The Clever Root

Fall / Winter 2015

Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/599676

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 98 of 111

f a l l / w i n t e r 2 0 1 5 | 9 9 uilt on a hillside in the Northern California coastal region, the Mateel Community Center in Redway overlooks an expansive forest of redwood trees, a feature that is unique to this region's climate. The evergreen redwoods tower across the mountainous landscape in every direc- tion and are proudly protected by the generations of environmental advocates and "back-to-the-landers" who live among the giants. These people are the heart of Humboldt's cannabis culture. Their values of sustainability and strong community are one of the reasons a cultivation technique called light deprivation is a prevalent practice in this region. By manipulating light cycles for the cannabis plant with blackout tarps in an outdoor greenhouse, "light dep" al- lows farmers to utilize full spectrum sunlight to bring out the full po- tential of each plant with only minimal use of supplemental lighting. Given its location and the community that supports it, the Mateel was the ideal venue for the Golden Tarp Award, Humboldt's light deprivation cannabis competition. The second annual event on September 12 celebrated the harvest with a day of education for farmers and entrepreneurs, exhibitors from several aspects of the industry, and a community competition judged unlike any other. The founders of the Golden Tarp Award from TheGanjier.com wanted to create a cannabis competition that celebrated this agricultural technique and the Emerald Tri- angle community that champions it. Co-founder Kevin Jodrey knew this event had to be celebrated in Southern Humboldt, because it is an essential cultural hub for the cannabis farming community. "You have an incredible number of people pulling tarp, and har- vesting the first round earlier than you can for full-term outdoor," Jodrey said, which is why the competition is held in mid-September. Light dep is a rising practice, and he estimates that it has gone from zero to a quarter of the outdoor market over the last few years —and continues to grow. Jodrey is a veteran cannabis cultivator and judge: As Cultivation Director for Wonderland Nursery in Garberville (along with fellow Golden Tarp Award co-founder William Pedro), he uses his decades of cultivation experience to select which genetics the nursery will offer every season. On a daily basis, he answers cultivation and industry questions from patients, their farmers and other visitors. He has evaluated thousands of cannabis flowers over the years for competitions like the Emerald Cup, which will be December 12–13 this year. "We had a vision for the Golden Tarp Award to be the top light dep competition," Jodrey explained. "The Emerald Cup is the best organic outdoor cup, and we didn't want to copy them. We know and admire Tim Blake and the crew who run it, and they are already representing outdoor cannabis at a high level." Most cannabis competitions around the world collect entries and then select a panel of judges who evaluate all that are entered in the weeks leading up to an event. The Golden Tarp Award was an opportunity to create a new standard that looked at cannabis in a way that both highlighted the range of flavor subtleties and only allowed clean product to compete. "We just don't believe it's fair to the judges to ask them to smoke contami- nated medicine," Jodrey said. "If it's contaminated, it's not medicine." The terpene profile of a cannabis flower influences the aroma and flavor, but much like other industries, specific flavor characteristics will come into trend and can domi- nate the market. According to Jodrey, the flavor described as "fuel" is most popular; strains are sometimes literally described as having a diesel fuel taste. This market dominance, in turn, also influences which flavors win cannabis competitions. Popularity in the market is all well and good, but the Ganjier team had not yet seen a competition that allowed multiple flavors on the cannabis spectrum to be recognized, Jodrey said. Golden Tarp The Birth of the Juding Cannabis Patrick Murphy, proprietor of Emerald Family Farms, in Humboldt, CA, was on hand to showcase his cannabis flowers. The Emerald Family Farms' Diesel Berry strain took home the final prize. PHOTO: JOHN BIRCHARD Understanding Cannabis Flavors

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Clever Root - Fall / Winter 2015