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 call it May Madness for the rising cacophony of growth as the burgeoning season springs forth towards abundance. Everything grows faster as we hit the full moon and warmer weather. Spring crops race towards the finish line as we harvest and sell each week, clearing the beds to make way for the next round of plants bulging at the seams of the propagation house.
Meat bird cycles are fully underway with a batch of littles warm and safe in the brooder while bigger birds are already out on pasture in movable chicken tractors that we pull to fresh forage twice each day. The early batch of birds is just about ready for slaughter, having occupied three of the four light dep tunnels and about to be moved into the last one for their final week.
I love the cycle of the hoops at brother Lito’s. Clones arrived last week and are vegging up in his propagation house, and we’ll plant the first two tunnels in a couple of weeks after the cover crop, chicken manure and compost have had time to decompose and mellow. After the chickens came off, I used the flail mower and then we layered amendments and compost over the chopped biomass.
I set up the sprinklers to moisten everything and then we broadforked, and I switched to the power harrow to stir the compost, biomass and top two inches of soil together to increase soil contact and hasten cover crop decomposition. Then we covered the whole space with dep tarp held down with T-posts. This practice of occultation will speed up breakdown while causing weed seeds to germinate in the warm darkness, where they will die without light. When the tarps come off, we’ll have a nice clean slate to start from when we plant out the clones.
I love that comfrey, borage and calendula mark the margins of the tunnels, providing habitat for beneficial insects and color that delights the senses. I love that we harvest the comfrey for mulch, and that its abundant growth matches that of the cannabis as we march through the growing season. We’ll harvest at the end of July and replant for a second harvest in early fall, and then I’ll plant winter crops.
Last year the tunnels grew incredibly huge crops of early winter cauliflower and broccoli, with followups of smaller but lovely late winter cabbages, more broccoli and romanesco. Brussels didn’t do as well this year because it was so warm in March that the aphids exploded, and the plants went to seed sooner than usual. But overall it was a stellar winter run.
As the brassica were well established in late November, Lito undersowed cover crop, sprinkling the seeds through the leaves of the brassica where they could hide underneath and slowly germinate. As the brassica were harvested and blew out, the cover crop filled in the margins, adding biomass above and below ground and sopping up any leftover nutrients to convert into a savings account for the next crop.
I love this set of rotations; two rounds of cannabis, one round of winter veggies, spring chickens, clean the slate with a full tunnel prep and then back to cannabis. I love that the birds add fertility to the beds and have a safe, warm space to be in the early spring when it can be miserable out on pasture through the spring storms.
I love the successions of winter veggies, created by sowing seeds in 72 cell flats every two weeks from early July through the end of September. The seedlings are then transplanted into three-inch pots to grow healthy and strong while we find time to prep beds in the pell mell rush of late summer and the fall harvest crush. It takes extra effort to get the fall crops planted, but the rewards of winter food and sales at market are an important part of our lives.
With May comes the return of serious focus on water, making sure tanks are full, checking for leaks and repairing the inevitable winter damage. Timers are installed, irrigation is in full swing on the tender spring crops, and we’re hand watering new plantings and salad mix beds that aren’t covered by overhead irrigation. This is the time of year where the growing list of daily maintenance tasks eats into the time needed for the bed prep and planting processes, not to mention the bigger infrastructure and grant projects we’re still wrapping up.
We call it May Madness because it makes you feel crazy trying to keep all the balls in the air. Sometimes we juggle well, and sometimes things slip and failures happen. We’ve learned to ask for help, and to lean on family and friends as we all pull together to make it happen. It’s not easy, and in the hard moments I find myself questioning the whole thing, but it’s all worth it seeing the animals happy on fresh pasture or opening the greenhouse to see perfect beds of spring crops ready for harvest. No joy without struggle, no success without effort. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!