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].
Sitting down to write on Saturday night is highly unusual for me, but with an early morning tomorrow for chicken slaughter, now is the time. The house smells of bacon from the cheesy-eggy-bacon sandwiches I’ve just finished frying for breakfast tomorrow for those of us who are starting at 6. The bacon came from a friend and I thought of her as I cooked.
I love the connections that make up an agricultural community, the ways we show up for each other, the mutual networks of aid and support. We’ll have willing hands to help with the heavy lift tomorrow, just as we will for market harvest on Monday. I think this season may be the most I’ve ever experienced the collective neighborwoods effort that gets the work done.
We’ve had so much help from friends and neighbors this season, and it shows in the way the farm looks and how much more we’re producing than in years past. We’re working just as hard as we always have, but we’re getting so much more done that we’re right on the ball in each of the different enterprises.
Orange Durban seed plants went in this week, big, vibrant and planted into living soil wriggling with worms and mulched with cover crop residue and comfrey harvested from the edges of the squash beds. The comfrey is abundant and the timing was perfect because it was starting to encroach on the squash. With some help from friends before market on Thursday, we fertilized the squash, cleared the comfrey and mulched the squash with it and had enough left to put a bit around each cannabis plant that went in (much more is needed to make an effective mulch, but that will happen in the week to come).
At the ranch, the sheep and most of the pigs are doing well on pasture, Ms. Piggie birthed five new piglets a couple weeks ago so they’ve been separated from the herd but will soon be rejoining their piggy friends. It’s hilarious to watch the pigs and sheep argue over who gets the alfalfa. We have three Biglets from the last litter that probably weigh 70lbs or so. Two females named Bill and Ted and one boy named Hammy.
This morning I watched Bill go head to head with the sheep ram over the trough of soaked alfalfa mush. The ram is twice Bill’s size, and he charged her and banged his head into her with pretty strong force. She had none of it and bit his face and held on. He shook her off and backed away, going from the aggressor to being on the retreat in a quick second. I chuckled as I finished filling the waterer and a muddy spot for the pigs to wallow in the heat of day.
The alfalfa is for the pigs, though they graze just fine on grass, the supplemental is helpful for them, but the sheep want some of it too. It’s partially to distract everyone away so that Booboo the livestock dog can eat her kibble in peace without having to knock the sheep away from her food dish. I never would have thought that sheep would be more pushy about food than pigs, but the ram and the year-old wether are a serious pain in the ass. The female lambs and ewes are pretty mellow, and the ram has a job to do, but the wether is liable to end up in the freezer if he keeps it up.
The vegetable crops have been abundant and lush thus far, but I’m realizing that I put so much effort into the cool weather crops that I neglected some of my favorite summer crops. The cucumbers are just now starting to come around after getting overshadowed by the salad turnips that I planted on the edges of their bed to use the extra space, and I just managed to sow the beans a couple days ago. One row of summer squash is producing already, but the second is only a few inches tall and we’ve just sowed seeds for the third, so an abundance of squash will be late this year. The first succession of winter squash and melons have true leaves but are still in 4” pots in the propagation house, and the second succession of winter squash is just now germinating.
On the bright side, all tomatoes and peppers are growing vigorously, well weeded and fully caged already so we’re ahead of the game in that department. The two rows of greenhouse tomatoes are going so hard that we have to start working on pulling them back into their cages and sending them upwards instead of outwards towards the pathways. Basil is catching up and should be ready for the first harvests by next week, as are the small batch of cauliflowers. Broccoli will follow a week later, with cabbages for the next several weeks after that.
Overall, the farm has never looked so good! Vibrant green growth counterpoints the arrival of the brown time as grasses go to seed and die. We’re scrambling to stay on top of weeding and fertilizing, but we’re not missing a beat and are loving the fruits of our labors. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!
