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PART B. THE SEATTLE FOUNDATION (Greg's domain)
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This is the part of the history only Greg can speak to. Nevil was not in Seattle and says nothing about it; his silence here is not disagreement. It is also the part of the record where Greg is the sole witness, so his internal consistency (or lack of it) is the only test available.
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B1. The crew and the cast
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The hub was Steve Murphy's shop:
"Indoor Sun Shoppe - Plants This is where the original NL #1 seed was obtained and the original clone of NL #5 which was a hybrid of NL #1 crossed with a strain from Hawaii."
-- Greg, thread: Northern Lights, 2011-03-27
"Steve Murphy owned The Indoor Sun Shoppe in Seattle. NL #5 was a F1 hybrid in 1982."
-- Greg, thread: Northern lights#1 vs. northern lights #5, 2014-06-10
The crew was small and regional, kept that way by fear of police:
"The Northern Lights Crew was very small because of intense police pressure. It was all people from the Bellingham, Seattle, Olympia, and Portland area. And we were real wary of anyone who was not known. Paranoia ruled for good reasons as Nevil and Marc Emory found out."
-- Greg, thread: Northern Lights, 2014-08-31
Its stated purpose was medical, tied to Greg's own biography as a Marine and Vietnam veteran:
"We were Vietnam Combat Veterans needing ptsd meds (sleep matters) so the focus was NL 1 to 5 with a beat this breeding program."
-- Greg, thread: Northern Lights, 2014-08-31
"Herbie" is the associate Greg credits with the Hawaiian side of NL5 (see C4). "The Indian" is Don Downes, presented consistently as a grower the crew set up, not a genetic source. This is one of Greg's most stable sub-stories, told the same way across seven years:
"'The Indian' was Don Downes and he lived a little north of Olympia (no Island) he received 90% of the genetics he used (NL#5, NL #2, Hash Plant) form the friends of the Indoor Sun Shoppe group in the Seattle Area. Don was an older guy who we set up with a four light operation and the Indica crosses from Steve Murphy's original Afghani Indica strain."
-- Greg, thread: Who is the top 10 Breeders in the world?, 2013-01-14
"Don (aka the Indian) was from the Queets Tribe in Washington State who got injured on the job and needed a way to supplement his income. We set him up with lights substrate and strains and he worked for several years until his Son got out of the Army."
-- Greg, thread: Northern Lights, 2014-08-30
"Don was interesting older guy when Rollo of the NL team brought him over too meet me. He was an injured worker looking to grow some smoke and supplement his income."
-- Greg, thread: NL#5 Mud Bay and the Mushroom Guru, 2021-02-19
"Don (RIP) worked hard growing so he could buy his son a home on the hill overlooking mud bay and the oyster shell piles."
-- Greg, thread: NL#5 Mud Bay and the Mushroom Guru, 2021-02-19
The importance of this thread is that "the Indian" is the one Seattle character Nevil also names, independently, as the person he met in America to collect the US NL5 cutting (see D2). The person is real and shared between both testimonies. Other named crew and contacts include "Rollo of the NL team," "George in Portland" (the Hash Plant source, see B3), and "John at Steubers":
"Don I think got some seeds from John at Steubers and his Native American brothers."
-- Greg, thread: Aloha, 2021-02-18
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B2. The foundational Afghan seed - where it came from
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This is the first place Greg's account fails to hold steady, entirely within his own testimony. The four founding Afghan seeds are sourced three different ways across the years. Via Herbie's employer:
"The base plants for the entire Seattle Northern Lights strains 1 to 10 was a batch of seed sent from Afghanistan that ended up in Herbie's employers hands who just happened to be an old friend from High School so I was able to get four seeds."
-- Greg, thread: Growing Haze Tips?, 2013-02-22
Simply "gifted":
"After I was gifted 4 wide leaved pure afghani seeds I went to seed and started the Luther Burbank selection process to get superior female cuttings."
-- Greg, thread: Northern Lights, 2014-09-06
And directly from Murphy:
"the Indian (Don Downes) was supplied with genetics by me including the NL#5 and the seed I propagated from the 4 seeds from Murphy."
-- Greg, thread: Northern Lights, 2015-06-17
These are partly reconcilable - Murphy owned the shop, Herbie worked there, the Afghan seed arrived at the shop, Greg got four - but Greg never reconciles them, and the giver drifts from "Herbie's employer" to "gifted" to "Murphy." Where the Afghan seed originally came from, Greg finally concedes he does not know:
"Where in Afghanistan they came from I do not know."
-- Greg, thread: Aloha, 2021-02-16
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B3. The pre-Nevil Seattle strains
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Greg is consistent and specific that a numbered NL series and its component indica lines existed in Seattle before contact with Nevil. He describes rejecting the local University of Washington sativa-hybrid material in favor of Indicas:
"During this time period in Seattle we had Northern Lights and the UW had a good production but lacked the medicinal quality we we looking for as Vietnam Veterans to be able to sleep. The indica's seemed to have far better results so we did very little with the UW strains and concentrated more on the Hashplant strain we got from George in Portland and Steve Murphy's pure Afghani."
-- Greg, thread: University of Washington, 2014-06-12
"We were using several Indica stains pre Nevil . Murphys, hybrids of #5 and #1 and Don's Affie strain. They all tended to reek like skunk."
-- Greg, thread: Aloha, 2021-02-19
This "pre Nevil" claim - that #5 and #1 already existed as Seattle hybrids before Nevil - is the crux of Greg's authorship story and the point Nevil's stewardship story implicitly contests (see C5). Greg's crew also continued adding genetics over time from Marc Emery ("the Prince of Pot in Vancouver"), from Holland, and from others:
"Indoors in Seattle we continued to add and breed new genetics from the Prince of Pot in Vancouver and from The Netherlands from Harlyne, Arjan,and bag seed from Katsu Coffee was tested in Washington State indoor conditions."
-- Greg, thread: Northern Lights, 2014-09-04
Probably because Todd made them and they're not from Nevil Charlie and Ray
