Tag: farms

California Corn Maze Honors Military

DIXON, Calif.—On the right, a patch full of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes awaits picking. On the left, a green wall of corn hides a large corn maze. Cool Patch Pumpkins in the city of Dixon has been a family-owned pumpkin farm since 2001. A year later, the farm opened a corn maze, and…


Blueberry Fields Forever: How a Farming Family Is Continuing a 74-Year-Old Legacy

Standing in an old-growth blueberry forest, Ezra Ranz is demonstrating the “two-finger tickle” method for picking ripe berries from clusters dangling on 7-foot canes. “Pretty simple,” he says. “Hands underneath the berries, gentle fingertips brushing toward your palms, presto. Like tickling a baby.” He grins mischievously. In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, 9 fat…


California’s Drought-Ridden Landowners Turn to Water Witches for Help

As California’s drought continues with no relief in sight, farmers and vintners are hiring water witches to brew up some moisture. “They’re in desperate need…I am in high demand,” Rob Thompson, who uses divining rods to find underground water, told The Epoch Times. “My phone is just ringing off the hook…I’m booked out for about…


Labor Shortages and Inflation Plague California Businesses

There’s an irony to the new dining area at Chef Andrew Gruel’s Huntington Beach, Calif. restaurant. Although he’s now permitted to fill it to capacity under California’s lifted guidelines, he can’t find the staff to work it. Statewide labor shortages and inflation are among the challenges restaurateurs are now facing as they crawl back to…


Lavender Festival Will Offer Lavender Chocolate-Chip Cookies and Lemonade

VACAVILLE, Calif.—A field of lavender sways as a fresh breeze passes. Busy bees hover between sticks of purple and white that protrude from a green bush, like pins on a pincushion. At Soul Food Farm in Vacaville, many varieties of lavender are blooming as the farm’s U-pick lavender festival begins. The owner, Alexis Koefoed, told…


Pacific Islanders Arrive to Help Victoria’s Fruit and Vegetable Harvest

More than 100 seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands have arrived in the Australian state of Victoria to help ease the labour shortage on the state’s fruit and vegetable farms. Up to 1,500 workers from the Pacific Islands will undergo 14 days of quarantine in Tasmania before arriving into Victoria, under an agreement between the…