HappyDay: Croptober Moves Into the Rainy Season

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.

  I sit down to write on Sunday evening as the rain drums against the windows and the woodstove ticks a few feet away.  This is the first time in a couple of years that I am writing late, instead of early in the morning before the day begins.  The timing has shifted because of the weather and the needs of the farm, which gives me pause for reflection.

      So much of farming is driven by what happens with the weather that there is always an element of uncertainty that I must navigate.  This can be disconcerting and requires adaptability and a range of contingency plans for any given day or task.  Harvest time is a rubric of different strains of cannabis with different finishing dates, along with myriad other crop needs that have to fit into the puzzle.

      Today began at 4:15 so that I could get the coffee made and the animal chores done before we started at 5:30 to harvest the cannabis that needed to come in before the rain.  We worked as a team in the darkness before dawn, my brothers and I, through the cool and windy morning as storm clouds grew to the southwest.  Amber arrived as it grew light, and we worked in the rhythm of shared effort, finishing cutting well before the rain arrived.

     Harvest windows vary between and within crops based on varieties, needs of the farm, labor capacity and microclimate.  Fitting all of the pieces together requires clear thinking, luck, capacity and a willingness to go above and beyond.  As I write these words, more than 14 hours have elapsed since the day began; I am weary but content.

      I love to work, throwing myself into the effort of farming with as much gusto as I can muster.  I like the rhythm that farmwork engenders, the repetition and constancy that carries down through the years.  Each season arrives with its own aspects of the work, but harvest is the true test of endurance as the marathon draws to a close.

       So many things ripen at the same time that it becomes difficult to prioritize and plan for the best course of action.  Juggling and balancing are routine, chaos hopefully less so.  Even as the cannabis harvest reaches full crescendo, so too must the peppers and tomatoes be harvested and either dried or processed.  Winter squash need harvesting and apples have been abundant for some time now.

       Yesterday we gathered as an extended family to celebrate a new life soon to join us, along with an inaugural pressing with a new apple press.  We were able to press 15 gallons of juice which is now fermenting towards hard cider to be enjoyed next spring.  These are the types of experiences that drive me, family and shared effort that fosters togetherness and joy.

      As darkness draws down on this rainy, fall night, I think about the next steps for the farm this harvest season.  I think about the balance of harvest, garden breakdown, sowing of cover crop, planting of garlic, care for the animals.  All things must be done in good time, and I give myself space to know that they will.

       It’s so easy to get caught up in the stress of the work to be done, a never-ending look into the future that can make it difficult to appreciate the present.  When I focus too much on the work that needs to be done, I find myself waiting for actualization, instead of living in the current effort.  This year I’m trying to focus more on accepting each step in the journey, moving forward one foot at a time.

      My soul revels in the return of the moisture, soaking it up like the grasses in the pasture and growing with abundance.  The drought has been tough on all of us, and the stress has been hard to reckon with in part because so much of the feelings are subconscious.  It’s hard to articulate the sense of dread that the dryness of fire season brings, and the rain quenches these feelings with a deep content that I try to sum up with images of wood stoves, soup, the cribbage board, muck boots, etc.

      As we cross the midpoint of Croptober, there remains much to be done to put the farm to bed before winter.  That said, there is much that has been done, and I take a moment to reflect on the accomplishments of the year.  We have gained in knowledge and skill, implementing new methodologies and creating new infrastructure.  The work is hard but there is a deep joy within it.  As always, much love and great success to you in your journey!