My First Harvest Ball

My First Harvest Ball

Written by Isabella DeChard

The Emerald Cup hosts the Harvest Ball in Santa Rosa, California each year. Farmers and cannabis brands from all over the Golden State join to celebrate the bountiful crops and cultivars meticulously cultivated this season.

However, among the handful of other cannabis events I’ve gotten to recently experience, this two-day event felt significant among the others. Throughout the entire Harvest Ball weekend, the collective empathy and perseverance I always recognized about this cannabis community was stronger than ever.

Even though this was my first time at the Harvest Ball and an Emerald Cup occasion in general, I had never felt more welcome or comfortable at a major cannabis event.

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From Red to Pink - Part VIII: Hot Pink mess

From Red to Pink - Part VIII: Hot Pink mess

Written By Lindsey Gunter

Listen up people: You can be a big, bad whatever, but if you put two types of weed in the bag, you’re doing bad business. Period. It’s unacceptable. I could not believe the blatant illegality of this, outside of the poor planning and product development. Such shamefully low regard for the consumer. There is only one C.O.A. for good reason, and besides, people have eyes and can clearly see a difference.

'Red would never have done something like that' I remembered thinking to myself. What a shame it felt like at times, everyone from the teams I worked with running dispensaries were scattered all over the place by now, and couldn't likely come in to see what all that I learned from them could make. 

For some, after the amount of drama that had so far unfolded, they were starting to feel embarrassed about even being associated with the place. I wondered what my own late business owning mother would say about Pink as I watched ownership and the owner's assistant show family around the dispensary around holiday time.

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Part II: The Cursed Bong

Part II: The Cursed Bong

Written By Blue Amnesia

“I assume that means you’re ready for the ghost stories, now?” I heard her cackle from across the room. I snapped my head toward Gran with widened eyes and leaned back into the couch to feel safer as the infusion of terpenes danced their way through my body.

“Oh yeah, I’m ready.”

“It was a chilly southern October night, and the only thing stickier than the old farmer’s weed was the shituation he got himself in with the Sorceress. The deal was that she would bless his grow with her divine energy, and in return he would only use the plants to help heal the needy. That deal worked for decades to come, until eventually, the farmer was infected by greed and began negotiating the Sorceress’s seeds for a different kind of green. He began telling his most needy patrons that he was dry, and then he would host a party full of lustful women to smoke from his prized glass bong. When the Sorceress found out that her beloved plant was not being used to heal as the farmer promised, she filled with vengeance and began crafting her most terrifying curse.”

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Invitation Only

Invitation Only

Written By Blue Amnesia

I guess most people would consider me a loner, but I always viewed myself as diverse. I connected with people on a direct level, but was never really invited to the group events. People connected with me when they were pulled away from their cliques, but as soon as the group was together, I was back to feeling like an outcast, even if the entire group connected with me on a one-on-one basis.

Does this speak to the reality of the cannabis space? Abso-freaking-lutely! We won’t discuss the internal war between Big Pharm Cannabis and Legacy Cannabis right now, but let’s discuss, for a moment, the invitation only mindset that each one has. It seems that as soon as you’ve had any sort of interaction with one or the other you are instantly thrust into that clique, with or without your consent.

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