Picture-perfect and beautifully manicured, Huckleberry Hill Farms looks like a demonstration garden at a state fair with one major exception: Huckleberry stands as a quintessential plant exhibit for cannabis, one of Northern California’s most famed and feared agricultural crops. When I arrive at the farm about a month away from harvest in the late summer, the statuesque lavender-hued buds of Huckleberry’s signature Whitethorn Rose catch my eye slightly after the attention-grabbing bright pink and purple petunias that sit at the base of the plant’s 100-gallon planter boxes. Looking towards the beauty of the cannabis garden in flower it’s hard to imagine the day when 30 federal agents came up the driveway where I’m now standing with Johnny Casali in front of his family home. Humboldt County is the land of outlaw cannabis legend. Located in the world-famous cannabis cultivation area called the Emerald Triangle, it’s where weed farmers were targeted by military-style Black Hawk helicopters, and today, it’s where those legacy farmers who remain continue to fight for survival.
High Times Magazine, January 2024 / Photo by Benjamin Neff, @bneff420
Casali—who stands at 6’2” and is now 56—gets emotional every time he recounts the story of his arrest and jail time for the cannabis plants he was growing as a 24-year-old. The moments when I see his eyes swell with tears are when he talks about his mother, Merlene Farrell, who passed away during his eight years in prison. Huckleberry has a rare Humboldt County cannabis tourism license and hosts many visitors annually. Why put himself through the emotions of recounting his personal story so often? Casali says it’s because what the small cannabis farmers in Humboldt County have done “has to make a difference.”
“It has to mean something, and if it doesn’t… …
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Author: Ellen Holland / High Times
