Ridgeline Farms is Jason Gellman's family farm on a ridge outside Garberville, above the Eel River in Southern Humboldt. Gellman, a second-generation SoHum grower, took Green Lantern and his own Lantz to Emerald Cup wins, and his genetics now travel through Cookies and Heavy Hitters. In July 2026, Ridgeline's Blueberry Caviar won the California Cannabis Awards Golden Bear for mixed light flower.
A second-generation SoHum grower
Gellman grew up in the plant. At 15 he was working on his dad's construction crew and already growing cannabis on the side, hiking seedlings into the backcountry wherever there was water and planting them straight into the ground.
Legalization forced a pivot. He signed the affidavit declaring himself a cannabis farmer, and with kids at home he decided to go legitimate; Ridgeline Farms grew out of that decision. Permitting took about three and a half years, and the rules pushed him to downsize from two properties.
He stayed for the place. "I just love my home. I love Southern Humboldt," he said after his first Emerald Cup win, and he credits the region with growing some of the best weed there is.
A small farm above the Eel River
The farm looks out over redwoods, oak woodland, the Eel River and the King Range, near King Peak and the Lost Coast. Gellman runs it owner-operated and small on purpose, with a pair of 10,000-square-foot grows built on mixed-light greenhouses and light deprivation, a technique he has worked for about 20 years.
He takes two runs a year and keeps his hands on the whole garden. "Twenty acres of weed? Good luck with that," he told High Times. "I look at every single plant and I see what they do."
Green Lantern and the first licensed Emerald Cup
Green Lantern made the farm's name. A friend paired an OG-heavy strain with something fruitier, and Gellman picked the keeper out of 50 to 100 plants, hunting for a keeper. The farm lists the cut at 35.1% THC, and it also took the Golden Tarp for highest THC content.
In December 2018 Green Lantern won first place in the licensed sun-grown category at the Emerald Cup, the first edition after California's adult-use market opened that January. A limited run followed in select California dispensaries through a partnership with Flow Kana.
Gellman backed it up in 2019. His Ridgeline Runtz cut took another Emerald Cup first place, and the farm put three entries in the top 10 that year.
Lantz, bred with his father
Gellman crossed Green Lantern with Ridgeline Runtz and spent more than four years with his father refining the result into Lantz. Ice Cream Cake he has worked with over the years makes up about 10% of its traits. "Let the world enjoy a strain that took me and my pops years to create," he said when it dropped.
It paid off at the May 2023 Emerald Cup, where Lantz took first in mixed light flower and Ridgeline won the Breeder's Cup. The same year Lantz placed third for best tasting at Zalympix.
The Lantz family tree
Lantz now anchors the catalog, and most of the library runs through it:
- Blackberry Caviar and Blueberry Caviar: Grape Gas x Lantz
- Throbber: Gush Mintz x Lantz
- RidgeLion: Cheetah Piss x Lantz
- Ridgeline Rebel: Double OG Chem x Lantz
- Plantz: Purpz x Lantz
- Lamboz: Lambo OG x Lantz
- Ridgeline Rose: Whitethorn Rose x Lantz
Breeding is a grind. Gellman put about a quarter to 30% of his first 2023 run toward finding the next winner, and he figures 80 to 90% of attempts miss. In 2025 he worked with feminized pollen for the first time, pollinating about 40 strains, and Ridgeline seeds now sell in regular and feminized packs through Tangled Roots, from Lantz fems to Lantz F2 regulars and Caviar packs.
Cookies, Heavy Hitters and the road out of Humboldt
Cookies brought Ridgeline Lantz to its indoor partner Madcow, with sungrown batches from Emerald Triangle growers, and sold it at Cookies and Lemonnade stores across California. Its Humboldt Bred Caviar collection was built on the Blackberry and Blueberry phenotypes and released as small-batch live rosin and 510 vapes.
Work with Cookies and Heavy Hitters has put Ridgeline strains on dispensary shelves in more than 20 states, and Gellman has sold genetics to vendors in Thailand, Colombia, Australia and Germany. He also wants the Ridgeline name to help his Southern Humboldt peers distribute their flower.
Golden Bears and Humboldt math
The California State Fair's cannabis awards have become a second trophy shelf. The Lantz 100% Live Rosin Syrup cartridge from Arcata Fire, a Ridgeline collaboration, won the 2024 Golden Bear for cartridges. Blueberry Caviar took a Golden Bear in 2025, with Blackberry Caviar adding a bronze, and won again in 2026 in mixed light flower, part of a year when Humboldt producers took home 25 medals.
The global push is a response to Humboldt prices. Gellman remembers a Garberville pound selling for $5,000 in 1990 and $1,000 in 2018; by 2025 it was barely $250. His view is blunt: "A brand has to have unique genetics." At home, Ridgeline flower moves through California shops including Country Club Cannabis, Redwood Herbal Alliance, Proper Wellness, Satori Wellness, Heart of the Emerald and Cornerstone Collective.
For adults 21 and over.