Sky Standard Gardens is a small cannabis producer in Bellingham, Washington. Their facility is a graffiti-covered building off the freeway, hidden in a blanket of sound from passing cars and trucks. There’s a van with matching artwork parked out front. Shannon and Sheila smoking on break nearby make up the Sky Standard packaging crew.
Owners and operators Davey Palmer and Zackary Cabral walk out of their facility in disheveled work gear with big smiles. Cannabis farmers and potato farmers have similar aesthetics, dirty work clothes, calloused hands. Cannabis cultivation is hard work, but that doesn’t seem to dampen their spirits.
Cabral has been growing cannabis for over 15 years. He started growing in Wyoming; during which time he had a kid being born in Montana during a harvest. He made it work driving back and forth between states to take care of his baby, and his plants. Eventually Cabral moved to Washington state around 2008 and 2009 to continue his work in the cannabis industry. After hearing about the inevitable I-502 legislation—the move was an easy decision.
Cabral met Palmer at a house party shortly after Cabral moved. They both share a love of music, vinyl, snowboarding, and cannabis. When they both found out each other was growing cannabis in their homes, they became friends quickly. Cabral got a hold of some plants that he couldn’t raise on his own; because of time restrictions with his fulltime job, and space restrictions with his tiny in-home grow room. That tiny grow room had to be dug out at the bottom for a final size of 13 x 7 x 5.5. Cabral enlisted Palmer’s help and together they jimmy-rigged a perpetual growing cycle using their in-home grows.
Cabral and Palmer formed a bond over the years of growing weed, listening to music, and snowboarding together. Eventually, Cabral went into the medical dispensary business around 2012, Palmer went back to school, and the two went their separate ways.
Cabral found quick success in the medical industry and decided to open his own dispensary in 2013. Cabral once again called Palmer, who was happy for a chance to be back in the in the cannabis industry. This partnership blossomed into a five-store operation within 18 months; but after a missed opportunity to get a recreational license, they were forced to focus on other business opportunities. Washington’s recreational cannabis industry subsequently ate the medical industry. Ease of access dissuades many people for applying for medical cares, and not all recreational dispensaries have the proper licenses to serve medical patients.
Eventually, Cabral and Palmer found their license and they officially started the Sky Standard Gardens LLC. Next they had to find a building and get the operation off the ground before their license forfeited. Unfortunately, the only building they found on short notice was a “hoarders paradise.” Cabral and Palmer hauled over 70 yards of garbage off the property and now had to redesign the entire building from the ground up; from the septic system to the camera system. Grow Industries helped them out with the lease on their first set of supplies and technology and dropped a ton of knowledge on Sky Standard. After hundreds of hours of hard work, labor, some help and growing cheat codes from Grow Industries; Cabral and Palmer turned a playhouse of filth and degradation into a high tech growing facility fit for an I-502 license.
One thing that sets Sky Standard Gardens’ products apart from the jump is their strain-specific artwork. The artist that designs their strain artwork and graffiti’d their building is the one and the same – Talk-Sick Mind. Sky Standard Gardens bought a bunch of Talk-Sick’s merchandise because they were fans. They eventually hit it off with the California-based artist and formed a partnership. They feel Talk-Sick’s artwork represents music, weed, and graffiti culture, which represents Sky Standard Gardens too.
“He’s (Talk-Sick Mind) is a big part of the team one way or another.”
With a high tech growing facility, company artist, and a brand new concentrate brand Hi-Def Extracts; Cabral and Palmer came a long way from their gorilla gardening roots. They used to make midnight runs dropping off seeds in undisclosed locations. They’d return eight weeks or so later to chop down whatever grew, freeze and blast it into live resin; a type of terpene heavy cannabis concentrate. Now their weed is sold before its harvested and packaged. They harvest about 17 times a year; in between each harvest, the grow rooms and stripped down, scrubbed, and sanitized to ensure the environment stays clean.
Sky Standard Gardens has put together a strain menu that people can’t get enough of. Their menu is based mainly off what the retailers want, but their always pheno-hunting new options to make sure their retail partners are satisfied with the flavor selection. They grow around 10 strains at a time and are on a six-week strain rotation. Catholic School Girl, Blueberry, Dutch Strawberry, Pandora’s Box, Grapefruit and Gobstopper are some of their regular strains. Be on the lookout for strains like Banana Split, Blue City Diesel, and Sherbet. Blueberry Diesel’s terpene profile is equal parts berry and gas for really unique sweet and sour cannabis experience.
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