This is our farm column from farmer Casey O’Neill. O’Neill is the owner operator of HappyDay Farms north of Laytonville, and a long time advocate for the cannabis community in Mendocino Co; more of his writing can be found here. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor feel free to write to [email protected].
The Atmosphere song lyrics are ringing in my head; “Sunshine, sunshine is fine, feel it in my skin, warming up my mind”. What a difference a week can make! From big winds and snow collapsing hoophouses and feeling demoralized to rebuilding and getting to work on bed prep, it’s amazing how much can change in a few days.
Here on the ridge we see cold winds come out of the North, and warm storms blow in out of the Southwest, but winds from the East are exceptionally rare and spell trouble. This last big series of storms sent gusts ripping out of the East that were strong enough to explode our weakest hoophouse, but also bent the thick steel endwall poles on our burly propagation house and ripped the cover off of it. We’ve gotten the weaker tunnel rebuilt with added purlin strength so that it’s better than it ever has been and is back to protecting the kales and collards, which didn’t take too much damage considering the twisted mess of plastic and hoops that we found when we arrived to harvest for market on Monday morning.
I recall last year getting a similar week of sun in early February that had me sowing seeds and planting crops, only to get walloped by the three week mega snow event. The February false spring always gets me going (often the pear trees as well), but even knowing that winter is still with us, I’m reveling in the feeling of excitement that the sun brings. It feels good to get my hands in the dirt, and with the first two rounds of crops growing nicely in paperpot transplant trays in the propagation house, I’ll soon be planting hoophouse beds and then transitioning to outdoor beds.
In the next few days I’ll sow onions, shallots, cabbages, broccoli and the next round of salad mixes, turnips and radishes. We’re also working on weed suppression with layers of cardboard and compost; yesterday we did the summer squash beds, and once I add a layer of straw they’ll be good to go until planting time. The perennial beds are likewise finished, as are Amber’s cut flower beds. The next focus is on hoophouse repair and bed prep in the tunnel at the farmstand, which has been patiently awaiting the replacement of half the hoops from the snow damage last year.
It feels good to be getting into the meat of the work this early in the season, getting a jump on the big pushes to come. After the experience last year, I know things can change and I can end up a month behind, but for the time being I’m on top of my game and loving the feeling of “hope springs eternal”. I’m also loving the efficiency of the paperpot transplanter and drop seeder. A year of working with the new equipment has me over the bulk of the learning curve, and it has saved so much time that I can handle all of the seeding and planting for the vegetable business by myself.
As the farm has grown, I find myself pulled in multiple directions by the different enterprises and I have to be careful about how I budget my time. This year I’m trying to focus more on the non-farming parts of my life, so I’m relying heavily on increased efficiency and skill to offset the lower time commitment. Learning to balance work with family, play, and community is not something I’ve been good at in the past, and we’ll see how it goes once we get into the heat of the full season, but for now I’m doing better with it than I ever have.
I’m pleased with how much compost I made in the past year, and with pigs and chickens housed in the barn for winter I’m excited for a hefty increase in our on-farm production. I still expect to purchase compost, but having more fertility made on site has long been a goal that I’m excited to start to fulfill. We’ve been using the home-post for all of the perennials, cut flower beds, fruit trees and for the summer squash patch we prepped yesterday.
Cover crops are so lush and tall that I’m harvesting tubs of green to feed to chickens and rabbits, and we’ll be able to begin bed prep as early as weather permits because we got such good growth from early sowing in a cool, wet fall, and during the mild winter we’ve experienced so far. The farm is as lush and green as it has ever been at this time of year, though I’m in a bad lull for crops, having harvested most of the winter stuff and while still waiting on the later plantings to come in. I’m grateful for produce from other local farms to help fill the CSA bags this week, and I’m looking forward to the return of bountiful harvests as the sun creeps higher in the sky and we edge towards the end of winter. As always, much love and great success to you in your journey!