JOANNE CLENDINING: From the Mason Dixon line to the mighty Potomac and all points in between, there's a wagonload of agricultural goodness to be had.

Did you know there's a difference between fiber and wool?

The grass is blue for one farmer in Carroll County?

And the trick to a great steak sandwich is caramelization?

Don't go anywhere, stories about the people who work the land and feed our state are coming up next on "Maryland Farm and Harvest."

NARRATOR: Major funding for "Maryland Farm and Harvest" is made possible in part by The Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board, investing in smarter farming to support safe and affordable food, feed, and fuel, and a healthy Bay.

Additional funding provided by Maryland's Best, good for you, good for Maryland.

A grant from the Rural Maryland Council, Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Fund.

MARBIDCO, helping to sustain food and fiber enterprise for future generations.

A grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program.

Farm Credit, lending support to agriculture and rural America.

The Maryland Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program, progress powered by farmers.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

The Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

The Maryland Pork Producers Association proudly works to educate consumers and advocate for farmers.

Taste what pork can do.

♪ (theme music playing) ♪ (bird chirping).

JOANNE: I always say good luck trying to define a Maryland farm 'cause they're a mixed bag of plenty.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining, welcome to "Maryland Farm and Harvest."

All farms are broken down into categories based on their products and practices.

Of the 12,000 farms in Maryland, you'll find that they're in just about every category.

This week, we're visiting Boordy Vineyards in Hydes, Maryland.

They're celebrating 80 years in the wine-making business.

80 years, what an amazing accomplishment.

Their longevity speaks to the commitment to their craft and to the quality of their product.

Coming up, from haymaking to a hoedown, this farmer knows how to cut loose.

But first, most Maryland livestock is raised for meat or milk, but there's an animal that's native to South America that's catching on lately, and it's raised for its fiber.

I had the pleasure of seeing it go from mane to mill.

(tractor engine).

Being number one can be a good thing, but being the only one can be a mixed bag.

Today I'm visiting Painted Sky Alpaca Farm and Mill, the only full-service fiber mill in Maryland.

Wow, look at this welcoming committee.

Hi everybody.

For owners Linda and Mitchell Dickinson, the bag of good outweighs the bad, and they wouldn't change a thing.

Not even the weather.

Not the nicest day out to be at an alpaca farm.

But hey.

MITCHELL DICKINSON: Well, the girls are, uh, very, very comfortable today because of the lower temperature.

JOANNE: They like this kind of weather?

MITCHELL: And they're in full fleece right now, ready to be sheared.

So this is a very, very comfortable, comfortable day for 'em.

JOANNE: Okay.

And what's not to like?

Alpaca are generally docile, curious herd animals that were domesticated some 6,000 years ago by the Andeans, for their fiber, meat, and fuel.

Their dried manure was used when firewood was scarce.

Luckily for these alpaca, Mitchell and Linda only want their fiber.

She's so fluffy.

So even though it's like wet on the outside, you mean it's just dry in here.

That's amazing.

Alpaca fleece has a semi-hollow core that allows it to self-wick moisture and helps trap air for warmth in cold weather and wick sweat away from the skin to keep you cool in hot weather.

And while they may have shedded thousands of years ago today, like sheep, they need a little help.

♪ ♪ Shearing day happens once a year in spring.

Maryland's climate is much warmer than the Andes.

LINDA DICKINSON: So that's one of the main reasons why we want to get that fiber off of them.

That way, they're a lot more comfortable through these really hot upcoming months.

JOANNE: With shearing complete, the alpaca emerged five to eight pounds lighter, sporting a cool summer cut, leaving the Dickinson's nearly 200 pounds of fiber for the mill.

So what made you decide to start a mill?

LINDA: Well, when we got our alpacas, and then we sheared 'em for the very first time, we shipped our fiber off to be processed, and it took 18 months.

JOANNE: Oh my gosh.

LINDA: It was pretty long.

JOANNE: So this way, are you able to get yours done faster now?

LINDA: Well, you would think so, but no, not exactly, we spend more time processing for customers than we process on our own.

JOANNE: Oh gosh.

Wow, oh my gosh.

These are all jobs to be done.

LINDA: All these tubs are customer orders.

JOANNE: Oh my gosh.

LINDA: Are you ready to go to work?

JOANNE: Yeah.

LINDA: That's our first tub.

JOANNE: Alright.

Where, where am I going?

LINDA: Back to the tumbler room.

JOANNE: Okay.

And there's more in the back.

Oh my gosh, even more, look at all these bins.

LINDA: This is our... JOANNE: The reason is simple... there's just a lot more fiber than there are small fiber mills these days.

So this goes in here.

LINDA: Yeah.

JOANNE: As of 2023, there were 5.2 million heads of sheep and lamb and nearly 100,000 alpaca sheared on US farms.

While there are only about 140 small mills in the country.

LINDA: We're proud to say we're the only full-service fiber mill in Maryland.

Just push the button, and there we go.

JOANNE: Alright.

LINDA: There's still a few mills, but they're not a full-service mill.

They're very good mills, but they'll take your fiber and process up to a roving swarm, and so they just don't take it to yarns.

Grab that fork over there.

JOANNE: And as I found out, it's a long, long process to get to that yarn.

We've skirted, tumbled, washed, dried, and just picked it clean.

LINDA: Take a look at that.

JOANNE: Oh, oh my gosh, look at this.

LINDA: Isn't that cool looking?

JOANNE: It looks like; it looks like dust bunnies under my bed.

(laughing).

How many more steps from now till it's actually complete?

LINDA: Well, we have about eight different pieces of equipment that we have to run this on.

JOANNE: Oh my gosh.

LINDA: Before we have a yarn, so it's gonna go through a fiber separator.

JOANNE: Oh my gosh, this is so soft.

LINDA: Then it's gonna be carded.

Now the carder is the heart of the fiber mill.

JOANNE: And this is called rovings?

LINDA: Gonna pass through two draw frames.

It'll be spun into yarn, then plied together, then steamed, and then we skein it.

JOANNE: Oh my gosh, what a process.

But when the final yarn is placed in an artist's hands, the rewards are pretty colorful.

LINDA: So, Joanne, these are all our yarns that we spun all from our animals.

JOANNE: Wow.

LINDA: And we always give credit back to the alpaca that donated that fiber.

JOANNE: Oh my gosh, I love that.

LINDA: So we also make a lot of our own finished goods if we can.

JOANNE: This is stunning.

And after being here all day... LINDA: Mm-hmm.

JOANNE: ...it's amazing to see the process that goes into, not just to get 'em to the skeins, but then it has to be turned into artistry.

And so when you look at the price tag on something that is like alpaca wool... LINDA: Right, mm-hmm.

JOANNE: ...it really just makes you realize the value and all the effort that's put into it.

I'm gonna go buy some socks for my husband because, you know, I just can't wait to try out some of this stuff.

LINDA: Well, once you go alpaca, you'll never go backa.

(laughing).

JOANNE: That's great.

While the wait to turn around raw fiber to yarn is still nearly two years, now you can see just why it takes so darn long to make yarn.

That bad joke was for all my fiber arts friends.

♪ ♪ All right, it's time to test your inner agronomist.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

Do you think you know what it is?

Well, here's a hint.

It looks like a watering can for hard-to-reach houseplants, but the job it does makes for a barrel full of fun.

Stay tuned, and we'll have the answer at the end of the show.

As we know all too well, Maryland weather can be a mixed bag, especially in winter.

But when a fresh blanket of snow covers the lower 40, it's a sight to behold.

Here are some picks of our favorite snowscapes, enjoy.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ JOANNE: There's a joke in the farm world, what does a farmer do in his spare time?

A farmer has spare time?

Well, there's a grass farmer in Carroll County whose spare time is more grass, bluegrass that is.

(tractor engine).

It's late May in Carroll County, and Billy Harrison is preparing for this year's rye harvest on his Run of the Mill Farm, which it isn't, you know, run of the mill.

It's just what it's named.

BILLY HARRISON: The way we named our farm, uh, was because at uh, one point in time, there was a pretty major mill on our creek out front.

And so we call it the Run of the Mill Farm.

My father and my grandfather, and my uncle purchased this property in 1951... [engine starts].

...to, uh, grow production sod and, uh, cattle.

JOANNE: Over the years, the sod and the dairy business went the way of the old mill.

Same for traditional grains.

BILLY: We've had to go away from some of the more, uh, traditional, uh, grain crops because of the deer pressure we have so bad here in this area.

JOANNE: Billy's adapted to the deer by growing orchard grass, hay for local horse owners, as well as soy, wheat, and rye.

BILLY: The deer don't always tend to bother the hay crops as bad as they do the beans and the corn.

JOANNE: On this warm late May day, the rye is waist high and ready for cutting.

If you're thinking, "Huh, that's a little early," you'd be correct.

Maryland rye is generally ready around mid-July.

BILLY: And it would be, uh, seven, eight-foot tall.

JOANNE: And filled with matured rye seeds.

But for Billy's needs, that wouldn't be good.

BILLY: This is cereal rye that I use for straw, uh, for my seeding business.

JOANNE: While Run of the Mill Farm no longer grows sod, its grass hydro seeding business is going strong.

BILLY: I'd rather not have the, the seed in there because we're gonna use this for mulch on top of seeded ground.

And I don't put the seeds to, uh, to germinate.

JOANNE: Which is crucial.

No one wants rye popping out of their grass.

So for a while now, Billy has had to keep one eye on the rye while he's picking another type of grass.

BILLY: I still love working at what I do.

There's nothing better I love doing than pushing dirt around and making it look good.

But, um, uh, you know, it's time in my life now when I wanna slow down on that part and put more into the music.

♪ ♪ JOANNE: Yep, when Billy isn't hard at work laying down grass seed, he's laying down another grass entirely.

Bluegrass.

TERRY WITTENBERG: ...pearly gates... JOANNE: With his sister, Terry DiPaula and bandmate Terry Wittenberg, they formed the Billy Harrison and the Haywire Band, and they've been playing together for over a decade.

TERRY DiPAULA: Woo-hoo!

♪ BILLY: Heard the music of a rail, ♪ ♪ slept in every old dirty jail.

♪♪ My farm takes up, uh, good bit of my wife and I's time, and, um, we don't have a whole lot of, uh, extracurricular activities.

Uh, the band has been my release.

Uh, so, um, it helps, uh, level out my life.

♪ BOTH: Baby, you don't know my mind today.

♪♪ TERRY: Yeah!

(audience applause).

BILLY: I started playing music, uh, when I was 10 or 12 years old.

TERRY: There it is, it's getting there.

BILLY: Okay.

TERRY: When we were young, people would come over our house and just jam and play music.

Here it goes.

And hearing my brother playing and singing, I was like, I, I wanted to do that.

♪ TERRY: In the middle of the night, ♪ ♪ I hear a cornfield coyote cry.

♪♪ JOANNE: And they did until family and work took priority.

BILLY: So I, uh, took a respite, didn't want to, didn't want to take a 25-year respite, but I did.

JOANNE: For the older and wiser, Billy Harrison, music is much more than just a chance to get off his Run of the Mill Farm.

BILLY: I look at it as, uh, basically a therapeutic release.

So I try to make things happen a little bit better than I would've, you know, 20 years ago.

♪ ♪ TERRY: Woo!

Thank you, guys.

JOANNE: Wow, what a good reminder to never give up on our dreams.

And if you've got a dream to get more music in your life, check out our website.

We'll have a link to the band's upcoming schedule.

Coming up a steak sandwich that'll be a hit at your next luncheon.

But first, where does all the grain go?

Josh Ernst points out how a grain elevator distributes the goods on this week's "Ask a Farmer How it Works."

♪ ♪ JOSH ERNST: So, a question I got asked is, what's in our grain bins and how we organize 'em?

As far as grain bins go, I think we have around 20.

Now, as far as actual bins on the farm, we have somewhere over 50 bins when you think about like ingredient bins, small bins, to the big bins like you see here.

And so we have so many different bins because we are taking our grains, we're mixing them, we're making finished feed products, and we're direct marketing our products.

So now what's also pretty cool is it's connected to Wi-Fi so we can remote control our bins from our phones.

So that means, like standing here, I can turn anything on back there in the facility.

So at Ernst Grain and Livestock, we actually have our own private missile silo.

No, I'm just kidding.

This is where we unload our grain.

Um, we can unload a semi load of grain, which is typically 1,000 bushels or 25 tons in four minutes.

That pit, because it's so fast, we need a bin to put it directly in, so it typically can go into this bin here; we also have a secondary bin beside it.

So we receive two truckloads of two commodities in a row, we can, you know, get 'em both unloaded really fast.

So let's go up and check it out.

This is a U-Trough Drag Conveyor.

This is what moves the grain, it has a chain on the inside with half-moon shaped plastic paddles, and it is controlled with an electric actuator that, like if I push a button on my phone, that switches, and then that's how we can select which bin we want to go to.

Um, out of this bin, it drops in; it can go either direction, it can go into this grain leg that goes into the building for processing, or it can go to this double run, which sends to our main leg to go to drying and then storage.

We can go anywhere from anywhere with the way the system's configured.

JOANNE: On this week's "Farm to Skillet" Chef Sara Kephart serves up a bougie steak sandwich with the perfect complement of toppings, all local.

♪ ♪ (sizzling).

SARA KEPHART: I'm getting together tomorrow with my girls after church, and I wanna bring something fresh and flavorful.

Hi, I am Chef Sara Kephart of Sara Kep's Kitchen, and we're here at the Thurmont Farmer's Market in the "Gateway to the Mountains," Thurmont, Maryland.

So for lunch, I'm thinking an elevated steak sandwich with caramelized onions and roasted tomatoes, and a side of my grandmother's potato salad.

Come on, let's go grab our ingredients.

SARA: Hey, Missy.

MISSY: Hi, Sara, how are you?

SARA: Good.

MISSY: So what do you making this week?

SARA: I'm making some steak sandwiches.

I have a couple things that I need.

MISSY: Okay, well, come on in.

SARA: Hey, Garrison.

GARRISON: Hi, how are you doing today?

SARA: Good.

What kind of steaks do you have today?

GARRISON: Um, so we have all kinds, we have our porter house, um, we have T-bone, and then we also have our sirloin.

SARA: Ooh, those look great.

I'm definitely going with the sirloin.

GARRISON: Okay.

All of our beef is grass-fed, so... SARA: Perfect.

GARRISON: Yes.

SARA: Awesome, thank you so much.

GARRISON: Yes, absolutely.

SARA: Wow, look at that color, they're gorgeous.

Hey Eric.

ERIC: Hey Chef.

SARA: Hmm, that looks delicious.

ERIC: Here you go, Chef, we'll be seeing you next week.

SARA: Yeah, we'll see you next week.

Hey, Pete.

PETE: Hi Sara, how you doing?

SARA: Good, how are you?

PETE: I'm fine, thanks.

SARA: I'm making some potato salad today.

PETE: Okay.

Uh, if I can recommend anything, I would recommend the reds, but I do have whites.

Now, my grandmother and my mother always made with reds, and everybody that I talk to when you're making potato salad, they want reds.

SARA: Okay, let's do the reds.

PETE: Okay, can you use any tomatoes?

I got beautiful tomatoes.

SARA: Oh yeah, I'm gonna put some of the tomatoes on the steak sandwich that I'm making, so I'm thinking these nice big ones.

PETE: You are gonna love those tomatoes.

SARA: I'm gonna roast them with garlic and herbs.

It's gonna be... so good.

PETE: Let me know, let me know how it goes.

SARA: I will.

I have everything I need, let's head to the kitchen and start cooking.

♪ ♪ Welcome to my kitchen.

Let's make a sandwich.

First, we're gonna get our potatoes boiling for our potato salad.

I love these red potatoes from Pete, I don't even skin them because the red color is so beautiful, especially when it's all mixed together.

Let's get started on our roasted tomatoes, we're gonna take our beautiful summer tomatoes and just cut them in big wedges.

These roasted tomatoes are gonna get super sweet while they're roasting in the oven and add a lot of depth of flavor to our sandwich.

Just toss it all together.

I'll throw these in oven.

Now I'll get started on our caramelized onions.

Oh my eyes.

Every time I cut onions, they make me cry.

I always learn not to form an emotional bond, and then you won't cry when you cut them, but I cry every time.

(sighs).

Okay, some olive oil into our pan, all of our onions, we're gonna cook these low and slow, and we'll keep stirring and checking on them.

The steak from Deer Run Farms looks amazing, I will always spend extra money on local beef because the quality is just 1,000 times better.

And then we'll add our steak.

(sizzling).

And that sizzle is the sound that you want to hear when you put that down.

Let it cook for a couple minutes and don't touch it, that's how you get the perfect crust.

Oh, these are perfect.

(sizzling).

Just let it go.

Our steak is ready, we're just gonna set it off to the side and let it rest for a couple minutes while we get our potato salad together.

For our potato salad, I have some mayonnaise already in a bowl.

We're gonna mix the dressing up first.

We need some mustard, apple cider vinegar, some salt, pepper, diced onion.

And don't tell Granny I told you this is her secret ingredient, celery seed.

Now that it's mixed, we'll add our drained potatoes, gently folding them together, making sure to keep those potato pieces nice and chunky.

Now let's finish our sandwiches.

Make sure to put a decent amount of mayo on your slices; the mayo's gonna keep the bread from getting soggy.

Let's add our caramelized onions and look how much they cook down.

Now we'll add our lettuce and just place some over top.

We're gonna do like two or three pieces per sandwich.

Next is our roasted tomatoes.

Alright, let's get our steak sliced.

And that is the perfect doneness.

That's exactly how I like it.

Oh my goodness, look at the steak, all those colors.

Our beautiful sandwiches get their tops.

Oh yeah, look at that sandwich.

This thing is huge.

This is gonna be delicious.

Those sweet caramelized onions, the savory tomatoes, and steak... this is gonna be perfect.

You can find the recipe at mpt.org/farm for my Elevated Steak Sandwich and Granny's Basil Potato Salad.

JOANNE: That looks so good.

Thanks, Sara.

Be sure to check out mpt.org/farm for all our recipes and resources.

Plus, you can watch all "Farm and Harvest" episodes there as well.

Also, don't forget to follow us on social media for show updates, pictures, and videos.

Now, hold on.

We're not done yet.

Remember our thingamajig?

Did you guess it?

Our hint was it looks like a watering can for hard-to-reach house plants, but the job it does makes for a barrel full of fun.

This is a Wine Barrel Topping Off Vessel.

It's used to add wine into a barrel to prevent oxidation as wine evaporates or is absorbed by the oak barrel.

Congratulations if you got it right.

Join us next week for another thingamajig, along with more stories about the diverse, passionate people who feed our state.

I'm Joanne Clendining, thanks for watching.

(music plays through credits).

NARRATOR: Major funding for "Maryland Farm and Harvest" was made possible in part by The Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board, investing in smarter farming to support safe and affordable food, feed, and fuel, and a healthy Bay.

Additional funding provided by Maryland's Best, good for you, good for Maryland.

A grant from the Rural Maryland Council, Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Fund.

MARBIDCO, helping to sustain food and fiber enterprise for future generations.

A grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program.

Farm Credit, lending support to agriculture and rural America.

The Maryland Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program, progress powered by farmers.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

The Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

The Maryland Pork Producers Association proudly works to educate consumers and advocate for farmers.

Taste what pork can do.

(bird chirping).

♪ ♪