Dry Farming on the Eel River

Tucked away in the hills of Humboldt County, Eel River’s Farm is graced with the presence of the mighty Eel River along the iconic Avenue of the Giants. We sat down with their team to find out more about this unique farm and their sustainable dry farming practices.

Q: How does dry farming work?

A: Our Farm is in an unique area that is low enough to naturally access the groundwater. The groundwater is filled by the Eel River which is packed with nutrients from centuries of decaying migratory salmon and the giant redwoods.

Once our plants are big enough, we place them int the ground and leave them to source their own water and nutrients. We no longer manually water the plants, forcing them to reach their roots deep underground to find their own water – sometimes 20-30ft deep! We find this “good stress” actually makes our cannabis deeper in flavor and potency.

What led you to try dry farming in the first place?

Our Farmer searched the globe high and low to find the perfect place where he could farm the way he wanted to – with the land. The methods used are ancient, sustainable and truly distinguished. In a time where indoor and artificial environments are encouraged, we chose to go against the norm. Dry farming is not easy nor cheap, but the outcome is worth it all.

In addition to conserving water, how does Eel river’s farm work towards being a sustainable operation?

Alongside cannabis, our Farm is filled with dry farmed fruit trees and vegetables. Very little is harvested for consumption, leaving most to fall back into the ground for next year’s nutrients. We give at least half of what we take back to the lands to ensure a healthy ecosystem. We are a zero waste operation and the epitome of biodynamic.

Tell me about your strains – is each of your vape carts from a single batch of cannabis?

Yes! We extract in small batches of a single strain. Using our whole plant, we pull the terpenes before the CO2 extraction. After extraction, the oil is distilled 3-4 times then the original batch terpenes are reintroduced into the oil. Unlike any other vape pens, our oils allow you to actually taste the cannabis your oil came from.

All of our cannabis is dry farmed, meaning the plants are sourcing their own water from the land. There is no manual irrigation from us, putting our plants into a unique stress. This “good stress” is found to create bolder flavors, deeper aromas and higher concentrations of rare cannabinoids. What this essentially means is that a strain you may think you know, could be a very different experience if dry farmed. Our proprietary strains are unique to the land they were grown from and we believe you can taste and feel that difference. Noteworthy strains are our Ancient Lime and Charlotte’s Web. Our Ancient Lime is an Iranian landrace, meaning it has never been hybridized and is a pure sativa. The sativa-dominant Charlotte’s Web is a high CBD strain and ideal for medicating anytime!