Harvest Season Is Here—and It’s Time to Celebrate the Things We Love about Portland Cannabis Right Now

Oregon’s outdoor cannabis sucks up the character of our soil and nourishes us with it—there’s something magical about that.

(Sam Gehrke)

April 20 gets the attention, but October is the true high season for cannabis.

Right now, pot plants across Oregon are in full bloom, soon to be sheared of their wilting leaves and cured to preserve the shimmery coat of sticky crystals covering their delicate buds. Those fresh flowers will be sent to market, stocking our shelves with dank natural nugs, fueling our state's robust concentrate industry, and bringing a much-needed infusion of cash to agricultural communities.

Harvest is here—and it's time for Potlanders to celebrate.

This is the second year we've done a Harvest issue. Yes, in some ways, harvest is an outmoded idea, since so much top-shelf cannabis is grown indoors under lights with the help of high-tech nutritional supplements and irrigation systems. But, like a lot of people who love this hearty, powerful and generous plant, we've come to feel there's something extra special about sungrown flower. Not just because it's so plentiful, but because it can provide flavors and experiences you can't get via light bulbs. Oregon's outdoor cannabis sucks up the character of our soil and nourishes us with it—there's something magical about that.

We've put together a Harvest issue that celebrates the things we love about Portland cannabis right now. That starts with our favorite new shops, including a delivery guy hooking up the suburbany hoods of Southwest and a boutique that revives the days of Hendrix and dime bags (page 15). Then we dive deep into the strains that have defined this region's cannabis scene through the years, from old-school Blueberry to Instagram fave Do-Si-Dos.

We also talk to a bleeding-edge grower who hopes to operate the first cannabis farm in the state that's completely carbon neutral and an industry leader who is working to keep Oregon cannabis crafty and local so that Oregonians don't end up as de facto sharecroppers for moneyed Canadians. Because all that policy can get a little heavy, we round up our favorite new products and the coolest upcoming canna-centric events.

With all that inexpensive sungrown weed about to hit shelves, it's a good time to play around with edibles. So we have a piece explaining everything you need to know about decarboxylation, the surprisingly simple secret to making brownies that will get you extremely good and high.

We also give you a recipe for infusing the nutrient-dense pot leaves that get cut away from the flower, which are otherwise headed for the mulch bin. Pot leaves that get you high? That's a little bit crazy, we know. But what better way to honor the plant? It's Harvest in Potland—let's celebrate the bounty we've been given.

Welcome to the Harvest Issue 2017

Nine Of Our Favorite New Portland Weed Hookups—Including One Delivery Service

The Story of Portland Cannabis As Told Through the Iconic Cultivars of the Pacific Northwest

The 17 Cannabis-Centric Events We're Most Excited About This Fall

Here's Why You Can't Get High Just By Eating Weed Flowers or Throwing Them in Brownie Mix

One Oregon Cannabis Farm Is Setting Out To Be Entirely Carbon-Neutral

How Oregon's Cannabis Industry Plans To Keep Wealth Here, and Help Right the Wrongs of the Drug War

Here's a List of Some of Our Favorite Cannabis Bargains

How To Make Pot Chips Using the Leftover Leaves From Your Marijuana Harvest

Our Favorite New Cannabis Products for Autumn 2017

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