Season 2 Archives - Page 2 of 3 - The Real Dirt with Chip Baker

Humboldt Cannabis and Forfeiture

by Travis C | May 4, 2018 | Cannabis Law & Compliance, growing, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

John Newmerzhycky was travelling through Iowa with his friend William Davis after playing some poker at a casino when they were pulled over by a member of the Iowa state police interdiction team. With reports concerning a red vehicle, the police officer followed John and William for ten minutes before pulling them over for failing to signal when passing another car.

After being pulled aside and questioned by the officer, John began to show signs of breathing rapidly and fidgeting, which increased the officer’s suspicion. After telling John he was free to go with a warning, the officer asked if there were any drugs in the car. Without a direct response, the officer called in a K-9 unit.

John and William told the officers there were no drugs or currency in the car. This would turn out to be untrue when the officers found Davis’ $85,000 packed inside a locked briefcase. The police also found a grinder and a very small amount of cannabis, but enough to charge John with a misdemeanor. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

The state of Iowa then confiscated the money, called California authorities where the men are originally from, leading to both of their houses being searched. Despite both John and William having medical marijuana cards, the searches led to felony charges in California. Jump to today, and every charge has been dropped, and the original sum of money confiscated has been returned.

There was more of a reward for John and William than just money however.

Hear John’s full story when he sits down with Chip on The Real Dirt Podcast.

From Growing Cannabis to Cannabis Consulting

by Travis C | Apr 27, 2018 | Cannabis Law & Compliance, Commercial, growing, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

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Matt is the founder of Bickel Consulting and oversees cultivation facilities in Alaska, Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, New York, Maryland, and Colorado. He was the Chief Operating Officer and Master Cultivator at Maggie’s Farm in Colorado Springs with responsibility for 8,000 plants (outdoor grow on 10 acres) and 40 employees, growing cannabis organically from seed. He has worked with industry-leading companies like Silverpeak Apothecary in Aspen, Natural Remedies in Denver, Green Stop in Fort Morgan, Top Hat Cannabis in Juneau, Etain in New York, and others. Matt has deep expertise in cultivating indoors, outdoors, and in greenhouses, and he has experience as a project manager in all phases of construction, equipment purchasing, permits, licensing, and operations. Matt graduated from Baylor University with a degree in education.

Cannabis Seeds Genetics with Mr Soul

by Travis C | Apr 20, 2018 | growing, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

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While studying Nuclear Engineering at a college in Upstate NY, he also learned to grow marijuana in a spare room of his apartment. He read everything about growing marijuana he could get his hands on, but he was especially interested by Robert C. Clark’s “Marijuana Botany”. He sent a letter to the owner of the Super Sativa Seed Club in Amsterdam and after weeks of discussing breeding and genetics, they offered him a job. Mr. Soul became their USA seed distributor to their American customers in 1987.

This opportunity provided Mr. Soul access to cannabis seeds genetics and information that allowed him to rapidly advance his cannabis cultivation and breeding expertise in his own grow spaces. He used his engineering skills to design hydroponic systems and climate control systems for his own growing operations. He organized the garden work flow; scheduling and performing all phases of cannabis production; seedlings, mother plants, clones, flowering, harvest, manicuring, drying/curing and seed storage.

These projects became increasingly larger and cultivation was soon Mr. Soul’s full-time occupation. He became known as “MrSoul” to the online cannabis community, after he started sharing growing and breeding information. He was reliably producing 1 pound per kW and delivering 2 pounds of high-grade cannabis per month, when he founded The Brothers Grimm Seed Co. in 1996.

Mr. Soul’s breeding projects produced strains from cannabis seeds that are now world-famous, such as Cinderella 99 (C99) and Apollo 13. These strains were featured in High Times magazine articles among the top 10 most favored varieties of all time and have also been used by other breeders to create numerous award-winning hybrids.

Chip sits down with Mr. Soul on this week’s episode of The Real Dirt Podcast to discuss cannabis seeds genetics, the current standing of the cultivation industry and more.

How to Grow Weed Better with Josh Haupt

by Travis C | Apr 13, 2018 | Commercial, growing, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

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Josh Haupt’s story is one of humor, hard work and humility. When he was 22, he had an epileptic seizure and his six medically licensed marijuana plants were confiscated by the police.

The following Monday morning, he received a dreaded phone call from the DA. She left a voicemail saying he should pick up his plants so they don’t die. When he went to the station, he watched as a trail of cops helped him carry his cannabis plants to his truck.

Today, Josh is growing 6,000 plants. He authored the book Three A Light, and started Success Nutrients. Josh has been a grower for over 15 years and has become one of the most well-known cannabis cultivators around because of his unique growing methods and his massive yields.

Josh has devoted himself to showing others how to grow weed more efficiently, resulting in much higher yields. With his innovations and cultivation techniques, it is now much more common for commercial growers to get three pounds or more per light.

Josh spent two years writing his book, painstakingly documenting every step from how to care for your seedlings, to proper cloning, transplanting and more. To achieve the best success with Josh’s system, it is designed to be used with a special formulation of cannabis nutrients manufactured by Success Nutrients.

Success Nutrients formulation was designed by Josh with the help of an organic chemist, and is specifically designed to work with his Three A Light system. Hear how to grow weed that yields more and tastes better on this week’s episode of The Real Dirt Podcast.

Cannifest 2018: The green 420 festival

by Travis C | Apr 6, 2018 | Guest, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

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“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.”

A celebration of all things green, Green Week encompasses earth day and 4/20 in an all-encompassing 10-day 420 festival. While the changing laws in California have brought Cannifest to a halt, Green Week is still going strong as it strives to bring the community together.

From April 13th to the 22nd, people from all over California come together in Humboldt county to share their knowledge, meet new people, and show support for a green, clean environment. Farmer’s markets, yoga and clean cooking classes are just a few of the events that will fill the week out.

While the week is full of fun events and activities, these 420 festival goers are also committed to keeping the environment clean. The week consists of multiple volunteer clean-up events around the county, as well as workshops for cooking with cannabis and other natural herbs and their use as medicine. Let’s also not forget about the Vines by the Sea beer and wine event at the end of the week!

Tune into this week’s episode of The Real Dirt Podcast with Steve Geider to hear all the details about the Green Week 420 festival.

Where has Legal Marijuana Landed Colorado?

by Travis C | Mar 30, 2018 | Business, Cannabis Law & Compliance, Season 2, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

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His journey with cannabis started like a lot of others; he moved to Denver in 2012 during the heat of the Amendment 64 movement looking for any way he could get involved. After finding a job with a Colorado public interest research group that had him signing students up for photo ID on college campuses, Andrew realized it wasn’t the job for him.

Andrew ended up leaving his first job after a couple of months, and joined Students for Sensible Drug Policy where he would work on the legalization campaign.

“I worked on that campaign, it was awesome, and that’s how I got to know Josh and Mason and Brian Vicente and Christian as well who was keeping the law firm afloat at that time”

Through his work on the Amendment 64 campaign, Andrew met Christian and Brian of Vicente Sederberg LLC. With his work in public policy, specifically related to cannabis, it was a match made in cannabis heaven. Andrew’s policy experience and love of numbers led to multiple job opportunities with the firm, eventually resulting in a full time position.

After the passing of Amendment 64, Andrew’s work increased. With a regulated system that could actually be tracked, more statistics than ever before began to mount. More people were willing to admit to their cannabis use, which revealed new and changing trends.

“The ball is not going to roll down the hill by itself. Even though we think it is, we’re going to have to keep pushing it. There’s friction.”

Despite the vast changes and awesome advances the industry has seen, it is always fighting. With only a few states having full legalization, the rest of the country is watching those states with a microscope. As more states recognize the monetary and societal benefits of legalization they may move to do the same. When that happens, differing laws may arise, to different effects.

Listen to Andrew share his story about the legalization movement and where the future of the industry lies on his episode of The Real Dirt Podcast!