Cowboy gala to be held at Madonna Inn

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• The Wild West — in four-part harmony

  The Wild West — in four-part harmony

  Douglas B. Green still remembers the first western song he ever heard on the radio: “Cool Water.”

  “It was so vivid,” recalled the performer better known as Ranger Doug, guitarist for the Grammy Awardwinning group Riders in the Sky. “You could see that old prospector dying of thirst in the desert. It stuck with me that this music was alive.”

  A cowboy quartet in the vein of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers, the Riders are known for their colorful costumes, charmingly corny comedy and vast repertoire of classic tunes such as “Happy Trails,” “Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds ” and “Back in the Saddle Again.” The band celebrates its 35th anniversary this year.

• Camp Roberts opens 1-megawatt solar farm

  Camp Roberts opens 1-megawatt solar farm

  Camp Roberts has opened a 1-megawatt solar farm.

  The photovoltaic facility covers nearly 5 acres and is composed of groundmounted, thin-film solar panels. It is on the east side of Highway 101, across from the main post.

  Construction on the plant began in January. It cost $3 million and was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program.

• A few farmers in SLO County get most federal ag subsidies

  A few farmers in SLO County get most federal ag subsidies

  An annual check in the mail is more of a sure bet than the winter rains for some farmers in San Luis Obispo County.

  Take one farm in Shandon, which pocketed 17 percent of the $761,000 in federal farm subsidies distributed in San Luis Obispo County in 2010. Over the past 15 years that same farm, White Ranch Co., received more federal subsidies than any other agricultural operation in the county — $3.6 million. More than $2 million of that came from growing — or not growing — wheat and barley, a Tribune review of Farm Service Agency records found.

  White Ranch owners, who did not reply to numerous requests for comment, are part of a small group of farmers in the county who collect the lion’s share of agricultural subsidies.

• Times Past: Seed for New Year's resolutions found in early farming practices

  Times Past: Seed for New Year's resolutions found in early farming practices

  The custom of making New Year’s resolutions may have begun with the Akitu festivals of early Mesopotamia, which is in modern day Iraq. “Akitu,” which literally means barley, was celebrated in springtime in hopes of ensuring the arrival of rain, which brought the renewal of nature and community.

  The people believed that they could strengthen their god Marduk and his son Nabu in the struggle with Tiamat (evil forces) by resolving to return their neighbor’s farm tools without which new crops could not be planted. For many of us, New Year’s resolutions are still linked to food and diet.

  Some of us have very serious motivation for seeking a new way of feeding ourselves. When Ethan Schaffer was growing up in the Pacific Northwest, he was told by his physicians that he had lymphoma. He underwent a five-month-long treatment of intense chemotherapy.

• Calif lettuce grower expands recall across nation

  Calif lettuce grower expands recall across nation

  A California lettuce grower has expanded a recall of some bagged salads after routine sampling detected listeria contamination. No illnesses have been reported.