In Between Seasons

Warning: Please do not attempt to perform any of the stunts or performances outlined in this snipet. As they are dangerous and could lead to serious injury.  

What can we tell you about going to work on a weed farm that The Grower, The Trimmers and The Landowner won’t kill us for? Soft criminals are especially tense about getting put in cages with other men …

It wasn't the first time to a farm - and we always say it will be the last - but never is. A few weeks on the farm can fund a trip around Asia, our adventures with Heir and/or an entire ski season of rent; making it hard to give it a hard no.  So, with a handful of experiences combined, we can share its’ nuances and a summative experience. It is a scene - a microcosm of culture and community. Trim scenes are fascinating and deserve their own colorful, full length, coffee table book (coming in 2020). 

Put 5, 6, 10, 15 strangers in a room together, around a small table to trim pounds of pot every day for a month. Weird shit happens. Because everything is paid in cash money, work permits are not necessary, and really anyone is qualified to do the job. Trim season in Northern California and Oregon, bring together an enormous range of people. Come September "The Valley" is littered with trimmers from all walks of life. Hippies, students, foreigners, moms, vagabonds, grandmas, circus performers, teachers, engineers, chefs or the many "I-just-graduated-college-now-what's?" 

If the production of weed were legal, trimming weed in Humboldt would be a lot like the seasonal job of stomping wine in France. It is not legal, so trimming weed in Humboldt is more like cooking meth in Kentucky. Though this parody is quickly changing, the legality of weed is still gray enough (especially under this administration) that there is always a job to be found and a veil of paranoia to enter in "The Valley".  

Common camp themes include lesbian relationships, veganism, dog fights, hippie stench, monogam-ish couplings and exploring personal limits.  The only accepted topics of conversations at camp are “what’s your sign?”, what you’re allergic to or what dream you had last night. Please follow the rules. 

My first time to camp was a scene out of Tropic Thunder - exactly what your concerned grandma is imagining when you tell her you are going to trim weed on a farm. There was a locked gate at the end of a winding road in the middle of NOWHERE America. There was a tent city, pitbulls, machetes, ex military guards, rioting natives near by, gun shots, spaghetti and beans over an open fire, rain, moss, cougars and of course - A TON of weed.  

While my most recent trip to camp was a a quaint victorian home run by a preschool teacher filled with gals making turmeric lattes who were just trying to make money to get back to Maui. Mahalo. 

Though it will drain you mentally - trimming for a season will fill you up with alone time, a cultural education, stories for back home and all that cash money! It is one of the many ways we fuel this vintage love affair. 

For more stories or personal accounts to make your side split, please contact the founders of Heir Vintage. Camp stories are a plenty.  

Flea Market Hunting

For some, normal upstanding people, Sunday is a day to relax with yourself or your loved ones, do the laundry, and catch up on reading. For us Sundays are a day to shop! It's a different kind of Gods day; the Thrift Gods. Sundays are a day for yard sales, estate sale browsing, thrift shop picking and of course, flea markets! The Grand Mother of all flea markets is the Rose Bowl. We learned this quickly and continue to acknowledge it as we travel around the western United States in search of goods. So let us tell you 'bout our best friend...

The Rose Bowl is massive! It can be a little overwhelming if you just show up without a plan of attack. You have to know what you're there to buy; otherwise, it'll be a rabbit hole of endless wandering. I am envious of those who stroll into the market at 11 am for a hot dog, a beer and an arm stroll on last night’s beau. It would be my perfect date (cough, cough). Often, you bump into celebrities and PYT's lackadaisically looking for a new coffee table. While Mia and I (along with other buyers and treasure hunting gurus) must arrive super early - barely injecting enough coffee down our throat to open our eyes. There are rules to this game, and when played correctly you can score big time!

Going to the Rose Bowl is kind of like going to Disneyland. At first you’re all excited to get inside and see all the magic. Then as the day goes on, more and more people show up and it gets super crowded and everyone is hot and bothered in some way and all the babies start crying at once. At this point, it’s time to pack up and head to lunch with your two best friends (in my case Mia and a glass of wine).  No matter how successful we feel at this point, a mediocre day at the Rose Bowl is like a day of tequilladrinkinglittershittingunicorns anywhere else. It is always worth it and always inspirational for these two mountain town gals.

Why Vintage?

Vintage is Classic. And the Classics never go out of style. Period. When we look at the world of fashion we always see echoes of the past and plenty of those echoes are not so subtle. Take a look at almost any runway and you'll see a show filled with fashions that call back to styles from earlier eras. The fashion world is a circle where everything old becomes new again. 

Vintage is Unique. Have you ever walked into a party and realized you were wearing the same dress as another girl? We cringe at the thought of this common social misfortune. When you wear a vintage garment you are wearing a rare piece of clothing that very well might be the only one of its kind left anywhere. 

Vintage is Thoughtful. A good modern girl will care about the environment, as we should! There is no question that purchasing new clothes has a negative impact on our world - whether it's through harmful emissions from manufacturing or unethical labor, the clothing manufacturing process is destructive. And there is so much of it out there! The greatest thing about our business for us, is that there is never a shortage of product. The excess of generations before is our treasure today, it all needs to be slurped up by us before the planet tries that grueling task. Buying vintage is a small way that you can do something for the environment but how great is it that you will look fabulous while doing it? 

Vintage is Quality. We live in a society of mass produced goods. "Fashions" are churned out of clothing mills all day, you can call it fast food fashion. This is just not the case with vintage fashions and it shows! Vintage clothing was made with superior expertise, including details, buttons, and flourishes you won't find on today's garments. If you take the time to examine most vintage pieces you'll notice much greater attention to detail in textiles, patterns, textures, stitching, etc. Vintage fashions were designed to last and were sewn by hand. They were built to be passed on to little sisters, not to fall apart. 

Vintage is an Investment. There is a collectible market for vintage clothing and many pieces have value that raises with time. Not every vintage garment is collectable, but many are. There will never be more 1950's wiggle dresses, 1960's Pucci silks, or 1970's high waisted Levi's bell bottoms made. Because they become harder and harder to find with time they become more valuable as they grow older. Vintage is money well spent! 

Vintage has history. I love the feeling that vintage clothing has already lived life. I write stories in my head all the time about where a piece came from, what it has seen, what happened while it was worn. Vintage helps to give your style character and a story. When you buy a vintage dress, you are not just getting something that came straight from a factory overseas, to a truck, to a store shelf. You are wearing something that has seen life. Vintage garments are a lot like us modern girls. That cute vintage piece has seen good times and bad times yet survived still looking beautiful and stylish. I love that. 

Marble CO

We took all the normal routes in search of a vehicle to house our new dream. We scoured the paper, driving by ad locations to sniff out the goods. We trolled Craigslist into the wee hours of weeknights. We even experimented with Ebay. (Note to all Ebay virgins: don't bid on large items, you will win and it will be in Tennessee). All these outlets of bus buying were proving too expensive for our small budget hopes or too junky and thus labor intensive for our delicate hands and minds. 

Then with the serendipity that is life, a bus fell right into our laps. My sister was a teacher at the Marble Charter School at the time. If you have never been to Marble CO, you must! Or maybe don't, because it's that special. The Marble Charter school was looking to (basically) get rid of its small bus as it had just upgraded to a full size kiddo carrying machine. The ladies at the school who helped me sign the title and showed me a few tricks to driving the beast, could not have been cuter or sweeter. They mirrored my excitment for this new endeavor and were our first true fans! The whole experience is very memorable, as it's not often you get to buy a school bus.  

Creating is Delicious

An idea becomes a thought, a thought becomes a day dream, a day dream creeps into you REM cycle and then before you know it, dreams are a tangible reality. That is how Heir Vintage became. And if you don't believe that thoughts become things, we dare you to try it! All it takes is a thought, one that you hold onto and believe in vehemently. Then, the universe truly does conspire to make thoughts into things. 

Heir Vintage was an idea. A wild hair. Actually a million dollar idea...

Over a couple of cocktails, I asked a friend and muse of mine if she had any million dollar ideas. I won't reveal her answer here for the protection of her future fortune, but she then asked me the same. I told her about my devious plan to take over the world in a yellow school bus. How it was "green" and conscience and a fresh business model.  How I would sell in a "recession proof" market as I had witnessed first hand in my upbringing. How I could get to people that could not get to me. 

"Oh, so you wanna do something like the Style Liner," she mentioned. I was immediately crushed upon knowing a mobile store wasn't my original idea. (Small town girl, instantly realizes there is no original thought). And then, I was ecstatic! Now knowing that this dream has been hatched elsewhere and done well, and could become an easier and more fruitful reality than I had originally imagined. 

And so it was done.