Happy Day Farms
HappyDay Farms is a small family farm in Northern Mendocino. In addition to producing high quality, small-batch medicinal “Craft Cannabis,” HappyDay Farms pumps out produce year-round, they grow flowers and they raise meat chickens and layers. HappyDay also operates a CSA program.
So HappyDay Farms interfaces with the community on these two fronts — by providing the community with more traditional agricultural products, like meat, produce and flowers, and by providing qualified community members with small batch medicinal cannabis that comes with nothing but positivity and good vibes.
The HappyDay crew is a great group of folks — genuine, friendly, intelligent, committed to sustainable farming and positive branding and philosophy. According to their website, they “stand for the rights of smallholders to produce any and all salable crops and to trade or barter them on the open market and be regulated solely under the Department of Food and Agriculture.”
HappyDay Farms graciously provided me with two types of medicinal cannabis to sample — Pure Kush Strawberry Kush (PKSK), a thoroughly powerful indica strain that HappyDay farmer Casey O’Neill describes as, “Heavy and strong… not for the faint of heart,” and Blue Ogre, a Blue Dream-Ogre Kush cross that is one of HappyDay’s higher cannabinoid strains.
Speaking of “positive branding,” I have to say that the HappyDay packaging is outstanding. Both samples came in small mason jars with labels featuring a stoney, altruistic sun that seems to be saying, “Here’s to you!” The samples were tagged with brief descriptions of each strain along with percent-THC content. HappyDay Farms Collective medicinal cannabis is Clean Green Certified. It’s great to see that featured on their packaging as well.
The PKSK sample was comprised of dense, strawberry-shaped nugs with auburn hairs that evoke majestic and rugged Mendocino landscapes — endless hills, creeks and manzanitas. And the PKSK sparkles like sugared gummi candies. I was afraid to touch it — the PKSK is just so lovely, a sweet, enchanting beauty with a perfect trim job — just the right amount of leaf left intact. It was ready to smoke, right out of the jar.
According to O’Neill, the PKSK is a full-sun, full-season strain that they started from seed on-farm. He calls it “thumpy indica country,” and warns that it’s not suitable for use before driving or going to job interviews. He says HappyDay receives good reports about PKSK’s medicinal effects from elders who use it for a variety of non-active needs and that it’s excellent for pain, nausea and insomnia. Indeed — a couple puffs of PKSK squashed one of my tension headaches within minutes…
I found the PKSK high to be meditative, dreamy and expansive, introspective and quite powerful. The smell is berrylicious. The taste is too, along with hints of chocolate and nutmeg. It’s rich and satiating like French toast. The smoke off a joint is thick and satisfying, again, like a warm, rich meal. O’Neill says it’s great for relaxing and mellowing out. I agree — my mind was high, my body was high — good night.
The Blue Ogre sample contained dense, strawberry-shaped nugs, like the PKSK, although there was more variation in nug size, with some smaller pieces. And the Blue Ogre has a much darker color. The hairs range in color from indigo and lavender to auburn and scarlet, and it has a cheesy poof orange furriness going on. The overall visual effect is akin to blue-purple dreaminess, like a shot of the Alaskan peak Mount McKinley at dusk. It is also akin unpolished green garnet gemstones, with no two nugs exactly alike. This is dynamic cannabis.
O’Neill says the Blue Ogre is one of HappyDay’s “flagship favorite strains, more for the daytime enjoyment of life than for evening relaxation.” And like the PKSK, this strain is full-sun, full-season and started from seed on-farm. The plants are large, sprawling and sativa-looking, and according to O’Neill, they are “super fun to work on because they change so fast… We love this strain.”
The Blue Ogre smells cheesy and fruity on the surface, a little sour and fermented like parmesan or yogurt. Once pinched to release even more aromas, I get that strong, punchy Kush smell with hints of nitrogen-rich chicken manure and citrus-rosemary undertones. I think this is “food weed” in that the smell alone is very rich and sating, again, like the PKSK.
The nugs are trimmed and cured perfectly. They are nice and snappy. The taste is of blueberry with rich hints of cardamom, like some bomb Indian food. It’s got a piney-citrusy flavor going on too, with a floral and resin aftertaste. This cannabis is nice and smooth ride, as opposed to being wet and harsh. The smoke is satisfyingly thick and creamy; it clings to the length of a joint.
The high makes me feel airborne, yet with my feet planted firmly on the ground. The Blue Ogre brings me clarity and calmness, let’s call it “a still-brain high”. It’s doesn’t induce hyperactivity, and it makes me feel more in my body, like I can really feel my clothing against my skin. O’Neill says, “Blue Ogre has the fabulous fruity ephemeral nature of the Blue Dream with the face-smack you would expect from an Ogre.”
Yes, it is powerful and effective — I took one hit at noon and I was still feeling the medicinal effects at 7 p.m. This strain tests as high as 28% THC and 29% total cannabinoids. It’s good medicine.
This is magical Mendocino small batch, specialty connoisseur cannabis, grown with love. O’Neill says “each plant is unique and is harvested as such,” and their attention to detail and care for their cannabis came through in these samples.
Many thanks to Casey O’Neill and the folks at HappyDay Farms. You can find them online at happydayfarmscsa.com, on Facebook and on Instagram @happydayfarms.
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