’s just
there’s things that are just kind of
hard there things you just put
away like what if you want a haircut
where do you
go I don’t have F
yeah people talk about like when they
come from Eureka like oh I would love to
live out here and like okay well but
then you would be here and like what
would you do and so a lot of people that
have like computer jobs they can make
money on computer jobs they would they
would it out here or cuz starlink works
out here right yeah do you have an
internet connection cuz my phone doesn’t
work yeah there’s internet to a lot of
these different places people have
starlink yeah but it’s kind of a little
bit messy the power goes out and then
you had no power no internet for a
couple of weeks last year you just sort
of sit in the dark and tough place to be
single huh yeah it really is no money
and no uh no women that’s all right
you can see through the trees here all
of the green houses and it smells like
weed for
sure even want to know how much this
kombucha is out in these parts it’s
going to be like
519 yeah ah I thought it would have been
worse
actually okay so you were out here
because of why you said uh because I was
addicted I was addicted to fentanyl oh
wow so I came out here to get silver and
I went through four centers in less than
a year and then I ended up up here and
I’ve been here for over a year and a
half there’s a center out here for
addiction yeah it’s called mountain of
Mercy faith-based mhm how is it so far
it’s it’s awesome I mean it’s completely
donation based so we rely on God and
donations I’ll leave a donation if I
left money with you would you be able to
deliver it there absolutely as a
donation yeah I live there so oh cool
I’m a counselor up there so so it’s
working for you yeah yeah absolutely how
long have you been off fentanyl uh since
May 18th of 22 good for you yeah I’ve
never uh lasted more than two months at
one so this one I’ve been here why do
you think this is more success a year
and a half you said right why you think
it’s more
successful I think it’s probably being
up here we have like a cross that
overlooks the Redwoods out at the edge
of the mountain and the people there
none of the staff get paid so they’re
there to like willingly to help you like
they’re volunteering their time to help
you and I think it just means more uh
knowing that they don’t have to be there
to help me but they’re choosing to be
okay so that’s why when I graduated I
stayed on a staff so your staff now mhm
do you still struggle with the addiction
or are you over it I’m over it wow what
do you have to say to those who are on
fentol what would your advice be it is
one of the hardest things that you will
ever do to get off but it’s worth it and
there’s actually the other side of the
road life’s gotten way better absolutely
yeah can you hold this yeah I’m going to
get something for your organization
because I do a lot of stories all over
the country and I’m running into the
fentanyl story a lot there’s no way
around it no and um if if I can give to
the organization that’s what I got thank
you it needs to be more of a nationwide
discussion right now yeah I feel
absolutely cuz a lot of people are
struggling yeah I mean my detoxes were
rough I had to rearn how to walk really
yeah so you are super addicted yeah I
had uh seizures I severe dehydration I
had to relearn how to walk I was maybe
89 lbs at the end of it so when you’re
on fentanyl do you have any
consciousness of your the attic and
you’re in it like do you have that or
you’re just totally in a different world
you don’t even really know you’re just
looking for your next fix that’s it
that’s it and do whatever it takes to
get the N next fix yeah you rob you
steal you lie you
cheat you’ll steal from anyone anyone
whatever yeah it’s like oxygen yeah it’s
water yeah you can’t you can’t live
without it okay are you looking for more
people going it’s completely free to go
through oh you can go ahead of me man I
was going to ask for a chant of Co in
now I go get it thank you no problem
take care all the best thank you have a
good it’s a great
story it’s really cool guys in these
videos I just show you what I come into
and I never know what I’m going to come
into and stories like that are super
important because I’ve made videos in
Kensington and all over American cities
and it’s not just cities anymore it’s
it’s everywhere and so when you see a
success story that’s awesome and anytime
you know I can shine a light on some
optimism in the darkness with topics
like that then then I feel like I’m
doing good work so you never know what
you’re going to get with me because I
never know what I’m going to get
into that lady story is cool man she’s
mentioned something to me before if you
spend enough time up here you’ll meet a
lot of people that have been on it and
have gotten better no way oh yeah this
it’s Humble
County like I’ve been here my whole life
no way yeah and it’s very common to drug
problems are very common you grew up in
the Lost Coast I grew up in Eureka okay
do you like it out here I I yeah I like
being away from from the
city beautiful isn’t it it’s one of the
most beautiful places in the world
that’s that’s how I feel what’s your
name Michael sorry my hands are P Peter
Peter yep it’s nice to meet you yeah you
too Michael take care
man so as you can see here no cell phone
service we
started up here Ferndale cruise down
we’re now in
honeydew and now we’re going to get off
the main
road and can’t even see a road here
little back roads but going all the way
down here to whitethorn
and then the goal is to get out
here by Sunset Shelter Cove so I’ve had
the camera off a lot you know a lot of
these large sections I’m not rolling so
what is it 1:20 started this
morning at 9:30 I believe so I got to
make some ground here and get all the
way down here to White Thorn and then
out
[Music]
that’s interesting police out
here the sheriff doing his
round so all the properties here have
big fences outside look at this one goes
for quite some time so I’m guessing and
I’m just speculating here that these are
weed
grows on the other side you can see all
the planters
no
trespassing you have the wire fence and
then the wooden fence so the wire
probably to keep the deer out and the
wood in to keep the eyeballs out and
then there are all these little back
roads here and I am sure there’s some
interesting
stuff far out in these oh look at that
what was that
what is that a car from the
30s overshot the
corner and well tree is coming out of
the wheel
well sure it was wild back in the day
and I think it still is a bit wild out
here I mean it’s one of those places you
can just do what you want there is no
one here
to
know looks like a bit more civilization
than everywhere else we’ve been look at
this cool building that’s
awesome okay I had my camera off but
that’s so interesting you guys were just
telling me a bit of the origin story up
here or like the recent origin story
607s those time periods yeah that’s
whatas is talking about how when we came
here as back to the Landers one of our
ideas was to Steward the forest and and
we had different ideas there were
logging families and ranching families
that lived here at the time and for the
most part they were really pretty good
to let these hippies come in and take
land and so forth but we had different
views about extraction and uh what’s
come down with the new more modern now
that cannabis is kind of uh crashed a
little bit the restoration work is
meeting the loggers are working now with
the restorationists oh okay you know
after years and years of a little bit
budding heads over the issues that is
the new economy here what everybody
recognizes here is that we’re going to
need multiple a more diverse economy
okay because I’m just going to go back a
little bit further I came here when I
was 2 years old and it was logging and
there was lots of Mills and that’s how
families made a living and it wasn’t a
very good living people barely eak a
living by but that’s how people got by
okay then all the Mills shut down and
logging went away because the trees were
just CAU all of them were caught and
there’s took 40 years for more trees to
grow right so there are still some Mills
up North but in white Thorne us right
here there used to be seven Ms okay not
right here but four miles from here then
there was this period where my dad had
to go away to make a living to like
build houses down in Mir Beach and stuff
do be a carpenter get when I say build
houses have someone hire him but what
his dream was was to start this place
and build a speck house out in whale gch
he got some land Rel cheap and he needed
building materials that’s how this place
started he needed to buy building
materials to build and then people
started coming I think Jim was one of
them and said I see you got a bunch of
boards and Nails in there this was the
first building oh this was right here I
need some building materials too you
know what’s what how’s this work and
he’d say yeah come by see if I have what
you want or if I can can include your
stuff with an order and that’s how we
started selling Lumber out of here one
question for those that don’t know back
to the land movement what exactly was
that okay so you want to give it a shot
the back to the land movement was a lot
of U for lack of better terms hippies
that were looking for a different
lifestyle than than I grew up Los
Angeles in the in the early 60s and then
I moved to the mountains of of Southern
California in the mid 60s in order to
just try to get out of the city so okay
and then a friend of mine called me one
day and he said U I just bought 40 acres
in southern Humble County okay and if
you’ll come build me a cabin cuz I was a
carpenter since I was really young uh
I’ll give you a piece of that land and
so in 1969 I arrived here as part of
that back to the land movement and there
were a few people that were taking the
old ranches that had been logged over or
for whatever other reason and then kind
of splitting them up generally into 40
acre Parcels her father Bob mcke was one
of those people he had family all over
his family founded this area Southern uh
the Lost Coast his grandfather
homesteaded here on this flat but yeah
his vision was the 40 acres in a mule he
really believed in that dream which
president was at Lincoln I think that
said if everybody could have 40 acres in
a mule that things would be really
different because that’s the whole idea
of small farms that are self- sustaining
and contribute to the health of the
economy and the environment that’s what
he wanted to do and people were coming
up here and you once you there were
groups of people like somebody from
Antioch College back East came and
bought land and well gch and then told
it their friends and pretty soon there
are five people from that had gone to
that college that were all coming so in
the beginning it was all word of mouth
but it turned into a bigger movement of
people looking at the Industrial Way
That We Live you know cities and how
everything not thinking that this was
all going to work this whole industrial
model capitalism industrial capitalism
let’s just call it that was going to
work a lot of us thought there was a
collapse and they really thought that
the way what to do was to move out to
the country and make a life that was an
alternative way a different model that’s
interesting so in your times Vietnam
time a bit after yeah that movement took
place and I feel like there’s a bit of
that movement going on now also as I
travel around the country lot of people
going back to Nature sure yeah it’s
never
really quit here I mean here in southern
Oregon were some of the first people to
really like this was really dropped out
and I mean I like I said I’d spent a
little time in the mountains of Southern
California
and when my when I drove out to see my
friend and I drove to garville and then
I drove 10 miles to the alter Point Road
and then 10 miles on a dirt road and
then four miles down to where the cabin
was I was like wow this place has
dropped out I mean it’s like out in the
woods her father was quite the designer
and you’re looking at some very serious
architecture here of which he milled all
the wood himself all the wood was milled
on site this young lady here’s quite the
carpenter when she was young she helped
build that think tank was called the
think tank which architecturally is a
pretty interesting piece of work love
the door love the door yeah all very
talented Craftsman I’ve always worked
here like myself Bob mcke would ask when
you wanted to buy a piece of land uh you
know what do you do well I’m a carpenter
oh I’ll put you to work you it’s got
some gy influence maybe exactly he was
very influenced by gy and Frank leg
right uh the Craftsman movement but art
Novo that door is Art Novo one of the
stories about Bob is though that he only
took one vacation and his one of his
part of 50 years and he ended up in
Barcelona Spain so when he came back we
all were set to do some of the work it’s
an interesting Fusion yeah it’s got like
some Hobbit elements yeah it does
infused in here well let’s go through
the gallery let’s walk and my mom did D
glass window oh this is awesome yeah so
this is our Gallery which was originally
Bob’s old wood shop and was a wood shop
for for 50 years and uh Bob passed away
a couple years ago and we decided to
kind of honor him by making a lot of
wood products that he inspired and you
you guys make this stuff yeah we make
this oh this is beautiful yeah so wow he
championed our native Hardwoods this is
chinkapin these are all woods from the
El yeah these and and part of this back
to the land
movement came when when Bob realized
that you know people are moving out in
the forest and they have trees and they
want to build a cabin and they want to
cut a few trees down and let’s use those
trees let’s bring that wood in here and
make local wood products and so a lot of
this is from that kind of this is
beautiful so who’s making this now we
make it right here in the shop you no
not me Jim and his team over there Jim
and the team yeah yeah nice do you sell
all over or people have to come here and
pick it up we’re just mostly they have
to come here to get it we’re trying to
expand a little bit and we’re we’ve just
developed a website we’re a little
slow well I’ll I’ll I’ll promote your
work I’ll leave the website in the
description here back to back here if
you got there we’ll go back to the yeah
let’s do it what a find oh this is so
cool it’s like a a cozy midcentury mod
piece yeah right I like that description
oh wow with it’s got just like the The
Hobbit element to it right that’s the
Lost Coast fi in that yeah this a bring
by built by young one Brook Builder
maker that bro I would I would love this
how um Brook’s talented what’s the price
on something like that if you don’t mind
me asking whatever it says are 2700 okay
way better than going to create a barrel
yeah you know it’s a real deal it’s the
real deal solid wood you
know so you really just get connected
with the wood elements of this place for
lack of better words like all the deep
forest the old growth is in the veins
right where the moisture comes in in the
summer that fog keeps the growth going
because there’s no rain in the summer
yeah and then the winter the big rains
come true and you get stuff like this
here yeah and the hardwoods in this area
are extraordinary as you drove through
your Forest coming over here you just
saw it’s just you know millions of trees
some beautiful some of the most rare
trees is kind of uwood uh this in
Northern California U very special wood
extremely hard but a soft
wood oh wow so some Pepperwood or if
you’re in the Bay Area they might call
it bay laurel if you’re in the if you’re
in Oregon they call it middlewood but
here it’s Pepperwood I mean you just
don’t see this in many places now just
the Big Slab yeah yeah yeah like usually
it’s sectioned off yeah if you have a
couple more minutes we would run over to
and show you if you want to see some
let’s do it let’s let’s look at this one
too though before Live Edge I’ve never
got so excited about tables nice this is
Live Edge Birch oh that and they left
this bark on there because it’s so
cool wow yeah we have Saturday Farmers
Market here this is really a community
Gathering Place we make the grounds
available community events you got a C
out there yeah quite possibly the
coolest lumber yard business ever right
yeah yeah and then we have a hair
cutting Studio over there and then the
wineries over there and on the other end
of the campus there’s a dispensary this
is all your guys operation yeah well we
rent to people oh you rent to people
okay rent to the C yeah so rent to the
cafe rent to this hair studio I can rent
for my wiing this is all part of it
though this but this part this is the
hardwoods and the hardware store are the
core of the business so you see how wood
been
stored sometimes for up to 15 years or
more air you store it for 15 years to
air dry yeah takes that long well some
of some of it’s quite uh heavy thick you
know so it takes a lot of years for a
thicker piece really so you cut this out
of the
forest and you can’t sell it right away
it’s almost like a wine you just have to
let it
most time like four years is probably
enough but we just have the luxury of
well four years four years would dry a
thinner piece of wood okay yeah like
this you know that would drive four
years bigger pieces take a long time to
drive is this um there a piece of Old
Redwood there look at that old Redwood Y
what would a piece like this retail for
if someone want to come in and buy this
couple thousand couple thousand for that
particular piece that’s really rare
because of the What’s called the curly
aspect to it sort of the
Wess this business right here is a
really good example of what people are
trying to do in this economy where we
can barely eat by with just keeping it
small like we only have two people
working here but building but trying to
build a name for it build a market for
value added products from wood that we
grow right here from our own landscape
and so we can take better care of the
forest and thin the trees and Mill them
and and and then get the wooden people’s
homes where they can have that beauty
and that appreciation of the forest for
for greater appreciation of Forest for
everybody kind of like teaching through
the love of
wood and and helping thecon couple
unusual pie
of a this is cool here’s pie that’s one
board that’s one board radwood yeah but
one that’s just one so you’re really
hoping that you can create some jobs
here yeah but you’re hoping it grows
we’re hoping that it grows I mean we
don’t want it to be 10 times bigger but
we need to be about I would say we need
to have four or five people working up
here yeah to make this really make sense
with all the wood we have and the uh
equipment we have and everything and
then that would give more jobs for local
people yeah and so that’s one of the one
of the models for um do you worry about
if too many people got into this then
you you’re just going to have to cut
down a lot more trees right no there’s
actually
there’s we actually need a lot more
people making things out of the trees
cuz there’s actually too many trees it’s
not healthy for the forest are they on
the ground or you mean you need to cut
them down they need to be thinned okay
for fire fire risk yeah so nowadays we
have like 500 give you an idea 500 trees
per acre and we need to get it down to
more like 200 trees per acre that’s
three removing 300 trees per acre and
nowadays for hardwood you basically just
have to cut them down and let them rot
because there’s not a market for it why
do you think the state is so bad with
thinning Force for example in Arizona
they they’re really proactive with
this coming along they’re just coming
they’re coming along there’s getting to
be funding for that but if you go to
calire Workforce Development grants
they’ll say that this is all too small
scale making this value added products
out of hardwood they want to reduce
biomass they want to get a bunch of that
wood down off out of the forest and this
is too small of a bite and so it’s just
crazy they don’t get it that you need
yes you do need some of those larger
scale project projects but for
sustainability and for teaching the
craft for future generations for the
future you need this and so we’re a lot
of times you have to educate the funders
and the agencies and all these people
Jim uh are you a tester for Apple if it
survives Jim’s wood shop it’s good to go
that’s right that’s correct it’s not
likely to
survive that’s been my business for 55
years is building this back to the land
movement people’s structures and some of
them were business people that came here
others were just you know low income
people that came here just to scratch
out the farming and so forth but this is
where some of the design work goes on
for the furniture and so forth here you
go here here’s a good little saying for
you there’s no white wi in the Reds but
there’s a better
[Laughter]
connection so for those that don’t know
the Lost Coast which is pretty much
everyone what is so special or unique
about out here well because of the
geology and the uplift and the
difficulty to make roads this was always
Wilder out here when we moved out here
there was just a dirt road from town and
maybe just a couple cars coming out
every day and if you wanted to build a
house and you went to the building
department and said hey I want to BU
build a house out in whitethorn they
would say well you don’t need a permit
out there just go ahead and so there was
a lot of freedom to live differently and
now that’s changed where the county is
going back and enforcing on all the land
that they encourag people to do
different things on back in the early
days but it took kind but it took it
took 40 years or something so there was
a lot of knowledge I’m going to say that
was gained through this kind of ability
to experiment and be
uh be able to be more free do you miss
that a bit oh yeah and I’m really speak
for myself but on behalf of a lot of
other people because I work in
restoration and it’s really hard to do
restoration projects projects that are
needed for the environment because of
the level of Regulation at the county
state county and state level primarily
why do you think it’s
gotten and worse and worse and worse to
where sometimes it’s like a Chinese
puzzle to try to figure out how you’re
going to get through the in and it’s not
that we’re trying to get away with
something we’re trying to do something
that’s good um I think it’s very
interesting I think there’s this whole
academic regulatory environment where
people go to school and they learn to be
good regulators and they think that
somehow by upping the bar like they
don’t understand that what’s good for
the environment is a more common sense
and there does need to be guidelines and
all that stuff but you don’t want to
regulate it to the point where people
can’t even afford to fix something which
is what has come to yeah you need the
regulations let’s say an analogy would
be for Sports on the football field you
need the rafts but if it’s all refs on
the field you can’t play the game
exactly I heard that recently that was a
good one that’s a really good one anyway
I just had a meeting with our engineer
today about these ponds we want to build
and it’s crazy how difficult it is and
there’s all these what they call cutting
the green tape Pathways that California
has done to try to make it better and
it’s actually made it worse because not
enough people like proof red all the
changes to make sure it made sense with
what the projects are that we’re needing
to do so here you are trying to help the
fish and you feel like you need to just
go get some private money and try to do
it that way and not have any permits
because the permits getting in the way
of the project Southern humble don’t you
think that the whole cannabis industry
that was underground for so many years
and then it began to surface and then
the agencies all kind of wanted their
piece of it so they figured out all
these regulations and rules and then it
all fell on to the
restorationist you know now we have to
go through the same and for good reason
there was a lot of you know cannabis
Farmers that were out of line came here
just for the Gold Rush thing but the mom
and pop cannabis people you know they
were backed down to the Earth’s people
and like even her son has a farm he has
actually right out here there a farm
they grow flowers they grow cannabis
there and they’re like some of the most
amazing Farmers you know they make their
own soil they make their own fertilizer
they’re on The Cutting Edge of new the
new growth and and they learned it from
a lot of these mom and pop Growers that
came down through the years really doing
it right but then there was the
characters that came in and tried to
kill it and then Ed you know terrible
stuff and pollutant they ruc here for
the Gold Rush didn’t care about the land
of they area and it it fell down a
little bit on the Restorations because
then the regulations of water use and
every other thing got kind of out
of all right so Jim has a friend named
John who is still growing so we’re going
to get out to his farm here and get the
Intel from The Source it’s the thread
that’s hung through the story today from
the beginning until now the big economy
here the right place
cool if I record oh absolutely okay John
had an awesome road trip today all the
way from the north side of the L Coast
down to here and I noticed all of these
operations with the green
houses some were in operation some look
to be out of
operation that was the big economy right
at the general store they told me things
aren’t like they used to be the Honeydew
General Shore it wasn’t honeydew it was
petroleum petroleum even better yeah I
don’t know if that store has changed
much but Garberville and Redway which
are really the epicenter of the Humble
County or at least Southern humble y um
has really felt a a dramatic downturn
with the market taking a downturn also
so that’s from the legalization in
2016 or what is it from yeah basically
it’s it’s
taken only eight years to close half to
three quarters of the doors in
Garberville um who that is
from two or three decades ago the price
being 5,500 a pound to now the price
being $300 a pound and that shows what a
big part and a big role that we played
in supporting the economy here in humbo
County we all had to rely on one another
with lives at one point or another and
that built a family based Community
people that come here from other parts
of the world that’s what they talk about
they talk about this community and how
friendly people are okay so the hills
way out there which is super remote the
pressure is going on the small farmers
right now yeah you know corporate big
invested agriculture could weather the
storm but the small farmers like myself
on 5,000 foot um canopy and one of the
smallest in the state of California and
then you have companies like glass house
that’s 2.2 million square feet and they
have all the labor they need they have
everything automated so their price
point per pound is a lot less than what
we’re doing here in the hills and we’re
being scrutinized a lot more than any
other company especially down there in
the Flatlands because we’re surrounded
by sensitive Weds and right they can now
drive that price point down to far less
than we could even produce a pound of
pop so I don’t want to be Doom and Gloom
because I believe this is like a puzzle
sitting on the table and we can put the
find a way to put the pieces to the
puzzle together M and we’re seeing a
little bit of light at the end of the
tunnel per se with growing our unique
genetics strains like white Thorn Rose
and Mom’s weed and strains that I’ve
been growing or I’ve created here on the
farm and I’ve been growing for DEC
decades and decades that nobody else in
the world has so kind of emulating you
know grapes with having a certain
varietal that nobody else in the world
has grown in a certain Tera is the form
we’re going to have to take so you can
go for the high-end stuff like it’s the
difference of getting an artisian
hamburger with locally grown meat raised
meat right versus McDonald’s versus
McDonald’s that telling you that I’m the
same as that locally grown meat even as
of yesterday some people had to come
here they wanted to come here even
though there’s no plants and there’s no
flowers they’ve just heard the stories
of of this place from hiding what we’ve
been doing for the last 40 years to now
be able to share it with the world is
really what brings us happiness Rose my
partner usually has a Gong up here and
when we are taking tours like the ganier
programs takes 20 people here every
month we do a little sound bath here we
take them down here and we tell them
stories but then what I get to share
with them is story of other farmers and
I created this thing called Farmers
mountain and it’s a hill side with
Farmers logos from the animal triangle
you know these are all just small
farmers that were growing illegally for
decades and decades and when California
decided to go legal they had to weigh
out whether not uh they could afford to
bring their Farms into compliance and if
they wanted to participate like that and
did you believe the government was going
to make a viable pathway forward for us
or was it going to be corporate cannabis
that took over just like um alcohol did
okay so they didn’t make it easy on you
guys it’s definitely hasn’t been easy
Some Farms still after 5 six seven years
are still not permitted because you know
you’re dealing with the waterboard
you’re dealing with fish and wildlife
you’re dealing with the counties you’re
dealing with the cities in the counties
you’re dealing with the state California
and all those have different
requirements and all those have
different fees so even a farm like this
that’s relatively close to the main road
you know still could have cost me nearly
$200,000 just to bring one of the
smallest farms in the state of
California into compliance wow so before
2016 you you guys just stayed low and
sort of undercover and secretive about
everything you did yeah how that work
you know how was that it it was uh
interesting growing up as a kid growing
cannabis as a means of our income it was
always a part of our income we also
commercial fished we also were part-time
loggers but cannabis for four and a half
decades was a source of our income to be
able to live in the country none of us
were really trying to get rich but we
were trying to live away from the cities
and away from the the concrete jungle
and create a lifestyle of Our Own in the
way we wanted to so say the years
2013 you’re growing out here what’s that
like
2013 is 9 years after I had done 10
years in federal prison for Dra can did
10 years in federal prison yeah when I
was 24 my best friend and I had gotten
in trouble a old man down our road
turned Us in and we were pretty naive as
Hill kids and didn’t know if there was a
difference between state and federal
laws right we always thought if you got
in trouble for growing this plant that
you would just get probation your first
time offense right we didn’t I never had
a speeding ticket I would never hurt
anybody um and federal laws are
completely different and even as a
firsttime non-violent offender when I
had 30 federal agents drive up my
driveway I was looking at a mandatory
minimum of 10 years to life in prison
and you know I really was in disbelief
for for quite a while like this was a
reality I thought this was like more of
a scare tactic
and I was quickly uh educated by my
lawyers and by the prosecutor that this
was a reality and nothing was to say I
would get 10 years but there was a
chance I could get life in prison no
yeah I know it’s impossible but I didn’t
think it was possible for me to go to
jail for 10 years for a plant and when
the judge was about to sentence us he
stood up and he said I would like
nothing more to do then to give you less
time but because I’m Bound by the law I
have to follow the the mandatory
minimums and that was a 10-year sentence
which was 120 months in in federal
prison you do 85% of your time so I did
eight out of the 10 years six years in
lawn poock and then two years in Ellis
Air Force Base now I I became the fourth
existing Farm in Humble County to get a
permit and I’m permitted by the state of
California for exactly what I did a
10-year federal prison sentence for it’s
pretty ironic and I’m not bitter about
it because you know we all have bumps in
the roads and we all go on these
Journeys and it’s an it’s experience
that a lot of people haven’t had before
so I think what’s important for people
to understand is once you’re in jail you
can adapt and you get used to it it’s
those family and those children that are
left outside that love you that really
suffer the worst the most what was that
day like were you were you on this
property or you were somewhere else when
they rolled up yeah um I was it was 6:00
in the morning I had just had my first
cup of coffee and I was walking out my
sliding glass door and I was met by a
guy in camouflage and a 9mm pistol that
he put it up to my head and it was it
was weird because after they searched
the place for 8 hours they left and they
gave me a little yellow speeding ticket
and they said if we want to talk to you
we’ll come back and it was a year and a
half later before they came back with an
arrest warrant and then I was charged
with cultivation of marijuana and went
to court for 3 years
and pled my case I wanted the judge to
know who we were cuz I just didn’t
believe we could get that much time and
all they were interested in was that I
told on my best friends and gave a bunch
of people up I could have got no time if
I would have ratted them out um but
that’s not how we were grown up and
these people like I said before these
are my family and
so you know I was who I said I was and I
did my time for the crime and when I
came out and I drove back up the drive
with my dad I had 50 people from this
community here waiting for me to help me
get my life back in order you know bring
me silverware and plates and everything
that had gotten stolen that we take for
granted I needed and they were there to
bring that back to me what was that day
like when you left the Free World and
went off to prison do you remember that
moment what that felt like or yeah I
went my mom and my dad both went with me
we drove down
to excuse me we drove down to Lao and
where you check in even if you’re going
to a camp they they bring you to the USP
which is the United States Penitentiary
that’s where people get life in prison
for murdering people and they put you in
a holding facility in there um
especially if you check in on a Friday
and so I checked in on a Friday because
I was my day and so I spent three days
over at the
USP and when I walked into the holding
facility there was like nine other
people in that in that holding cell and
they couldn’t believe that for growing a
plant that I had gotten 10 years and I
had the longest prison sentence at the
Lomo prison camp when I checked in we
built a pretty good relationship with
the guard that watched Us in in the
warden of the prison camp at Lao and
when we got out and then when we got off
probation they emailed me and they
wanted to come up and so one weekend
they drove up here here from Lao and
they spent 3 days up here spent the
whole time on the farm and hung out with
me and my codefendant who’s my best
friend who’s my neighbor and they were
here really to make sure that we were
okay right they understood that the
system that they were in charge of of
regulating was broken and at the end of
the trip they said hey well it’s legal
in California they each took six plants
home from our genetics to grow in their
personal Gardens and they still call me
every single year at the beginning of
the year what are we grow this year so
it was a friendship and it was an
understanding and I understand and I
forgave them because they were doing
their job and I’m not angry at them I’m
not angry at the judge I deserve to get
in trouble I was breaking the law and I
knew I was breaking the law we could all
argue that maybe I didn’t deserve to get
that much time but that’s not benefiting
any anybody now and and what I’m doing
now and sharing our story is what’s
really important prison was really weird
especially for a first time offender it
was a big deal to find a cold toilet
seat right in the morning you always
look for the cold toilet seat because
you knew nobody sat on that prior to you
that was a big deal little things like
that what Sunday chicken day was a big
deal because the food was terrible and
I’m just telling you the reality of the
how it was in there how about
relationships you meet anyone
interesting did you make friends or was
it just you’re on you’re on your toes
all the time on
we it wasn’t it wasn’t like there that
at the prison camp you know there was
hardly any fights because that’s where
they put um nonviolent offenders and if
you got in a fight they would put you in
a higher facility so but what was
interesting is there was two big dorm
rooms and inside the dorm room there was
bunk beds and I was matched up with a
guy that did had three and a half years
prison sentence his name was Charlie knp
Charlie knp who was my bunky was
codefendants with Michael mcin who was
part of a $2.2 billion Savings and Loan
scam in the 80s and they had embezzled
and ripped off hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of people Michael mcin had
ratted on Charlie my bunky and my bunky
got three and a half years for bringing
so much harm to that many people and
there was still $800 million missing
when they got sentenced
so
um he was a really nice guy I was in
there with a lot of really nice people
Bruce MCN who own the Sacramento Kings
um Goldy Han came to visit I mean these
were the elite of the criminal
Enterprise these were the white collared
criminals and day one of walking to jail
I had over maybe 20 people come up to me
and they wanted my PSI report and a PSI
report is your pre-sentencing report
that is from the court system that tells
other inmates whether or not you ratted
on somebody else and if my
pre-sentencing report wasn’t clean and
didn’t say that I didn’t rat on somebody
it would have been a lot harder time for
me but because of that every different
different ethnic group really just
embraced me and was just
um proud that you know this white clean
guy out of the Hills held his mud and
and it really allowed me to just be they
wanted to help so there’s a real deep
culture of respect in there respect and
honor it’s all about respect I mean
growing up I learned how to grow when I
was 10 from my mom by the time I was 15
I had begged and asked her to give me my
own 10 plants because I wanted to grow
the way I wanted to grow I fell in love
with growing plants and I was growing
with my best friends at the age of 15 we
were running from the cops we were
running from helicopters it became a cat
and mouse game um it was pretty exciting
it was so exciting I mean like my best
friend say stop saying you a criminal
you weren’t a criminal you were an
outlaw and there’s a difference between
a criminal and an outlaw and we just
didn’t believe that there was something
so bad about this plant that we just
didn’t understand why they didn’t want
us growing it and we were growing in
trees we were growing underneath bushes
in trees we would we would build
platform in trees because when the
helicopters and the aerial surveillance
would fly over they would be looking on
the ground so if we put a plant in a
tree most of the time they would just
fly by and not see it and when a plant
is worth $5,500 a pound and maybe you
get 3 lbs off of that plant it’s worth
climbing that tree for a 15,000 bucks so
you have 10 plants in a tree you’re 20
years old maybe you make a $100,000
taxfree I mean I could fish surf do
whatever I wanted the whole summer or
the whole winter so do the cartels still
operate in in these areas or not really
they’ve kind of moved on they they came
here I I say that but there there’s some
around and maybe they figured out a
niche on how to make it work you know a
lot of them also got their Farms
permitted they kind of migrated to
Oregon then over to Oklahoma as as new
States came online and were really naive
to how to make the system work they
really took ad anage of those newer
systems and they’re good entrepreneurs
absolutely smart as heck I mean they’re
sharp and they’re hard work you get a
lot of foreigners here doing this work
too right you used to go through the
streets of Garberville and there’d be 50
60 70 foreigners sitting there wanting
to work and now you could drive through
there’s nobody there’s no work but it
wasn’t just South of the Border it was
like Eastern Europeans and everyone
right everywhere all over the world and
they look forward to coming here because
we we could afford to pay them you know
$20 an hour and and they could come here
and trim for us and make a pile of money
and then go back to their countries and
and live the rest of the
year what’s with the names here you know
uh one thing that did happen when I was
in prison I you know I heard my name
come over the loudspeaker and said John
could you please report to the Chapel’s
office and that’s never really a good
sign and when I got there the chapel
informed me that uh my mom had had a
boating accident and she had passed away
while I was in jail and so because she
was the one that taught me everything
that I knew I thought it was really
important and in her honor I really
wanted to honor those people in my life
that made it possible for me to be here
so Katie is my stepmom Mary’s my another
stepmother and this is my mom and my
dad’s on the other side and these are
just people in my life and Ros of life
that really are responsible for the
reason why we’re doing what we’re
doing oh thank you I don’t smoke but
I’ll give this to someone is yeah that
was somebody yeah for sure and you know
I I put the the no helicopter on the top
of the jar because it it’s really a
significant part of what we dealt with
here in the Emerald Triangle running
from helicopters guys hanging out 100t
over that telephone pole four guys with
AR-15s and you know we’re still talking
about a plant so in California I can
drive around with this fine give it to
someone no issues legally no awesome no
you’re good wow I know right want a trip
you went to prison for this yeah so and
yeah unfortunately you know I won’t
complain about having gone to prison for
for for cannabis because there’s people
in jail for cannabis right now that’s
wild to me that that is could you
imagine sitting in
prison and now we have all this legal is
you’re giving you’re giving it to me and
people are smoking legally yeah that’s
that’s
[Music]
rough here we are guys Shelter Cove
roughly 800 people live out here it was
started as a community a subdivided
Community initially planned for
4,000 people with an airport golf course
and Big Dreams but the story went down a
little bit
differently turns out a lot of the Lots
up there on the hillside couldn’t be
built on the California Coastal
commission restricted a lot of the
development so a lot of the lots are for
sale you can see on Z ow they’re very
cheap I think I was seing like $60
$70,000 but those are ones you can’t
build on and in
1972 plane came in here and then when it
was leaving with a bunch of perspective
buyers going back to San Diego I believe
it was San Diego it
crashed and that put a
bad bad feel about the place I guess but
it never really took off from my
understanding 800 people living out here
I’m sure there’s some second
homes and if you have an airplane and
want to fly in wow how cool that
is there it goes guys the sun setting
into the
Pacific what an Epic Journey today we
started Way north of those mountains
there part of the
coastline they never attempted to make
the road
along
hence the Los Coast being a super remote
part of California Place well most of us
knew nothing
about powerful
beautiful bit
mysterious really really special Journey
today thanks for coming along on that
that was awesome until the next one
[Music]