About a month ago I went on the stoner equivalent of a wine tasting tour by stopping at a handful of dispensaries between Petaluma & Willits, CA, going up Hwy 101 “the Redwood Empire”.
It would also be a way to avoid the crippling 111F heat in Sacramento and scope out the area for a potential place to live.
Using googlemaps & the respective shops’ websites I set out to try and get the most “outdoor, organic, living soil, 1995, larfy, whatever” they could offer me. The cookies & candy kids cereal is not my thing. Was also hoping to find actual local product, not some BS indoor from SoCal.
Santa Rosa has what seems like about 20-30 so I tried Aloha Aina & Flora Terra. Skipped over Cotati/RP because I’m vaguely familiar, been to Organicann when Sub was alive & got me a Durban P cut.
Aloha Aina attracted me because of the last few years spent in Hawai’i… but the budtender girl was as Haole as me but less sunburned. May have been a kanak bradda off to the side but he had shades on inside & was keepin quiet. 
Can’t remember what I got…maybe the hashplant maybe the jack…? New shop. She said “oh the owner is from there”. Whatever.
All the Rosa shops seem to be clustered…probably a zoning issue. One was painted like rainbow sherbet psychedelic swirls but I was not impressed & tried out Flora Terra which was the only place I’ve seen where the product is on the shelf! And you can just grab what you want! Trust! Aloha! LOL Not enough for them to lose much money if some asshat robs them, but enough to keep it smooth & stocked. I got the Cherry Guava, Choco Thai & Brighter Day(“sativa”) there.
FWIW Cloverdale has about 1 or 2 shops & that struck me as very suspicious/not-weed-friendly so I stopped at MendoCann in Hopland. Nice shop, hip vibe, art & glass that actually didn’t strike me as trash from China or Whereverthefuckistan. And they had Mendo Dope. Which, if the youtube matches the herb in the bag, was actually grown pretty close to the way I want it: sungrown, living soil. I grabbed the Grease Bucket, Green Crack, and 2 eighths of Headies & Hawaii 5.0, the OZ pictured came later via delivery. 
Next stop, Ukiah was a shop right off the freeway near a big Chevron station, Compassionate Heart. A friendly guy told me I knew more about Hawaii than he did & his mom’s Samoan-Hawaiian but has never been there. ( :-/ Part of the diaspora/displacement issue.) I got the Lempire 1/2 oz’s of Wicked Sour & True OG, would have got some bubblehash but there’s a 1 ounce limit per day per customer in California, unless we have a medical card.
Spent the night in Willits at a proper rectangular motel 
and very much appreciated air-conditioning & lower temps, a bag full of weed, and the other guests were all workers leaving early & being quiet.
Final stop was Kure Wellness where I grabbed 8 different 1/8’s of Burr’s Place, Calaveras Co. grown outdoor. Friendly lady, local vibe.
(In order of preference & where I got it)
Mendo Dope: Headies, Hawaii 5.0 - Hopland, MendoCann
Garden Society/Joy Rdige Farms: Brighter Day (Durban Haze) - Santa Rosa, Flora Terra
Lempire: Wicked Sour, True OG - Ukiah, Compassionate Heart
Mendocino Natural Farms: Grease Bucket, Green Crack - Santa Rosa, Flora Terra
Lazy Daisy: Cherry Guava - Santa Rosa, Flora Terra
Sunbright Gardens: Grapefruit Thai, Santa Rosa, Flora Terra
Farm Fresh Cannabis Co: Chocolate Thai - Santa Rosa, Flora Terra
Almora: Hashplant - Santa Rosa, Flora Terra
Radicle Herbs: Jack Herer, Santa Rosa, Aloha Aina
Burr’s Place(not pictured): (8 different 1/8’s) - Willits, Kure Wellness
weed reviewed worst to best, everything is IMO
(no pic)
Burr’s Place
I was really let down with these. Outdoor, sun & soil grown, & I tapped out the bowl after 1 or 2 hits of 5 of them in a row-- because they were AWFUL! So the next 3 weren’t going to be any better :shrug: so I decided to leave all 8 eighths at a friend’s place for them to review. Two people with apparently less snobby tastes said one was really good(Mountain Mintz) and most of the others were OK or good. Whatever.
Radicle Herbs
This was overdried & tasted no good. Can’t remember what like but it was D grade in my book. High was unmemorable.
Almora
Hash Plant was a proper heavy indica couchlock but the flavor was shit. Reminds me of ghetto black market mids from 15 years ago.
Farm Fresh Cannabis Co
Chocolate Thai did not taste like chocolate but I didn’t expect it to, and my tastebuds are dull. High was decently heavy & mix of head & body. Flavor was “meh” or worse.
Sunbright Gardens
This was a bit more up/energizing/sativa like it should be but was just decent-ish. Catpiss. Toss-up between Choco-Thai & this one for position.
Lazy Daisy
Cherry smell & both cherry & guava flavor, but overdried, probably from being packaged in a jar; even with the “safety/quality” seal they are never fully tightened. I blame lazy, weak, & possibly underpaid millenials, not robots. Would possibly be a stunner if the moisture was right, but the high was just sleepy/happy/generic indica. Overall pretty good for dispo bud.
Mendocino Natural Farms
Both Grease Bucket & Green Crack were same as Lazy Daisy - overdried & would be twice as nice if they were home-grown. Good/strong potency with a gas high(fast strong) on the GB. Would consider some from this place again if I had to get retail weed again.
Lempire
These were both pretty good, in the A- range, and 
had proper moisture content & smell. Good flavor on the Wicked Sour which I would guess is some Zkittles X Sour D or similar. The True OG was kind of shaded by the other’s flavor bud was definitely reminiscent of year 2000 OG Kush in high…flavor was probably accurate but not the best cut I’m guessing. IIRC, this operation is run by a seedmaker too. Would definitely get either of these again.
Garden Society/Joy Rdige Farms
This one was actually a pleasant surprise, everything was right. Mango babyshit clone must be going around Mendo because it’s got some similar nose to it as BOTH Mendo Dope strains I tried. Good fruity flavor & almost too much for me in the stimulus dept. Very “up” high with delayed couch-lock sedation & munchies too. Solid A.
Mendo Dope
I was stoked to see some herb from these guys. They had a friendly connection with Subcool & showed him what sun & real dirt can do & he actually acknowledged that in a Weednerd show. Both the Headies & Hawaii 5.0 were a little too dry but had a pretty strong & properly complex, outdoor smell. Some may say ‘WTF BS is that?’ but for those who know, we understand. 
Both were some fruity/gas with pretty strong potency. The Headies actually seems to help with pain & dulled 2 headaches in a row for me. :shrug: Their bud happened to be available locally so I grabbed some more. They totally win on packaging flashiness-- had to move the bag out of my desk area because it just draws me in like a black hole.
Prices were … well I didn’t really pay much attention, but they seemed cheaper than Sacramento. I spent more on weed than 2 hotels so go figure. Very glad there’s no store-to-store tracking limiting me to an oz a day statewide … seems like I read Arizona has that?
Hope this helps somebody or at least entertains…
