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.
Clear, prep, plant, tend, harvest, pack, sell. Rinse, repeat. Beans and squash need picking almost every day, cukes and tomatoes hang heavy on the vine. The cool, mild weather has made for perfect growing conditions and has been comfortable for working. It feels good to see the heavy workload pay off in quality, consistency and abundance.
Kale, collards and chard get planted today, beets and salanova lettuce in the next few days. The next successions have germinated, gridded seedlings glowing green in their trays. Cabbage and broccoli are ready for upplanting into 3-inch pots, which will be planted out in a couple of weeks. The cycles continue — sow seeds every two weeks, get the beds ready and plant.
So much of farming has to do with planning, being able to forecast and then creating a pathway to arrive at clear goals. This year we’ve expanded vegetable production, pushed by the consistency of seed sowing and pulled by support from strong sales through the CSA, at markets, farmstands, through the MendoLake Foodhub and via donations to local food banks.
I’ve done lots of learning about assessing volumes in the field, scheduling to meet harvest deadlines, planning out morning pick schedules and managing so that we spread out the workload and bring in the produce at peak quality, before the heat of the day. This is the first year that we’ve had three major harvest days, Monday through Wednesday, supported and made possible by the new cold storage unit that we got from the Farm-to-Schools grant.
The expansion in produce production meant spreading harvests out to avoid overload on market day, which happened a few times and was incredibly stressful. We’re harvesting much bigger numbers, especially in bunched greens and root crops, which takes more time to pick and to pack. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but the difference between 30 and 130 bunches caught me off guard and took a lot of adjusting.
I tend to be too optimistic about timelines, which is good for believing we can get the work done but hard when we come down to crunch time for market departure. Spreading the harvests out has taken some of the stress off of Tuesday morning (our main market in Laytonville is Tuesday early in the afternoon), and the Foodhub dropoff on Wednesday is late in the day so there is less pressure so long as we get everything picked and cooling while it waits to be processed.
Clearing, prepping and planting has also had to increase, along with the planning to make sure that we have the needed supplies. I’m ordering more seeds than I ever have, placing orders every couple of months instead of just twice a year. Compost deliveries are up as we turn the beds over faster, and it takes more help and support to keep it all moving, requiring more cash flow and money management to balance income with expenses.
My goal is to find the right cadence and volume for timing and planting of crops that people want to buy in ample numbers. Purchasing habits change with the season, and I’m always trying to stay ahead of the curve and not overproduce something that folks don’t want to buy. When I do overproduce, we harvest for local foodbanks along with the allotments that we plan into our work as part of our commitment to local food security and access for all.
I use the Paperpot chains for kale, collards, chard, beets, turnips, scallions, arugula, mizuna, tatsoi, purple choy, salad mix and lettuces. I sow radishes with the seeder anywhere I have bed space that didn’t get quite filled by the main crop planting. Larger crops start in spring with brassica, then shift to squash, cukes, tomatoes, then back to brassica again with fall cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, romanesco and brussels sprouts.
Being able to sow and plant efficiently means that so long as I have the help to get the beds cleared and prepped then the farm can stay pretty close to full production. There are two beds that never got prepped this spring that I’ll use in a couple weeks for fall brassica, and the garlic beds are empty unless I manage to pull off a quick run of something before they’re replanted in the fall, but otherwise every bed on the farm is fully operational.
Now that we’ve reached a new production plateau, I’m stepping back to evaluate the systems and methods, especially the crop patterns and planning. I’m hoping to add carrots into the rotation, which will slow the cadence of beets and scallions to keep the planting load similar. Each adjustment I make to the seeding schedule changes the downstream operations in a cascading effect, so I’m learning to be cautious. The puzzle is enthralling, capturing my attention and driving me forward with glee. 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.