Re-Building the American Dream...
Welcome back.
This week we are excited to share with you the story and wisdom of Casey O’Neill - a second generation farmer residing in Northern Mendocino.
Casey lives on a multi-generational, family farm where he they cultivate roughly an acre of land. Much of that - terraced fruit and vegetable gardens for their CSA, interspersed with the cannabis he, his wife & his parents grow within their 5000-sq ft permitted medicinal cultivation area they tend as well.
He talks to us about what he sees as the two dominant perspectives within the current culture of cannabis - namely - Resource Extraction & the Homestead model - and which one he’s doing the hard work of fighting for right now.
He tells us about his own journey….. From a degree in sociology… to the work of farming… and now onto policy… and how that’s shaped him over time.
We talk about the pivotal moment inside his own life that shifted him from a self-identified mono-cropper, laboring inside the outlaw farmer/prohibition model to his present-day work as an advocate and staunch activist on behalf of the small-scale/bio-diversified farm he sees as key to restoring the health, viability & sovereignty not only of this small, north coast region - but also to the larger world of farming, agriculture & humanity as well.
How he does not expect to see the rewards of his efforts any time soon - but what keeps him moving forward with them nonetheless.
He shares his hard-earned advice on what it takes to set up a truly functional farmers’ cooperative and collective - and what practical steps need be taken to make it work.
And what he sees as our pivotal moment - - and our last hope - and what shall determine whether we are consumed by the industrial-corporate-agricultural model that has failed us in so many ways - or if we - the counter-cannabis culture shall rise above - and shift the Conversation - to the betterment of all.
This is capstone conversation for us here at MEND - and if we were to break down the entire ethos and drive of what we want you to walk away with inside this season - We would hand you this.
Enjoy.
To read some more of Casey’s words & wisdom (including the full article we read from @ the end) visit: http://www.theganjier.com/author/casey-oneill/
Or find out more about the California Center for Cooperative Development here : http://www.cccd.coop
