# @hightimesmagazine on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/C_1kUg4uwVH
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/23160881-hightimesmagazine-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/72f177c4e3.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-09-13T00:20:25.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** High Times (@hightimesmagazine) — https://gondola.cc/hightimesmagazine

## Caption

#TBT 1981: HT published an article about desert growing in #Arizona w/ pics by photographer "The Cactus Kid." He just hit reddit 30+ years later to share his story + extra pics! See below [edit to fit]
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'Back in the 70’s, growing w**d was a much different / riskier proposition. I had a friend in Tucson who built a greenhouse in his backyard, and he was doing well, each crop better than last. After several years of progress, someone nearby “got wind” of his side hustle, and just as the plants reached peak, creeps came into his yard in the night, removed the back greenhouse wall, made off with the entire crop, down to the roots. Demoralized, but not defeated, my friend realized that if he was going to keep growin, he needed a new location, better security.

He partnered w/ friend & they eventually selected a 40 acre parcel of desert land, 30 miles from town, middle of nowhere. Property was lush, overgrown w/ every kind of cactus, majestic saguaros, as well as thick stands of paloverde + mesquite trees growing along a wash that ran through the prprty. They fenced the whole parcel, building an unbroken mile of 5-strand barbed wire fencing, then prepared a spot for a camping trailer that they hauled there for a shelter. The “garden” consisted of several plots of heavily fortified soil in & along the wash. Desert trees provided effective camouflage from the air, nothing visible from the perimeter of the property, or from area near trailer. They built a gravity fed drip irrigation system, using a buried 55 gallon drum as a tank, which they refilled twice a week with water hauled from town.

It was a long hot summer but the results were spectacular, gorgeous Ca**abis Sativa plants upwards of ten feet tall, along with shorter, fat-leaved Indica from hard-to-get Afghani seeds, plants that made the camp smell like they’d been invaded by a colony of angry skunks. I took some reasonably good photos, and asked the guys if it would be okay to send some to #HighTimes. They said yes, on condition that I wait 2 years. Ultimately, when I finally submitted the photos, along w/ accompanying text, HT not on bought my story but feat. the plants as centerfold in the Aug edition!'

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## Tags

tbt, arizona, hightimes

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