O’Neill: Failures are part of farming

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.

We’ve had some fall crop failures that leave me frustrated and aware that farming is just our best-guess efforts set against the inviolability of nature. The sustained heat has stunted the early brassica plantings and given haven to the aphids. We got one stellar round of cabbages, but the broccoli were pretty much a loss to aphid damage, and the early cauliflower planting blew out and made tiny heads that don’t amount to much.