♪ ♪ JOANNE CLENDINING: From the coastal plain to the Appalachian Highland, Maryland agriculture is on full display.

Did you know ducks have a taste for invasive insects?

An urban farmer connects to the community through food and education, and a summer stew can be new to you.

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."

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.

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.

And by Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences.

(theme music playing) JOANNE: Maryland farmers are one part scientist, one part innovator, and all parts optimist.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining.

Welcome to "Maryland Farm and Harvest."

Willowdale is a fourth-generation working farm raising horses, cattle, hay, row crops, fruits and vegetables.

And smack dab in the middle of the farm is their brewery Farmacy.

It's proof that innovation, science, and optimism can make all the difference in the world of agriculture.

Coming up, a first-generation farmer is optimistic when it comes to providing fresh and affordable food to her community.

But first, when a vineyard became besieged by the dreaded spotted lantern fly, the owner was beside himself, but then an unlikely hero waddled to the rescue.

No doubt you've seen this bug nesting, crawling, and hopping all over the state of Maryland.

The invasive spotted lantern fly has brought a new challenge for farmers and entomologists like Mike Raupp of the University of Maryland Extension Service, Mike is an expert on invasive insects, and today he's investigating the lantern fly population in the woods surrounding Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia, which is covered in the lantern fly's favorite munchie, the invasive tree of heaven.

DR. MIKE RAUPP: You can see how much they love, they depend on tree of heaven.

These guys actually froze with their beaks still in the tree when temperatures dropped into the twenties last week.

JOANNE: Between frosted lantern flies and countless egg masses that signal the next generation of insect...

There's plenty of evidence that the pest has been in these woods.

But the lantern fly also poses significant issues on Maryland farms.

DR. RAUPP: This spotted lanternfly is what we call a sucking insect.

That means it's got mouth parts like a hypodermic needle.

It puts it into the plant.

It sucks the sap of the plant reducing the productivity that robs the plants of the vital nutrients it needs.

JOANNE: And it's been especially difficult for grape vintners to combat as the bugs love sucking sap out of the vine.

JAMES EWING: There's a bunch of 'em there.

That's a new, the new bug in town, if you will.

It's always bad when they're new.

JOANNE: And while effective pest management strategies are still being developed, James Ewing of Libertas Estates is taking a somewhat "quacky" approach.

That's right.

Protecting this ten-acre vineyard is a waddling army of 200 Indian Runner Ducks who are more than happy to help James with his pest problem.

JAMES: They love 'em.

They look at 'em, them big red wings all sprawled out and they're, they looked and looked, and finally they started eating 'em.

And I mean, there was no turning back.

JOANNE: While it might seem like they're just "ducking around," this flock has fit the bill perfectly, JAMES: I tell everyone, uh, they don't eat 'em all.

You see they're up at the top here.

Of course, them ducks can't reach up there.

But as time goes on, those more mature ones find their way to the trunk.

The ducks really just picking the trunk clean if it has 'em on there.

And, and it seems to help.

I mean, every one they eat is 30 or 40 eggs that won't be laid.

JOANNE: Limiting the next generation of lantern fly is especially important for Maryland vineyards, both large and small.

DR. RAUPP: These spotted lantern flies can be incredibly destructive.

That waste product from the sap it feeds on is gonna be excreted as a sweet sticky liquid called Honey Dew.

That Honey Dew is going to encourage the growth of a fungus called sooty mold, an ugly black fungus that's gonna reduce the quality of the grapes.

JOANNE: The spotted lantern fly was first seen in Pennsylvania where it caused hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage, and some vineyards lost 90% of their crop.

JAMES: Those poor people didn't have a chance.

They moved in, they didn't think nothing of it, and there they are tearing out acres and acres of vines that died because they just didn't know.

JOANNE: The lantern fly has now been spotted up and down the east coast.

Fortunately, James' boyhood hobby has these pests ducking for cover.

JAMES: Growing up, my sister and I, we got peaking ducklings at Easter time.

We would get two of 'em, have 'em in the house in a tub, and we had a creek there at home and it was good.

And then I got a little older and started going to poultry auctions, and that was kind of then it was on with me buying poultry.

JOANNE: That childhood passion turned into a lifelong fascination.

And now James' Ducks are the first line of defense against the lantern fly, making up the majority of his vineyard, "Vanguard" is the Indian runner Duck.

It's the difference in the way their body's designed.

The runner ducks are, are upright like a penguin, if you will, and that's how they walk around.

And you've seen how when they took off it, they get around good, but all other ducks with the elongated body, they can only go a short distance and they're played out.

But the runner ducks for sure are about the only one that can withstand that kind of movement regularly.

JOANNE: It might seem odd, but using ducks as pest management actually happens all over the world, particularly in Asian countries where ducks roam rice patty fields eating weeds and bugs around the crop.

DR. RAUPP: We often hear it said that a new invasive species has arrived and there are no known predators of it in the new land.

But guess what?

Ducks know exactly what to do when they see a spotted lantern fly.

They're gonna be like McNuggets.

It's brilliant.

JOANNE: Mike is optimistic that the lantern fly population will normalize over time.

DR. RAUPP: Mother Nature has what we call "biotic resistance."

Predators, parasites, pathogens will actually take advantage of those spotted lantern flies, helping to collapse their population.

So, I'm optimistic.

JOANNE: Until then, James and his ducks will be treating the problem like water off their backs.

JAMES: Farming in general, I would say, is about overcoming obstacles on a daily.

Some days you have good luck and some days you have bad luck and you try not to let it discourage you and you just keep pressing forward.

JOANNE: 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.

This tool will allow you to taste the fruits of your labor.

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

There's a feature on many farms that provide several functions, be it a watering hole for animals, a water resource for crops, or simply a beautiful oasis.

Farm ponds can be a sight to behold.

Here are some picks of our faves.

Enjoy!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ JOANNE: Food insecurity affects the lives of countless Marylanders.

And one Prince George's County farmer has decided her mission is to, in her words, "Produce foods that are accessible and affordable, healthy and nutritious, and reflective of the current cultures and needs of the people in this region."

Her family was expecting one of three things from her... To become a lawyer, a doctor, or an engineer.

But Tolu went with a fourth option.

TOLU IGUN: The reality is there are a lot of people who are in need of food, and the average age of a farmer is, um, in the upper fifties at this time.

A lot of farmers are at that point where they would like to retire.

There's not a lot of people that are ready to step up and to fill those spaces.

JOANNE: So Tolu joined an urban incubator program in a communal space, leasing land alongside others ready to step into the critical vacancies in the agricultural industry.

TOLU: Olalekan Farm is a combination of my maternal grandparents' names and my grandmother, Olabisi, um, she was a, a teacher.

She was, uh, a cook.

She just did so much in her community.

She even started her own school.

And my grandfather, Lekan, he was an agronomist.

Um, I wanted to name my farm in honor of them and kind of continue that legacy of what they created.

JOANNE: Her Nigerian heritage has influenced her crop choices too.

Ginger, for which Nigeria ranks as one of the world's largest exporters also holds cultural significance for the African diaspora.

TOLU: I feel like it's important to, um, grow a lot of the essential crops that people need to eat, but also to diversify and like grow something that sets you apart from other people.

And for me, that's been ginger.

It being so deeply connected to West Africa was a, a big reason for me.

Um, I think that I definitely wanna focus on growing crops from the African diaspora and growing ginger and okra, hot peppers, peanuts, all of those things have been an important part of that process for me.

JOANNE: And she hopes to share these culturally significant crops with others who may not have ready access to them or fresh produce at all.

A study conducted by the USDA found that 23.5 million Americans live without access to healthy foods.

Many Americans rely on fast foods, convenience stores, and other unhealthy alternatives as opposed to unprocessed, locally grown goods.

TOLU: But we get to take that food to churches, schools, um, community centers in the area, and they get that food for free.

JOANNE: Funded by the USDA and guided by the MDA, the Capital Area Food Bank regularly pays Tolu for her produce.

Tolu then delivers the produce to local churches making healthy and cultural resonant foods more accessible.

Today, however, Tolu is mentoring some future farmers.

TOLU: Uh, we're going to plant the garlic here.

Um, so when we're planting, we wanna make sure that it's pointy side up and then the flat side down.

And we're gonna... JOANNE: These volunteers join Tolu as part of Eco City Farms, Beginning Farmers Training Program.

VOLUNTEER: Are you going to, uh, mend the soil again in the Spring?

TOLU: Um, yes, so I will add some bone meal.

JOANNE: The program draws people with a wide array of goals.

Some want to open their own farms, while others have different interests in mind.

MERVIS CALWISE: Oh, it is amazing.

I've learned so much, and I do a little gardening at home, so I am volunteering with her, it also teaches me.

Everybody's so cordial and helpful and they'll share their, you know, their skills and information with you.

They don't withhold anything, so I like that.

And, um, you know, they always look out for each other from what I've seen.

They look out for each other here on the farm.

TOLU: A lot of the people that have come out here and supported me this year are some of my students from the Beginning Farmer Training Program.

Um, so that's a program through Eco City Farms.

JOANNE: Eco City Farms is a nonprofit that runs the training program and leases a portion of this farmland to Tolu and other farmers for free.

JON BERGER: A lot of the farmers here, uh, have great business ideas, had have a lot of knowledge, have a lot of experience with agriculture, with growing things, um, but they don't have or sort of an inheritance, family land a lot of access to capital that they might need.

And what's exciting to me about this facility and other land access programs is to give those folks a chance to try it out without ruining their lives, uh, by going into huge amounts of debt by purchasing a property or, uh, starting to farm on rented land and investing sort of their limited resources into developing somebody else's land, uh, in a way that doesn't actually benefit them.

JOANNE: Olalekan along with others like Lovebug Farms and Asawana Farms, has flourished through this program.

For Tolu, it's not just about farming, it's about carrying forward the legacy of her grandparents and growing a better future.

TOLU: I mean, I, yeah, I know where I want to be in 10 years.

I, I would love to have access to land where, um, you know, I have my family, my community, and, and everyone's just together.

Um, and we're all okay and we have access to the food, the water, the resources we need to survive.

And, um, yeah, I, I think I just want a simple life on the land.

JOANNE: As a land advocacy fellow Tolu hopes to continue farming far into the future, her passion for agriculture is evident by her commitment to the land and to those in her community.

We wish her all the luck in the world.

Coming up, Chef Spike Gjerde makes a stew that's reminiscent of summers in Provence.

But first, ever wonder how produce gets planted?

Emma Jagoz gives us the skinny on this week's, "Ask a Farmer How it Works."

EMMA JAGOZ: Hi, I am Emma Jagoz, the owner of Moon Valley Farm, where we have 70 acres of vegetables.

A question I'm often asked is, how do we get all these vegetables in the ground?

Well, today I am gonna show you using our waterwheel transplanter.

The waterwheel transplanter is a mechanical implement that hitches to our tractor that has a creeper gear, allowing it to drive really, really slowly.

It has water totes that holds water and nutrients and wheels that have dibbles that make the holes in the mulch.

And the riders out back are then able to put the seedling into the hole.

We cover it up with soil so that it takes really nicely.

And underneath the mulch here we have irrigation to keep it watered in the future.

So just like humans, um, moving is one of the most stressful times in a plant's life.

So in order to ease that transition and make sure that the plant doesn't get too stressed, which makes it susceptible to pests and disease pressure, this waterwheel transplanter gives it nutrients and water and makes the transition really quickly and as painlessly as we can for the plant.

JOANNE: James Beard Award-winning chef Spike Gjerde combs the Waverly Farmer's Market to create your new favorite summer stew.

Take it away, Spike.

SPIKE GJERDE: You know, it can seem like the farmers markets a summer thing, but for me, it's a 52-week source for inspiration and ingredients for my cooking, both at home and at the restaurant, Woodbury Kitchen, where I'm the chef and owner.

My name is Spike Gjerde, I'm on the hunt today at Waverly Market for ingredients to make a classic, delicious late summer feast.

Come along with me.

SHANE: Hey Spike.

SPIKE: Shane, what's going on?

Good man, good to see you.

SHANE: Good to see you.

SPIKE: Good.

Cooking up something at home, thinking for a little late summer feast.

Something a little on the lighter side.

SHANE: Okay.

SPIKE: I'm thinking rabbit.

SHANE: Rabbit.

Hey, we got some today.

SPIKE: Excellent.

SHANE: Yeah.

SPIKE: Excellent.

Can I check 'em out?

SHANE: Yeah, come on back.

They're, uh, New Zealand chinchilla crosses... SPIKE: Right on.

SHANE: Two medium sized, uh, nice meat rabbits raised on the farm, all natural, no antibiotics, no hormones.

SPIKE: Fantastic.

That's exactly what we're looking for.

SHANE: Okay.

SPIKE: You know what else I need?

Um, some slab bacon.

SHANE: Alright, see I got some slab bacon over here.

SPIKE: Let's go!

SHANE: Some of our no nitrite bacon.

Cured with no nitrates, cured with celery salt.

Uh, natural curing agent.

SPIKE: Oh yeah, that's the one.

Definitely.

That's, that is looking good, perfect.

SHANE: Nice, alright.

SPIKE: That's gonna be... SHANE: What are you gonna do with that?

SPIKE: This is gonna go... SHANE: With the rabbit?

SPIKE: Yeah, we're gonna put it in.

Give it a little of that bacon flavor.

SHANE: Nice.

SPIKE: Gotta ramp things up, up a little bit.

SHANE: Bacon goes with everything.

SPIKE: Yes, it does.

SHANE: Yeah.

SPIKE: Especially your bacon.

SHANE: Exactly.

Oh, thanks man.

SPIKE: Thanks, so much.

SHANE: Hey man, it's good to see you.

SPIKE: Yeah, good to see you.

SHANE: All right, let me know how that turns out, Sounds delicious.

SPIKE: You got it.

Dave Hochheimer!

DAVID HOCHHEIMER: Good morning, Spike.

How are you today?

SPIKE: Good.

It looks like you have amazing peaches today.

DAVID: Thank you.

Like we have, we have Bounty today, they're a yellow freestone peach.

They're a little bit firm.

If you take 'em home and let 'em sit out, if you cut 'em up with a knife tonight, they'll be perfect tomorrow and the next day they'll be even better.

SPIKE: I love that.

If there's any must-stop at Waverly Market in the summer it is One Straw Farms amazing stand.

JOAN NORMAN: Good morning!

SPIKE: Joan Norman.

Hey, what's up?

JOAN: How are you?

SPIKE: It's good to see you.

JOAN: Good morning.

SPIKE: I'm having the best time today.

I'm working on a dish, believe it or not, it's gonna be rabbit.

You know what jumped out at me though, something you don't see every day.

It's something you definitely don't see anywhere else is this Purslane.

It's a weed.

JOAN: A weed.

It's very good for you.

SPIKE: It's great for you, yeah.

JOAN: High in omega 3's and vitamin C, so it's apparently the plant in the world that has the most of it.

SPIKE: I'm gonna grab one of these.

JOAN: What else do you need?

SPIKE: Um... JOAN: Shallots.

SPIKE: Yes.

JOAN: Come on down.

SPIKE: Love their shallots.

JOAN: Grab you a bag.

SPIKE: How about these?

JOAN: That's wonderful.

SPIKE: These look great.

Joan, thank you as always.

JOAN: Thank you.

SPIKE: Fantastic.

JOAN: We'll see you next week.

SPIKE: Can't wait to start cooking.

JOAN: Great, then we'll see you next week.

SPIKE: Yeah, see you next week.

I've been coming to this market for almost 30 years.

I've met so many amazing people and one of the highlights of my week is to get to come here on Saturdays and see everybody and see what's in season here in Maryland.

And I'm really excited to get back to Woodbury and start cooking.

We're back from the market at Woodbury kitchen, ready to cook.

We've got our rabbit here.

I'm gonna jump right in.

Cutting up a rabbit is easier than cutting chickens.

Rear legs off, two.

So why rabbit?

It's a great question.

Uh, rabbits, as we all know, tend to reproduce rather prolifically, but it does take, uh, a really careful, thoughtful grower to be successful with rabbit.

And Shane is one of the, one of those that is able to do that.

And Rabbit is delicious.

Um, it's a lighter meat as we all know.

And so I thought it'd be really, really nice for, uh, for this late summer, um, uh, dinner that we're cooking.

I'm gonna keep rolling here.

I've got some, some of the thyme that we got from One Straw.

I'm gonna put the legs and the loins on this thyme.

Actually, this is a, this is a, pretty much a one-pot meal.

And the way I'm gonna start that is with a, uh, a piece of our slab bacon that, that we got from Shane.

To this pan, I'm gonna add the beautiful La Ratte potatoes we got from the Farm Alliance.

You can see some really nice color.

All make an appearance a little later on.

And here we have it.

We're gonna start with these beautiful hind legs.

What we really look, are looking for is some really nice color on the legs.

That lovely color, as you can see, on the rabbit legs.

The loins themselves are almost cooked through.

We're gonna put those to the side.

And we get capture a lot of that flavor.

Um, and in goes our rabbit.

Celery from Joan.

Three good cloves of whole garlic.

One of the things that's that's very central for us at Woodbury is fish pepper.

This is what we add, um, spice to our dishes with.

These are fish peppers that were dried from last season's harvest.

Peaches we got from Dave Hochheimer.

Brown them on a hot griddle, um, to take on a lot of color, but without cooking too much.

Our potatoes and, um, bacon from earlier, I really want this pot to be as full as it can be.

So now, um, we're gonna fill in the rest of the braise with our stock... And two crucial ingredients.

We're gonna use a cup of this incredible rose wine from Old Westminster... And then an additional cup of vinegar from Keepwell.

It's a lovely rose as well.

Cartouche goes on top just as the, as the braise comes to a simmer, and into the oven we go.

So it's been about 45 minutes.

We're gonna take a look at our braise.

Oh yeah.

Yes, yes, yes.

So at this point our cooking is largely done.

We're actually gonna start the plating and the finishing process.

Our braising liquids reduced a little bit.

Our purslane is cooked.

So there you have it.

Family style, braised rabbit with peaches and purslane.

I hope if you've never thought about rabbit before, maybe you will now.

It's delicious, it's easy to cook.

And, uh, we have the recipe on the website, mpt.org/farm.

We'll see you at the Farmers Market.

JOANNE: That looks amazing.

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 this tool will allow you to taste the fruits of your labor.

This is a fruit jar opener that dates back to 1902.

You place it on an old canning jar and with a twist, it tightens around the lid and screws it off.

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).

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.

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.

And by Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences.

(ducks quacking).

♪ ♪