Category: Volunteer Stories

Volunteer Tom Opper

Tom Opper. English photo. Tom Opper came to Maine in 1970 intending to be self-sufficient, but he was so drawn to the small town of Liberty in Waldo County that he changed his plans. “Instead of living off on a dirt road as so many other people did,” he says, “I found myself immersed in the

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Volunteer Paula Roberts

Paula Roberts Paula Roberts enjoys helping animals, people and organizations. As a farmer, teacher, MOFGA Board member, and even politician, she helps them grow as healthily as possible. At Meadowsweet Farm in Swanville, she and her husband Sumner purchase young cattle and give them as much freedom and open pasture as they can until they

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Volunteer Judy Kirk

Judy Kirk remembers going to the Fleece Tent at the Common Ground Country Fair for the first time six years ago. “It’s pretty exciting when you walk into a tent with 500 fleeces. I was like a child in a candy store.” A fleece producer and spinner herself, she started getting “more and more involved,”

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Volunteer Barbara Foust

The first time Barbara Foust visited the Common Ground Fair, she was in the midst of buying her house and had exactly one hour to spare. She decided to spend it attending a presentation in the Whole Life tent on an unfamiliar kind of dowsing. But the scheduled speaker never showed up and, in some

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Volunteer Winter 12 13

Joan Federman. Photo by Emily Horton. By Hannah Kreitzer Joan Federman attended her first Common Ground Country Fair in 1996, when she had just moved to Maine. She spent all three days soaking up information from presenters’ panels and workshops, nourishing a growing passion for sustainable, responsible local and global citizenry. Listening to people she

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Volunteer Summer 1997

This year Jason Kafka, member-at-large of the MOFGA board of directors, will plant 3,000 pounds of seed potatoes. Last year he harvested three tons of potatoes and 7,000 row feet of alliums – not including the garlic. “Think about that with a hoe in your hand,” he says. When he ponders the growth of his

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Volunteer Eli Berry

Eli Berry. English photo. By Holli Cederholm A woodlot, as Eli Berry sees it, is part and parcel of any Maine farm. “I’ve never seen the woodlot on a farm to be separate from a farm,” says Berry. “Woodlots are farmers’ winter crops, or have been … I think that heating is so parallel to

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Volunteer Sue Buck

“I love the Information Booth,” says Sue Buck. “We mostly see very happy people who are just trying to find something.” Even with the traffic problems at the new site last fall, “people were mostly accepting and patient.” Sue has co-coordinated the information booth at the Common Ground Fair for the past two years. Before

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Volunteer Fall 2012

Fred Robie. English photo. By Hannah Kreitzer If you happen to be among the hundreds who arrive at the Common Ground Country Fair on a bicycle, you’re sure to be greeted with much fanfare, reduced price of admission, and valet parking for your vehicle. You also stand a good chance of encountering Fred Robie. Robie,

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Volunteer

Debbie Kipp By Ann Cox Halkett For a week each year before, during and after the Common Ground Fair, Debbie Kipp volunteers in the Fair office and does “anything that the office needs done.” That usually includes answering the phone, handing out passes, and running errands. “I just do anything … talk to vendors, take

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