Lotta in Carlotta has first-in-the-state farm, cannabis farmstand

A red tint from indoor lighting casts an other-worldly glow on young cannabis plants being fed from a watering system at the Lotta Farms greenhouse area. The flowers from the mature, dried, and processed marijuana is sold just yards away at the Lotta Farms dispensary at 6287 Highway 36, Carlotta. According to owner Andy Powell, “Humboldt County has a lot of great dispensaries up here with a lot of fantastic local product being offered. We are glad to offer something a little different in a more rural area. We strive to have the best quality product at the best prices. Since everything comes from our farm, we can keep prices pretty low by cutting out the “middlemen’.” (Wendy Wilson, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

Speaking about the special aspect of Lotta Farms, owner Andy Powell said, “We were the first permitted and operational farmstand in the state. The county (of Humboldt) was great to work with and super helpful. It became clear we were kind of charting new territory when working with the state getting licensed. We kept saying, ‘We want to open a farmstand on our farm.’ and the state would respond back with ‘Oh, so a dispensary?’ We quickly realized that this was a novel concept for the state and that there weren’t regulations in place to see this as more of an extension of our farm.”(Wendy Wilson, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

Lotta Farms cultivation greenhouses stand in the background from the Lotta Farms dispensary farm stand. Premium flower grown onsite is rotated for consumers every couple of months, according to Lotta Farms operator-owner Andy Powell.(Wendy Wilson, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

Lotta Farms dispensary budtender Maleah Mathis gets a sale ready for a customer inside the unique co-located farm and dispensary in Carlotta.(Wendy Wilson, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

Cannabis plants grown on site at Lotta Farms hang upside down from twine stretched across a drying shed near the plant’s growing areas. Lotta Farms, located on state Route 36 in Carlotta, believes they have “found that perfect balance where technique, ingredients, and nature can thrive together in perfect harmony,” in their homepage message at https://lottafarms.com. (Wendy Wilson, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

Joe Miller, a Lotta Farms manager, stands in a canyon of marijuana plants growing at his Lotta Farms operation in Carlotta. “We opened the Lotta Farmstand in June of 2024, right at the front of our farm. Operating on our actual farm is pretty cool, and it’s a bit more of a laid-back farmstand feel with our great small team of local budtenders. Having customers be able to buy our product, and literally be standing on the parcel where it was grown is something we love.” (Jose Quezada, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

Carlotta-based Lotta Farms manager Joe Miller takes a moment to examine his elaborate greenhouse temperature and watering regulator panel system inside one of the farm’s cultivation rooms. Powell began as the first licensed entity to operate a co-located farm and dispensary in the state of California in 2015. (Jose Quezada, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)