Pioneer

(pi-o-neer)

/pīəˈnir/

“A person who is among the first to explore or settle a new country or area.” — Oxford Dictionary.

Close to the Cascade Mountains and roughly 40 miles north of Seattle, Arlington is typical of many small timber towns in the Northwest. It depended heavily on plentiful giant Douglas fir trees in the nearby mountains, but eventually the stands of old growth dwindled and timber money was replaced by concerns about erosion and the negative effects of logging on the streams and rivers in which wild salmon spawned.

Over the last few decades, a predictable pattern emerged in rural towns along the West Coast: small logging communities in Northern California, Oregon and Washington experienced shuttered mills, lost jobs and greatly reduced timber harvests.

Many proud, blue-collar towns spiraled downward, and Arlington was one of the casualties. Most of its timber jobs have gone the way of the typewriter, coal mining and the steam train.

Instead of chasing new trends in the industry, Pioneer Nuggets focuses its efforts on growing premium, hand-trimmed flower for Washington’s connoisseur cannabis market.

But while some might view communities like Arlington as broken backwaters, others see opportunity. Fitz Couhig sits squarely in the latter camp.

Originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Couhig first came to Washington decades earlier and fell in love with what he affectionately calls “the epic scenery.” On return trips he often worked as a tour guide and knew that if he ever had the opportunity, he’d relocate to the state and start his own business.

He got that opportunity when the Evergreen State legalized recreational, adult-use marijuana in 2012. Couhig moved to Washington, established residency and applied for a Tier 2 grow license. While scouting locations, he learned that Arlington was looking to pass an ordinance to allow cannabis production. He visited the town and quickly decided it was a great place to start his business.

“I didn’t move across the country to live and work in a community that wasn’t cannabis-friendly,” Couhig says. “Arlington has been very accommodating, and I can’t imagine living in a town that isn’t this progressive ever again.”

Pioneer Nuggets owner Fitz Couhig moved from Louisiana to Washington in order to become part of the legal marijuana industry.

The company he started, Pioneer Nuggets, is a fully operational indoor cultivation facility with 20 employees. It currently occupies 12,500 square feet of warehouse, with roughly 6,000 square feet dedicated to the actual growing. After studying many different indoor grow techniques, Couhig went with a facility design that utilizes a series of indoor hoop houses inflated with air pressure. Each separate structure is opaque and contains plants in various stages of their grow cycle.

Another early decision was to focus on flower production.

“I love flower,” he says. “I saw a lot of growers chasing the next big thing — oil, rosin, hash, shatter, etc. — and I felt it was a mistake. Get good at one thing and stick with it was my philosophy, and so I went with my gut and we drilled down on flower production. Producing the absolute best flower is my mission.”

According to Couhig, Pioneer Nuggets is a one-batch-at-a-time producer of hand-crafted, all-natural flower.

“We are dedicated to artisan cannabis and do everything by hand,” he says. “The plants are pruned by hand, watered by hand and fed the highest quality all-natural nutrients. When we harvest the buds, we also trim by hand with precision scissors.”

Some might think his attention to detail is fanatical, but to Couhig, it’s all about reputation and creating the very best.

“Ferrari doesn’t make an entry-level family car, and we don’t produce budget cannabis,” he explains.

As an example of the company’s attention to detail, the Pioneer team affixes each branch of every mature, flowering plant to a specially selected all-natural bamboo stake. It takes time and money to do this by hand, but according to Couhig, the additional support serves a purpose: When the plant is free from wasting energy on the creation of strong branches, it’s able to devote that energy to producing larger, stickier buds.

The path to connoisseur cannabis has not been without bumps in the road. Early forays into packaging presented challenges, and it took time for Pioneer Nuggets get its branding down. Another problem was anticipating rules and regulations that often seemed like a moving target.

“We’d think we had something figured out and then the goal line moved,” Couhig says.

Using indoor hoop houses inflated with air pressure, the Pioneer Nuggets warehouse separates plants by stages of growth to ensure the right amount of light is used at each stage of the cycle.

Finally, assembling a well-oiled workforce was difficult in a small community that lacked a history of commercial agricultural production.

“It took me a while,” Couhig says, “but we now have a first-class team that works well together, produces superior product and sees the goal line. I have no doubt about our abilities, and I’m really proud of where we are.”

For 2018, Couhig is planning to expand Pioneer Nuggets’ line of hand-trimmed, hand-selected connoisseur flower lines.

“The legal cannabis business has not been a cake walk,” Couhig says. “However, I’m really excited about the progress we’ve made, the great customers we’ve cultivated and our overall direction.

“Oh yeah, and did I mention that I love Arlington and living in this tight-knit community 10 minutes from the beautiful Cascade Mountains?”