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 tend to ride the manic highs of life more often than the depressive side of things but this last week was tough. I felt slow, sluggish, low energy, as though my body was responding to the seasonal shift with a need to hibernate. The difference between the desire to slow down and my expectations and workload created a cognitive dissonance that left me struggling. The return of the heat also had something to do with it; I had become accustomed to the cooler weather and had to reacclimate and adjust my thinking.
I’m shifting my strategies for dealing with my mental health during the low times. I used to just flog extra caffeine and drink more ciders, neither of which is a functional long-term method, and in the past I’ve struggled with adrenal fatigue and burnout as a result. This year feels different in some way, as though I’m learning to recognize the shifts and give myself permission to feel and be where I am.
Adjusting my expectations, carving out time for a short nap after lunch, sticking with my half-caff regimen and allowing some slowdown got me through the tough days, and by the weekend I felt acclimated to the warm weather and able to progress normally. I’m paying attention to signs of burnout, being cautious with my overall workload and asking for help with projects that exceed my capacity.
It feels good to have supportive friends and family, and to be able to acknowledge when I’m low. We have a general rule that only one person on the team can freak out at once, and a sort of unspoken rule that if someone is low, everyone else helps pick up the slack and holds a cheerful note in the symphony we’re all playing together. I try to remember to be playful, to find the joys in this life, for they are many.
In conversation with friends and community at market I noticed that lots of people were down this past week. I’ve come to associate the middle of September with a low point, a dip in energy before the final push of harvest, so I’ve learned to watch out for it. We often try to take time off during this period to go camping. I think part of the struggle this year was that we didn’t do so and my subconscious expectations jarred with the realities of the farm.
As the summer crops slow down there is less production coming in, which always messes with my sense of self and identity as a food producer. The stress of meeting market channels is a good challenge because I’d rather be in a pull market where I can sell everything, rather than an overproduction market where I have waste and I’m trying to push produce out. Still, each seasonal transition is tricky to manage.
Despite the challenges, I’m more than pleased with our current position. The salad mix successions are set and planted for the next two months, with more in the propagation house. Cooking greens rotations are beginning to roll in with bok choy in abundance and collards coming soon, with successions of kale, more bok choy, red choy and tatsoi set for planting out with the Paperpot Transplanter this coming week. Successions of brassica are sizing up well, with two more rounds to plant out as space becomes available.
The summer crops are in a slight lull, but the hoop house plantings of tomatoes are flowering hard for a fall harvest, and the peppers have a ton of small fruit that will yield well in a few weeks. Summer squash are slowing down but so are their sales at market, and winter squash have sized up nicely. Basil is still crushing, and I have high hopes for more batches of pesto that I can freeze and sell over the winter months.
This coming week we’ll start harvesting two of the early strains of full-term cannabis, which will free up space for the remaining brassica and some of the cooking greens. I’ll be purchasing cover crop seed so we can start undersowing long season crops like squash, tomatoes, and the larger successions of brassica. As cannabis comes out, the beds will be cleared and replanted with veggies or sown with cover crop, all of which is covered with insect netting to protect from pest and bird pressure.
The intricate choreography of the season brings me great joy as we refine the puzzle each year to be more effective. The high points far outweigh the lows, but without the lows it would be harder to recognize the joys. I sort of knew it was coming because earlier in the month I was riding so high on the hog that I figured there was only one way to go from there. I’m glad to have rolled through the dip and be feeling ready to charge into market harvest tomorrow and cannabis harvest the following mornings. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!