Episode 1004

♪ ♪ HOST: It's a big, wide agricultural world from Maryland's mountains to its ocean.

Did you know that Maryland has a state soil, that there's an award-winning student ag program on the Eastern Shore, and that foraging for your food is sleuthy work?

Don't go anywhere, stories about the people who grow our food along with The Local Buy are coming up next on Maryland Farm and Harvest .

ANNOUNCER: 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...

Rural Maryland Council, a collective voice for rural Maryland... 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... Wegmans Food Market: Healthier, better lives through food...

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts... CHILD: The Maryland Agriculture Educational Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

ANNOUNCER: And by...

The Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association...

The Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund...

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated...

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment... And by... Closed Captioning has been made possible by Maryland Relay, empowering those who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech disabled to stay connected by phone.

♪ ♪ HOST: Besides perseverance and grit, for a farming operation to be successful, certain elements must be in place, namely terrain, climate, soil, and water.

These four factors are key in determining what crops can be grown or what animals can be raised.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining.

Welcome to the 10th anniversary season of Maryland Farm and Harvest .

Over the years, we've discovered an amazing variety of farms, and with over 12,000 of them in Maryland alone, it's no wonder agriculture is the number one industry in the state.

Like, Kinder Farm Park here in Anne Arundel County.

The Kinder's 600-acre farm took advantage of its prime location to grow produce and raise cattle for over 70 years.

Coming up, a high school on the Eastern Shore is prepping the next generation of agronomists.

But first, we mentioned soil as an essential farming factor.

Well, you might be surprised to know that Maryland's soil is as varied as the farms that plant it.

♪ ♪ From the Eastern Coastal Plain west through the Piedmont Plateau and up into the Appalachian Highlands, Maryland's diverse topography tells a tale of what lies beneath its varied surface.

ANNIE ROSSI-GILL: I think, what's interesting about soils is how different they are, you know, even over a short distance.

JOANNE: Annie Rossi-Gill is a soil scientist with Natural Resources Conservation Services.

ANNIE: It's really interesting to be able to one, kind of know when you're looking at a landscape, have an understanding of what you might see, and then actually getting to see it and see the variation, and how those properties affect how the land can be used as well.

JOANNE: We followed Annie and her colleagues down the rabbit hole, otherwise known as a "soil pit" in three distinct regions of Maryland to get the dirt on Maryland soil.

ANNIE: This soil pit, they dug it a number of years ago, so we're just digging it back so we can see a fresh exposed face so we can better see the different horizons or layers throughout the soil.

JOANNE: A soil pit gives scientists a vertical cross section or horizon of any particular landscape.

All soil contains combinations of silt, sand, and clay.

The complexity of these combinations make up the soil texture or loam, and soil loam differs depending on the dominant particles of sand, silt, or clay.

ANNIE: This is the top soil here, and it's darker brown in color because of the accumulation of organic matter.

JOANNE: This soil pit is located along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in what is referred to as the Coastal Plain.

ANNIE: The Coastal Plain region of Maryland, actually if you use I-95, it's a pretty good boundary, east of I-95 is the Coastal Plain, and then when you get west of 95, you're on the Piedmont.

JOANNE: The Coastal Plain is also home to the Maryland State Soil, the Sassafras soil.

ANNIE: This is an example of the Sassafras soil.

It's pretty common on the... Or found, you know, throughout the Coastal Plain of Maryland.

You know, it's a well-drained soil, meaning it has a water table below 40 inches.

We usually see this kind of top soil, a dark top soil layer, and that dark colors from the organic matter.

And then, when you get into the sub-soil, you have this accumulation of clays that we see down here.

JOANNE: Sassafras soil was first mapped in Cecil County and found in over 500,000 acres in the region.

Because of its role in helping scientists learn more about soil in this area, it was given the designation of Maryland State Soil.

ANNIE: So, it is one of our, you know, very agriculturally productive soils, that go down, you know, on the Eastern Shore.

JOANNE: The flat landscape of the Coastal Plain allows farmers to plant row crops using larger equipment more efficiently than in hillier regions.

Move west into the Piedmont Plateau region of the state and you'll find a rolling bounty of fertile crop land known as the "Glenelg soil."

It's been mapped from roughly I-95 West to the Catoctin mountain range.

ANNIE: One of the reasons why Glenelg soils are really productive is because you have this loamy soil kind of to great depths that can hold a lot of water.

JOANNE: The loam of the Glenelg soil is less sand and more clay than the Sassafras soil.

PHIL KING: You have a greater mass of soil that can be exploited by the roots.

JOANNE: Yeah.

PHIL: So, by not having bedrock, a root restrictive bedrock in here, those roots can continue on down extracting moisture and nutrients that are available in the floor.

ANNIE: And we can actually see in here, there's some root channels here that are, you know, going down pretty far through this soil.

JOANNE: The Piedmont Plateau supports a diverse agriculture system.

The rolling landscapes and prime water holding capacity are perfect for a variety of farms, including row crops, pastures, dairy farms, orchards, and vineyards.

ANNIE: It's just because of that, the different types of landscapes sort of allow for a lot of different types of agricultural production.

JOANNE: Rising up into the Appalachian Highlands, the soil changes in texture and farmland capabilities.

From the Catoctin Mountains west to Garrett County, we enter into a region mapped as the ridge and valley, and named in part as the Hagerstown soil.

ANNIE: So, one of the things that we see is really different in this soil is just the rock that's in here.

We have areas where...

This is limestone here, and this is just a large rock that hasn't weathered, but then we have other areas like, where we're looking at the soil that, that has all weathered from you know, this same kind of limestone rock.

JOANNE: The Hagerstown soil in the ridge and valley region is equally as productive with water holding abilities on par to the Glenelg soils, but the obvious difference is the large limestone rocks close to the surface.

CARL ROBINETTE: Here in the Ridge and Valley, we got beautiful inherent fertility, but we have to deal with these outlying limestone ledges, the development of no-till really helped out in that case because they're farming a lot more of these soils than they used to be.

It used to be when you had these soils in the limestone valley, these outcrops that was all pasture ground.

JOANNE: From Maryland farmers, each soil type presents advantages and challenges, whether it be a need for crop irrigation in the sandy Sassafras, potential erosion in the hilly Glenelg, or shallow depth to bedrock in the Hagerstown soils.

Farmers learn to adapt to the soil they work to achieve its full potential.

ANNIE: Knowing what kind of soil there is going to tell us how our crops are going to grow, or knowing what kind of soil is there can kind of really help you make management decisions that are environmentally conscious.

So, you want to use that area wisely and in a sustainable way.

Knowing more about your soil can help you do that.

JOANNE: The Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the USDA, is available to farmers and ranchers to help them determine best conservation practices to protect the environment and maximize yield.

♪ ♪ All right, it's time to put on your farmer's cap.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

You think you know what it is?

Well, here's a hint.

It's used after the harvest and it's not to cut back on the hard work.

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

Maryland farmers grow a veritable smorgasbord of produce, from fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices.

Here are some fun photos of these specialty crops.

Enjoy.

♪ ♪ Maryland agriculture is a robust and diverse business, but its future depends on getting young people involved.

One Southern Eastern Shore teacher is making it his mission to do just that.

♪ ♪ JERRY KELLEY: One thing, I love about teaching ag education is just the opportunity to see these students, you know, come in.

Some of them have never planted a garden before, and in three years they're, you know, telling me how to improve the soil.

JOANNE: Jerry Kelley has become somewhat of an expert on cultivating opportunities.

Voted Maryland Horticulture Teacher of the Year in 2019, Jerry has helped Parkside High School become home to Maryland's number one horticulture program.

Located in Wicomico County, the school is home to the A+ Garden Center, a community-supported, student-operated business.

The three-year program offers student involvement in practical business application, greenhouse organization, crop production, and intensive research study of the latest scientific methods in production and sustainability.

JOCELYN McWILLIAMS: So, what we're doing now is just rolling out a tarp that's going to kill the grass to plant on a fresh slate like we did on the three others down there.

(setting up tarp) JERRY: We have a tradition here that the upper level students, their experience can be a great value to the new students.

So, we provide that opportunity as often as possible.

JOANNE: Jocelyn is one of those students.

She came into the program as a freshman, knowing very little about how to run a greenhouse.

But now as a senior and student intern, she's become Kelley's right hand, garnering community support and motivating students as the face of A+ Garden Center's Facebook page.

JOCELYN: Freshman year, I walked in and Kelley was like, "You look like, you could do some work out there."

And I was like, "I don't know, maybe."

(chuckles) And I walked in and he made everyone feel welcome.

When I walked in there, I felt like I had known Kelley since I was four years old.

He grows a connection with everyone.

JERRY: I spend a lot of time surveying students when they first come into the program about what they're passionate about.

And so, each student has their own individual education plan, so to speak, that works towards what they want to do in the future.

JOANNE: Students truly take ownership over the business and dedicate hours to ensure its success.

During the course of a year, students grow and sell over 100,000 plants of all different varieties.

This year, Parkside High School crafted 2,500 hanging baskets and they are flying off the shelves.

JERRY: These are amazing plants right here is, these are combination planters.

And then, the last year, we found that our customers are doing more container gardens.

Instead of having to design a pot, they already have a design for them.

♪ ♪ JOANNE: A+ Garden Center is a beautiful place to visit.

And for Jocelyn, it's more than beautiful, it's personal.

JOCELYN: A+ Garden Center is one of the most special things that I have in connection.

I lost my mom and flowers was our thing, so I feel a connection.

When I walk into the greenhouse, you feel free.

When I come in here, I feel like she's here too.

Like, she's sitting right here and I have her guidance in everything that I do.

She was a teacher, so when I teach or I lead, I feel like I'm following her passion as well.

So, when I come in here, it's just, I could breathe because it's such a big world outside of these walls.

But when you're in here, it's just you and the plants.

JOANNE: The horticulture program at Parkside High is available to students from surrounding schools, giving Jerry Kelley's mission to educate students in agriculture a further reach.

JERRY: I get to hang out with some of the most amazing students from the four schools here in Wicomico County.

They come in here and they've enhanced my life tremendously.

This 100-yard corridor of pollinator-friendly plants are going to look amazing in a couple of years.

You're doing good job with that rake, man.

Nice work.

We're always cultivating.

If it's not plants, we're cultivating opportunities for our students and we're always growing.

JOANNE: Parkside High's A+ Garden Center is classified as an All-American Selection display garden.

All-American Selections is the oldest independent testing organization for flowers and edible varieties in North America.

And horticulture is both a science and an art influenced by modern methodologies in agriculture and how it contributes to the quality of life, beauty, and sustainability of our environment.

If you'd like to learn more, visit mpt.org/farm and click on the resources page.

When Kinder Farm began its operation in the early 1900s, like most farms of that era, they trucked their harvest to market.

It's a mode of transport that's taken a few twists and turns from then to now.

♪ ♪ In the early 1900s, Eastern Shore farmers would take what they grew on land and ship it by sea.

They used what they had on hand, oyster boats, to move perishable crops such as strawberries, tomatoes, and watermelons to market in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Soon, growing crops and shipping them to distant markets became known as truck farming.

Truck farming expanded when railroads started rolling through the Eastern Shore.

Trains could travel further and move crops faster.

With the invention of the refrigerator railcar, farmers could sell as far away as Canada.

Wicomico County was one of the nation's leading truck crop producers.

Strawberries were the most profitable crop.

Truck farming took its first economic hit during World War I.

The military needed canned goods to ship overseas.

So, truck farm crops were no longer shipped to far off markets, but brought to local canning manufacturers instead.

Truck farmers were hit with a double whammy when their labor force left for those same canneries and higher wages.

After the war, truck farming was back in business, even through the Great Depression.

But once again, war took its toll on the farmers.

When World War II broke out, the canneries once again crippled the truck farming industry.

By the 1950s, consumers taste changed and Eastern Shore agriculture changed with them.

Poultry was taking over produce.

Truck farming still exists today in this area, but on a much smaller scale.

You can still find major truck farmers in California, Texas, and Florida.

When a restaurant owner tells you he wants to take you foraging for your supper, you might have reservations, but you are not Al Spoler.

Check it out on this week's The Local Buy.

Al?

♪ ♪ AL SPOLER: I have to say, it was one of the strangest car rides I've ever had.

Can I take off the blindfold here?

CHEF CHRIS AMENDOLA: Yeah, you can go ahead.

Take off the blindfold.

AL: Okay.

What?

(laughs) All right.

This is what you do when you want to go foraging for wild mushrooms.

I'm with my friend, Chef Chris Amendola of Foraged restaurant in Baltimore, and he's taken me to one of his secret places to find wild mushrooms for free.

CHEF CHRIS: Absolutely.

AL: But I've been sworn to secrecy, so I have no idea where we are except somewhere in northern Maryland.

What are we looking for today?

CHEF CHRIS: So today, we're looking for a lot of the summer mushrooms.

So chanterelles, black trumpets, chicken mushrooms, maybe some boletes.

We'll have to see what happens here.

AL: As we walk deeper into the woods, Chris explains where mushrooms are most likely found.

CHEF CHRIS: If you know your trees, you're going to know your mushrooms.

So, this time of year, we're looking for a lot of hardwood trees, so maples and oaks.

AL: Mushrooms love dark, moist areas and trees provide the shade and the right forest floor.

And a wet area nearby is key.

CHEF CHRIS: I look for sources of water and start walking around.

AL: It's just random after that?

CHEF CHRIS: Yeah, it's just random.

It's all about looking for the trees.

(footsteps through forest) AL: We turn off the beaten path and make our way through the thick forest.

CHEF CHRIS: Oh, hey, Al, look at this.

AL: Is that a mushroom?

CHEF CHRIS: Yes.

This mushroom here is actually a poisonous variety called "an earthball."

So, this is a poisonous mushroom you don't want to eat.

AL: Okay.

Well, I'm not getting anywhere near it.

It's always a good idea to do some research if you're planning on foraging for wild mushrooms.

Pick the wrong kind and it could be a fatal mistake.

Fortunately, Chris knows what he's looking for.

CHEF CHRIS: Oh, Al, you see anything?

AL: I see a plastic bag, but that's about it.

CHEF CHRIS: That is not a plastic bag.

It does look like it.

This is a chicken mushroom.

AL: A.k.a.

Chicken of the woods.

Well, let's pick it.

CHEF CHRIS: Awesome.

Let's see if we can get... AL: You just pull it right up?

CHEF CHRIS: Yeah, so generally give it a little wiggle and pull up off the tree.

AL: Can I feel it?

CHEF CHRIS: Absolutely.

AL: Oh, it's really light for the size.

CHEF CHRIS: Yeah...yeah.

Probably one of my favorites.

AL: Now, we just need a few chanterelles to go with it.

Look at all these ferns.

CHEF CHRIS: Yeah, so this is one of the main spots, so... AL: Oh, really?

CHEF CHRIS: This is where we really want to start looking for chanterelles here.

AL: We crisscrossed the underbrush looking for that little splash of color.

Chris, this is kind of like being on an Easter egg hunt.

CHEF CHRIS: That's exactly what it is.

(both laugh) I like to call it a treasure hunt.

AL: It is.

And then, Chris strikes gold.

Did you find something?

CHEF CHRIS: Yeah, there's some chanterelles over here.

AL: It's a nice little haul and all this foraging is making me hungry.

CHEF CHRIS: I can't wait to get these back to the restaurant and cook them up for you guys.

AL: So, it's back to Baltimore and into Chris's restaurant kitchen.

Well, it looks like your sous-chef has got us set up really nicely...

CHEF CHRIS: Yes.

AL: ...to prepare something.

What are we going to make today?

CHEF CHRIS: So today, we're making our mushroom stew with toasted pine nuts, ricotta cheese, and a poached egg.

AL: Wow!

And what are all these ingredients?

CHEF CHRIS: So here, we have a little bit of brown butter, garlic puree, thyme and garlic.

This is shiitake and oyster mushrooms, fines herb, a little bit of whole butter, onion puree, shallots, lion's mane mushroom, mushroom stock, ricotta, and pine nuts.

AL: What are the steps for this?

CHEF CHRIS: So first, we're going to get our mushrooms cleaned up.

And then, we're going to cut them up or tear them up in the case of the shiitakes, and then we're going to cook them in their own separate ways.

AL: And it all goes together in a bowl?

CHEF CHRIS: It does.

We'll put it all together and mix everything up and there you go.

AL: I got to try.

CHEF CHRIS: Yeah.

AL: Thank you so much for making this.

It's a beautiful dish.

I help you find the mushrooms today.

CHEF CHRIS: Yeah.

Thank you.

I had a great time out in the woods with it.

AL: It was a lot of fun.

Now Chris, I love a good broth and this looks fabulous.

How did you make it?

CHEF CHRIS: So, we make our mushroom stock with all the trim and scrap from the mushrooms that we get and just simmer it out in some water.

AL: And reduce it and reduce it.

CHEF CHRIS: Oh, yeah.

AL: It intensifies the flavor.

CHEF CHRIS: Oh, yeah.

AL: It's quite good.

CHEF CHRIS: Thank you.

AL: Let me fish out a little piece of mushroom here.

I'm guessing you could use just about any mushrooms, you wanted for this dish?

CHEF CHRIS: Yeah, absolutely.

Whatever your favorite mushroom is or whatever you have at your local grocery store or farmer's market.

There's always some kind of fresh mushroom around.

AL: What we'd like to do is put a recipe on our website so people can try it out.

CHEF CHRIS: Sure, absolutely.

AL: So, look for it at mpt.org/farm and give it a shot.

You're going to really enjoy this one.

For The Local Buy, I'm Al Spoler.

Joanne?

JOANNE: Thanks, Al.

Be sure to check out mpt.org/farm for all our Local Buy recipes.

You can watch all Farm and Harvest episodes, plus check out our resources page 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?

The hint was that it's used after the harvest and it's not to cut back on the hard work.

This is a corn stalk cutter or scythe.

Before mechanical equipment, the ears of corn were cut and harvested, then another worker would follow behind and use this tool to cut down the stalk.

Talk about backbreaking work.

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.

Closed Captioning has been made possible by Maryland Relay, empowering those with hearing and speech loss to stay connected.

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: 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.

Rural Maryland Council, a collective voice for rural Maryland.

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... Wegmans Food Market: Healthier, better lives through food...

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts... CHILD: The Maryland Agriculture Educational Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

ANNOUNCER: And by...

The Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association...

The Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund...

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated...

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment... And by... ♪ ♪