Chapter 2: TRUE, GOOD & NECESSARY
This journey starts in the summer of 1998 in Cedar Rapids Iowa I had just been released from the Clarinda Correctional Facility after failing to control my emotions and impulses. I was isolated to a maximim security facility where i spent 10-12 hours a day reading every book i could get my hands on about human behavior, psychology, sociology, religion, drugs, power, war, politics, chemistry, biology and horticulture. This began the process of opening my mind.
After my release I was transitioning through a halfway house. I set out to change my life.
I was attending Kirkwood Community College taking classes to learn to use a computer, microsoft office and figure out what this INTERNET was. I was also working at access direct telemarketing learning a new life skill in sales, something that helped me get to know and understand people on a level i never knew possible. Also, all the while exploring my own Consciousness through a daily ritual of LSD.
I had always been fascinated by the human mind especially the ego. Having spent the previous 12 months in complete solitary confinement I had dug deep reading every book I could on psychology parapsychology sociology and the Paranormal. I researched studied and practiced lucid dreaming to understand the power of our minds during our state of rest. I soon was able to initiate a lucid dream on a regular basis. It was almost as if I had found Mankinds superpower. The ability to be fully conscious aware and in control while in deep sleep accomplishing more while resting than spending endless amounts of energy consciously while awake. This daily practice of consciously planning tasks to undertake before going to sleep so my mind was prepared to work when I was in the dream state help me overcome anxiety depression insecurity lack of confidence and so much more it became an essential part of my being like eating drinking breathing. In order to feel the same level of control of my mind I found LSD allowed me the same ability to process information on a higher level than my normal senses did. Took my ADHD and made it a SUPERpower.
It was at this time i was reinventing myself after years of introspection sharing an apartment with students studying at the maharishi university in Fairfield, experimenting with mescaline, peyote, mushrooms, and lsd i was looking for a more purposeful journey. All. My friends surrounding me were students of the Maharishi school of enlightenment so we shared had deep philosophy and theology conversations.
One day I had been visiting my brother in Hillsboro having a smoke session and catching up on old times. It was mid afternoon when i decided to head out with the only thing on my mind being getting to the truck stop to get something to eat. I was stoned and had the munchies.
I was driving along the country highway i was overcome with a powerful sensation i had never experienced. I felt the voice in my head speak to me but more through me. I was overwhelmed with joy and cried uncontrollably. The voice spoke but not in me not out loud. He instructed me to follow my path. Believe in my purpose. He has chosen me. He will tell me when it is time.
I didnt understand. But i believed without hesitation. I had not heard anything but felt it through my entire being. I had to pull off the road and gather myself.
I had never been so excited. So happy. So completely overjoyed. I felt i had been touched. I felt special. Chosen. I couldnt wait to tell someone just to make sure i wasnt crazy but how do you start that conversation.
So in the summer of 1998 i get a call on my PAGER from a 702#. Its my dads last ex wife. She wants to know if id be interested in a house sitting job looking after my 17yr old half sister in Las Vegas until she graduates high school.
Before I could even answering I was thinking how to get rid of my car, sublet my apt, quit my job, get packed and on the road.
Didnt take much arm twisting for me to see this as an opportunity to change my life in a BIG way. I was at a travel agent at the mall within an hour and on a plane headed to Sin City the very next day.
O Las Vegas Sin City... The Oasis in the desert. As my flight approached I can see the world famous Las Vegas STRIP with all the lights neon and Glitz. But beyond that for the first time I realized it was a sprawling city of people hustling and bustling about like any other city in any other part of the world.
When I landed it was the 1st time I had seen my half-sister since 1990 when she was about 9 years old. She arrived with her 2 girlfriends in a convertible Mustang. 5.0. 3 beautiful teenage girls cruising the strip in a convertibe. I felt like i had made it.
Once we got back to the house and i got a feel for the situation i quickly realized these city kids played alot harder than the people i grew up around. Within days it was nonstop parties. Piles of cocaine. Bottles of ecstasy. Sheets of LSD. Pounds of weed. And dozens of gorgeous naked teenage girls having group sex.
Over the course of the next few months i engaged in a level of debauchery i thought reserved only for arab royalty and rock stars, I experienced more in those months than i had in my life.
Then it all came crashing to a halt. The money ran out. I was evicted & excommunicated. I was in jail. Then i was jobless. Homeless. No car. Only person i knew was my drug dealer.
Things were so foggy and chaotic i dont even remember how i got introduced to Wes but he took me in, gave me a place to stay and a job. I was content working just to get high with no real thoughts of a plan or the future. I had some wild times with Wes. He was a junk scrapper and bought and sold everything ge could make money on. He was always on the go and always fun to hang out with but all good things come to and end.
The job came to an end and a new beginning started. I started a new job. Got my own place and met a girl.
She was blonde blue-eyed funny and had felt the loss of a child. She was damaged but had a vision of kids and a family like i did.
We didn't date long before we moved in together and found out we were expecting. A baby BOY. i was as excited as you could possibly be. We went to classes and bought everything a baby could possibly need. We wanted to be the best parents ever.
The day finally arrived June 23 2001. Our baby boy . It was an adventure of a day. Our ride to the hospital fell through but a neighbor helped out. Labor was 12 hours long with my girlfriends mother there to supervise. I paced nonstop til i walked back in at 420 and baby was coming out, the doctor threw me right in to catch the baby and cut the cord. It was life changing.
Little did we know just a few months later 9.11.2001 the world would change forever. Our kids would never see the freedoms and privacy we had enjoyed.
Now with another mouth to feed and melissa not able to return to work right away we started looking at longer term solutions and had decided we would relocate to Iowa to be near my family where we could both work buy a house and miles could be near his grandparents.
This period of 2 years [2002-2004] was tumultuous to say the least. It started off rocky staying at my moms for the 1st 6 weeks. Melissa and her didnt take a liking to each other which made things awkward.
We quickly got a vehicle and moved to the local trailer park. We both got jobs and thought we'd save to get a house and settle down. I worked at a food processing plant that had just opened so i took on the challenge and strived to advance rapidly working 100+ hours a week. Within a year I was shipping & receiving supervisor and making good money. Melissas mom had passed. She had grown homesick and worked 12 hour shifts in a factory. She decided to have an affair with her boss. When i found out i was broken. I didnt want to stay under the same roof as her. But i didnt want to abandon my son. With this the anomosity between her and my mom became worse so we packed up and moved our family back to Las Vegas.
2004. Back in Las Vegas we had no jobs, no apartment, start from scratch and we had just found out we were PREGNANT again.
1st day back I went to Labor Ready day labor to get us money for a motel room. Couldnt leave my pregnant girlfriend and son in a van another day. Most day laborers were drunks homeless or illegals so the second day on the site the superintendent pulled me aside and told me he had some prevailing wage job that paid $90 an hour and would last 7 to 10 days. It was a real blessing. 2 weeks at day labor, we had an apartment and I had a fulltime job.
We didnt know what to do about having a 2nd child without having family around to help and support us. It was alot of sleepness nights and long conversations but we decided it was best to look at adoption so we could make sure we could give miles the best opportunity possible.
We found an agency willing to do an OPEN adoption where we could choose and meet the future parents of our 2nd born. Another boy. We found a great couple and sent them home with our son to be raised in a loving, caring, safe and secure home. They were a great family they sent us albums of photos of holidays and vacations for the first three years of his life. It was a blessing and a curse and became too much to continue to watch what we couldn't provide.
After this second pregnancy we decided that Melissa would stay at home until MILES was ready to go to kindergarten. We settled down and got all new furniture, a new car and spoiled the kid rotten. Every weekend was family time going somewhere and doing something new and fun. miles had begun to take to skateboarding with a passion it was exciting to watch his persistence.
Melissa retutned to work in the industry she was familiar with dry cleaning she missed being a stay-at-home mom spending all of her time with her boy but she quickly climb the ladder at work and became manager making a decent salary. This allowed us to take an extensive two-week vacation for miles's 8th birthday. by this time he was already skating on a team competing in a season-long competition and being recruited by sponsors. just before his season was to begin we took him on a two-week vacation going from Los Angeles Santa Monica Santa Barbara Santa Cruz to San Francisco and then back home through Bakersfield Fresno and home. He got to see lots of Beach visit lots of cool stores and adventure parks. It was the beginning of our family blog OFF THE STRIP. it was a great time and a much needed break from our lives in the city.
At some point in her employment as manager of the dry cleaners she had become Nemesis with the assistant manager who began to fabricate thefts that caused her to be fired. This caused a lot of animosity in her household because we had now took on more expenses because of our income. She quickly got another assistant manager job at a local thrift store chain but decided to work opposite shifts of me to where we rarely saw each other. With all the free time now i started to focus more attention to my concept a digital magazine OFF THE STRIP. Next, We moved to a cheaper apartment and our car was reposssed. We started to grow apart. After a few months i noticed her distance wasnt just disgust and frustration from our situation but I could feel her preoccupation with something else that seemed to now take on more importance than resolving balance in our home. She worked 3-11 weekdays and would now come home after 2am without calling to say she was doing anything or running late. We shared a cell phone in those days and one day i was messaging my bud dealer and a text came back from an unknown number saying some sexually suggestive content. I was completely shocked and Blown Away the woman I have loved for the last 10 years completely trusted I felt had totally betrayed me. I naively confronted her wanting to believe that it was just some kind of prank or joke from one of her co-workers or one of her girlfriends. She denied she knew anything about it so I left it at that. However two days later she came home at 4 in the morning completely wasted having never even called to let us know she wouldn't be coming home. This time when I confronted her she admitted to having a romantic affair with one of the Neighbors at the apartment complex. She was doing meth with him.and decided she wanted to pursue it. She was done with the family life.
I knew Immediately i had to leave the situation find somebody to talk to and try to reconstruct my life. I went to my friend rocco and stayed a few days to try to figure out my next move. I knew i had to shelter miles from this huge change thst was about to happen in his life. I decided to leave her in the apartment with all our 10 years of belongings but i wasnt gonna leave our son behind with her knowing she was doing drugs and not knowing the people she'd be exposing our son to. This was may 2010.
one of my coworkers a young man who lived with his grandma had a spare bedroom they wanted to rent so I moved in with them since I didn't have any furniture and all the utilities and Lease were in my name at the old apartment I left her living in. for the first 3 to 4 months I tried to talk to her to see if we can find a path for reconciliation miles visited with her every weekend that she was willing to. She led me to believe she wanted to try to figure out how we could heal the wounds, but it was simply another ploy 2 manipulate me and caused things to explode.
Miles had moved in with me and she gradually disappeared. From not answering her phone to moving from one weekly apartment to another to finally having no phone number, no email or social media contact. She had given up. When she did see him she was embarrassed, ashamed and humiliated he would see she was high on drugs and be disgusted with her. He was young and naive and never knew.. he was oblivious..he just couldnt understand why his mom wasnt working and why she didnt want to spend time with him or call him anymore. He had found skateboarding as his was to vent his frustrations and take out his stresses. He spent every minute from sun up to midnight every day of the week skating, competing and working his heart out. In spring 2012 he won 1st place at a national amateur 5-17 yr old skate championship. He was proud as could be but his mom was no where to be found. I could feel his disappointment. He wanted so much for her to see him for her to be proud of him.
for the next two and a half years the struggle was REAL, I was barely making enough money to stay off the streets and keep both of us fed. my employer had passed away with his family coming in and taking over the company massive turmoil ensued. my job became enslavement. Literally the new family owners are still being investigated by the Attorney General's office for employment Miss classification and Loan sharking 10 years later.
During this time. Myles concentrated on his goal of becoming a professional skateboarder while I focused on being there to support him. I was always buying multiple pairs of new shoes skinny jeans new skateboard decks grip trucks Wheels bearings tools shirts magazines whatever he needed to make him happy. Every year for his birthday that's all he ever wanted was a brand new Custom Skate setup and a new pair of shoes.
At some point during this period miles begin to gravitate towards kids from broken homes like himself. I never saw any drug use or criminal Behavior. they all seem like good kids with a real passion for skateboarding. At this same time my I was fed up with working for these people and since my job and pay had gone down to where I could barely survive I was recruited by a friend to come work with him selling vacation packages. it was easy money and he quickly showed me the ropes. He also introduced me to a street drug that was being widely sold in smoke shops in the city called spice sometimes called synthetic marijuana .Having smoked marijuana for 30 years and this guy being a friend and co-worker I trusted that it was safe and tried it. My brain was instantly fried in a state of paralysis and amnesia paranoia and high anxiety it was truly terrifying and uncomfortable however on another side of things exhilarating and enticing. I was infuriated after I came to 30 40 minutes later having not expected such a bizarre reaction. What I wasn't expecting or ready for was how highly addictive it was and readily accessible at 24-7 convenience stores smoke shops and very inexpensive under $20 a day. I quickly found I was spending 20 to $40 every day smoking every minute while I was awake waking up in the middle of the night to smoke and would pass out burning holes in everything. as was my weekend ritual Friday after work I picked up a bottle of spice and a pack of blunts got the kid from school gave him his allowance and sent him off to the skatepark while I watched videos and smoked a blunt with the neighbors. a few hours later my son called wanting to invite a friend to sleep over and play video games which I agreed to. about 10 that night the boys were still up playing video games so I told them I was going to bed in the Next Room. much to my surprise 4 a.m. I was awakened by a pounding on my door. It was a Las Vegas metro police officer with both of the boys and their skateboards. They were picked up an hour earlier miles from our apartment out past curfew. I was shocked embarrassed and infuriated disappointed and appalled. I felt like a complete failure. the officer asked me do contact the other kids parents to come pick him up and to take care of disciplining my son so he didn't have to take them to juvenile hall.
after everyone was gone I laid into my boy the fear of God tried to explain to him the dangers of people on the street after dark and in big cities. He was grounded from skateboarding from playing with his friends from having people over from having this phone.
the next morning I had a game of frisbee golf scheduled with one of my friends at 8 a.m.. I was exhausted from being up all night with the kid in the police and then smoking more spice I just wanted to stay home but he was persistent in getting me out on the golf course and getting some exercise. June in Las Vegas it's a hundred degrees by 10 a.m. most days and this day was no different. after 18 holes of frisbee golf and the heat I was burning up and needed to get in some AC and get some water and me I felt completely dehydrated. After sitting in the nearby McDonalds for a few minutes and drinking a few Ice T I still needed to get some more fluid in me and get some rest so I insisted on going home. after another few Blocks I asked to pull over to get out i was feeling nauseous. I walked into nearby pharmacy where I enter the bathroom undressed and and just soak myself down to try and cool down even resorting to lying flat on the public bathroom floor. After being in the bathroom for about 20 minutes I came out and still needed to lay down on the sidewalk at which point my friend insisted he take me to the nearby hospital and have them take a look at me even if it just meant getting some fluids in me. I hesitantly agreed insisting i just needed to get home and get some sleep.
5 minutes later we were walking into the emergency room Lobby I was feeling light-headed and dizzy and immediately a paramedic grabbed me and walked me to a gurney shouting out orders that I was having a heart attack and needed help immediately. Just minutes later i was in an operating room they were running a needle up a vein in my thigh and blowing out a blockage in an artery to my heart. They said i was having a widowmaker heart attack. I was going in and out i could not concentrate on what was happening but i was worried my son was going to be alone.
I'm not sure whether it was 5 minutes or 5 hours later I woke up in the ICU so weak I couldn't lift my hands strapped in with an IV strapped to my arm arm floaties on my ankles and wires running from head to toe. There were doctors and nurses standing over me in the room explaining to me what it happened the procedure of putting in a stent and doing an angioplasty the medications that they were going to try to lower my blood pressure and cholesterol. I was overwhelmed I had no family friends or close people in my life and my son was at home alone without a phone.
I finally got ahold of a few coworkers who tracked down my son and brought him to the hospital so i could let him know what we had going on. The doctors told me that it may take weeks months or even years to be able to get back to full capacity. they brought in social workers ,insurance reps, cardiologists, pharmacist and disability workers all with papers. they told me to prepare not to be able to return to work. I was not financially prepared for an event like this I barely had $2,000 in the bank and $1,000 paycheck coming. I didn't receive child support or section 8. I had no 2nd income source. I had no backup plan. Hey posted a photo of myself in the hospital on my Facebook feed to let people know what it happened. I called my sister my dad and my mom nobody felt they could be of any help taking care of miles that he wouldn't like it. and then out of nowhere a friend and former co-worker that I hadn't seen or talked to in 7-8 years reached out to me and said he would be in Las Vegas over 4th of July weekend, he had a 10-acre ranch in Central Coast California with green houses and a spare 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment I could come stay. He and his wife had two daughters age 8 and 17 and they could help me take care of miles in ensuring his safety and stability. he said he could use the company and needed help to get back to growing weed legally. It was an exciting idea of going back to living in the country taking life a lot slower giving my son a taste of it. I only had three days to figure out what I was going to do and I haven't even been released from the hospital yet. after considering the options I decided to jump in and take a chance even no I didn't know what I would do about a doctor or insurance or medication or my son schooling or Transportation or anything it was an opportunity to get out of Vegas and slow down and have a different side of life to show my son. We met up with my friend and his family for the 4th of July spent the day barbecuing and going to wet and wild then shooting off fireworks till the sun came up. My son was having a hard time emotionally but a good time being distracted I was having a very difficult time physically feeling drained and a hard time breathing with the tightness in my chest. On the 5th of July we were all packed up with our belongings and on our way to a new beginning in Creston California. A rural community 50 miles from Pismo Beach population 100. One bar.one restaurant.one general store/deli, one post office, one library, one school, one church. We were about to live 8 miles outside of this town and 22 miles from the nearest town with a grocery store or gas station. My son was in for quite a culture shock. I was excited about getting back to country living.
the first few weeks were fun and exciting getting to know everybody seeing their routine having home cooked meals and scene what was ahead of me with remodeling the apartment and living space to make it livable. It was a two-bedroom apartment that had been boarded up and converted into a marijuana grow room. there was no flooring , single pain windows boarded up, no ac, needed plumbing work and hot water. Also drywall, paint and a deep cleaning. Not to mention the 4 car garage and shop that was packed to the gills with a decade of stuff including an RV. Over the next month I pulled everything out of the house and garage cleaned remodeled painted organized box labeled and created an amazing living space with workout area living space with fire pit video game system and big screen TV motorcycles four wheelers and go karts to play with and work on. I even put together a workbench and pegboard to organize all the tools.
Once miles and I got settled in our own space away from our new friends and began to set course on what are new life's were about to become he was very resistant depressed angry and not very open to the opportunity. He wanted to go back to Las Vegas and he missed his friends and still have not been able to make any contact with his mom. He was worried about my health and what Safety and Security I could provide him and he felt out of place with the people he had never met before. I did my best to convince him through sheer determination and stubbornness that I could do everything I did before. 2 weeks later i was in the emergency room having fainted from over exerting myself and falling face-first on the concrete busting my head open requiring 19 stitches.
We were accepted like family and attended Advanced family dinners and aliens throughout the rest of the summer until it was time for miles to start at the local Junior High. He quickly adjusted to going to school and was able to make friends who were also skateboarders and lived in the country where we lived since now he took the bus back and forth to school. he found a neighbor and fellow classsmate who lived on the same country road and had a half pipe skate ramp in his front yard and quickly became best friends.
Days in the country moved slow but we quickly found a routine and began to explore new opportunities. I worked at home on the phone calling from 7am -5pm. Selling medical devices, insurance, or whatever it was. This paid for us to stay there and put is in good favor. At night i had setup a laboratory in the workshop with all Tesla.s books. I had already fabricated a hydrogen fuel cell generator that was retrofitted to 2 vehicles. I used one in the lab to test different applications i found on the internet and thought of myself. It started a resurgence in my quest for knowledge that had been stifled by the dog eat dog hustle & bustle of the city. I cleaned out both accessible greenhouses. Cleaned out the garden area, fixed the irrigation, rebuilt the pump house, fixed the chicken coop and added a nesting box and fenced in area. Over the course of the first spring 2015 i had obtained 3 goats, 4 pigs, 2 ducks, 20 chickens, a border collie puppy and a russian blue cat. It was a great way to keep me busy teach the kid some responsibility and have some great animals. It was alot of fun building a farm. A petting zoo. All the animals knew their names and were friendly to everyone. The neighbors across the country road were a 3rd generatiin in their ranch and really friendly helpful wholesome folks. They had a small farm and a firewood operation plus a few horses the kids rode together across both properties. It was really a great way to live. Waking up to deer, turkeys, quail or whatever grazing across tthe yard. Working on a project, growing vegetables, melons, peppers, tomatoes. Growing marijuana. Learning everything i could about it from start to finish. Clones, lighting, irrigation, extractions, edibles, butter and more. Learning the law and business opportunities. Meeting the people who were ground breakers in the industry. It was exciting and therapeutic at the same time.
I built 2 go karts for the Kid to race around the property. Tried to teach him a little bit about mechanics. But like most typical teenagers his interest was more in skateboarding girls and smoking weed with his high school friends. the only thing I ever saw him get passionate about outside of skateboarding was his self claimed expertise in dabbing. it was right about this time where he started getting in trouble at school and extremely irritable about the situation at home.. day in and day out he would rant about how awful he felt and how terrible of a parent I was and we needed to change our situation immediately. Watching my son meltdown before my eyes was disheartening to say the least. I talked with the family we were living with him and explained the situation that I needed to start looking for work outside of home and start looking for a place closer to town for miles and I. They understood but had their own situations to deal with.
immediately started sending out resumes trying to get any job as soon as possible. at the same time the family that we were staying with decided that their daughter and her boyfriend were going to move into the two-bedroom apartment we were living in and that we would have to relocate to the garage until we left. We already had the garage converted to a man cave with several beds and couches TV and everything else so it wasn't as bad as I'm sure they had hoped.
In the small town Atascadero where we lived closest to I was able to get a job even though it was against my doctor's orders at a Jack In The Box working the drive-thru. Now was the transportation dilemma Being 25 miles away. For the first two weeks I was able to get right back and fourth with the family we lived with. During this time I was not at home when miles got home from school and he began to get very distraught. One day at work I was called into the high school counselors office because miles had indicated he wanted to hurt himself. After talking to the counselor and discussing the broader scope of things they informed me that a safe meeting would be scheduled with other County and City organizations to help provide support and counselling. At first it seemed like a good idea knowing how much I needed help. But quickly it felt as if they were trying to form a strategy to take my son from me. Because my son exhibited emotional distress not getting his way abd refused to come home, i had to cencede to let him stay with his friend and family who happened to be ths local sheriffs while i got working tried getting us moved and him a counselor.
After our first meeting with the group and their understanding of the girls we have to overcome to achieve success, a member of the local homeless shelter staff contacted me wanting to give us a vehicle to help us with transportation an older volvo rough around the edges but doable. It now allowed to work fulltime at jack in the box. Get to my drs appointments & pharmacy. Pick up miles and have him back home. As spring came around and the prospects of going to his moms for spring break became real he began acting up abd running off again. In order to speed up the process of getting us into our own apartment in town so he'd be happy i took on a second job.
All my life i have been fascinated by cannabis. I 1st smoked when with a friend who also had a paper route met at a local arcade when i was 8 years old in 1980. That same year i was taken to a pot farm for 1st time and saw how amazing it was. I got to trim and watch everyone smoke. I moved to California in 1989 with the dream to one day own my own pot shop. I always tried to follow the latest trends, meet growers, activists, people looking to change peoples perspective, i subscribed to high times and cannabis culture, i had watched every cheech and chong movie, listened to every album, i followed the underground. I knew the record stores that sold pipes i had been to a hempfest in illinois. I had worked with a local grower in iowa in 1987 setting up a greenhouse, i learned alot about nutrients, hydroponics, cloning and ventilation. In 1990 i started my 1st grow in my dads backyard in Madera, Ca. In 2014 i took an online course at Oaksterdam University to learn some of the latest techniques and legal ins and outs. When i 1st moved to San Luis Obsipo County i was excited about the opportunities to be in the middle of the GREEN RUSH. My current living situation didnt allow me to use the greenhouses and grow facilities there to run a large commercial operation, so when my LEGAL Dealer told me he was gonna expand his operation to a larger greenhouse and outdoor grow plus expand delivery to 15 cities in the county. and he was looking for help. I nearly left my body. I couldnt say yes fast enough. He wanted me to do delivery while i was in atascadero during weekdays since i was already there and it was a small town.
For the next 1st 4 weeks i worked 7-3 at jack in the box dealing weed and delivering then i drove 50 miles to California Valley where i dug post holes, 100))) 4x4x4 holes for plants. Put up fencing. Mixed soil. Ran irrigation. Setup security cameras and lighting. Transplanted 100 plants into ground. Then built 6 raised flower boxes and built hoop houses to be able to fill out a fall crop as soon as this was done And then started another round in the greenhouse. After getting everything going it was apparent the valley was exploding, a rural community of under 100 with only 1 business, a motel was fully booked. A food truck was up and running. A water truck was driving around. Lots of traffic on hwy 58 coming and going to town daily. nearly 400 farms had popped up . 2.5 acre plots were selling for $3000. People were looking for labor and supplies. We were gonna see a huge boom over the summer and there was gonna be lots of money to be made. 99 plants at 1-2# each wholesale $1200-$1500 per # meant $120k-$300k minus costs. With 400 people farming there was gonna be flood of product. Most illegal grows. Cops would be all over us. making it worthless if we didnt get it sold before we grew it and make it all LEGAL.
There was a property that used to be owned by Cal Trans. 5 acres. 2 3 bedroom 1 bath houses with garages a firehouse and several other out buildings. It was all fenced in and in a great location away from the farms so we rented it and i brought miles out to live in the valley to learn about labor, farming, electric, plumbing, etc instead of taking the path to moving closer to the city. he hated the idea and immediately started raising hell with the counselors at school. They have CPS come out to make sure it was a safe environment for him to be living. They couldn't understand why I would want to be living even more remote and they sided with Miles that it would be best for him to stay with his friends while we were seeking counseling for him. His friend also happened to be the sheriff who had jurisdiction over california valley so now i had someone at the dinner table to hear what was going on.
With tge POTENTIAL of 400 FARMERS GROWING 100 PLANTS at $1200 a pound was gonna put almost $50 million dollars into this community in a year. The cops were not gonna let that happen with some strife.
The county board of supervisors was not gonna let it happen. The. Valley started making the news and quickly started dominating it. Everyone wanted to know what was going on. Why the cops hadnt shut it down.
In order to protect our investment we had to divise a plan to organize the other farmers. We scheduled a meeting at the local community center to discuss the plan. Over 500 people showed up anxious to see what was going on. With the local sheriffs under surveillance we had an inside angle. We proposed all those that wanted to register and get legal we would offer a way for them to be successful and avoid legal issues. We agreed to cover costs of application and permits, plus we would supply clones, soil, nutrients, pots, water, fencing supplies, labor and security in exchange we get 100% of harvested crop untrimmed at $600 per pound. They wouldnt have to worry about making money, finding distribution, and labor. We had 161 farmers sign up. The rest thought they had it all figured out.
161 farms growing 99 plants at 1 pound minimum. That gaves us an opportunity to grow 160 different strains. We were expecting 16,000 lbs of premium sungrown. $10 million profit after costs. With recreational legalization on the horizon we knew this may be the last time the small farmer had to make a living before the big corporate players came in and took over.
We quickly organized deliveries from tractor supply co and home depot to truck supplies out to the valley. We obtained all the materials and began distribution. Most farms had their own labor and were able to get their fences up and clones transplanted in the 1st week, things were off to a great start. Water delivery had been scheduled, everyone had their nutrients and permits, county enforcement was ready to comee inspect and pass everyone. We had setup several greenhouses to generate clones and we bought an auto trimmer and closed loop extraction system to be ready for harvest. We had several large barns ready to dry everything as it came in. Now we needed to obtain wholesale distribution trying to have the product sold as soon as it was ready. We went from san francisco to los angeles to Bakersfield, Fresno to other delivery services in SLO county. We offered 10# trimmed for 10k. 10 different strains. We made just over 70 sales in our 1st trip out. We had secured 700k in committments before we even had a single plant flowering. Many others were interested but wanted to see and sample finished product 1st. We would be back in september.
The summer was HOT 100' every day so we had to water and work around it. Most people were up and watering at 5 am. Finishing up morning work by 10 then doing a 2nd water about 8pm after sunset. The plants were going strong and everyone was happy to see their payday on the horizon. Since there was no store, restaurant, gas station or any other amenities we decided to get a few soda machines and fill them with beer. We chained them to the fence and couldnt keep up with keeping the machines full. We also decided to buy a deep freezer so we could store frozens pizzas and we started a digiorno pizza delivery service. There was lots of calls for a general store it was 100 miles roundtrip to the nearest store. We had bbqs at yhe 1st of each month thru the summer so people could meet each other and take a break from the farm. We even set up a doughboy swimming pool for the kids. Farming in the remote valley in the hot summer heat takes a toll on you. When September rolled around and we began to start harvesting field after field as soon people got paid the left to go back to their city lives. Very few stayed with the thought of building on their property or doing another grow. Some stayed to work the processing helping trim, package and so forth. we were pleasantly surprised processing the first couple of grows had produced over 300 pounds per hundred plants. We had a 100 plant grow of Blue Dream hanging in the rafters that looked like it may exceed a thousand pounds.
All the while we were harvesting and processing hi was establishing delivery routes in the neighboring towns in the county to set up the expansion of our delivery service.
During this exciting time seeing all my hard work come to fruition seeing people making money I was determined 2 show my son the ropes and Inspire him to take part. he was a stereotypical Stoner skateboarder so I definitely enjoyed the end results of all the hard work. when he refused to come home decided to go stay in Las Vegas with his mom's I threw my hands up defeated and decided to proceed with my life. since I spent most nights in town establishing the delivery service I decided to reach out and find a lady who would enjoy a night out. I was very upfront and direct with who I was and what I was looking for and almost immediately received a response leading to a date at a local coffee shop. we had chatted for several days online discussing our most intimate secrets and Fantasies. we connected on level unimaginable to most people myself being very guarded with who I am friends with and who I let into my circle I was quite dumbfounded with my immediate attraction and Trust. she was damaged having just come off a divorce after 10 years now living at home with her aging father unemployed stuck in a rut not sure what she wanted. but that was just what was on the surface underneath I could sense an inspiring vision to touch people's lives change their hearts and make a difference in the world. we may have had different paths to getting there but we both have the same vision in our hearts.
I continue to finish harvesting and processing the grows out in California Valley up until November where I cashed out and decided to invest my time energy and resources into my new relationship with a woman I fell instantly in love with. she had been courageous and taken the time to step into my world and see what it was all about but having never experienced living on the edge she was justifiably scared and not wanting to be a part of my project or plan. I am a patient man and I knew the possibilities of her coming around where there once the law had changed and she no longer had to worry about legal ramifications and damage to her image.
from November through April I helped formulate a business plan to create a product and Company for us to be able to work together and sustain our Lively hoods providing US Financial Freedom without compromising our legal standing. not one for tooting my own horn but quickly our product became a smash success and provided us an income beyond our wildest expectations it afforded us to take a 30 city tour in 30 days to establish the brand Nationwide create an online subscription box service a front-page article in the local Arts newspaper. we had set goals and knock them out of the park the three and five-year vision for growth of the company and the product set us up to be a 50 million dollar company in the next five years. We had already been offered 1 million before any sales, distribution contracts or subscription service were a part of it.
