Salon.com > Tracie Cone

Organic farm volunteers: the new beat generation?

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:01:00 +0000

The morning sun lights up blue lupin and magenta owl's clover as Erik Ramfjord and Andrew Riddle scoop soured milk into a trough, drawing delighted squeals from a dozen free-range pigs.

A month ago, Ramfjord was an unmotivated biology major in Oregon, and Riddle didn't know what he wanted from Humboldt State University in northern California. Now they are energized, toiling from sun up to sun down for meals and a bunk on an organic ranch in central California, hundreds of miles from home.

"I consider myself extremely lucky to have stumbled upon this," says Ramfjord, 20.

Ramfjord and Riddle each paid $20 to become part of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms USA, a group with 9,000 members known by a variation of its acronym, woofers. It's kind of a new millennium version of the traveling hobo willing to work for a meal.

The website allows willing workers to negotiate a non-paid work stint with nearly 1,200 U.S. farmers and ranchers. Every farm could use an extra hand, but the hosts also benefit from the parade of characters who become a part of their lives, if only temporarily.

Parents of Pentagon shooter warned authorities

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:48:53 +0000

A law enforcement official says the parents of the man who opened fire in front of the Pentagon warned authorities their son was upset and might have a gun.

San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill told the AP the parents of John Patrick Bedell filed a missing persons report and were worried about his mental stability. After reading an e-mail from their son to an acquaintance, the parents told deputies they were worried that he had purchased a gun.

The parents had reported Bedell missing on Jan. 4, one day after a Texas Highway Patrol officer had stopped him for speeding and was told he was heading for the East Coast.

The 36-year-old Bedell returned to his parent's home on January 18 telling them "not to ask any questions" about where he had been.

His father Oscar Bedell told deputies his son then left. They did not know where he had gone.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

HOLLISTER, Calif. (AP) -- A law enforcement official says the parents of the man who opened fire in front of the Pentagon warned authorities their son was upset and might have gun.

California’s (olive) oil boom

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:01:00 +0000

An oil boom is under way in California's agricultural heartland, as evolving tastes and a trend toward healthy fare have transformed a profession as old as civilization: olive production for the extra virgin market.

Gnarly trees picked by hand are being supplanted. This year, California's olive oil production will top 1 million gallons for the first time, the lion's share from 8-foot trees planted in hedgerows and mechanically harvested, then pressed into oil within 90 minutes.

Growers have invested millions laying the groundwork to become a player in the global olive oil market, now controlled by Spain, Italy and Greece.

In the past 10 years, roughly 7.5 million trees have been tightly planted on 12,500 acres, an experiment growers hope will make California olive oil cheaper and fresher than that of their competitors. State officials estimate that in another decade there will be 100,000 acres of hedgerow trees producing 20 million gallons of oil to help sate Americans' 75 million gallons-a-year thirst -- 99.99 percent of it now imported.