I've Been Gone From Tennessee For More'n Four Years Now ...

... and I'm still not yet forgotten back there. (Gracias a la Diosa.)

Bernie Ellis

Apr 15, 2024

Woke up to an Instagram message from another Nashville ex-pat.

I don't know who "nashvillehistoryx" is

but I'm tickled that I made it on her list.

Me, on Instagram, in Nashville, with 262 likes

and I’m learning Substack won’t let me post the link.

So I’ll just post the text.
—-
nashvillehistoryx

“Bernie Ellis from Trace View Farms has been growing blueberries on his farm in Sante Fe, Tennessee for over twenty years.”

—

Bernie Ellis heard the helicopters before he saw them. Within minutes they converged, whirring, over his blueberry farm south of Nashville, as 10 federal agents drove up in four-wheelers. The moment he had always feared had arrived: He was being raided. The two lead agents began interrogating him, demanding to know: Was he growing marijuana?

Ellis didn’t hesitate to tell them the truth. Yes, he was growing marijuana, he said, giving it to patients with late-stage HIV/AIDS and cancer in an effort to ease their pain and nausea. That day in 2002 was only the beginning of an ordeal that would consume him for the next 10 years.

Ellis faced federal prosecution for marijuana cultivation and distribution, charges that carried a sentence of 10 to 40 years in prison, fines of up to $2 million, and possible confiscation of his farm.

Ellis triple-majored in psychology, sociology and political science at Vanderbilt, combining all of those disciplines into a career in public health. In the 1980s he studied for a master’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley, where the AIDS crisis had hit the Bay Area hard.

When Ellis returned to Tennessee in 1987, he helped establish the state’s program for AIDS patients, and on the side, he began growing marijuana on his farm in Maury County, providing it to patients suffering from late-stage HIV or cancer.

Every summer Bernie let folks hang a two-gallon bucket on their beltloop and fill as many buckets as they could. As of recently it seems he has moved to New Mexico to continue his career in medical marijuana. But in 2019 a local filmmaker completed a documentary featuring ‘everyone’s favorite felon’ called The Blueberry Farmer.

Photo source: Liepers Fork Farmers Market, via Anthony Scarlati @leipersforkfarmersmarket

Word source: Vanderbilt Magazine / “In the Weeds: Vanderbilt alumni and researchers are working to understand the wider implications of marijuana use”, published May 23, 2019

#tennesseehistory #blueberryfarm #bernieellis #traceviewfarms #medicalmarijuana #santefetn
—-

To which I was able to post this update for all those I left behind:

bernieellis67 (1d)

I must say, this was a very pleasant surprise to find in my inbox this morning.

Having been gone from Tennessee for more than four years now, it is very nice to be remembered. Very much appreciated.

For the past four years, I have owned Ranchito Feliz Destino, a small high slopes farm between Santa Fe and Taos where I raise high quality timothy and clover hay and higher quality cannabis as a New Mexico licensed cannabis micro-producer. I also have several large garden sites for what I consider my eternally spring vegetables up here -- cabbage, broccoli, lettuces, potatoes and onions, beets, turnips and cauliflower that I sell locally and donate to multiple food banks. At 8,300 feet elevation and watered by two separate acequias, these gardens do well for a four month (June-September) growing period.

It is so nice to live in a sky-blue state where we vote on verified, hand-marked paper ballots and, as a direct result, elect almost entirely NOT Republicans.

Thanks again for this shout-out. And for celebrating with me the survival of a truly mad ordeal. Sorry it is still happening back there.

Here in New Mexico, in addition to so many other nice things, we are suffuse with reefer saneness. It's a great way, finally, to be.

For anyone who might be interested, I write regularly about life up here and about memories, both near and far, on my (free) Substack account. Would love to have any of you aboard.

See ya, bye.

Bernie

hereasinheaven.substack. com