Five Hours North: A Memoir of Outlaw Farming on California's Cannabis Frontier
The colorful true adventures of an unexpected “pot-star” turned cannabis CEO in the new Wild West of California’s green rush.

Don’t give anyone your real name.
Never say anything to your loved ones.
Always have a full tank of gas, a jump starter, and an alibi.

The year is 2008, and the green rush is taking root in Humboldt County, California. Born and raised in this “Emerald Triangle” famous for its natural beauty and perfect cannabis-growing conditions, Ty Kearns wants no part of it. He has seen too many friends and acquaintances lose or derail their lives for the green dream, always feeling the itch for more cash and more power.

But as a college student with tuition to pay—and few options in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression—Ty is willing to try almost anything.

When his eccentric Uncle Bob introduces him to some local growers, the rules of the industry start to dominate Ty’s double life. He spends his days taking notes in lecture halls and his nights and weekends five hours north at his secret farm in the mountains, where danger and beauty are as tangible as the plants themselves.

Soon, he is more successful than he ever could have imagined—more successful than just about any other grower on the mountain. But he faces natural disasters, animal encounters, the gossip mill, the authorities, the highs and lows of first love, and a crowd of “trimmigrants” and pot-star groupies as he grapples with the damage that growing does to his mental health and the land itself.

Today, Ty is the CEO of SEVEN LEAVES, a fully licensed cannabis cultivation operation with product in over four hundred stores and a commitment to 100 percent green energy. But his path to sustainable growing was long and gnarly. Growing pot wasn’t Ty’s plan, but he found his calling when he stepped out of the shadow of the mountain.

A coming-of-age journey where the truth is stranger than fiction, Five Hours North tells the story of the lost pre-legalization weed scene, when the characters were larger than life and the growers were always one step from disaster.

1144007215
Five Hours North: A Memoir of Outlaw Farming on California's Cannabis Frontier
The colorful true adventures of an unexpected “pot-star” turned cannabis CEO in the new Wild West of California’s green rush.

Don’t give anyone your real name.
Never say anything to your loved ones.
Always have a full tank of gas, a jump starter, and an alibi.

The year is 2008, and the green rush is taking root in Humboldt County, California. Born and raised in this “Emerald Triangle” famous for its natural beauty and perfect cannabis-growing conditions, Ty Kearns wants no part of it. He has seen too many friends and acquaintances lose or derail their lives for the green dream, always feeling the itch for more cash and more power.

But as a college student with tuition to pay—and few options in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression—Ty is willing to try almost anything.

When his eccentric Uncle Bob introduces him to some local growers, the rules of the industry start to dominate Ty’s double life. He spends his days taking notes in lecture halls and his nights and weekends five hours north at his secret farm in the mountains, where danger and beauty are as tangible as the plants themselves.

Soon, he is more successful than he ever could have imagined—more successful than just about any other grower on the mountain. But he faces natural disasters, animal encounters, the gossip mill, the authorities, the highs and lows of first love, and a crowd of “trimmigrants” and pot-star groupies as he grapples with the damage that growing does to his mental health and the land itself.

Today, Ty is the CEO of SEVEN LEAVES, a fully licensed cannabis cultivation operation with product in over four hundred stores and a commitment to 100 percent green energy. But his path to sustainable growing was long and gnarly. Growing pot wasn’t Ty’s plan, but he found his calling when he stepped out of the shadow of the mountain.

A coming-of-age journey where the truth is stranger than fiction, Five Hours North tells the story of the lost pre-legalization weed scene, when the characters were larger than life and the growers were always one step from disaster.

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Five Hours North: A Memoir of Outlaw Farming on California's Cannabis Frontier

Five Hours North: A Memoir of Outlaw Farming on California's Cannabis Frontier

by Ty Kearns
Five Hours North: A Memoir of Outlaw Farming on California's Cannabis Frontier

Five Hours North: A Memoir of Outlaw Farming on California's Cannabis Frontier

by Ty Kearns

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Overview

The colorful true adventures of an unexpected “pot-star” turned cannabis CEO in the new Wild West of California’s green rush.

Don’t give anyone your real name.
Never say anything to your loved ones.
Always have a full tank of gas, a jump starter, and an alibi.

The year is 2008, and the green rush is taking root in Humboldt County, California. Born and raised in this “Emerald Triangle” famous for its natural beauty and perfect cannabis-growing conditions, Ty Kearns wants no part of it. He has seen too many friends and acquaintances lose or derail their lives for the green dream, always feeling the itch for more cash and more power.

But as a college student with tuition to pay—and few options in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression—Ty is willing to try almost anything.

When his eccentric Uncle Bob introduces him to some local growers, the rules of the industry start to dominate Ty’s double life. He spends his days taking notes in lecture halls and his nights and weekends five hours north at his secret farm in the mountains, where danger and beauty are as tangible as the plants themselves.

Soon, he is more successful than he ever could have imagined—more successful than just about any other grower on the mountain. But he faces natural disasters, animal encounters, the gossip mill, the authorities, the highs and lows of first love, and a crowd of “trimmigrants” and pot-star groupies as he grapples with the damage that growing does to his mental health and the land itself.

Today, Ty is the CEO of SEVEN LEAVES, a fully licensed cannabis cultivation operation with product in over four hundred stores and a commitment to 100 percent green energy. But his path to sustainable growing was long and gnarly. Growing pot wasn’t Ty’s plan, but he found his calling when he stepped out of the shadow of the mountain.

A coming-of-age journey where the truth is stranger than fiction, Five Hours North tells the story of the lost pre-legalization weed scene, when the characters were larger than life and the growers were always one step from disaster.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781633310896
Publisher: Disruption Books
Publication date: 06/25/2024
Pages: 314
Sales rank: 343,431
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ty Kearns is the CEO of SEVEN LEAVES, a sustainably operated craft cannabis cultivation company founded in 2016. A native of Humboldt County, he currently lives with his wife and two children in Placer County, California, where he serves on the board of the Sacramento Asian-Pacific Chamber of Commerce and supports historically marginalized cannabis entrepreneurs through Sacramento’s Cannabis Opportunity Reinvestment and Equity Program. Five Hours North is his first book.

Table of Contents

Preface: Historical Context of the Emerald Triangle
Chapter 1: Five Hours North
Chapter 2: No Trespassing and Chemo Pills
Chapter 3: Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t
Chapter 4: A Recipe
Chapter 5: The Sound of Captured Water
Chapter 6: Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Chapter 7: A Farming Revolution on Independence Day
Chapter 8: Five Hours South
Chapter 9: First Harvest
Chapter 10: Open for Business
Chapter 11: Gothic Gables
Chapter 12: Tractor Frank and a Flat
Chapter 13: Shifting Focus
Chapter 14: More Hands
Chapter 15: The Itch
Chapter 16: Anne
Chapter 17: 7,728 Miles
Chapter 18: First Trim Crew
Chapter 19: The Wrong Type of Smoke Signal
Chapter 20: An Opportunity Cost
Chapter 21: Green Buckets
Chapter 22: Percentages
Chapter 23: Meeting Mountain Royalty
Chapter 24: Monticello Madness
Chapter 25: The Rush Becomes a Stampede
Chapter 26: Fire in the Sky
Chapter 27: Trim Town Green Stampede
Chapter 28: The Art of Pot Supply
Chapter 29: The Last Supper of Gross Domestic Product
Chapter 30: The Rush Gets Darker in Winter
Chapter 31: It’s Gone
Chapter 32: Winston Churchill and Outliers
Chapter 33: The Call of the Owl
Chapter 34: Orange Glow
Epilogue: My Promise to the Land
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