O’Neill: The hardest thing I do on the farm (column)

Casey O’Neill is a farmer and owner of Happy Day Farms in Laytonville, Calif. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mendocino Voice. If you’d like to write your own column for The Mendocino Voice, send your idea to info@mendovoice.com.

This week marked the last poultry slaughter of the year with the batch of 20 turkeys we raised. It feels good to be done with that aspect of the farm, slowly moving through the steps of the season and preparing for the days of winter. Putting meat in the freezer is one of the core components of our lives here on the farm, and it’s important to me to see the process through to the finish. Killing is also the hardest thing I do on the farm, and I hold space for deep reflection and the mental-physical-emotional processing that is necessary to find acceptance within myself.