Cannabis in NorCal en rush O’Neill 27


FROM INSIDE A souped-up golf cart, Michael Steinmetz, the founder and CEO of cannabis cooperative Flow Kana (888-850- 2999, flowkana.com), shows me around his soon-to-open 80-acre site that’s practically a Disneyland for weed. Next spring, Steinmetz, 30, will launch Flow Cannabis Institute, a marijuana processing and distribution plant in the industrial warehouses in Mendocino County that used to house Fetzer Wines. With recreational activities that go far beyond lighting a blunt (think ganja yoga, weed-and-wine-pairing dinners and cannabis massages), the institute plans to take pot to the next level. And this is just the beginning of the buzz building in Northern California: Steinmetz and other young entrepreneurs are cashing in on the state’s recent legalization of recreational marijuana (set to go into effect January 1) not only to harvest copious amounts of pot but also to bring cannabis into mainstream culture. Aided by fertile soil and a temperate climate—the same land and weather combo that helps grapevines thrive— new cannabis companies are springing up all over Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. The influx of highly educated business-savvy stoners looking to hit gold is akin to the forty- niners who made their way to California in the 19th century. This contemporary edition has been dubbed “the green rush.” While people in Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity Counties (collectively known as the Emerald Triangle) have been growing medicinal marijuana for decades, Steinmetz saw an opportunity to form a new cooperative. Flow Kana is comprised of farmers who grow


gets more fun and we


get better at it.” – Casey O’Neill


small-batch varietals (right alongside their veggies) and distribute them (complete with hip design-forward packaging) throughout the Golden State. You might recognize the brand name from the huge pro-cannabis billboards that popped up around the Bay Area in April (just in time for 4/20). “I really want Flow Kana to be about fixing the food-supply system on our planet,”


July 26–October 10, 2017 Time Out San Francisco


growing cannabis


“Every year,


PHOTOGRAPH: MELISSA RYAN


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