Harvest season in the Himalayas

Yeah dude it's all landrace, or to define the term - most of the pics above are of domesticate open pollinated populations which are in proximity to villages and/or rubbing huts if further into the mountains and which have a proportion of, but not all, males culled. As opposed to feral populations (of which there are many) which are as the name suggests.

On the nose: much of the valleys share a heavy terpinolene profile - think amnesia haze - but there are just so many nuances and variances which come into play depending on the micro climate. Lots of dank, musky kind of trashcan type scents, some mangos, some garlics, pinene more noticeable in the fields mosaiced within old conifer forests. Some real fruity and candy-like scents also. This is the wonder of open pollination landrace - the gene pool is diverse as fuck and there's a lot of novelty and variety.

On the taste: the plants are rubbed when ripe to collect the resin on the palm, which is then formed into balls of hashish, or charas. All the farmers swear by ageing the hash for a year before consuming, and I agree with them as the fresh rub is quite caustic and rough on the throat due to the fresh fresh terpenes. The fresh taste is spicy, sometimes could even call it minty like, and a bit grassy due to the high chlorophyll content. The aged taste (and smell) is exquisite. Pure chocolate and oranges man.

 

That's a pity man. As you can see, there's obviously still a healthy demand, tonnes of product are coming out of the mountains annually. This is the only place you're going to find live resin hash, hence there's global interest. The pics above show fields ranging from 7500ft to 12,000ft. There are fields that go higher, especially in recent decades with cat and mouse games with cops. There are less cultivated fields in the valley floor at 5000ft, for obvious reasons, but still plenty feral or jungli plants.

Here's what I'm smoking this evening, check the sheen on the ball !! I've just bust it open... This is one year aged 'super cream' from a friend in a small village at around 9000ft. Super sticky, soft and tasty.

Yeah dude. Middle of November snows arrive in the valleys and everyone goes to hibernate for the winter. Harvest season is pretty definitive between mid Sept - mid Oct, however this rhythm is becoming unsteady with climate change. Several heavy rains and hailstorms this harvest season, which all farmers were agreeing is very rare, and that's off the back of the worst monsoon floods and damage in a generation from June - Sept this year. The pics above are all from the past month or so.

 

Relatively speaking the farmers and villagers in these mountains are very well off and have accumulated substantial wealth from the trade. The villages operate in a very democratic manner, in that there is a central forum (usually in the courtyard of the mandir / temple or in a wooded grove) in each village where all meet to discuss various facets of living. Most families will have their own plot, some larger than others, but each have a share in the overall health and stasis of the surrounding fields, and have a means and outlet for discussion. This provides greater equity to each family within the village, rather than there being one kingpin, so to speak. Absolutely the income from the trade has been reinvested in better infrastructure, tech and education for the peoples living here, but this is to a point. As there's only so much developing you can do at 10'000ft. Furthermore, the old ways are still important. Local gods still pass decree, thunderstorms still cause havoc, chillums are still smoked in devotion to Shiva.