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.
Amber and I are off farm for a week for our 10th wedding anniversary in our 16th year together. This morning I watched the clouds turn red as dawn broke in the lush, green hills of Harbin Hot Springs. It feels good to spend some time in deep reflection, rejuvenating my body and spirit and appreciating my partner and our lives together. It feels good to slow down in a life that is too often rushed and hectic. I’m grateful for this moment.
Sixteen years of farming together, building a shared dream, through good times and struggles, evolving and growing. This is the sixteenth year of our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, the vegetable subscription service that we began together and that is the core of my work. I think about how the growing, gathering and distribution of food has defined my life, how much joy it brings me.
I love being a farmer, growing food and herbs to share with the different communities of people we get to meet. I love being able to work with my family to produce, process and sell our goods. I love standing behind our table, representing the fruits of our labors. I love the banter with customers, talking about our production methods, sharing my favorites and being excited about the quality of our work.
Getting to work with Amber, my brother Lito, and Pops is one of the great joys of my life. The ways we have each shifted and grown into our roles over the years make me happy. I think about how pumped Ma would be if she were here today, and it feels good to carry on in her stead. I look back on the past with awe, treasuring all that we have built, and I look forward toward the future with great hope and excitement for the work we will do in the years to come.
We’ve gotten so much better, learned so many lessons, developed so many skills. We don’t work any less hard than we ever have, but we get so much more done for our efforts. I think about how much food we’ll grow, how much carbon we’ll sequester through our perennial plantings, pasture and forest management work. As we continue to close the fertility loops on our farm, I’m excited to grow more cover crops and green manures, plant more trees, dig and plant more comfrey root, and continue to serve the expanding circle of fertility and abundance that surrounds our lives.
Sometimes I get to feeling like the journey has been long and difficult, but today I remind myself that the journey is just beginning. There is still so much to learn, so much to experience, and I am filled with a deep excitement for the process, for the individual steps that make up each day, for the little pieces of the puzzle that make up the complex picture of our lives. In a world that holds so many things to fight against, I remind myself to work towards the world I believe in.
Ma was a socialist through and through, and she instilled the beliefs of community contribution and shared effort into my soul. I want peace and love in the world, so that’s what I work for. I want everyone to have enough to meet their needs, and I don’t think anyone has the right to take too much. I want peace, not war, love, not hatred. I want to see the downfall of extractive systems based on soulless capital, and the rise of community-based systems built on mutualism and reciprocity.
I’m learning how to be middle-aged, how to step into this next iteration of my life as my body and consciousness change. I slow down more to observe, to reflect. I appreciate the beauty around me, the love of family and community, the deep joy of living. It’s so easy to drown in the stress, to lose sight of the simple miracle of being alive. I strive in the context of reciprocal relationships that share the weight of the work to create space and time for joy.
This time away from the farm has me excited to return to the work, to the dozens of trays of starts in the propagation house, to the bed prep and planting, to the next rounds of seeds to sow. Soon we’ll make the shift to sowing summer crops, seeds of tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers and cannabis, summer squash and basil. For now though, the cool weather crops reign supreme and I delight in the crisp crunch of greens and the deep flavors of cold and winter.
To farm is to live always between worlds, one foot in the current season’s harvest and one foot in the future of seeds and the season to come. The best of that juxtaposition is an elegant choreography that dances through the years to tell a story written on the land in good practice and increasing abundance. It doesn’t always go that way, but that is the life we strive towards, learning from our mistakes and always seeking betterment through the lens of love.
Pops always says “Love is my religion,” and he instilled this belief system in us. Grandpa always said “let us be happy in our work,” and we carry this parable in our hearts. Love transmutes labor into abundance, work into joy, life into blessing and reverence.
Birdsong delights my ears, calming my nervous system with a subconscious feeling of safety. Throughout human history we’ve been surrounded by birdsong, only falling silent when there is danger afoot. The sound of birds tells me I’m safe, that spring has come, that life is good. The lushness of the green hills speaks of spring, as does the chattering stream. My soul responds, blood pushing through my veins like the stream, excitement growing in my heart like the lush growth of the landscape. Another spring arrives. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!