MEND Season 2 - Episode 34

Community Currency with Fhyre Phoenix

If you've been following the progression of this season, you know that we've been following up these longer interviews with shorter, bite-size "Thread" episodes, where we sit down and unpack some resources on how all of us can take action in these areas - both within our individual lives, and in the communities of which we play a part. 

We’re doing things a little differently with this "micro"-episode.

Well.  First off.  

It’s not micro.  Not mini. Not even a little bit.  

For this episode we chose to dip back into our local community to seek advice and  counsel from a man who has made working with Capital - both paper money - but also social, experiential, cultural currency, as well - his Main Focus for most of his LIFE.  

Fhyre Phoenix is the creator of the Community Currency project.

If you don’t know that is - don’t worry.

Stick around and we’ll let him eloquently explain it for you.

When you have an expert living down the street from you, you don’t dilly-dally in your own small pool - you go the Fountaiin.  The Wellspring itself.

So, although this episode is full-length, we know the time will be well worth your while & you’ll get a lot out of this talk.  

We sure did.

We could say more - About how inspiring this conversation was.

About the wisdom that this man and valuable community member has un-earthed in simply re-arranging his own relationship to livelihood and money.

Or about the surprising connection to Passion, Poetry, & even Plumbing that runs through this work.

But we’ll let you find all that out for yourself.

Believe me - if you truly desire to begin to un-hook from a life that feels less-than, a job you hate, and begin to arrange your world in such a way that you feel empowered, excited, and deeply connected to your fellow man… this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Enjoy.

MEND Season 2 (Episode #26)

What is it Worth...   Re-Claiming & Affirming our Value in a Dollars-driven World.

Welcome back to season 2 of MEND.

As you can see, we're shifting things around here a bit.  

Moving from the local landscape of a dwindling & tumultuous underground industry into the bright light of the larger world around us.  

At a certain point, this local cannabis industry shifted it's values to re-align with those of the dominant culture.  Rather than the former objective of utilizing the money gained from cannabis to bring other forms of value into the world - things like schools, art, music, community outreach and such.... Eventually, we settled into the good ole, black-and-white, cut-and-dry margins of the almighty profit margins.  

At some point we seem to have forgotten that this was just ONE way to bring value to the world. That money was but one way to move our ideas, values & dreams out into this Life.

And so that is where our sights are headed next.

We are thrilled to explore this topic of the different ways we can and do create wealth and value in our lives and our communities.

To start this season, we sat down with each other to dig deeper into the 8 Forms of Capital as we are coming to understand them, offering a general overview for each so that we have a shared starting point of how our guests are working and creating wealth in these realms.  

This is going to be an inspiring, (hopefully) perspective-shifting season.  We’re going beyond the stories to the “practice” and application of these ideas, this wisdom, and the many ways in which we can all bring something to the table.     

In many ways, perhaps the current cannabis industry has failed to live up to the initial values it was instigated on.  But we want to acknowledge that we can do better.

We can shift the conversation.

We can tip the scales.

And here are some stories, diatribes & ideas on where to start.

Enjoy! 

......

Big Thanks to Ethan Roland and the visionary team of Appleseed Permaculture who first put words to this framework, and mapped out these ideas for us all to drop into and explore.

And an equally open-hearted shout-out to Sam Sycamore of the Good Life Revival Podcast - who first hipped us to these ideas - and shared them in a way both eloquent but inspiring us to ACT.  Deep bows.

MEND Season 1 - Episode 23

Steve DeAngelo - The Man behind the Manifesto

You know those rare moments in life where you get to meet a truly celebrated figure?

Someone whose face you’ve seen online & in print?

Someone who’s built up a worldwide following behind their work - and for one brief, shining moment you get to sit and chat with them?

How often do these real life meetings ever live up to the hype?

How often do we build up an impossible image of the celebrity in our own minds - that when we meet them in the flesh - it pales in comparison to the shining visage we’ve erected in our minds???

THIS was not the case as Anne & I had the great pleasure to find out - as we sat down for an hour to talk with the venerable Steve DeAngelo this past week.

We spent weeks e-mailing back and forth with his camp, reading his book, watching his Youtube videos and appearances - so that we could get good and ready for this talk with a man who has been on the Activist & Advocacy front of the Cannabis world for some 40 years.  

For those not fully familiar with his work, Steve is the owner of the Harborside Health Center in Oakland, CA - the largest medical cannabis dispensary in the United States, serving over 200,000 patients.  

Fortune Magazine has named him one of the top 7 most powerful people inside the Marijuana Industry today.  

He’s written a terrific book about the history of cannabis, prohibition, and his own work inside this world - The Cannabis Manifesto.

And is also the co-founder and president of the Arcview Group - a company aimed at introducing bright, promising cannabis entrepreneurs to angel investors who can fund their work.  

We speak to Steve about his path of Activism & Entrepreneurship (and why he sees them as mutually beneficial).  About his own time & connection to our neck of the woods, inside the Emerald Triangle, and his own love of the culture we have built up here and the work of the legacy cannabis farmer.

He shares his thoughts on the unique challenges confronting our community and the tools he sees as key to staying vital & financially solvent in the tumultuous time to come.  

He talks about the ways in which the Prohibition era programmed us toward a mentality that will not sustain us in the next iteration to come.  And the shift he sees as critical to become viable in the new, legitimate marketplace.  

And he offers us guidance on how to continue to affect the current paradigm surrounding cannabis.  Moving, as he says, “out of the shadows & into the Light.”

And ultimately Steve guides back to the plant itself.  

To those amongst us who are called to work with and cultivate it.

To use it reverently & as the healing, medicinal currency for which it is best suited.

To caretake the plant so that it can caretake us and our families and communities, and usher in the type of world we wish to inhabit…

We simply must be willing to sit & listen..

And trust that the way we will be made known.

We are deeply honored and proud to bring you this powerful talk from a great man.  

Cheers.

Links:::

Steve DeAngelo.com

Harborside Health Center

The Arcview Investment Group

The Cannabis Manifesto Book

MEND Season 1 -Episode 17

The Modern-Day Medicine Chest

Welcome to episode 17 here inside this first season of MEND - where we spend some time both with the originators and pioneers of Humboldt County’s Cannabis Scene but also spend some time getting to know some of the innovators, entrepreneurs, activists, farmers, and more who are helping to shape the Future of this Industry and our Region.

We truly enjoyed sitting down with Gillian - a resident of Humboldt County since 1995, who initially moved here from SEattle to be a part of the Intentional Community at Black Bear Ranch and to escape some of the urban trappings of modern life

She eventually went on to get her degree in Biology & Botany at HSU, and for the past 3 years has been one half of the heart and head behind the biz Humboldt Apothecary  - a medicinal cannabis brand that specializes in CBD-heavy tinctures and formulas, blended with other complementary and synergistic herbs to treat a variety of ailments.  

She tells us about her own path to entrepreneurship - from growing a business with a meer $1500 worth of startup capital to its’ present day iteration - operating across all of California and distribution of over 200 dispensaries statewide

On starting small and using what you have and growing from there.  

On the importance of community not only to help jettison her own business into its current state but also on the quintessential role she sees of continuing to craft cooperatives, community and cooperation across the board if the small, legacy farmer is to stay afloat in the current tidal wave of industry we see today

We talk about the high costs of coming into compliance - both on a very real financial level but on the bigger cultural plane as well

She takes us a bit down the road of her own journey from plant lover, herbalist, and botany-geek to full-fledged businesswoman, the co-creator of a thriving brand - and the steps and shifts it took to move into those roles.

And we find herein another call to Keep it Local - even as the stakes, the market and the money seem to scale ever more global - She stresses the importance of sourcing locally, organically - and staying community minded - as Humboldt County works to extend its output, its’ influence and it’s brand - ever outward.  

There are some of us who will not be able to make the leap.

Who, as small-scale, mom-and-pop farmers and low-level black-market sellers, - were able to care for and feed their families - contribute to their communities - but may not have the wherewithal, the start-up capital, nor the desire - to enter into this brave new world of branding, testing, licensing and so much more…

But herein we glimpse a blueprint and singular scenario - of one such woman making that leap.

And wherever you choose to turn - either toward this new wave - or off into some new enterprise & adventure altogether - may you be inspired and heartened by what you hear.

The leap - if it calls to you - is worth the taking.  

To find out more about Gillian, her work, and the formulations she makes as part of Humboldt Apothecary, visit:

http://www.humboldt-apothecary.com

MEND Season 1 - Episode 14

The Politics of Pot (round I)

As we narrow in on the halfway point here, we want to begin to open up the conversation.

About what’s coming next.

What to be watchful for and how we, as residents of this community, can play an active part in shaping the future of not only the ganga world - but the larger one we all inhabit , as well.  

To that end, we spoke this week with Jesse - a northern Humboldt resident who is currently on the front lines up in Del Norte county, working with the Board of Supervisors, city council and local government there to try and shape a sustainable cannabis policy and regulatory guidelines for cultivation in that neck of the woods.  

With that work in mind, he has co-founded the Del Norte Grower’s Association.  

He talks to us about what it’s like to be the forerunner on this issue - and why, rather than try to jump into the already over-crowded ring of Oregon and Humboldt County growers, he’s elected to shift his focus to the small-scale, rural region of this state.  

The cautionary tales he sees being played out in areas: like Humboldt, or Calaveras, or Yolo County; where, to his view of things, there has been far too much growth far too soon.  And the policies in place within these regions - though claiming to work for the small family farm - may actually signal their undoing instead.  

We speak about the problems with imposing the same stringent codes and regulations upon a large-scale, industrial operation as one would put upon a small, artisanal family farm.  And the need for variance, discretion and huge allowances for the latter if the small, boutique end of this industry is to survive.  

How our current policies here in Humboldt, to his view, only serve the biggest players in the industry.  And how the small-scale growers and operations may very well be, in his words, “thrown under the bus” with the current mode in which we are operating and moving forward.  

And he puts forth a rallying cry to action for us all.  Because the old rules of operation - that worked so well during the years of Prohibition - will no longer serve us in this coming age. And we all get to step forth and be vocal - if we want to play a part in how this Conversation plays out.  

There was so much wisdom, insight and education to be had in this talk.  

We hope you leave feeling enlightened, empowered and ready to engage in this next phase of our collective Evolution.  

This is a moment in our history that needs every single one of us bringing what we have to the Table.  

To find out more about the organizations we mention, or to get involved with their mission and work visit:

The Del Norte Growers Association FB page: https://www.facebook.com/delnortegrowers/

The CA Growers Association: http://www.calgrowersassociation.org

The Humboldt County Growers' Alliance: https://www.hcga.co