O’Neill: During societal chaos, we need each other more than ever

Casey O’Neill is a farmer and owner of Happy Day Farms in Laytonville, Calif. The opinions expressed in this column are not those expressed by The Mendocino Voice.

Sweet rain falls on the roof as I lie cozy in my bed in the early morning darkness. This is a moment of satisfaction, of deep succor. The harvests are in, gardens taken down, cover crop sown, garlic planted. The last round of brassica has replaced cannabis, an October gamble on a hope of late winter cabbages, cauliflower and romanesco. We worked hard this week to bring it all home before the rains, knowing that the moisture would jumpstart the seeds and begin the next cycle of the farm.

Late fall is the time for rejuvenation, for building soil, for making compost and planting new comfrey hugels. There are still beds of squash to clear and replant with salad mixes, herbs, cooking greens, beets, scallions, turnips and radishes. Older beds of greens will be replanted with fresh seedlings, but all of this is routine, regular work; the heavy lift is over.

My mind turns to cleaning and organizing, going through tools and equipment, repairing and also retiring things that no longer serve us. Soon it will be time to look at the irrigation supplies, restocking and making a list of things we’ll need next spring. Though this year is still finishing out, my thoughts turn to the seasons to come. It is a good time to make plans, while the memory of the work is still fresh, my muscles still sore.

It is almost time to mow the perennials and asparagus beds so that we can cover them with cardboard, compost and straw. This will add fertility and knock the weeds back, keeping the worms and other soil life working through the winter decomposing and cycling the chopped detritus into their burrows and leaving castings on the surface.

Despite slower growth and the death of the warm season plants, the soil life works in the winter, thriving in the depths no matter the weather above. We keep it covered to prevent erosion, cover crops using up any leftover nutrients to cycle them back into the next crops in the spring. Building soil is a key component of our winter work, much of it done through the magic of the sun that grows plants that make roots that add organic matter, tilth, porosity and provide exudates to the microorganic populations that make up living soil. I love that this magic will now proceed with minimal effort from me until it’s time to mow the beds to prep for the next planting.

This week we also moved the chickens to higher ground and sowed a pasture mix in the space where they had been. This year we used the south pasture harder than I would have liked, but the blessing of a fall with early, regular, gentle rains means that we have stellar new growth already and very little bare soil. The plants are rich and green because of the nitrogen from sheep, pigs, chickens and turkeys, and I’m pleased to see clover coming up amidst the grasses.

Yesterday I worked on one of the temporary animal huts, adding in round poles as rafters to hold up the tarp and keep the animals dry and out of the weather. Next will be to change out the tarp for metal roofing when time and money allow. Each year we make the infrastructure a little better, and though there is a long way to go, it feels good to take small steps towards my dream of smooth and easy pasture rotations that maximize animal health, carbon sequestration and pasture abundance.

Despite feeling good about the end of the season and the state of the farm, I’m overwhelmed by the devastation being wrought by the government shutdown, increased militarization of ICE and other policing agencies and the chaos ensuing. As I look at our farm and see how little we produce in the grand scheme of things, I’m thinking more about winter food production on a community level, deepening into the realization that the system of capitalism is failing, and we need each other more than ever.

I’ve been thinking about how many greenhouses there are in our communities, how much food could be planted in them, how much need there is with the continued gutting of the social safety net. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I sow more seeds, little magical packets of hope that convert sunlight and water into plants that become food for my family and community. Now is a great time for sowing tender crops in sheltered places; they don’t need as much water as during the warmer months, and they will produce abundantly as we get into January and February.

Growth is slow this time of year, but plants in greenhouses do well and yield sweet crispness without the bitter or spicy flavors that happen in the heat. Asian greens, kales, collards and chard are especially hardy and do well this time of year. Weeds grow more slowly, and working in the greenhouse on a wet day is a nice escape to a warm, comfortable environment. I highly encourage it. 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.