San Francisco is now hosting a cannabis farmers’ market where people can purchase bud after chopping it up with the cultivator.
Opportunities like these are particularly valuable given that small cannabis farmers in California face long odds when it comes to their survival in the industry. Steep licensing fees and tax rates often hand the advantage over to corporate cannabis entities, and extreme weather events like the ongoing drought and current winter deluges are also taking their toll on the little ganja guys.
So, why not provide more opportunities for cannabis consumers to get to know their cultivators directly? The farmers’ market rotates between two beloved local dispensaries — Moe Greens and Barbary Coast — and pops up on a monthly basis.
At the moment, it’s a bit difficult to locate more information on the events, but an article at SFGate says that the next market is slated to take place at Barbary Coast on March 24, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
It’s definitely worth keeping tabs on the pop-up, because if you’re into supporting the little guys in the weed biz, this is a unique program that deserves support. Plus, it’s fun. The experience of attending is “like I was making a squash soup with kabocha I had purchased directly from a farmer,” as SFGate’s Lester Black put it.
Black waxes poetic about sniffing garlic-scented weed and on his “new favorite flower,” a strain from Mendocino County’s Perrin Family Farms called Forbidden Fruit. The varietal’s grapefruit-inflected scent seduced him into a purchase — and even held up as a flavor note when smoked.
A farmers’ market seems like a slam dunk for people who want to bring their farm-to-table dining sensibility into the world of weed.
“I’ve already talked to three people who said ‘we’re happy to see you guys are back [with another event],'” event organizer Susan Tibbon told SFGate. “We want to buy weed from these people who are farming sustainably.”
In California, as in many other legal weed industries, cannabis farmers are not allowed to sell directly to consumers. The farmers’ market circumvents this restrictions by being located in one of two dispensaries, where each cultivator’s wares are sold. You interface with your weed farmer, decide which of their strains are smelling just right, and walk over to the dispensary’s sales counter to swoop up a gram or five.
For a bonus round, you can smoke the nugs right there in the presence of their maker! That’s because at least at Moe Greens, one of the spots where the market sets up, the whole shebang takes place in the dispensary’s consumption lounge.
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