♪ ♪ HOST: From east to west and all points in between, Maryland agriculture is a growth industry.

Did you know bees and humans can live in harmony?

That dogs can sniff out beehive hazards?

And that Maryland has only one sheep cheese farm?

Don't go away.

Stories about the people who work the land and grow our food plus, 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 life.

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: Maryland agriculture covers a vast array of commodities and specialty crops, including, of course, livestock.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining.

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

Dairy heifers, like these here at Panora Acres, account for only a fraction of the total number of livestock in Maryland.

At last count, over 300,000 cows, goats, hogs, and every other hoofed animal you can think of are part of Maryland's agricultural landscape.

This week's episode looks at farm animals, but not necessarily what first comes to mind.

Coming up, a specially trained Lab sniffs out disease to help save Maryland bee colonies.

But first, a retired couple fulfill a lifelong dream of owning a farm.

They follow a philosophy called "harmonic gardening," and what they farm is buzzing with joy.

♪ ♪ When you're dealing with creatures as intelligent and complex as a honeybee, it can be difficult for a beekeeper to learn all that they need to know.

But for retired scientists, Jane Kuhl and Drew Denton, it was a challenge that perfectly aligned with their life philosophy.

JANE KUHL: Learn as if you're going to live forever, live as if you're going to die tomorrow.

So, get as many experiences in as you can because you never know when it's going to be your last day.

JOANNE: That mantra, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, helped Drew and Jane in their respective careers as an electrical engineer and physicist.

And when most retirees were looking at slowing down, they had their sights on something busier.

JANE: Play golf or sit on a beach.

Be way too boring.

I can't imagine that kind of lifestyle just sitting still.

I can't sit still.

DREW DENTON: No.

No, sitting still is not our game.

JOANNE: And so, the couple fulfilled a lifelong dream and bought Lost Acre Farm in Bel Air, Maryland.

They sold tomatoes, peppers, and asparagus.

But when they responded to an ad from a beekeeper looking to keep his two hives on a farm, things really started buzzing.

DREW: While, the bees were here, we'd go out and watch them and just got fascinated paying attention to them.

JANE: And then, we decided that we'd be interested in keeping ourselves instead of keeping somebody else's bees.

So then, we decided to take the class at Hartford Community College and we got more, and more interested.

Started with two hives.

DREW: I would say it was stressful at first when we first started keeping bees.

And so, we would be anxious.

We'd go out.

We'd didn't know what we were doing.

We'd argue.

JANE: We'd open up a hive and inspect it, and we'd be talking more to each other saying, "What were we supposed to do, if we saw this?

Is this right?"

"No, I think she said do this."

I said, "No, I don't think that's right."

So at first, it was just so overwhelming.

It felt like, there was so much to learn.

JOANNE: After 10 years of beekeeping, the two look back at their initial struggles as a learning experience.

But their success is even more inspiring when you learn Drew was bringing in just a little bit of bee baggage.

DREW: Well, I'm terrified of bees, or at least I was before we started keeping bees.

And I'm not anymore really.

I'm in a full bee suit, head to toe.

They can't get to me, so I'm not really afraid of them anymore.

You know, you got to fight your fears once in a while.

(laughs) JOANNE: Measuring in at just over half an inch, the honeybee is a small creature, but one that has helped Jane and Drew see a much bigger world.

JANE: They have such a different way, such a different society where they look out for each other.

They're willing to give their life to preserve the hive.

You'll find that you usually don't get stung by a bee where they're feeding on the flowers.

You're going to get stung at their hive because they're defending everyone else.

And they have such a short life.

An average summer bee lives only six weeks and they put all that energy into getting, just continuously getting honey.

Even if it's overflowing with honey, they just keep going until they literally just drop dead one day.

JOANNE: That selfless nature of a bee colony has evolved Jane and Drew's initial intrigue into a love and passion.

DREW: Before I started keeping bees, I never would've thought about them being cute, and now we think of them as being almost pet-like.

JOANNE: And for these pets, early summer is an important time of year.

After a springtime spent rapidly increasing the workforce, honeybees are at peak population, totaling anywhere between 20,000 and 60,000 per colony.

Now, they leave the hive to gather nectar and pollen to prepare for the winter.

And Jane and Drew have worked hard to provide the bees a bountiful buffet.

JANE: Everything we plant, the decision is, if I can plant this or that, which one would the bees prefer?

So, they do have a source and they don't have to go too far.

They'll fly two or three miles if they have to, but we don't want them to use that much energy to have to fly that far.

JOANNE: The bees use their proboscis, or a sort of long, hairy tongue, to suck out the nectar, that sugary fluid that plants produce to attract honeybees and other pollinators, like their distant cousin, the bumblebee.

The nectar will provide them with immediate energy while the honeybee stores excess in their honey stomach.

Back at the hive, it's processed by the enzymes of multiple bees into the delicious sweetener that is craved by creatures of all sizes.

The surplus will then be harvested by Jane and Drew.

DREW: They build bridge comb between frames.

So, I'm trying to break that loose so it doesn't tear the cells either.

JANE: You have to be focused.

You can't be thinking about and you don't think about anything else.

You're thinking about not harming the bees.

You're thinking about what do they need.

Doing the things very quickly because you don't want to have that hive open any longer than you have to.

JOANNE: Once the frames have been collected, Jane and Drew take them back to their barn where they will remove the wax cappings from the honey.

Then, they'll place the uncapped frames into a honey extractor, which will spin the honey out without destroying the comb.

The honey and beeswax will then be used in Jane and Drew's Lumina honey and hives products line for soap, candles, and of course, jarred honey.

Jane and Drew look at the bees as partners.

Happy bees means, a happy business.

But honey and beeswax isn't the only gift that they've bestowed to the couple.

DREW: It's extremely relaxing because you have to move slow.

You have to be deliberate.

And it's almost like doing yoga or meditating.

It's just a different way of looking at life.

We nurture these bees and it connects you with nature.

JOANNE: And whether they're pets, business partners, or flying pathways to serenity, it's always an opportunity for the lifelong learners.

JANE: Our original mentor when we were beekeepers said, "We can be a beekeeper for 10 years or you can be a first-year beekeeper 10 years in a row."

And we like to learn something new about the bees every year.

There's always something.

We're trying to push ourselves to learn something new.

Life is too short.

♪ ♪ JOANNE: All right, it's time to test your farm implement knowledge.

Here is our Thingamajig for the week.

Do you think you know what it is?

Well, here's a hint.

It may look menacing, but it was never used in a horror film.

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

Farm animals come in all shapes and sizes, and that's not even counting the animals farmers call pets.

We asked farm folks to show us their beloved best friends.

Enjoy.

♪ ♪ Honey is a natural sweetener, and it also has medicinal uses as well with claims of having antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Add that to the honeybees' importance as a crop pollinator, then keeping bee colonies healthy is priority one.

Fortunately, the USDA has a staffer that has just the right nose for the job.

Here's a look back to season five and a beehive pawtector.

♪ ♪ Just after sunrise in November, in an open field behind a Washington County movie theater, rows of Maryland honeybee colonies sit waiting.

In a few weeks, they'll be packed in a 53 foot refrigerated truck and sent to California to help pollinate the almond crop.

CYBIL PRESTON: Come on.

Let's go.

JOANNE: But before the hives, nearly 1,600 of them, hit the road, a yellow lab named Mack has a job to do.

CYBIL: Good boy.

We come early in the morning so that it's cold.

We need the bees to be not moving.

JOANNE: Mack's task is to stick his nose in each hive using his superior sense of smell to check for a contagious colony-killing bacteria known as "American foulbrood."

CYBIL PRESTON: We quarantine and we don't allow hives with American foulbrood to move.

When we find one, we control that area until we rid of the American foulbrood bacteria.

JOANNE: Mack's handler, trainer, and fellow early riser is Cybil Preston, the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Chief Apiary Inspector.

While, human inspectors only have time to spot check large quantities of hives like these, Mack can do them all in about 15 minutes, which is good because that's about as long as he can focus.

CYBIL: Mack went through and did 100 percent of the colonies that are here, and he found no disease.

Wow, that's a lot of bees.

JOANNE: A relief for beekeeper Ora Hays of Hays Apiary, an operation with about 3,000 colonies producing about 100,000 pounds of honey a year.

But a large part of his business is commercial pollination services.

Now that Mack and Cybil have certified this batch of bees, he can get to work preparing them for their winter in California.

ORA HAYS: Honey bees are not native to the Americas, so you wouldn't have your fruits, you wouldn't have your apples, your cucumbers, and certainly almonds.

Almonds need bees to pollinate in order to get a fruit set.

Without bees, you would get approximately 300 to 400 pounds of almonds per acre.

With bees, that's 3,000 to 4,000 pound per acre.

JOANNE: A difference so big growers are willing to pay top dollar for bees like Ora's to cross the country.

ORA: California grows about 80 percent of the world's almonds.

And that is in billions of dollars.

It's big money.

And there just isn't enough bees or beekeepers willing to send all their bees to California to do that.

JOANNE: And when the bees come back to Hagerstown in February, they'll be put to work during our growing season.

Ora's colonies pollinate crops in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware.

Keeping track of all these busy bees is enough to make you, well, dog tired.

Mack has plenty of time to rest.

After all, he can only work when it's cold.

But Cybil and the Department of Agriculture's other apiary inspectors work year round, not only looking for American foulbrood but assessing the overall health of Maryland bees.

CYBIL: Some of it is a bacterial issue, a fungal issue, and then we also have a parasitic mite that causes issues with the bees.

JOANNE: But Mack's sole focus is American foulbrood.

Because it's contagious, it's the only thing bees going out of state must be inspected for.

To keep Mack's skills sharp in season, Cybil trains Mack daily at her home in Hartford County.

CYBIL: What I use as my training aid is actual comb with bacteria in it.

And he loves it.

This is what we train with.

This is the scent.

It smells kind of like a poultry barn and dead animal.

Who's going to work?

Okay.

Show me.

Check.

Show me which one.

Show me.

Good boy.

Good boy.

JOANNE: When he recognizes the scent, he earns a scratch behind the ears and a few minutes of fetch.

CYBIL: Good boy.

Good boy.

JOANNE: Pretty good.

But the reward we get from his work is even greater.

CYBIL: One-third of every bite you take is thanks to the bees, whether it is a fruit or a vegetable, or it is a grain that feeds cows or other animals that we eat.

So, we can thank the bees for that pollination.

JOANNE: In 2017, Mack received the Governor's Customer Services Award for being a very good boy at work.

Now, Mack has a co-pupper named Tukka.

Cybil and her paw patrol have been busy bees inspecting over 2,100 hives annually.

We all know it can be an uphill battle trying to protect livestock.

So, many farmers have turned to a four-legged farm hand to do the job.

Both Then & Now.

♪ ♪ A dog may be man's best friend, but throughout history, he's also been man's best co-worker.

Hunter gatherers first domesticated dogs from wolves.

But our canine companions found a new calling around 10,000 years ago, helping farmers during the development of agriculture.

Livestock guardian dogs have been roughing up predators since ancient Rome.

They were essential for protecting herds from wild animals like wolves and bears.

You'll still see them on farms today keeping a watchful eye on sheep or poultry and warning potential threats with a stern bark.

(dogs barking) In areas where predators were not a threat, herd dogs gave shepherds more bang for their bark.

From as far back as the Middle Ages, herd dogs have gathered and moved flocks.

Some dogs, like Border Collies, controlled sheep by circling and staring at them.

Others, like Corgis, nipped at the sheep's heels.

Today, after centuries of breeding, herd dogs can anticipate sheep's movements and have them under control much faster than a farmer can.

There's another dog you'll find on Maryland farms, when farmers are hunting in the off season.

And it's also our official state dog.

Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are descended from two St. John's puppies rescued in 1807 from a sinking ship off Maryland's coast.

These puppies bred with local dogs leading to the breed we now know today.

Chessies are excellent dogs for duck hunters.

Their strength, endurance, and thick coats make them perfect for fetching down ducks from the icy bay.

Of course, farm dogs like their urban and suburban counterparts all seem to have one thing in common, they're dog gone adorable.

As you know, not all cheese is made from cow's milk.

On this week's The Local Buy, an enterprising farmer couple found inspiration in European barnyards to shepherd in an utterly new cheesemaking operation, and Al Spoler is there to lend a hand.

Al.

♪ ♪ AL SPOLER: We're here at Shepherd's Manor Creamery in New Windsor in Carroll County where they make some of the very best cheese in all of Maryland, but they have a very unique approach to it.

Want to guess?

MICHAEL HISTON: Shepherd's Manor Creamery is the first and only sheep dairy in the state of Maryland.

We wanted to do true artisan cheese like they do over in Europe.

AL: I love the sound of animals eating.

It's great.

Michael and Colleen Histon began raising sheep almost 14 years ago.

COLLEEN HISTON: We are a farmstead operation, meaning that we raised animals that produced a milk that I use to make cheese.

MICHAEL: Our sheep are a combination of two breeds.

East Friesian, which comes from Austria where the Holstein cow comes from.

And then, the ones that are totally white are Lacaune and they are from France.

They give me my higher butter fat content and higher protein like a Jersey cow would.

AL: In addition to grain, the sheep eat hay and grass.

As the seasons change, the grass changes, and that affects the taste and quality of the milk.

MICHAEL: We try to do as much raw milk as we can, and you can taste the flavors in the cheese as the age progresses.

AL: Twice, twice a day, all 83 sheep on the farm get milked.

And it's time for the afternoon milking and these gals are eager for it.

So, go ahead girls.

Go ahead.

You've got a real production line going here.

MICHAEL: Tries to be.

AL: First thing we do is we're going to clean off the teats.

MICHAEL: You want to get any dirt or any potential for any pathogens to come off the animal.

AL: Right.

I have the feeling that they realize that I'm a total amateur at this business.

With the teats utterly clean, we can begin harvesting some milk.

And look at it.

It's really coming out.

It's just suction pulling it right out.

MICHAEL: Correct.

And then, the tapping you here is what's called a "pulsator."

And what it does is it's mimicking the pulsation of a little lamb suckling.

AL: How about that.

MICHAEL: So, if we were to turn the pulsator off, no milk would come out at all.

You have to have the pulsation in order for it to work.

AL: Amazing.

WOMAN: Come on, girls.

AL: The sheep's job is done.

Time to make the cheese.

Colleen has turned on the milk flow, so it's coming through.

Are we pasteurizing today?

COLLEEN: No.

No, we're going to make a raw cheese.

Raw cheese goes a lot faster.

You're not heating the milk up as hot.

Main switch.

AL: Pasteurization kills pathogens, which can be present in raw milk.

COLLEEN: But it also ends up removing some of the good vitamins that are in the milk.

So, by maintaining that, you're keeping the integrity of the milk.

AL: Shepherd's Manor Creamery is one of only two dairies in Maryland certified to make raw cheese.

Today, Colleen and I are making a tomme, a French soft cheese, so we'd better add some culture.

COLLEEN: I have four cultures that are going into the cheese that we're making today.

And that's going to change your flavor components in your milk.

So, two of the cultures are cultures for ripening.

AL: Ripening keeps the cheese from molding.

Lastly, the rennet coagulates the milk.

Just that little bit of rennet is responsible for this entire tub.

COLLEEN: That's correct.

AL: From here, the curd is cut up so we can separate the whey.

COLLEEN: Yeah, it doesn't have to be perfect.

AL: Well, it sure won't be with me doing it.

COLLEEN: No.

AL: Once in the molds, they're pressed to remove any remaining whey.

And then, off to the aging room.

In the final stage of cheesemaking, time is the most important ingredient.

In time, the cheese will dry forming a rind while the cultures create a barrier that protects the cheese and helps create its ultimate flavor.

COLLEEN: As it ages, it becomes nuttier and harder and really nice.

AL: That sounds tasty.

I think it's time for a bite.

Well, Colleen, when we asked you to prepare something for us using cheese, that wasn't too tough an ask was it?

COLLEEN: No, Al, it wasn't.

AL: Tell me what we've got here.

COLLEEN: So, I brought out my Camembert, which is a bloomy rind style.

And then, my juniper, which has cardamon, juniper berry, and ginger.

AL: I can smell it all the way over here.

It's really wonderful.

COLLEEN: Thank you.

AL: But the piece de resistance is this beautiful quiche that you put together for us.

So, what's in this?

COLLEEN: It has zucchini and mushroom, and sundried tomato, two of my cheeses, the ewe creme and one of my harder-rinded cheeses.

AL: It's fabulous and you can taste every single ingredient.

Can we use the recipe, put it on our website?

COLLEEN: Absolutely.

AL: Let people tried it home.

Although, I don't think they're going to do it as well as you did.

Folks, just go to mpt.org/farm and look for the recipe.

It's going to be great.

For The Local Buy, I'm Al Spoler.

Joanne.

JOANNE: Thanks, Al.

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 that it may look menacing, but it was never used in a horror film, at least not that we know of.

This is a hay knife.

It was used to saw off sections of larger bales of hay.

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 life.

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... {dogs barking} ♪ ♪