♪ ♪ HOST: From the Coastal Plain to the Appalachian Highlands, Maryland agriculture sets the standard.

Did you know pumpkins are more than just a pretty face, that some farms don't have soil, and that cattle aren't the only red meat in town?

Don't go anywhere.

Stories about the people who work the land and feed our state, 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 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: When we think of farms, we generally think rolling fields of corn and wheat and barnyards full of milk cows, chickens, and sheep, but that would leave a few farms out of the mix.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining.

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

We're in northern Baltimore County at Hillcrest Nursery.

And with four acres under glass, it doesn't exactly fit the mold of a traditional farm, but a closer look around, and you'll see what amounts to a farm starter kit.

Depending on the season, the rows upon rows of greenhouses here are full of annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs, and more.

Coming up, we visit a farm where the animals are a bit different.

But first, when it comes to fall harvests, it's not just corn and soybeans that got all the attention.

This first story packs a patch of pumpkin fun enough for the whole family.

♪ ♪ Here at Baugher's Orchard and Farm Market, there is a wagon-load of fall fun happening every weekend.

From make-your-own scarecrows and a lively petting zoo to the bustling market and pick-your-own apple, and pumpkin fields, Baugher's is all about agritourism, one of the fastest growing trends in farming today.

DWIGHT BAUGHER: Agritourism is huge for us.

I call it the cherry on top of the sundae.

You know, for us, we are a wholesale farm.

We haul to grocery stores.

We sell to buyers.

So, we're not just a retail pick-your-own operation, but it drives the markets.

It drives the people.

It drives the education of knowing where food is produced.

WOMAN: Pull it, twist.

Yeah.

SOLLAS FAMILY MEMBER: It's really just the experience, and just get a chance to be out here together.

RONALD WATSON: It's cool seeing other families and couples out here and everyone smiling, and having a good time.

This is what life is about.

If you want to kind of take a reset and relax from the business of life, I would say come, and you would have to try hard not to enjoy yourself.

JOANNE: For farm manager Dwight Baugher, the best part of agritainment is knowing that his visitors will get to take home more than just apples and pumpkins.

DWIGHT: The more people we get out here on the weekend in that setting, we feel like the more we get them into better produce, local, and they also get to see it firsthand.

The agritainment lets these generations coming get firsthand witness to where their food's coming from, the people behind it, the machinery, the space, everything that's needed to do it.

They get a front row seat to that.

SOLLAS FAMILY MEMBER: You've got this, Tamara.

You've got this.

SOLLAS FAMILY MEMBER: All right.

Where do you see it?

I like the apple picking and how you can get two different types of apples, and you're not questioning what type it is because they just show you.

I also like the fun.

DWIGHT: I think it makes them, the next time in their grocery store, go, "I understand a little better what took place here."

Agritainment drives that.

You can see in our markets, if we don't have something to pick, the business drops by 70 percent.

As soon as you have something to pick, the people are coming.

JOANNE: And the people have been coming since the early 1970s when Dwight's father started with pick-your-own cherries.

They added pumpkins in 1994, followed by apples, a few years later.

CYNDY HOWES: This time of year is probably our busiest time of year, where we do pumpkin and apple picking.

Weekends is when we do pick-your-own in the fall.

So, we're usually gearing up for a packed house on Saturday and Sunday.

We're set up really well.

It's kind of like a well-greased machine out there.

NICK WILHIDE: It's a little stressful because it is quite a big operation.

I don't think anybody realizes how many people, we put through in a year.

DWIGHT: Last weekend, we hauled 5,400 people on Saturday and 5,900 people on Sunday, but those are the monster weekends.

You know, this middle of October are the holy grails of agritainment and pick-your-own business, you know.

Now, we enjoy it, but when it's over, we all take a deep exhale and ready to hibernate like bears a little bit, you know.

It's a lot of work.

BOY: Mommy, look.

This is perfect.

MOTHER: Do you think?

BOY: Yeah.

MOTHER: Let me see.

GIRL: I want this one, Mommy.

JOANNE: And while people are flocking to the fields for apples and pumpkins, back at the market, it's just as busy.

CYNDY: The market is open seven days a week, and we pretty much sell anything that's in season.

If you look at that sign back there over our head, that's all the different things we sell here that we actually grow.

So, our most important priority is the fruit and the produce that we grow on the farm, but we also have the added value of having a little gift shop and a store.

We do have an in-house bakery, so we have plenty of delicious baked goods.

JOANNE: With such a variety of sweets and treats, you can bet everyone has a favorite.

DWIGHT: Black raspberry and peach crumb are my two favorite pies.

SOLLAS FAMILY MEMBER: I like the apple-cider slushy.

CYNDY: Rolls are my favorite things.

SOLLAS FAMILY MEMBER: I like the apple cider.

NICK: Fritters are second to none.

SOLLAS FAMILY MEMBER: I like the apple-cider donuts.

SHAVONDALYN GIVENS: The apple-cider donuts.

RONALD WATSON: Yes.

SHAVONDALYN: And the slushies.

RONALD: Yeah.

SHAVONDALYN: Whoever thought of doing the apple cider with the slushies.

JOANNE: And you can't have an apple-cider slushy without Baugher's famous apple cider.

DWIGHT: To be honest, the apple cider is not a recipe.

It's a blend, and it's a blend of whatever you have on hand.

And to make the best cider, you jam as many apples in that blend as you can.

That's what gives you the full body.

If you've just got all galas, it's not very good.

And then, it's that tart/sweet balance to get it right, so it's not too twangy and it's not just too sugary.

It's a moving target every week we're making cider.

But one thing's for sure: when you crack it, it's as fresh as it's going to be and it's blended the best of what we have.

JOANNE: And the best is exactly what you can expect from Baugher's.

For four going on five generations, Baugher's commitment to its customers has been synonymous with quality produce, delicious baked goods, and of course, lasting memories.

DWIGHT: When you hear a family get off the wagon and they're taking pictures and they said, "I was here as a kid," that generational thing of people that are building memories, and that's what gives us pride to keep Baugher's running.

And to me, that's what makes it special.

RONALD: I came here as a kid.

My mom brought me and my siblings here.

It was quality time that our mom made for us.

That was like one of those family things we did every year.

A lot of different places that do similar things, but this is like special for me because it brings a lot of good childhood memories.

It was cool to return, and it's like that much more special because we're here together.

SHAVONDALYN: I'm sure we're going to be making this an annual tradition now.

RONALD: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Absolutely.

SHAVONDALYN: We'll be back every year.

JOANNE: And it looks like the next generation is already hard at work making memories in Baugher's Apple Orchards and... CHILDREN: Pumpkin patch.

♪ ♪ JOANNE: All right, it's time to test your agriculture expertise.

Here's our thingamajig for the week.

Do you have any idea what it is?

Well, here's a hint.

It's not a back scratcher, although that feels pretty good.

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

There aren't many views better than those on a farm, especially looking down a tree-lined farm lane, over a snow-covered pasture, or across a field of grain.

Here are some picks of favorite views.

Enjoy.

♪ ♪ When a farmer tells you his best harvest was underwater, you'd probably give him a double take unless, of course, it was at Tranquility Farm in St. Mary's County.

Here's a look back to season four.

♪ ♪ TAL PETTY: This is not a bad office is it?

JOANNE: In the few years since Tal Petty left his desk job and started oyster farming full-time, he's found a lot to love about his new line of work, namely that it doesn't feel like work, probably because it didn't start out as a job.

TAL: This is a classic hobby grown amok.

JOANNE: Tal's family has owned Tranquility Farm since the '70s.

The 300-acre property sits on the bank of the Patuxent River in St. Mary's County.

Over the years, they raised grass-fed cattle and other livestock, but it was always more of a weekend retreat than a serious farming operation.

That is, until Tal started oyster gardening under the dock.

TAL: I started with three floats and went to six and 12 and 24, and had some parties to eat all the oysters that we were growing.

And friends, foodie friends from the city said, "Hey, these are pretty good oysters."

JOANNE: Since then, a bonafide oyster operation has developed alongside the family's beef cattle.

At any one time, more than a million oysters occupy Hollywood Oyster Company's 4-acre lease.

(boat engine noise) All of it, from harvesting to processing and packaging, operates off solar energy.

TAL: So, it's a natural progression for the way, we think when the way we grow our cattle, basically grass fed on a forever-green farm, to transition to a sustainable oyster farm here on the Patuxent River.

(underwater sounds) JOANNE: Sustainable because oysters thrive on algae, and there's plenty of it in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, like the Patuxent.

Too much algae or algal blooms can block out sunlight and kill everything else in the water.

Blooms are fueled by nutrient runoff from farms, fertilizer from lawns, and runoff from urban areas.

(underwater sounds) As of 2016, oyster farms occupied about 5,900 acres in Maryland, all of them teaming with nature's most efficient filter.

But before they hit the river, these oysters get their start on Tal's dock, also known as the nursery.

TAL: We get a million oysters.

They fit in a gallon container.

And 18 months later when they're all, give or take, three inches ready for market, they fill up about 40 dump trucks.

So in between, all we do is separate them by size.

Oysters grow at different speeds.

JAMES TWEED: You can almost see, there's like a growth line there.

JOANNE: James Tweed is Hollywood's dock manager.

JAMES: That's all new growth from this spring.

JOANNE: He oversees the process.

JAMES: The cylinder you see rotating there is a sorter, and it's got two different sized perforations in it.

It's got an inch-and-a-half and a two-inch perforation.

And what the sorter does is it sorts out, sorts them into three different sizes.

(boat engine noise) JOANNE: James and his crew pull the cages every eight weeks or so.

Sorting the oysters consistently has another benefit.

It roughs them up a little bit.

JAMES: The tumbling process has a tendency to chip the shell.

By chipping the shell, it makes the shell grow with a deeper cup.

It also makes the shell grow thicker.

JOANNE: And easier to open.

Farmed oysters are typically what's known as a triploid oyster.

TAL: Which is sort of like a seedless watermelon or a seedless grape.

When a normal diploid oyster is spawning and you don't necessarily want to eat it because it has a softer meat and they're giving their energy to reproduction, a triploid oyster, the meat is firm throughout the summer.

JOANNE: A year-round product means James and his crew are out harvesting on the coldest days, the warmest days, and everything in between.

Once, the oysters are harvested, they're washed, packed... TAL: This is where we've put a hundred in a box.

JOANNE: ...and shipped out.

And because oysters take on the flavor of their environment, each one carries with it the unique taste of this little cove on the Patuxent.

TAL: It's a connection with nature.

I mean, you open up the oyster and the merroir, the liquid in the cup, is your connection to the sea.

That's what we love about the taste and the smell, and the joy of eating an oyster with our friends.

JOANNE: I'm happy to report that Hollywood Oyster Company continues to make waves in the aquaculture market.

If you'd like to give those tasty filter feeders a try, you can find a link to their website on our resources page at mpt.org/farm.

And did you know there are 300 oyster farms in Maryland waters?

Think of this: just one adult oyster can filter up to 30 gallons of water a day.

As farming goes, it's a lucrative livestock that's also a conservation win.

Coming up, Al Spoler takes us to a farm where if you squint just right, you'd think you were on the Great Plains.

But first, in order to stay current in today's economy, farmers must embrace technology.

But for one portion of Maryland's farming community, it's been just the opposite, both then and now.

♪ ♪ The Amish are a traditionalist Christian sect living in rural communities throughout the United States and Canada.

They value simple living, plain clothes, and an avoidance of modern technology.

To most outsiders or English, the Amish appear as remnants of a distant past, a group whose belief and practices have remained virtually unchanged since the Protestant Reformation of the 1600s.

But a deeper look into Maryland's diverse Amish population reveals that these buggy-driving communities aren't nearly as static as they might seem.

Maryland has three Amish settlements, at Cecilton, Mechanicsville, and Gortner.

The settlement at Gortner in Garrett County is both the state's oldest Amish community and its most unique.

Founded in 1850 by German immigrants, the Gortner Amish maintained 19th century lifestyles until well into the 20th century.

But in the 1960s, the Maryland government passed health regulations requiring the pasteurization of milk, a process that required electricity.

Many of the Gortner Amish operated dairy farms.

So, these new regulations led to a debate over whether electricity should be allowed for agricultural applications.

The congregation ultimately decided to allow electricity in the barn.

Soon after, it made its way into the home as well in the form of lights and refrigerators.

Today, the Gortner Amish are debating newer and newer technologies, from washing machines to cell phones to the Internet.

But the challenge remains the same as ever: to preserve a traditional way of life in a world obsessed with change.

Most Maryland cattle farms will likely have black Angus or Hereford stock grazing in their pastures.

But a small farm in Monkton is raising a herd of animals that you don't see every day.

On this week's The Local Buy, Al Spoler gives us a glimpse of what can be called the original red meat.

Al?

♪ ♪ AL SPOLER: (Singing) ♪ Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam ♪ ♪ Where the deer and the antelope play ♪ Well, I can understand why you might think that The Local Buy has gone out west where the buffalo roam, but actually we're in northern Baltimore County at JJ Bison, and we're here to learn a little bit more about these historic and iconic creatures.

And the first thing I found out is that buffalo never roamed the plains of North America.

The buffalo is actually native to Africa and Asia.

GENE MADDOX: The buffalo is more the water buffalo, the Cape buffalo.

So, it just became known as the buffalo.

It's really...

The American Bison is what the actual name is for it, but because people know it as buffalo, we use them interchangeably.

AL: Gene Maddox, owner of JJ Bison, became a quick study on herd dynamics.

GENE: Yeah, the bull's just kind of there watching things.

One of the females, usually the largest one, and that's what it is here, is kind of in charge.

She basically tells everybody, "Here's where we're going, and here's what we're doing."

Honestly, the less you do with them, the less you interact, the better off they are.

I mean, they do what they want.

They're a wild animal.

AL: There's only one bull in this small herd, and that's by design.

GENE: In an area this size, if you were to put two bulls in here, they would fight each other.

They would fight over the other cows.

AL: The JJ Bison herd is free-range and on a hormone-free diet.

GENE: They're grass fed.

They get some grain supplements.

They get oats and barley and some corn, soybean.

AL: So, these two bags will feed the little herd there?

GENE: These two bags will do it.

AL: Okay, let's go feed them.

GENE: All right, sounds good.

(engine noise) AL: Gene rotates the herd through seven paddocks on 26 acres of pesticide-free pasture.

So, they have plenty of lush green grass to graze on.

But they sure know when it's feeding time.

(engine noise) Beautiful.

Grab it and toss it?

GENE: Just grab it and toss it as far as you can.

AL: There you go, guys.

I've got to tell you, I feel fortunate for the chance to feed an American Bison.

It's been a long road back from the brink for this symbol of Americana.

In the early 1800s, they numbered 60 million strong.

A century later, hunted to near extinction, less than 400 animals remained.

Today, there are around 500,000 bison in the US.

Most are privately held stock, with a fraction roaming wild.

Yellowstone is home to around 5,500 bison, and many are descendants of those original Plains bison.

Like, most livestock, Gene's bison are destined for the dinner plate.

GENE: We sell to a couple restaurants, a couple different restaurants.

We also do some online, shipping online, and we have a store down in Cockeysville.

We have one restaurant, Cafe Mezzanotte down in Severna Park, who does a rib-eye.

And it's hard for us to keep him stocked.

He seems to go through them quickly.

AL: Well, what am I waiting for?

TOMMIE KOUKOULIS: Season it liberally.

♪ ♪ AL: I never met a steak, I didn't like, but I've never had a steak cut from a bison, which is why I have come here to Cafe Mezzanotte in Anne Arundel County, where chef "Tommie" Koukoulis is going to grill me up a bison rib-eye.

Chef, I'm just blown away by the beautiful plate you've put together for me.

It's fabulous.

And at first glance, the bison rib-eye looks just like a piece of beef.

I mean, it's just amazing.

Beautiful searing on it.

A caramelization of some of the fat.

What else do you have on the plate?

TOMMIE: Well, thank you.

You know the most important thing is to use the best ingredients, we can find.

And so, JJ Maryland bison is one of the best ingredients, we can get our hands on.

AL: Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

TOMMIE: Now, bison is typically a leaner steak, which is why the rib-eye cut works so well with it.

But when you have a leaner meat like that, you can be have a little more fun with the healthy fats.

We added a black garlic compound butter, a little basil-infused extra-virgin olive oil.

And then, a complement on the dish is some oven-roasted organic Romanesco and whipped Gorgonzola and saffron mash.

AL: I've got to tell you, it tastes fabulous.

TOMMIE: Thank you.

AL: There's a ton of flavor here.

And you've got a lot of fat, which really bison's not supposed to, but yes, it does.

And it's there, and it really improves the flavor.

I think it's really, really nice.

I tell you what, could you give us some tips on how to cook bison?

And we'll put them on the website.

TOMMIE: I think I can do that.

AL: Very good.

Just go to mpt.org/farm and look it up.

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's not a back scratcher, but it could be in a pinch.

This is an oyster hammer.

As wild oysters grow, they attach themselves to dead oyster shells.

When the watermen bring them up, they use this hammer for two things: to knock off the excess shell and to measure the size of the oyster.

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... (Bison grunting) ♪ ♪