Hey lovely People! Thanks for hoppin’ over to the website and hangin out here in Haight Street Voice-land! From our digital version of the Summer 2024 edition, here’s the video and full transcript of my conversation with Scott Vasterling, co-owner of Humboldt Family Farms.
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Haight Street Voice: Hey guys! Haight Street Voice here. I am with Scott Vasterling — did I say that right?
Scott Vasterling: Yes!
HSV: — from Humboldt Family Farms. I’m totally stoked to have you here. We met last year at the Haight Street Art Center. We love you, Kelly! So maybe let’s start there. Humboldt Family Farms was founded in 2007. I love that you and I are talking this week because it’s the Summer Solstice on Thursday and a Full Moon on Friday, and this is the Summer edition! So I’m stoked! You’re my very first interview for this edition. And I love the fact that the quote on your website says, “Where the Earth meets the Sky” and that “flower love sunshine” — was that it?
SV: Yeah, “flowers prefer sunshine.”
HSV: Flowers prefer sunshine, alright! Welcome!
SV: Thank you for having us!
HSV: Yeah!
How did you get to the Haight Street Art Center? Maybe we’ll start there …
SV: Yeah sure. HFF was founded back in 2007. We had a food farm — I’ll kind of give you a little history of HFF leading up to how we met at Haight Street.
HSV: Yeah okay, please do!
SV: Okay. So we were founded in 2007 as a food farm actually. My wife and sister-in-law owned a cafe up in Trinidad, they’ve had that for 20 years, and we started supplying them with a variety of fruits and vegetables, eggs and so forth to the cafe. So that’s how Humboldt Family Farms was born.
What we did is we took that same kind of mindset as we navigated through regulations with cannabis. And the same people that are growing amazing peaches and tomatoes — those farmers also grow amazing craft, sun-grown cannabis.
HSV: Wow.
SV: So we now curate from a menu of cannabis as well using those same relationships that we had from supporting them through the cafe. Over the years from navigating regulations and through Prop 64 and through a lot of the policy work that I had done, I built relationships not only with different farmers but with people who have influence in music and art. Cannabis has been such a part of, you know, that cultural —
HSV: And I know you’re a surfer from San Diego. Let’s throw that in there!
SV: Originally, yes!
HSV: I love that!
SV: Yes, and sports and all those things. That’s where I grew up is down in San Diego.
So some of those connections led us to the Haight Street Art Center and Jeff and Kelly over there have been fantastic. And their whole team has been incredibly supportive of artists and music clearly, and of course there’s this component of underground cannabis inspiration that some of these people get. And so …
HSV: She just did the Women in Weed panel which was really beautiful.
SV: Yeah, that was awesome!
HSV: Incredible!
SC: Great attendance there, and some amazing farmers that were there in attendance answering questions. So yeah, little things like that just to kind of show that, “Hey, we’re the brand that’s been supplying a lot of inspirations in art and music for a long time.” It’s a pleasure that Kelly and Jeff invited us to come and be a part of that, and share some of wares from our farmers and tell our stories and kind of connect people in the Haight Street area. And of course SPARC on Haight Street is one of favorite retail outlets. They’re maybe 150 yards away from the Haight Street Art Center. They’ve got a whole variety of our products there and they are a great retail partner for us to help support the area.
HSV: Awesome!
So what does the Haight mean to you? What’s your connection with the Haight? Do you have — I mean, maybe it’s a new thing for you, I don’t know.
SV: You know, it was always just like an inspirational place, even back in college. I went to Chico State …
HSV: (laughs)
SV: … in the early ‘90s. I was always coming down into the City for shows: Jerry Garcia with David Grisman playing down at the Warfield, night after night, and I was missing classes. (Laughter). Haight Street was where we always ended up. Seemed like we always spent a lot of time there. There’s also a lot of history of cannabis in that area as well, just that kind of that counterculture movement. It was always just very intriguing, very free-spirited, artistic lifestyle that I felt like people were always living in the Haight. So when I had the opportunity to support the Haight Street Art Museum —
HSV: Haight Street Art Center, I’m gonna correct you there! (Laughter)
SV: Art Center, yes, correct! It was just a great partnership that we’ve developed over the past couple of years. And of course that’s how you and I met.
HSV: And they’re starting to introduce — Kelly’s doing this thing where she’s introducing live music. I think it’s gonna be once a month. She’s doing a punk rock show in August. Anyway … we love yo, Kelly!
So I wanted to talk to you about actual weed, smoking weed, and I love that you said, again on your website, you said something to the effect of you would smoke a little weed just to get a little buzz but not to get stoned, and I love that whole idea that you don’t have to knock yourself out getting stoned all day. And that you’re an athletic person and yet weed doesn’t interfere, you know what I mean. I think a lot of people think, “Oh, you’re just a stoner”. Can you speak to that a little bit?
SV: Yeah, I used it more functionally I guess than I did just to kind of check out, in a sense. It’s one of those things (laughs), I think my father and I had some of the biggest conflicts in our life was over the fact that I was very successful in sports and surfing and organized sports like soccer and baseball. And I always found that I could really find focus with just a little bit of cannabis. So still to this day I find that not a huge amount — maybe when I’m at a show or something when I really want to be involved, of course.
HSV: Right.
SV: But I find that I find inspiration from it. It brings a lot of creative thought. I still feel very in control. I’m managing a big business with a lot of farmers and a lot of things going on, and so I find that I can still really function in that way. I typically don’t do it during the day. A little bit in the morning with my cup of coffee is one of my favorites times to enjoy it, go for a walk, check on the farm and everything in the morning and then kind of start my day.
HSV: That’s really beautiful. I just love that idea that it’s inspirational and that it’s not being abused, you’re not overdoing it.
You say a huge production. How many acres? 270, did I write that right?
SV: Well no. So we have 5 farms that are in our collaboration and we have almost 5 acres of cultivation within those 5 farms that we’re currently cultivating on. We had about 60 to 70 strains last year. We’ve got some amazing farmers, like Amy Neukom who was on the panel you mentioned, Women in Weed, and she is OCal-certified, which is the organic certification. She’s an amazing food farmer, she was supplying our cafe for years.
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And of course we’ve got Nick over at Full Moon Farms, also a close friend of mine. He’s been involved multi-generations in the cannabis industry. One of the best sun-grown farmers I’ve met here in Humboldt County. It’s a pleasure to have his farming products.
Amaranth Farms also, with Nya and his family, Tommy, Karen and of course their daughter, Alon. They’ve been in it since the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, homesteading down in southern Humboldt, so they’ve got lots of stories! Their commitment to the plant has been really impressive.
And then a couple of other farms that supply small products here and there for us as well.
HSV: I love the “community-driven” thing. That’s what I have with my magazine. It’s kind of all that we’ve got left in the world. We’ve got clowns at the wheel right now and the world is a pretty nutty place — especially San Francisco with the driverless cars and the AI thing that’s happening. To be able to say hello to people in the neighborhood and know people and connect, it’s such a huge important thing at this juncture of the evolution of humanity in my personal opinion.
SV: Yeah!
HSV: I just love that the art and the weed and the music — thanks to people like Kelly bringing people together like that, it’s huge. I respect what you do and what you’re doing up there so much! It’s like a — it’s so inspirational. It’s California! From whence it came! From whence we come! And that you’re nurturing the land, respecting the land — it’s huge. It’s a warm and fuzzy! It’s so nice to know that’s going on up there, you know?
SV: Yeah! There are some amazing farmers up here. And that’s really where Humboldt Family Farms, we just kind of took … we said, listen, one of the biggest challenges with legalization has been how do these farmers get their products through the supply chain and actually to the customers with the tiered system and distribution and things. And so to create a collaborative brand like this, to tell their stories and have them focus on the farming, which is what they love to do, and then they can produce the highest quality product for the brand. And then I share their story and who it is that farmed these products.
So we’re very transparent about everything from testing, who the farmers are, strains, our retail partners also are fantastic. I mentioned SPARC earlier, we’re also with Embarc, FlowerCo is our delivery partner and they’re heavily based in the San Francisco area, so those folks that prefer to have deliveries done, FlowerCo covers a whole variety of our products, and is a great partner up here.
I feel very honored and grateful that I’m in this position to help support these farmers and celebrate them, really, getting through to the supply chain.
HSV: Yeah! That’s wonderful!
Okay, so we covered that. (Looking at notes) Oh, your connection to the Grateful Dead. The fact that they’re at the Sphere. Do you have any reflections or opinions? For me, I was sort of poo-pooing it. Clearly, I mean Bob Weir’s an old friend of mine and he was on the cover of HSV two — no actually three summers ago now …
SV: Okay!
HSV: Coming from the counterculture, coming from 1965-66, San Francisco, Haight Ashbury to now a residency at The Sphere — what a strange world we’re living in, right? At the same time, they’re showing pictures of 710 Ashbury which is literally — I’m pointing to it right now, a couple blocks away. That’s pretty trippy! Do you have any thoughts about where we are on this spaceship we’re on? (Laughter)
SV: (laughing) It’s moving very quickly for sure! Have you had a chance to go to the Sphere?
HSV: No. Have you?
SV: I did!
HSV: You did!?
SV: I did, yeah! It’s spectacular! It really was, you know, in my opinion. The first day, we had seats, and it was more of a movie to me. It was less about the music and I felt personally attacked little disconnected with the music because of the performance and people’s reactions to visuals versus what typically is reactionary to the music.
HSV: Right.
SV: And I missed that! And so the next two nights we were on the floor, and that was a much better experience because you’re — it was very personal. Both nights, the way they set it up there was just plenty of room on the floor so we were very comfortably 8 rows back and it was spectacular! I mean they were having a great time, they were in tune, they’re in rhythm with one another, the drums had a completely different impact on me in that area, and space, than I had ever felt before. And so yeah, I actually really enjoyed it. I would recommend that people, given the opportunity, the music is on the floor. When you’re up in the seats, you’re just — I felt like I was just too far away to really experience it.
I really enjoyed it. They seemed really happy onstage, I will admit. And Bobby was playing, he was just really groovin’, and John had his vibe goin’, and everybody else. I personally thought it was a fantastic show. I was thankful that I had the opportunity to attend.
HSV: Apparently, even the street kids that I know in the neighborhood because I know a lot of the people around here, they’re saying they got in free or they spent 50 bucks or something, tickets were pretty plentiful.
So anyway, I just wanted to kind of like tap into that a little bit because that’s really what’s going on and it’s pretty trippy. I mean I think Jerry Garcia’s probably goin’, “What the heck?! Who knew we were gonna do a residency in Vegas?!” (Laughter)
SV: Yeah, right?! Some of those early Vegas shows were some of my favorites, you know, back with Santana and some of those shows — phenomenal!
HSV: Were you at the one when Sting opened?
SV: I was not at the Sting one, no. I was there when Santana played with them, yeah.
HSV: Wow. I was at the Sting one. I know David Graham, I was hangin’ out backstage shootin’ hoop, playing basketball with Eddie Vedder. (Laughter) It was just one of those trippy, you know, wow, this is nuts, you know? But thank you Grateful Dead, we love you! Dead & Co, Bobby …
SV: Absolutely.
HSV: I’m fixin’ to get Bobby in the mag, it looks like he can’t do it til after the residency for the next edition, for the Fall edition. Who knows? He may (to camera): Bob! Get your ass in here!
Okay, so thank you, there’s that. (Looking at notes) Flowers Prefer Sunshine — I just love that quote. Oh and your favorite — I just took a bunch of notes — your favorite strain being Trainwreck — I just love that. When you were young. You like to go with the old-school strains at the Humboldt Family Farms, is that true?
SV: Yeah, we do. You know, we have a variety of strains, like I said, we have 60 to 70 strains, so we do some of the newer genetics but my favorites are the old ones. You know, the Trainwreck, Maui-Waui is probably my all-time favorite. And then of course the Blue Dream and some of the older genetics.
Some of the stuff nowadays it’s so strong.
HSV: Totally!
SV: And some of the infused stuff and things. I mean I know there’s a market for it and I’m not suggesting that, you know, we’re any better for not doing it, but I just feel like for me personally the Maui-Waui is perfect. I love a good sativa, that really heady high, yeah, that’s kind of my jam.
HSV: I’m a late bloomer. I didn’t smoke until— I think the first time I ever smoked weed I was 45 or something! And I’m like you, I’ll have a puff and go for a powerwalk and it sort of like lifts the whatever that is in our brains weighted down. It blows it up a little bit.
Okay. (Reading more notes): kindness and community-driven values, a desire to preserve authenticity in the face of impending corporate expansions — I love that too! Keeping it local, keeping it family, keeping it community, that’s really the essence of — like I said earlier, it’s what’s gonna keep us going on this planet, is really honoring community, honoring each other, really. On that note …
SV: And being good business partners, right?
HSV: Yeah!
SV: We have to be good business partners.
HSV: It’s really true!
SV: The farmers need to get paid and … that’s probably one of the biggest challenges in cannabis is just the supply chain along the line and everyone collecting. So I think that’s where we have a great partner with Mavis who’s our delivery partner, distribution partner, and the ability to get these farmers paid to preserve all of this authenticity and stories and the culture — it’s critically important. So that’s kind of my commitment to this brand, is helping support these farmers and these stories that I think are so valuable to this industry as we get this influx.dI love that cannabis is becoming more and more normalized every single day. I think it’s fantastic. However, I want to make sure we have a way that we can celebrate the culture of cannabis up here in the Emerald Triangle.
HSV: Yeah, yeah, yeah! Well, bless you! We’re grateful for you!
SV: Thank you.
HSV: What would like to say — I ask this, every interview I like to end with this: HSV is hyper-local with a global perspective, so it’s about this community here, the essence of the light that lit that ‘60s, say hello to people, be kind, that essence of the Haight Ashbury and communities all over the world: What would you like to say?
SV: Yeah. I think it’s vote with your dollar. Put your dollar in places and companies and people and communities that you believe in and support. I think that it’s critically important that people just don’t think they vote once every four years, that every single dollar you spend is a vote towards something good — it can be something good. So think about that because if you’re not supporting those types of companies then those types of companies won’t be there as time goes on.
HSV: I totally agree! With my magazine too, either with people subscribing or running an ad like you guys so nicely did, and Kelly at the Haight Street Art Center who does every time — even Father Dan of the episcopal church … it’s beautiful! I’m with you! Vote with your dollar. I really like that idea. It’s sort of like not making money the enemy. Money is what keeps these beautiful things alive and running.
SV: True.
HSV: It’s weird to even vocalize that because it’s always sort of like, “Oh, money …” But I think it’s a really important thing to be cool with that, with the dollar. Thank you for that.
SV: Yeah!
HSV: That’s wonderful.
Alright man, I guess that’s it unless you have anything you want to add?
SV: Yeah, no, good! We’re grateful for your support and we love working in the Haight area. I’ll be down there again in a couple a weeks and I look forward to catchin’ up!
HSV: Cool, yeah, I look forward to seeing you in person! Are you coming to the punk thing they’re gonna do?
SV: I don’t know if I’ll be there on the opening night but I can’t wait to come see the exhibit!
HSV: Alright man (my phone rings) Sorry Scott! Hey man, peace, thank you so much! Really appreciate it!
SV: Thanks everybody! Cheers!
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