HappyDay: ‘We Are Each Blessed With Different Gifts, Opportunities and Levels of Privilege’

Casey O’Neill is a cannabis and food farmer in Mendocino County who has been writing newsletters about his efforts to provide sustainable produce and marijuana. We feature his column once a week.

     You never know when these high-pressure systems are going to set up and we’ll see a week or ten days of winter sunshine, but you know that it’s going to happen.  We’re going full-steam, gearing up for the season to come.  This is the time of infrastructure upgrades, refining our operations to be more consistent and professional as we gain knowledge and capability.

     We learn as we go, each season an opportunity to apply new lessons and grow in skill and capacity.  As we refine our knowledge, so too do our practices and infrastructure needs change.  There is a paradox in that it is important to plan for changes but that you can’t know what those are going to be until you’ve achieved the skillset to be aware of them.

      There are different levels of construction, from something built to last a season to building to last a lifetime.  The longer you want it to last, the longer it takes to build and the more resources it requires.  The governance of this relationship is a cornerstone of our farm ethos and strategy.

      No hard and fast rules apply to decisions around infrastructure.  We evaluate each situation based on a rough set of criteria, a weighing and calculation of importance of the project, the time and costs it will take to build, and the length of time we expect it to be in use.

      In the early days of our farm, everything was built in the cheapest possible way, which meant it wasn’t going to last more than a couple seasons.  This worked in our favor because we always found that our needs had changed as we had expanded the number of garden beds, the amount of hoop space and the areas for grazing.

      We used to build lots of 10×20 pvc hoophouses for small-volume winter crops, popping the structures up and taking them down as needed with just a few hours of effort.  They hopscotched all over the garden as we tried different methods and practices for summer and winter growing.  As our practices deepened we began to allocate resources to better hoops that would be more permanent in location.

      When I worked in carpentry I would acquire new tools as I encountered a need for them on the jobsite.  Because I used them in a professional capacity, I bought quality tools that were made to be used at a commercial level.  Over the years we’ve applied this same process to the farm, buying when we had saved enough money to get high quality equipment.

      This lesson applies to how we build and install infrastructure upgrades.  We take note and complement ourselves on the increasing quality of our work, an impetus to continue the journey of betterment.  Just like learning the building trades, it takes years of effort and practice, and there is a clear pathway but no end goal.  Joy is renewed through the cycle of change as we experience and grow.

      Settling into the rhythm of seasonal change and the tempo of microclimate allows us to refine the music that we play with the farm.  Complexity increases as different instruments are added to the mix, over time becoming an orchestrated symphony of operations, though there are always rough parts where the melody isn’t quite right yet.  Making noise with an instrument can create harmony and beauty or chaos and discord depending on how it is done, and farming is no different.

      You can use tools and effort to make a big mess or create something beautiful.  Farming is often both, a blending of chaos and creation that springs forth abundance and bounty.  Life is messy, joyous, difficult and amazing.  We lean into the shared effort and rejoice at the results of our labors, taking the time to recognize the changes over the years.

      The clean rows of salad mixes and root crops in the hoophouses right now are evidence of our changing practices and increasing skill.  Though it is early in the year, we are on the verge of a burgeoning abundance that is orchestrated through careful management.  Preparing the space, sowing the seeds, hoeing the weeds and harvesting food and herb to share with community.  These are the steps that add up to the journey of our life’s work, each an increment of the universe.

      We are each blessed with different gifts, opportunities and levels of privilege.  The shared goal of human societies should be to increase access to resources and opportunity for all so that each may activate and express the unique gifts of individual humanity and consciousness.  May we each find steps of joy and love in this world, much love and great success to you on your journey!

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13 Comments
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Legallettuce
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Legallettuce
3 years ago

Blessings. Love these articles, good for the soul.

rollin
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rollin
3 years ago

“We are each blessed with different gifts, opportunities and levels of privilege.”

Does that only apply to white males; is that how this whole thing works?

Legallettuce
Guest
Legallettuce
3 years ago
Reply to  rollin

Skin shade has nothing to do with writing an article. Try using a perspective that doesn’t use shade cause it’s very narrow minded or do you think it’s your “gift?”

Seamus
Guest
Seamus
3 years ago

A lot of people spent decades doing pretty much the same thing until the Johnny-come-lately crowd filled in destroyed our lifestyle, then write articles about how wonderful they are.

Legallettuce
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Legallettuce
3 years ago
Reply to  Seamus

You should write an article about it.

Entering a World of Pain
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Entering a World of Pain
3 years ago
Reply to  Seamus

Casey’s family has been here for 3 generations. He was raised here and is a pillar of our community. His brothers kid makes 4 generations. While I don’t always agree with the whole legalization bs, you should get your facts straight before you talk shit

Huck Fumboldt
Guest
Huck Fumboldt
3 years ago

So, he’s not just a member, but possibly the president of the Humboldt County Inbreeder’s Association?

Of course he has been ‘blessed’ with opportunities and levels of privilege that mere outsiders can only dream of.

Entering a World of Pain
Guest
Entering a World of Pain
3 years ago
Reply to  Huck Fumboldt

Fuck outsiders that just come here to make money. They can all go back home, especially the ones who don’t know the difference between humboldt and mendo

Green Shirt
Guest
Green Shirt
3 years ago

This is excellent, Casey, and kind of sums up why I love this land so much for my rather confused octogenarian parents. They thought money would save them after surviving the usual stuff for people who had the bad luck to be born in the mid-1930s.

Then they had a couple of pot smoking back-to-the-lander hippie kids like my gender-nonconforming sibling and me.

If either of us had been able to write as well as Casey can, we would have. I think about how proud his parents must be of him and what it must be like to have a son like that.

I think that he is using his noblesse oblige and his perfectly straight young white teeth very well, personally, but other commenters are certainly entitled to their own opinions.

Sonnyb
Guest
Sonnyb
3 years ago

Hello handsome. Big kisses and keep up the gods work.

Huck Fumboldt
Guest
Huck Fumboldt
3 years ago

The Humboldt County Inbreeder’s Association just happens to be a little more “blesssed” with privilege and opportunities than the rest of us.

Steeze
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Steeze
3 years ago
Reply to  Huck Fumboldt

Lol. Dummy. He’s from Mendo. Read much?

Guest
Guest
Guest
3 years ago

Odd choice for a title. Division while feigning unity. Hope the growers conserve water this summer!