O’Neill: Living a day at a time

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.

The days have been full with the return of the sun, and I’ve been filled with deep gratitude for the coming of the light and for the joys of fellowship, of community. These feelings are a much needed counterbalance to the heaviness of the weight of change, of the pain and suffering from the fires in LA, of the realities of a hotter, drier climate. With each of the last 10 years recorded as the hottest on record, I grapple with how to adapt, waffling between determination and overwhelm. I find myself buoyed by shared effort, by gathering, by learning to work together with my family, friends and neighbors.  

Fellowship and shared effort remind me just how I want to live my life–working cooperatively to adapt, to create, to foster new life in our local food system and our communities. Chris Newman from Sylvanaqua Farms speaks often about the difficulties of the paradigm of individualism. So many small farms fail and farmers struggle from burnout because we don’t have enough systems of support and cooperation. We must build these bonds, share the burdens and thrive together. 

As the weather cleared I felt my overwhelm shift back into excitement for the season to come. There was a lot to do, but many hands make light work and with some crucial help from friends, we got eight beds flipped, and I’m in the process of planting and sowing the next rounds of vegetable crops for late winter markets. The job list is long, but it feels good to be checking things off, to be working with people I love, and to be reminded of how much I enjoy the labors. 

I’m struck by how many happenings there have been in the last week with so many different people; a group hike, our first Tuesday Laytonville farmers market, bed prep and planting, a farmer meeting, roofing a neighbor’s barn, recording a podcast episode, an ice cream social for a treasured elder’s birthday, and time with family to enjoy a meal and work a puzzle with a football game on. There has been time for cooking, for reading, for tending to animals and water systems.      

On Friday the Mendocino Producers Guild met to look at a building for rent, to discuss the upcoming Mendo Cup, to see each other and laugh and take steps towards a future of cooperative enterprise. Times have changed in our communities here on the North Coast, and we’re all trying to learn how to adapt, how to manifest shared energy to create stability and a thriving future. 

Saturday our friend Chris Moore came down and we recorded a podcast episode for the upcoming Season 2 of “Living with the Land,” in which we talked about farming, animal husbandry, applying for grants and honoring land while tending to it. We talked about what it takes to build resilient food systems, and how we make the linkages between different food production regions. Chris brought down 100 pounds of heirloom beans from Earthy Edibles in Humboldt, which I’ll be able to share with the community here. 

I’ve been up early to make breakfast and beverages and to read while eating, then first thing I’m out prepping beds and sowing seeds for salad mixes and various Asian greens that I hope to harvest in late February. When it’s my day for ranch chores in our cooperative land partnership, I feed pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and the barn cat and livestock dog. 

After chores on Friday and Saturday I headed for a neighbor’s where we worked together to put the plywood on his barn roof, enjoying the experience of fellowship through shared effort, the jokes and laughter that keep the mood light and the work fun even as we accomplish heavy tasks. It feels good to work together, to build, to see our lives grow and change as we step through the days. 

I went to a birthday party for a treasured elder, an afternoon ice cream social with joints for all who wanted to partake. I’ve been struck so much lately by the joy of fellowship, the beauty of gathering in community to share in the passage of our lives. As the precious days tick off in a lifetime, I’m reminded of how I want to spend them, and I’m grateful for the people with whom I get to share the journey. 

Responding and adapting to changing economic and climatic conditions is daunting, but we are stronger together. Life is lived a day at a time in the interactions we share with each other. The more we share the burdens and the hard times, the meals and the good times, the more we foster fellowship and goodwill for each other. Strong communities are what it takes to adapt and thrive in the face of change. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!