Pilot Farm Is Making Sun-Grown Cannabis Cool Again

These are maybe the most happy, centered plants on the West Coast.

(courtesy of Christopher Dolinar)

Location: Mount Ashland

Signature Strain: Mountain Girl, a calming, lifting strain that soothes stress and amplifies adventure with a balance of relaxing myrcene and zesty pinene.

Brothers Matt and Christopher "Dole" Dolinar are changing the way modern cannabis consumers think about sun-grown farms. Matt's 27-plus years of farming experience and Dole's career in digital media made a perfect foundation for organic, biodynamic product and strategy, which Gregory Beauchamp framed with a modern, playfully coral-hued brand as creative director. But it's their tiered location, in a canyon 4,000 feet up on the side of Mount Ashland, that is making sun-grown, native soil-grown, seed-to-flower cool again. Starting with a medical license in 2008, Pilot plants seeds in the rich soil in the spring and harvests in the fall. After years of this cycle, Dole explains, the genetics adapt to the high elevation, creating hardier, distinct and cannabinoid-rich plants, "much like a fine wine." Pilot won the Regenerative Farming award at Cultivation Classic 2018. Plants endure the elements with a view of the Colestin Valley, and growers spot passing bears, mountain lions, deer, snakes and more as they catch a whiff of the seven different cultivars of Mountain Girl. Oh, and then there's the Buddhist colony neighboring the farm. So these are maybe the most happy, centered plants on the West Coast. LAUREN YOSHIKO.

Where to find it: Attis Trading Company, Bloom, Botanica, Deanz Greenz, Chalice Farms, Five Zero Trees, the Green House, Green Oasis, Human Collective, Jayne, Kaleafa, Kaya Shack, MediGreen Collective, Oregon Weedery, Paradise Found, Rose City Wellness, Serra, Sovereign Cannabis, Uplift Botanicals, Vessel, Zion Cannabis.

Lauren Yoshiko

Lauren has contributed to the Willamette Week's weed column since 2013, initially going by "Mary Romano" until marijuana became legal in Oregon. She also writes about movies, plays and restaurants for the Art and Culture section.

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