O’Neill: You can have time or you can have money

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 stand in a vast field of flowers as the sounds of music and revelry reach my ears from the festival. Dear friends drift over to chat. The golden hour is upon me, the light making the flowers explode in color; is this a dream? How can this be real? I’m harvesting flowers at Irene’s Garden at Black Oak Ranch, listening to the music from the Hog Farm Celebration. Life is good. 

Amber is on a road trip so I get to play at being a florist, and I’m struck by the realization of why she loves this work so much. Flowers speak to my soul with a depth and strength that leaves me emotional, touched by the beauty that surrounds me. Marigolds, statice, zinnia, celosia, amaranth. I’ll add sedum from the home garden, along with a few dahlias, delphinium and sunflowers. 

Brother Lito and I went to Oakland to share herb with the T’Oakland Senior Canna Club on Friday night, so I made two bouquets to bring for our table. Harvesting flowers brings me such joy, seeing the way they come together in a piece of ephemeral art opens my heart and makes me smile. I’m glad to be able to learn from Amber about growing and tending flowers; in a life of many agricultural apprenticeships, flowers may be my favorite. 

With each passing season I become more aware of the treasures that my elders and mentors have bestowed upon me with their teachings and the examples they set in living. Being part of an agricultural community is the fertile soil into which I set my roots, growing and spreading from this place of fecundity governed by love. One of my favorite things about this life is the shared experience of farming, the conversations about practices, new tools and equipment, the commiseration of the shared struggle. 

We farmers go through the same brutal work in the heat, the joys of successful harvests, the heartbreak of crop failure. We juggle the workload, reveling in the abundance yet weighed down by the heaviness of the effort. We communicate so much in a simple look, a shared understanding of what it is to be a servant of the soil and the plants that spring forth from the rich, dark earth. 

I thrive in the sharing and selling of our farm produce, and in the buying and shuffling of produce from other local farms. I revel in being part of a network of producers, helping food to arrive in kitchens and on the plates of community members. I think about how much more food is being produced locally in the course of my lifetime, how much we have learned as a community, and I treasure the mentorship I have received. 

The rhythm of the seasons flows along, and we work through the abundance of each crop. I’m learning more about processing and canning from Pops, spending time putting up the tomatoes, sauces, pepper jellies and pickled goods. Yesterday we pickled jalapenos and carrots, next weekend we’ll do another batch. My neighbor Emmy and I are learning more about fermented foods, making sauerkraut, relish, kimchi, pickled watermelon rinds and pickled grapes this season. 

Our farm is producing far more than ever before, as each year we dial in our methods and become more skilled and efficient. This was the first summer that we maintained full production, flipping beds and replanting instead of watching as spring brassica languished and blew out into a weedy mess. It’s partially about the leadership to manage the seeding and planting schedule, but also about training and having the support of a great team to get the work done. 

Cash flow is always the killer for small farms because each season requires an investment in future harvests that won’t pay off for many months to come. I’ve come to realize that I can either have time or money, but not both. In the past I sacrificed time, putting in every possible hour so that I’d have money for infrastructure and expansion. Now I choose to have time; when I go in to make dinner, that’s the end of the day, I’m not going back out to work. In exchange for this choice, I pay out more in labor costs, so cash flow is a struggle, but I’m happy in the decision. 

Part of being in community is working to ensure that everyone has their needs met so that we can continue on to the next chapter. I see myself as the conductor, managing the different pieces of the music we play together, riding the rhythm of the seasons to produce good food year-round. I am supported by the people who put time and energy into the farm, a shared effort that at its best is a crucible for fostering joy and right work. Farming can be drudgery or joy, it all depends on the mindset of the participants. Grandpa always said, “Let us be happy in our work,” and that’s what we strive for. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!

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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.