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.
Yesterday I went to the Ukiah Farmers Market to talk to vendors in my new role as president of the Mendocino County Farmers Market Association (McFarm). I am excited by the prospect of working at a more systemic level to support the local food producers and small businesses who create the vibrant system of farmers markets in our county. I’m also excited to build out more support systems for local farms, landowners and people who tend the landscapes of our beautiful area.
There are so many folks doing good work in support of our communities. I applaud the efforts of everyone who has worked over the years to sustain and support McFarm and our local farmers markets, and special thanks to the folks who come out every week to purchase our goods and support our businesses.
One of my main roles in life is to serve as a connector, and I’m stoked to spend more time navigating between efforts and working to sew a stronger tapestry of local food, beneficial land-use practices, economic benefits and good eating and fellowship. I’m excited to work with the North Coast Growers Association in Humboldt. The work they have done in the past decade is super inspirational, and I deeply appreciate the support and information they have shared so freely.
I’ve been working as a purchaser and seller of farm products through our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) bag-of-vegetable-subscription-service for 15 years, and as we begin the next chapter I’m more excited than ever. I love gathering the great things that are available in our area from other local farms, and I love being able to put the best of what we produce into the bags.
I love it when I get to access citrus because my dear friend Lynn makes the trek home to the Central Valley and comes back with high quality fruit that we don’t produce here. I love it when I get killer brussels sprouts and potatoes from Wild Rose in Humboldt, and beautiful winter squash from Oak Valley Farm in Lake County. I love the onions I get from Irene’s Garden, and the apples and juice I get from Redtail Ranch. I look forward to each of these crops with deep joy each year, relishing my place in an interconnected web that forms a food system that feeds my family and helps feed my community.
On the way to Ukiah yesterday I stopped to see my friend and compatriot at Flying Dog Pizza. Caroline is now the owner of the business as longtime owner and mentor Pete Swanton handed over the reins, managing a generational transfer to keep a Willits icon rocking along. Our conversations are always profound, and I appreciate the insight that Caroline shares about food systems work after her many years of farming, marketing, foodhub work and her role as a community-based food systems advocate.
We spoke about how generational transfers are special, incredible and also difficult. This work is the nexus of our evolution as a community, and of the survival of the values and hopes of small-scale operators as elders reach their physical limitations and as young people struggle to find land access and opportunity to create their visions. I treasure Caroline’s opinions, and the conversations we have help evolve my thinking as we each share our part of this co-creation of the local food system we want to see. Being able to trade salad mix and kale for stellar pizza is the icing on the cake, and it was so good that I smashed almost a whole damn pie before I was halfway back to Laytonville.
When I think about what I want my role to be as I serve McFarm, I’m clear that I support small farms and businesses, and I will work to help them thrive. I am focused on grant resources, on pulling together opportunities and making sure that folks are aware of them so that we can access the support needed to adapt to changing economic and climate circumstances.
I’m excited to attend the upcoming Farmers Convergence put on by the School of Adaptive Agriculture. I’ll be on a panel on Saturday talking about mutual aid networks and local food systems efforts that are happening in our area. The Convergence runs three days February 20th-22nd with tours, panels, breakouts, a mixer and then a Sunday morning pancake breakfast (see schoolofadaptiveagriculture.org for more info and registration details).
I’m excited for this new chapter in my life. Looking back over the last ten years I see myself slowly building skillsets in policy work, advocacy, food systems, marketing, sales and developing relationships with local organizations and the people who tend them. I have so much more to learn and so many great people still to meet, and this holds deep hope for me. I’m grateful for the opportunity to throw myself into these efforts after a long period of farm focus and building in my own little corner of the world, flowering into this next iteration of my life with joy and clarity. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!