GUERILLA GROWING

Prior to Salmon Creek Farms entrance into the legal cannabis market, John Mahony was a guerrilla gardener in the hills of Humboldt County, California and cultivated cannabis plants in the understory of the redwoods. He was part of the back to the land movement of the late 60s and early 70s.  Many young people wanted to leave the Vietnam war protests, the watergate scandal, inner city race wars and corporate dominated urban areas for the fresh air of the rural areas where land was relatively cheap. John lived in undeveloped land in Salmon Creek for almost 8 years.  Logged over bankrupt sheep ranches were selling off 40 acre parcels for $12,000, owner financed, which had been purchased previously by shady land developers in Humboldt for a few dollars an acre. Undeveloped meant no roads, no sewer and no utilities. Over the years homesteaders across Humboldt built homes, schools, community centers, health centers, FM radio stations and religious gathering places of all denominations.  They were built with community donated labor.  John and his neighbors exchanged work days, bartered goods, & took odd jobs to pay the bills.

Rural Humboldt County turned into a war zone as various California State governors and federal Drug Czars made it their personal mission to clean up the Northern California Marijuana problem. Two term California Governor Deukmajian put on a flak jacket and personally rode in the helicopters as one of the heroes of the pot wars. With 2 or 200 plants in your back yard, helicopters would land in your front yard, full military uniformed men would jump out screaming and pointing M16s assault rifles at you and your children.  Everyone was handcuffed and made to lie face down in the dirt. Your house was ransacked, your children, even babies were taken away and put in foster homes.  Mandatory sentencing included a minimum 5 years in prison if you had over 100 plants.

From the mid 80s until 1996 John grew under the tree canopy to avoid aerial surveillance, not always successfully.  When compassionate medical use laws were passed in California in the late 90s, John and his neighbors once again were able to grow in the full sun, with a medical marijuana card. Still the busts continued, with up to a dozen agencies participating in what was clearly a cultural and political vendetta against the free thinkers, pot smokers and hippie homesteaders.  While the vast forests in the North Pacific continued to be clear cut in the name of big profits, billions of dollars were wasted in these military style “drug” busts.