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.
I rejoice in the sweet sound of summer rain as I lie nested in my blankets listening to the drops like fingers drumming on the roof. Blankets in August are a glorious luxury, the cool weather giving deep succor after the heat of July. True rain, not just a sprinkling but two inches of water from out of the sky!
Rain does something that irrigation water can never accomplish. The alchemy of nature presents itself in riotous growth after the downpour. The landscape relaxes from the tenseness of the dry period, and I revel in the garden, soaking up the moisture as much as any plant. I harvest squash with water still on the leaves and fruits, droplets shining like diamonds of moisture that offer life to the plants and to me.
Fall is here it seems, despite the early timing on the calendar and the warm weather still to come. I have come to believe that our seasons come early, moving closer to the calendar shift than to the actual equinoxes and solstices. Fall comes at the beginning of September, even though the temperatures are widely variable year by year.
I used to have an expectation that summer would carry through the equinox, and it often left me flummoxed when summer crops would start to turn downhill weeks before. The early plantings of summer squash and cukes have slowed way down, though the later plantings and the winter squash are still fully rocking.
Tomatoes flushed hard in August but are in the downbeat of the tempo before (I hope) a second flush with the inevitable warm spells to come. I’m noticing that my more sativa-leaning cannabis plants look a little droopy and sad with the cool weather, while the more broadleaf varieties seem happy and content. The heavy wetting will help soak in the early August top-dressing, and when the sun returns I expect everyone will be happy and sprinting towards the finish.
A few strains are already moving well into flower, though not far enough as to be affected by the rain. Ogre Berry and The Bacon are stacking up nicely, trending towards a September finish that always leads the pack. One headstash, Trainwreck from Twenty20 Mendocino, is also well stacked, smelling that classic piney-turpentine-fir-bough fragrance.
In the day BG (Before Gas), Trainwreck was my favorite strain. I remember buying a pound of it in Humboldt in 2002 and taking it back to college in Portland with me, earning some rent money and smoking the hell out of it. The world is different AG (After Gas), and the ol’ Wreck has faded from recent memory, so it’s a delight to have her back in the garden.
Thinking back on some of those old strains, and the way cannabis iterates year after year. Trainwreck crossed with Humboldt Big Bud became the Big Wreck. TW on Blueberry became the Blue Wreck. I enjoyed them all. As the gas strains came online, Cut Creek Robb crossed his Strawberry Kush onto the Ogre, and the crew at Twenty20 crossed the Strawberry onto the Pure Kush, Sour D and OG Kush, creating a stable of legends that have carried down through the years in our work.
Fifteen years later, we still grow the Ogre Berry, and that Sour Strawberry is a main component in the Something Good, The Bacon, Sourer Strawberry, Strawberry Biscotti and the Avenue of the Giants. These five strains are all workhorses for us, in part because they grow well and in part because we love the flavor and the comfortable high. The Ogre Berry is a stronger indica that I can’t smoke in the daytime anymore, but the Sour in all the strawberry crosses keeps it light enough to enjoy and still get work done (although I have to be careful with the Strawberry Biscotti).
Varieties of plants shape the life and work of the farmer, and they come to be treasured friends. Nor’easter romano beans, Striped German and Coeur de Boeuf tomatoes, Paprika, Cayenne and Cayrika peppers, Shintokiwa cucumbers, Orange Durban and Ogre Berry; these seeds create the summer farmscape acting upon me as much as I act upon them.
Seeds have guided and supported human evolution even as they were fostered and shepherded, a twining dance down through the ages like the DNA double helix. Seeds have helped to make us who we are, and the power of their magic is a guiding force in my life. Each year I might plant a million seeds, yet I strive to remember that each one is sacred. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!
Casey O’Neill owns and runs HappyDay Farms, a small vegetable and cannabis farm north of Laytonville. He is a long time cannabis policy advocate, and was born and raised in the Bell Springs area. The preceding has been an editorial column. The Mendocino Voice has not necessarily fact-checked or copyedited this work, and it should be interpreted as the words of the author, not necessarily reflecting the opinions of The Mendocino Voice.