♪ ♪ HOST: It's a big, wide world out there, and the holiday spirit is everywhere.

Did you know that you can rent a Christmas tree, that these bright red blooms take months to grow, and that these unusual roots make for a tasty Hanukkah treat?

Don't go anywhere.

Stories about the people who grow our food and decorations are coming up next on a Maryland Farm & Harvest Holiday Special.

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... Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit: Lending Support to Agriculture and Rural America... Brought to you in part by a donation, from the Cornell Douglas Foundation...

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... 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: It's the most wonderful time of the year.

It's also one of the busiest times of the year here at White House Nursery in Upperco.

They supply thousands of happy customers with festive plants and decorations for the holidays.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining, and this is Maryland Farm & Harvest .

Today's show is all about the important part Maryland farmers play during the holiday season.

Coming up, we learn what it takes to grow thousands of these colorful poinsettias and have them ready just in time for winter customers.

But first, if you celebrate Christmas, there's a good chance that an evergreen tree is the centerpiece of your decorations.

In our first story, we visit a Maryland tree farm and see how they keep the Christmas spirit going all year long.

♪ ♪ Colorful dazzling lights, bright red ribbons, ornate ornaments.

These decorations are signs of the season, but to many families, Christmas doesn't begin until they found the perfect tree.

STEFAN NOCK: We're a choose-and-cut tree farm, so we have folks here to visit and cut down their own tree.

CHILD: Timberrrrrrr!

[laughter] JOANNE: It's a magical time of the year at Prettyboy Run Farms in Parkton.

Every November, the farm transforms into a festive wonderland.

[vibrating sounds] But at this Christmas tree farm, the look of the holidays is present year-round, and so is the work.

STEFAN: It's a lot of hard work, right, getting ready for that season.

But then once we open the doors, and folks start coming in, and you see people that come back year after year, and they're here with their families, or their children, or their grandchildren, it makes the whole season worth it.

JOANNE: Across 70 lush acres in Baltimore County, Stefan Nock and his family raise evergreen trees in almost all sizes and varieties.

STEFAN: We have Fraser firs, Douglas firs, Boston firs, Concolor firs, Canaan firs, Colorado Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce, White Pine, and Red Cedar.

JOANNE: Back on a cloudy April morning, they were planting 500 saplings for future Christmases.

STEFAN: We try to buy the oldest saplings we can, so usually 2-4 years old.

I usually go for something a little bit bigger, but it was hard to find, people are ordering their stock earlier and earlier for the following year.

So you get what you get, and as my kids say, "You don't get upset."

JOANNE: Now that's the holiday spirit.

Raising Christmas trees requires a lot of patience.

The farm plants, 1500 trees a year, one sapling at a time.

Each is placed into the ground with tender, loving care.

STEFAN: What I do is, I try and push them all the way down, because what you don't want to happen is have then J-root, and if they J-root like this, they don't grow so well, and they can actually die.

So, we want to make sure we get them down all the way, and then I bring them back up a little bit, so to make sure the roots are heading down.

JOANNE: Once, the row has been planted, Stefan gets back on his feet to ensure the soil is firmly packed around the roots.

STEFAN: So, we're stomping them in the ground to make sure the soil is compact around the roots.

Otherwise, the roots will get too much air and they'll die.

[Stefan breathes out deeply] JOANNE: And if you think is backbreaking work.

STEFAN: The first year, I planted about 1500 by hand, there was a lot of work.

The original method I used, which is the planting bar, do that about 1,499 more times.

JOANNE: Christmas tree planting is a long-term investment.

These saplings take anywhere between seven to 10 years before they're ready to come home for the holidays.

Unfortunately, not every tree makes it.

STEFAN: In 7-10 years, you know, you could plant 1,000, but you might only bring 300 a market, so it's a big factor.

A lot can happen over 7-10 years, whether it's disease, or drought, or pests.

JOANNE: Sometimes, uninvited guests like the bagworm can ruin the holiday spirit.

STEFAN: So, he'll just move along and eat needle-by-needle-by-needle until this branch is bare, and then he'll go find another branch, and eat all those needles, and before you know it, you got a bare tree.

JOANNE: The a farm doesn't apply pesticide.

Instead, they rely on alternative pest management techniques to stop this little Grinch from stealing Christmas.

STEFAN: We have to mechanically remove all the pests from the trees and keep an eye on them.

We're always looking for some more eco-friendly solutions for that when we do have that problem.

JOANNE: Each stage of tree has different needs.

Come summer, the older ones are ready for a new look.

STEFAN: Late summer, early fall is when we start shearing the trees.

We shape the trees, give them that nice Christmas tree shape, and get them ready for the season.

JOANNE: But choose-and-cut trees aren't the only option for customers at Prettyboy Run Farms.

They can also get a whole one, roots and all.

STEFAN: A lot of folks don't want to cut down a tree, but it gives them the opportunity to still have a real Christmas tree in their house, and what they can do is they can rent the same one every year, and a lot of folks actually name their Christmas trees, and they look forward to coming back and getting the same tree each year.

STEFAN: Balthazar, Mr. Prickles, Latria, and last but not least, Monica, the Hanukkah Bush.

JOANNE: After Christmas, they can either plant the tree right in its compostable pot, or return it to the farm, where it will eventually join the others in the field.

STEFAN: We can plant it directly into the ground once it's tall enough, once it gets too tall for the pot, it's going to start tipping over.

We'll put it in the ground, and then someone else will have the opportunity to cut it down after that.

JOANNE: While, Christmas tree farming really is a year-round job, it's a true labor of love for the Nocks, and a way for them to spread the holiday cheer from their family to others.

If you buy a live Christmas tree, be sure to keep it watered.

This helps keep the needles green, and it makes the tree smell nice too, and did you know, the first Christmas tree farm was started near Trenton, New Jersey in 1901.

♪ ♪ All right.

It's time to test your agricultural expertise.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

Do you think you know what it is?

Well, here's a hint.

It's shaped like a hook, but it's not from a pirate.

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

Few things are prettier than a farm covered in freshly fallen snow.

For this week's photo challenge, we asked farmers to send their best winter photos to our Facebook page.

Enjoy.

♪ ♪ White House Nursery is just one of several places in Maryland that grow thousands of poinsettias each year.

Do you wonder how they do it?

Up next, we visit another Maryland greenhouse to learn about the months of work it takes to prepare these iconic flowers just in time for the holidays.

♪ ♪ Sometimes, people are born with the perfect name.

That's the case for Ray Greenstreet, who was born to grow things.

RAY GREENSTREET: I used to be a yard boy.

When I was 13 in middle school and high school, and I worked for a large wholesale grower that grew up to different seasonal plants.

They also grew a ton of poinsettias.

JOANNE: And now, with a business of his own, Greenstreet Growers in Lothian, Ray and his family have spent the last 21 years providing plants across Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia.

And short of the Christmas tree, no plant is more popular this time of year than the poinsettia.

RAY: They come from Mexico and back around 1820, 1825, the U.S. had an ambassador, Joel Roberts Poinsett.

He was not only our ambassador to Mexico, but he was also a botanist, as a hobby.

He fell in love with the poinsettias that naturally grow in Mexico, and he started bringing up poinsettias to his home in South Carolina, and started breeding them, playing with them a little bit, and then he gave them away his gifts at Christmas, so that's really how it started.

JOANNE: Two-hundred years later, the ambassador's namesake plant continues to spread holiday magic.

We may only see poinsettias is during December, but for Ray and his team, the growing process starts much earlier.

RAY: It's a long crop, takes a long time to grow a poinsettia.

We get unrooted cuttings in from offshore.

They come from Costa Rica, and other countries, and they're flown in here, and we stick them within 24 hours.

These got planted, believe it or not, the beginning of July.

So, poinsettias is probably one of the longest seasonal crop, blooming crop that any grower produces.

JOANNE: While, the plants grow, Ray and his team give them special attention.

RAY: When we first plant them, we're really trying to keep it cool in here, so there's shade on top of the greenhouse, keeps the stress off of them, and every one of these, you can see them, these little white or black tubes.

Those are called "spaghettis."

It makes sure that all the plants let's get the exact same amount of water and fertilizer, and it also helps us be good stewards for our well water and the Chesapeake Bay, so while you're busy with all the other spring stuff that's going on, and fall, and the summer programs, and things, the poinsettias are always kind of here.

JOANNE: During this time, the poinsettias look almost unrecognizable.

They remain completely green during the summer, as the beautiful colors won't emerge until there is less sunlight.

RAY: It's called "photoperiod," which means that poinsettias bloom under short days, so September 23rd, 25th, that's when the night gets longer than the day, and that initiates the flowering process.

JOANNE: The poinsettias develop into a variety of colors and sizes.

Some are white.

RAY: This is a new one called "Alaska."

JOANNE: Some are red; others are pink instead.

RAY: These are the Princettias.

JOANNE: Some have two colors.

RAY: This is White Glitter.

JOANNE: And look beautiful beside each other.

Some are short.

RAY: Six and a half inch.

That's the pot size.

JOANNE: Some are tall.

RAY: Because you got to get it to grow, grow, grow, grow.

JOANNE: And Greenstreet Growers has them all.

RAY: My favorite part, honestly, as a grower, is an empty poinsettia house.

[laughs] The best part is giving them to the customers and seeing peoples' reaction.

People like to get plants.

JOANNE: With everything Greenstreet has to offer this season, they also have a little advice.

Poinsettias can make pets sick, but the risk is low.

RAY: If you break a stem or a leaf, it oozes that white sticky sap.

If your cat eats a salad tonight of leaves, and stems, and stuff, yes, they may get nauseous.

They may feel not great.

That's from the rubbery liquid.

Will it kill them?

No, they'd eat many, many, many, many plants before they got sick.

JOANNE: But unless your pet loves eating house plants, poinsettias shouldn't be a problem.

Just in case, Greenstreet's Garden Center has lots of other holiday gifts, too.

RAY: We're open to the public seven days a week, and all my staff and elves are putting decorations up.

BRI TOMLINSON: Christmas is crazy.

Our greenhouse and our gift shop is filled to the brim with holiday decor.

There's ornaments, wreaths, everything that you will need to decorate your home.

This is a one-stop shop.

JOANNE: And here in Lothian, they're continuing to grow a 200-year-old tradition that started with a few flowers from Mexico.

BRI: Poinsettias are the staple of Christmas.

I mean, you can't go anywhere nowadays without seeing a poinsettia around Christmastime, so to know that it's coming from our production houses, it fills me with a lot of pride.

RAY: To me, that's what Christmas is all about.

Just making people feel special for the holidays.

JOANNE: Coming up on the Local Buy, Al Spoler learns about celebrating Hanukkah by what else?

Eating latkes.

But, before we go to Al, we've already seen how it takes years to grow trees, but now, let's go way back in time to find out how this tradition started.

It's the history of Christmas trees, both then and now.

♪ ♪ Even amongst Santa Claus and the twinkling lights, the evergreen tree stands out as a centerpiece of the Christmas celebration.

In the early 1800s, the Christmas tree arrived in the United States via German immigrants, and gradually, it began to catch on.

Americans who wanted in on the action, headed out into the forest to cut down their own Christmas trees.

But in 1851, the forest came to the people, when Mark Carr started the first Christmas tree retail lot in New York City.

In 1901, a New Jersey farmer established the first Christmas tree farm, after planting 25,000 Norway spruce seedlings.

But Christmas tree farms didn't really catch on until the 1950s.

At that time, Maryland's first Christmas tree farms were getting their start through a forestry project in Garrett County.

Farmers planted over a million state-provided seedlings a year for five years, with about half earmarked for harvest as Christmas trees.

Today, Maryland's Christmas tree farms are spread throughout the state, and are mostly choose-and-cut, where families can hunt for the perfect tree and chop it down themselves.

But what constitutes the perfect tree has changed over time.

At first, people wanted trees that looked like those they harvested in the woods like Scotch Pines.

Now, most consumers favor fir trees, with their dense conical shape, good needle retention, and stiff branches for holding ornaments.

In 2012, consumers bought 24.5 million Christmas trees from farms and tree lots.

Maryland has around 170 Christmas tree farms, enough to ensure you'll find the perfect tree, and hopefully, some Christmas spirit.

For hundreds of thousands of Marylanders, late November and early December are marked by celebrating the timeless traditions of Hanukkah.

For this week's Local Buy, Al Spoler travels to Reisterstown to learn more about this Jewish holiday and sample a modern twist on a classic Hanukkah delicacy.

Al?

♪ ♪ AL SPOLER: Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of light.

Centuries ago, the Jewish temple was destroyed, leaving only enough oil to light the sacred candelabra, called the "menorah" in Hebrew, for one night, but miraculously, it stayed lit for eight days.

To celebrate this miracle, Jewish people eat foods fried in oil and light the menorah on this festive winter holiday.

In the spirit of the season, I decided to visit a local place that's growing a new twist on a classic Hanukkah treat.

Here at the Pearlstone Campus in Baltimore county, the Jewish value of protecting the environment and tending the land is honored by environmental activism.

On these 180 acres of rolling hills, meadows, and farmland, the team here grow certified organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs used in traditional Jewish foods.

Hanukkah is a favorite holiday here at Pearlstone, and of all the fried foods, absolutely nothing represents it better than a crispy, piping hot latke.

Usually, the star of the Hanukkah latke is potatoes, but this year, the team at Pearlstone adds a contemporary spin to the nostalgia latke with a relatively unknown root vegetable, the Jerusalem artichoke, also known as a sunchoke.

Greg Strella, the expert on everything growing here at Pearlstone, knows a thing or two about this tasty tuber.

GREG STRELLA: When we're standing here with our sunchokes, which are a native sunflower.

They grow each spring, put out these beautiful yellow flowers in the fall, and then they grow a nice, beautiful tuber underground that we dig and eat in the fall.

In terms of productions, sunchokes jokes are similar to potatoes, you know.

One portion of this tuber will produce another dozen tubers underground, and they can get to be quite a good size.

AL: Sunchokes are known as "a gardener's dream," because they're extremely easy to grow.

GREG: Because they're native to this landscape, they're just so well adapted to it.

So, if there's a dry season, they're drought-resistant.

Many insects and pollinators love to come and forage on their flowers.

They have no pest issues.

We have not done anything to help these sunchokes grow this season, and you can see how well they've thrived.

AL: Sunchokes grow between 6-12 feet tall, and in late summer, they put out a beautiful bouquet of bright yellow flowers.

After a few weeks, when these sunny blooms begin to die and the stalks turn brown, it's harvest time.

GREG: We start to loosen the soil around the sunchokes, using a digging fork, and this is where it feels a lot like potatoes.

AL: It looks just like what we did with potatoes.

GREG: And you're pulling it up.

AL: Look at that.

GREG: As you start pulling these out, you'll start to find the tubers all along the bottom here.

AL: Mm-hmm...and there's probably some still in the soil?

GREG: Oh, there's so many, and this begins the treasure hunt part of the... [Al laughs] You can see.

AL: Look at that.

GREG: They're really fun to dig and eat.

[water spraying sounds] AL: This versatile vegetable has a nutty, earthy flavor and is perfect for roasting, baking, grilling, or just eating raw.

In celebration of Hanukkah, Pearlstone's Executive Chef Rebecca Pauvert is in the kitchen, whipping up a batch of sunchoke latkes, using a Pearlstone signature recipe.

REBECCA PAUVERT: The essential ingredient in this latke is sunchokes, potatoes, and carrots, with a little of lemon thyme, and egg.

Then, we're putting in flour, a little salt and pepper, and that is our latke.

AL: But, of course, the key ingredient for this Hanukkah meal is the oil, and the wonder of how it burned for miraculous eight nights.

Mmm, that is so good.

Chef Rebecca was kind enough to put together a plate of these sunchoke latkes for me, so I could try them, and I got to tell you, they really are delicious, and the nice thing is, you can enjoy them anytime you want to.

To help you do that, we're going to put the recipe on our website at mpt.org/farm, so you can try it at home.

For the Local Buy, I'm Al Spoler.

Joanne?

JOANNE: Thanks, Al.

Visit mpt.org/farm to get all our Local Buy recipes, and you can watch full episodes online, 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 thing thingamajig?

Did you guess it?

Our hint was that it's shaped like a hook, but it's not from a pirate.

This is a twist tie tool for making these vertical holiday wreathes called "swags."

Workers here at the nursery use the tool to twist wire around the branches to hold them together.

Congratulations, if you got that right.

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

From all of us here at Maryland Farm & Harvest , we wish you the happiest of holidays.

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... Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit: Lending Support to Agriculture and Rural America... Brought to you in part by a donation, from the Cornell Douglas Foundation.

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 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... ♪ ♪