Diamond Back Genetic Wins Numerous Awards for its Cannabis
Diamond Back Genetics is a small family farm in Northern California, and currently producing some of the best cannabis in California. Despite their flower resembling product that looks like it came out of a high-tech laboratory, Diamond Back Ranch is a modest, family farm consisting of just a few greenhouses in a beautiful backdrop of rolling hills. Diamond Back Genetics is owned and operated by Ed Walker, better known as Granpa; and his grandson, Grant.
Before making a home in Yolo County, Granpa was born and raised on a family farm in rural Northeastern Colorado. He grew up farming and ranching with his father, Jake, from the time he could walk and pick up a shovel. The Walker farm grew many crops such as corn, potatoes, and award-winning sugar beets. In 1955, Jake grew the highest yielding sugar beets in the whole county. 60 years later Granpa followed suit, winning multiple awards for a different kind of crop; high-grade cannabis. Life on the farm is where a young Eddie Walker would start to hone his craft of cultivation, learning how to care for crops and the importance of good soil. By the age of 14, Granpa had 25-head of his own of cattle, teaching him the ins and outs of being a businessman and shaping him into a great salesmen; skills that he’s still using and made him the success he is today.
In 1979, Granpa headed west and purchased the 35 acres he still calls home today. He named it Diamond Back Ranch. He started out growing vegetables, and soon after, began raising and breeding horses. All though he had a steady workload on the farm, he always made time for his passion project. Growing small crops of Cannabis. At that time, marijuana was readily available, but Granpa preferred to smoke his own.
Granpa is far from a onedimensional character, and aside from being a good ol’ country boy on the farm, he was also immersed in the counterculture of San Francisco. Though the waves of the hippie culture had died down, Granpa opened up SF Rock Posters in the heart of North Beach, capturing the spirit and essence art and music scene of the 1960’s. He’s been buying, selling and trading rare Rock ’n’ Roll memorabilia at 1851 Powell St. since 1990 and is still there today. Aside from the Rock ‘n’ Roll collectables, he has an incredible collection of Zig Zag and other marijuana themed mementos. As we all know; good music and good cannabis go hand in hand.
You can’t be a Granpa without having grandkids; and in 2009 Granpa’s grandson, Grant, moved out to the farm to pick up the family trade and learn from the best. Grant was a quick study and has since taken over the day to day operations of the farm. A few years before Grant’s arrival, Granpa had begun breeding and looking for winners. By the end of planting season in 2012, they weren’t planning on breeding, and there was one Sour Diesel male that Granpa was going to cut down. Grant discouraged him from doing so and they bred it with a Girl Scout Cookie phenotype, known as OG KB, which at the time was one of the best, new, exotic strains on the scene. Once they reaped the rewards of this cross, they knew they had a winner and the literal rewards were soon to follow. Granpa pulled on a joint of the cross and said, “This is the shit!” An adage he’d been using for decades, but only then realized what he’d said. This. Is. The. Shit. From there, T.I.T.S. was born and they never looked back. Since then, they’ve crossed many strains with T.I.T.S. to make strains like OG TITS, Granpa’s Gold, Watermelon Rancher and Granpa’s Dough. Despite some pushback on the name for being “offensive” and “unmarketable”, Granpa stuck to his guns and continued using the name, assuming that most people were unaware of the acronym. But there’s no denying, once you try the T.I.T.S., you’ll agree that This is ,indeed, the shit.
We’re not the only ones who feel this way. Since last year, DBG has won five awards for T.I.T.S. and OG TITS, raking in four this year alone. T.I.T.S. won the Gold Cup 1st place at the 2019 Bay Area High Times Cannabis Cup, 2nd place at the 2019 Norcal High Times Cannabis Cup, and 2nd place at the 2019 Emerald Cup in Santa Rosa. OG TITS has won 2nd place at the 2018 Norcal High Times Cannabis Cup and 3rd this year at the Emerald Cup.
Despite being a small, family farm consisting of only four employees, DBG is still growing and expanding, consciously cultivating quality cannabis without taking shortcuts. Like Granpa says, “If you want to get into the cannabis industry and you’re lazy; you’ve already failed.” DBG hopes to continue to provide you with a quality product with the help of consumer support and companies like Rio Vista Farms distributing their flower and telling Granpa’s story.
“Aside from the Rock ‘n’ Roll collectables, he has an incredible collection of Zig Zag and other marijuana themed mementos”