Route 27

I visited Route 27, one of New York State’s first legal cannabis cultivators; a family owned and operated farm in Suffolk County, Long Island. The Andoos/Caroll Family pioneered the modern-day American Dream, dedicating their livelihoods to being able to legally grow cannabis, despite the challenges of being amongst the first. They told me the story of how this place came to be.

“My Entire Life.”

“I knew I wanted to be in it my whole life, since I was 3 years old!” Ryan loudly exclaimed to me as he sat back in his chair. We were sitting in his office that resides on 13 acres of seaming bliss. He grew up around generations of family figures who influenced his love for Agriculture and Horticulture – so much so that he achieved his bachelor’s degree in Landscaping Contracting/Agriculture.

In his younger years, he traveled to work for world-renowned gardens. “I worked in Giverny, France as Master Gardener at Claude Monet’s Garden, I worked in Norway at Flor og Fjaere Botanical Gardens, I also worked in New Zealand where I learned agriculture in the hop industry”. I listened to this elegance of a resume while looking out the window into a sea of beautifully kept green.

“How did you end up here?” I half-jokingly asked. Ryan and I ran in similar circles growing up and agriculture wasn’t exactly common for the South Shore of Nassau County.

“I was working at a florist in Rockville Centre and the owner of the building also owned this farm. He was a nice guy and every month when he would come collect the rent check, we would just talk. One day, he’s like ‘yeah, you know, I got these 13 acres out on the island-”.

“It’s Sentimental.”

The owner was a first generation American whose father immigrated from Italy to start a nursery. Once he passed away, the family stopped using the land and let nature take its course.

“It was basically a forest, but worse because it was all meant to be harvested. Everything was a perfect rose, but it was 10 years past harvest – it was all 40 feet tall and so dense you couldn’t even walk through” Ryan remembered. This was a place that had harbored decades of sentimental value and good memories from the family that originally utilized it. Ryan told me that he could just feel it.

I could feel it too - There was this old-school Americana charm that really took over the moment I entered the farm gates.  I was hit with an overwhelming energy of hopes and dreams - but I guess it could’ve been the weed.

“I asked him, so how much do I owe you?” Ryan began. What followed left my eyes as wide as could be. “He said, ‘Don’t worry about the money. I don’t think you know how much work this is, BUT if you clear it and maintain my equipment, the farm is yours.”

So he did. Ryan and his Uncle Mark picked up and continued the family farm legacy and spent years clearing out sections of acres to start operations. “We cleared 2 acres the first year, then 5 acres the next, and 6 acres the following” he recalled. “For 3 years, nothing was grown on the property – and then it was hops, hemp and now cannabis.” Several years later, Ryan and Uncle Mark officially purchased the property.

“I Guess We Can’t Arrest Him.”

Route 27 received their NYS hemp license in 2019 under the Federal Farm Bill (The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018) but not everyone was informed about this implementation.

A year later, during their first harvest, neighbors complained to news media about the smell with intentions to “out” the farm. “It smells like skunk!” CBS News reported (Hemp Farm's Odor Has Some Moriches Residents Smelling Trouble - CBS New York (cbsnews.com). “The odor was so bad that us neighbors questioned each other, like ‘what's happening — you guys doing something over there?" News12 Long Island reported (Moriches neighbors: Farm gives off strong, constant smell of marijuana (news12.com)).

Unfortunately, because of the publicity, the farm was constantly under attack by thieves, and they thought they had seen the worst.

That is until a sheriff moved in locally. “He thought we were the biggest drug dealers on Long Island” Ryan boomed. One day, during harvest, the sheriff pulled over Uncle Mark driving a dump truck full of freshly harvested hemp and immediately five more sheriffs came to the scene. “They wanted to impound the truck, burn the whole farm and throw us in jail!” Ryan told me. Not long after, the Department of Agriculture Hemp Inspector and his supervisor arrived and then finally the DEA (Federal Drug Enforcement Agency). “Now, there’s fucking 10 government officials here and between all of them I just keep reiterating the 2018 Federal Farm Bill!”

Now Mrs. Andoos had been nodding along quietly, almost solemnly, because she’d been a part of this wild ride from the start. She couldn’t help it “I wanted to add here! He presented his license and certificates, and they accused Ryan of having fake documents” Ryan sat forward “Yeah, he said that I could’ve made this at FedEx Kinkos”.

After 3 and a half hours, the DEA and the sheriffs realized they were wrong. “One cop said, ‘I guess we can’t arrest him” Ryan chuckled. I thought it was a dark sense of humor, but I see there was a bit more empathy. “They were unaware that Hemp was federally legal and at the end of the day the cops were just doing their jobs, it was the failure of the New York State government who did not put out the proper material for police. Zero education. But that was the end of it- well not quite”.

Ryan was on a DEA blacklist for four years after this incident and says any time he traveled out of the country, they would search and interrogate him in another room.

“We have awesome breezes.”

I took a stroll through the fields while Shelby the farm dog kept me company – my kind of tour guide.

This was a breathtaking view; a landscape of healthy outdoor cannabis plants, a top-of-the-line greenhouse in the distance, with American-made vintage machinery all parked aesthetically with gigantic trees hugging the perimeter. It was hard for me to see how anyone could perceive this place as wrong.

Route 27 now has their New York State Adult-Use Cannabis Cultivation License, Distributor License, and Processing License. They were one of the first legal cultivators in the state of New York and have been focused on constantly improving while being able to provide consumers with consistency. Their mission is to maintain sustainable practices with regenerative farming while producing top-shelf smokable flower and good hash. “We have a great temperate climate with awesome breezes. It’s the benefits of being in between the ocean and pine barrens. It’s a great spot to grow outdoor cannabis for hash production and processing.” Ryan told me as he opened the greenhouse door. “We have a state-of-the-art light deprivation greenhouse with 100 LEDs (mixed light). Basically, we can shut our dep curtains and run no matter what the sun does. We built out this house so that no matter what time of the year, you’re going to get the same quality”

I like to tell accomplishment stories. It’s easy to see the achievements without the behind the scenes. The goal of Kusa Collective is to highlight New York cannabis culture in its entirety.

As I stood in the middle of this massive meadow, overcome by a smell that took me to a simpler time, taking in air that felt freer, I couldn’t help but admire Route 27. Cannabis had been highly criminalized for generations; and while the future is bright, there is still a lot of work to do. It is the forerunners like Route 27 that make change possible while being met with the hurdles of being amongst the first. They're advocates for small family farms and have set a standard and example of a hard-earned success story.

But I guess come check it out for yourself...