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From the mid-60’s to mid-80’s there was a movement to escape the trappings of the city and seek refuge in the wilderness of Northern California. The allure of cheap, timber-stripped land in the rural parts of the county became the first sites for the new wave of life- style, the
“Back to the Landers.”
Poor timber and cattle practices during the previous century had left unstable, eroded hillsides and damaged watersheds and many new landowners harbored a genuine sense of stewardship and conservation.
It was here that members of the emerging counterculture strove to make a new life for themselves based on self-sufficiency and respect for the natural environment. These were people who were “dropping out” of the rat-race in favor of a more sustainable lifestyle.
This movement was first facilitated, almost singlehandedly by a landowner in the Humboldt area who sold his land to retirees and welfare recipients moving back to the land, former Berkeley and Harvard professors for whatever price they were comfortable paying, oftentimes with no money down. That man was Robert McKee, grandfather of Whitethorn Valley Farm owner Galen Doherty. He was seen as the “Gandalf ” of the Back to the Land movement and earned a reputation for his propensity of sub-dividing land, both with counterculturists, and the county.
Cannabis was just one of the other crops in these community farms. Families lived without the desire for money and material goods, and instead strove to revive the land stripped by the timber industry.
