The ‘Green Dimension’: Inside the Lives of California’s Marijuana Trimmers

[Tudo]

Each autumn, young people flock to Northern California to find temporary work pruning cannabis bound for the state’s legal dispensaries, or black markets as far away as the East Coast.

• <time class="css-qddhf4 eqgapgq0" datetime="2018-11-29">Nov. 29, 2018</time>

<section class="css-1572rug" name="articleBody" itemprop="articleBody">COVELO, Calif. — Tucked into the forests of Mendocino County, accessible by a two-lane road that winds through hills of golden grass abundant with rattlesnakes is the small town of Covelo, where hundreds of seasonal workers converge every year, eager to help harvest the region’s most lucrative cash crop — marijuana.
These workers, known as “trimmigrants,” patiently cut off the shaggy leaves and brittle stems of marijuana buds, trimming each one into a compact green nugget primed for bongs and brownies.
“Some people don’t even know that a bud has to get trimmed up,” said Allen Kuehl, 27, as he sat snipping away at a pile of marijuana buds one recent morning. “Maybe they think there’s some perfect bush out there, but you’ve got to work at it. Buyers want single gram nugs that look like they could be poured out of a cereal box.”
Trimming weed is a tedious daily grind, requiring hours of manual labor. Once beautified, the buds are bound for California’s legal dispensaries, or smuggled to illicit markets as far away as the East Coast. Mr. Kuehl is among thousands of mostly young workers who spend several weeks each autumn with trays of marijuana on their laps, toiling away in Northern California’s so-called Emerald Triangle, a trio of counties known for growing much of America’s cannabis.
You just stand in front of the library and farmers show up asking if you’re looking for work,” said Julian, 28, an Argentine who did not want to be fully identified because he was working in the United States illegally. He had hitchhiked into Covelo five days earlier with a tent and a sleeping bag, and had already found a job trimming for around eight hours a day.
“I want to make $5,000, then I can be homeless anywhere in the world,” he said. “Maybe I’ll go surfing or head to Bali.”
LOTS MORE: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/us/marijuana-trimmers-emerald-triangle.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage



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[St. Phatty]

In Mendo in the early 00's, trimmers were paid about $275 a pound.

Since pounds are now in free-fall near $1 a gram in a lot of markets, not sure how that leaves much $$ to pay for trim time.

When I was younger and actually bought pot, I didn't care if it was well trimmed or not. I cared if it was strong & potent.

Seems like the market forces growers to grow those plants that can just be hacked at the base of a bud, to produce a complete bud that would make most retail customers very happy.

But if trimming provides good jobs a few months a year DANG it's a good thing I guess.

I just don't see how they have time to do anything except snip the buds at the base stem.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

In Mendo in the early 00's, trimmers were paid about $275 a pound.

Since pounds are now in free-fall near $1 a gram in a lot of markets, not sure how that leaves much $$ to pay for trim time.

When I was younger and actually bought pot, I didn't care if it was well trimmed or not. I cared if it was strong & potent.

Seems like the market forces growers to grow those plants that can just be hacked at the base of a bud, to produce a complete bud that would make most retail customers very happy.

But if trimming provides good jobs a few months a year DANG it's a good thing I guess.

I just don't see how they have time to do anything except snip the buds at the base stem.

If prices are 500 a pack I'm guessing plenty of trimmers are just clipping them at the main stem.

Cause and effect in a vicious cycle.