* HOST: It's a big wide world out there and agriculture is everywhere.

Did you know that Maryland farmers love helping others, that studying soil takes serious science and that there's almost no wrong way to eat an apple?

Don't go anywhere, stories about the people who grow our food 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.

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 Markets, 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.

* JOANNE CLENDINING: Located in Westminster, the Carroll County Farm Museum presents visitors with a picture of farm life during the mid 1800's.

It first opened to the public in 1966 and includes both indoor and outdoor exhibits.

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

This group of displays features the history of different trades, such as dairy farming, woodworking, butchering, and more.

It's just like today's show, which has a little bit of everything, too.

Coming up, a soil specialist teaches farmers to get down with the dirt.

But first, in the fall of 2021, the state of Louisiana was battered by Hurricane Ida, leaving many without electricity, shelter or food.

In response, Maryland farmers immediately sprang into action, sending donations and hope southward.

* JAMISON HUNSBERGER: I was certainly moved as I watched the storm coming into New Orleans.

I have friends that live in New Orleans and I was checking in with them during the storm and heard how bad the wind was and just knowing what they went through.

JOANNE: When Hurricane Ida hit the Southern United States on August 29, 2021, it left a path of utter destruction, creating shocking images that spread around the world.

When Jamison Hunsberger and his colleagues saw the damage and heard of the millions left without food, water, or shelter, they knew they had to help.

JAMISON HUNSBERGER: So, I had the idea of being able to send some of our produce to Louisiana, then the next question was, how do we do that and who could receive it?

JOANNE: As farm manager at the nonprofit First Fruits Farm, Jamison is used to raising food for those in need, but the question remained how to get it there.

JAMISON: Thankfully through reading a news article, I saw an organization called Convoy of Hope that was already sending tractor trailer loads of snack foods and bottled water and stuff like that into the area.

Just called their number, and they were very interested in receiving fresh produce from us.

JOANNE: With decades of experience in disaster relief, Convoy of Hope eagerly accepted the offer.

Meanwhile, the farm sprang into action.

* RICK BERNSTEIN: So each box holds about three and a half dozen.

So if you figure a family might take six ears, maybe, maybe a dozen, you're going to have thousands of families that get fresh corn.

JOANNE: Rick Bernstein and his family founded First Fruits Farm back in 1998.

Since then, it's grown into a 203 acre property in Freeland staffed mostly by volunteers.

RICK: We didn't start out being this organized.

If I showed you what it looked like you know 20 years ago, you'd be like, oh my gosh.

[laughs] JOANNE: On this weekend in September, over 100 people showed up to help pick and pack vegetables.

For some, the work is personal.

LASSIE PAPPAS: When I found out that they were particularly sending food to the south Louisiana area, it really hit home with me because I work for a company that manages 50 nursing homes in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

And so this past week, I've been watching our staff leaves their home and evacuates with our residents and they don't know what they're going to come home to.

And sometimes when you come out here, you don't know exactly where the food's going to go.

But this time when you find out that it's going to an area where you know people and love people and they work for you, it means even more.

And it's just so cool to be able to spread God's love from right here in the middle of a cornfield all the way to Louisiana.

JOANNE: The farm primarily serves food banks in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, but a stellar growing season in 2021 meant they had plenty to share.

JAMISON: All of our kind of consistent long term relationships, we're still supporting them.

We're just able to take some of the excess that we have abundantly this year and direct it to the relief down in Louisiana.

JOANNE: And their generosity inspired others.

TOM ALBRIGHT: Wherever the need is, we're going to make sure that people are taken care of because that's what we as farmers do.

We take care of people.

We feed them.

JOANNE: With the help of Albright Farms in Monkton word spread around the local community and suddenly all kinds of donations began rolling in.

TOM: There was greens.

There were watermelons.

There were tomatoes.

There were eggs.

There were squash, dairy, cheese, yogurt, milk, potatoes, all kinds of stuff.

JOANNE: More than 25 farms contributed from across the state.

Even Maryland Secretary of Agriculture, Joe Bartenfelder, traveled all the way from the Eastern Shore to pitch in.

JOE BARTENFELDER: Now, this is another example of people who are in need, who experienced devastation, where Maryland farmers are coming together and make sure that they had food to eat.

JOANNE: By the end of the day on September 7th, they'd filled multiple tractor trailers with 46,000 pounds of sweet corn, green beans and potatoes, plus another 14 pallets of assorted produce, dairy and meat.

To top it off Mountaire Farms donated an entire truckload of chicken.

RICK: In a country that has been through a lot, a lot of divisiveness, there's an opportunity- an example of what made America what it is, right, people coming together to help each other.

JOANNE: Convoy of Hope took the donations to Louisiana and other affected areas where they helped feed hurricane victims and relief workers.

JAMISON: People pull their cars up.

The volunteers will put the produce right in their trunk.

They'll be able to take it home to their family and have something besides snack foods and bottled water to eat.

JOANNE: Given the positive response, it looks like this won't be the last time the two groups collaborate.

JAMISON: They were very excited, in fact we already even talked about more of a long term relationship with them as they have programs throughout the U.S. JOANNE: But whether around the country or just down the road, Maryland farmers are always willing to lend a hand.

JAMISON: In The Bible, it talks about for who has been given much, much is required.

And when I looked around and saw all the produce that we have, my goal is to be a good steward of that and to be faithful with it.

So getting it to people who really do need it is really what kind of excites me and gets me out of bed in the morning, and it was cool to be a part of.

JOANNE: If you're interested in volunteering at First Fruits Farm, you can sign up on their website.

* JOANNE: All right.

It's time to test your agricultural expertise.

Here is our thingamajig for the week, and it's a big one.

Do you think you know what it is?

Well, here's a hint, doctors won't go anywhere near it.

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

Now, the last time we asked our Facebook followers to send photos of their farm animals, we got so many pictures that we couldn't include them all in one show.

So this week we're taking a look at round two of farm creatures great and small.

Enjoy.

* JOANNE: It may be better known as a suburb of Washington, D.C. than for its farmland, but Prince George's County is still home to hundreds of farms.

And over the past three decades, Steve Darcey has been to quite a few of them helping people make the most of their soil.

* JOANNE: On a sunny October day at Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro, a crowd has gathered to witness, rain... or sort of.

This is a rain simulator designed to help demonstrate how different types of ground cover behave during a downpour.

WOMAN: So on this simulator, the front jugs, that's going to be the runoff.

JOANNE: But today's faux rainstorm is just one small part of a three day soil health training exercise put on for employees of the state's soil conservation districts.

STEVE DARCEY: Soil conservation districts go all the way back to post dust bowl time.

JOANNE: Or the period in American history when a combination of drought and poor agricultural practices led to frequent powerful dust storms throughout the Southern Plains region.

STEVE: And our whole mission, of course, is still rural conservation, working on farms with farmers, addressing soil erosion and water quality, nutrient management issues.

JOANNE: Nationwide, there are about 3,000 locally led soil conservation districts, and Steve Darcey is the district manager for this one, Prince George's County.

He's also one of the architects of this event.

STEVE: If you stop training, you stop learning, you stop moving forward.

So in the field of conservation, it's all about moving forward and it's so exciting.

That's why I've been doing this for 33 years.

JOANNE: Of course, Steve didn't start out as district manager.

STEVE: I was hired as an entry level engineer and my job was to go out and work with farmers in the county.

We would walk his or her farm and we would look at issues and then we would come up with a solution what best management practice would best fix that problem.

But then here's your updated conservation plan map showing your roof runoff.

JOANNE: Throughout his three plus decades on the job, Steve has walked a lot of farm fields here in Prince George's County, which might come as a surprise to those who view this area as a sprawling suburb of D.C. STEVE: Prince George's County is 499 square miles, which is just over 300,000 acres.

Believe it or not, we still have 60,000 acres of farmland in the county.

JOANNE: Including the 150 that make up Steve's farm, Edgewood Farm in Upper Marlboro.

STEVE: My family has been here since 1956.

When I was a young boy, we had tobacco and a large herd of beef cattle.

Today, the farm is horses and grain, corn, soybeans, wheat, those kind of crops.

JOANNE: Not to mention soil conservation practices like this structure, which keeps debris out of a drainage system designed to reduce erosion.

STEVE: I always tried to be a Guinea pig.

If I would learn something on the job or a new program, I would sign up for it, bring it to the farm, implement it, and then I can come out to your farm and tell you what works and what doesn't work.

JOANNE: But even here, it's hard to ignore the county status as one of the most highly developed parts of the state.

STEVE: 10 miles west is the nation's capital, 30 miles north is Baltimore.

And within a 360 degree circle, we have urban development in less than a mile.

JOANNE: And that means unique challenges for the local soil conservation district.

Take, for example, the county's growing number of urban agriculture projects.

STEVE: We really wanted to get involved with the conservation aspect of that.

JOANNE: For example, with new technologies like this XRF analyzer, which uses x-rays to check soil for heavy metals like lead and arsenic.

STEVE: Things that would not be good for people to raise their food in.

JOANNE: And things that are more often found in developed areas.

But whether at the local community garden or on one of the county's many remaining farms, for Steve conservation work is more than just a job.

STEVE: I really believe this is God's good earth.

We're put here to be stewards of the land and the water and the air, and so it just is natural from a farmer standpoint, an old farm boy like myself, to be doing God's bidding and that is to do conservation work.

JOANNE: Coming up, Al Spoler shows us a thing or two about apple picking.

But be before we go to Al, whether it's a 3,000 cow dairy, a 200 acre orchard, or an urban greenhouse filled with vegetables, everyone knows that farming takes hard work.

To hear more about their biggest challenges, we went straight to the source to ask a farmer.

* JAY MCGINNIS: I'd say the biggest challenge would definitely be the two things we can't control, which determine our income the most, price and weather.

We're kind of at the mercy of the good Lord and the markets and we try and do the best we can and hope for a good crop.

KAYLA GRIFFITH: The biggest challenge of farming is learning everything that there is to know.

Even though I grew up on a farm, our operation has changed a lot in the past years, and we're still trying to make changes.

And learning everything that I didn't learn as a kid has been quite a lot.

JOSH ERNST: So I would say the biggest challenge to farming is thinking outside the box.

It's tempting to want to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

But when things aren't working, I think you have to change and adapt and see what new things you can try to make improvements and change goes against our human nature.

So I think that's one thing that's very challenging with not only farming, but any business.

TOPE FAJINGBESI: I think the hardest part has got to be the things that you can't control really.

And one of them is the weather.

So, that's the hardest part you do what you want to do with the hope that things work out the way they're supposed to work out.

But some things are beyond your control.

JOANNE: What's your favorite apple variety?

Do you crave the sweet juice of a honey crisp or perhaps the tart taste of a Granny Smith, or maybe you like the all around appeal of the gala.

For this week's local buy, Al Spoler is headed to a pick your own orchard to learn all about apples.

* AL: There's just something about the cool days of autumn that make me crave anything made with apples.

There's pie, cake, cider, dumplings, donuts, ah the list goes on forever.

So how many things can you do with an apple?

That's a very good question, which is why we're here at Lohr's Orchard in Hartford County to get some answers.

And believe me, these are the right people to ask.

[leaves rustling] The Lohr family knows a thing or two about this favorite fall fruit.

They've been farming in Maryland for almost 100 years and growing apples for almost as long.

CANDACE LOHR PIERCE: In the '60s, they planted the orchard and started the orchard part of our business and that's what we've really continued to do.

AL: For third generation farmer Candace Lohr Pierce and her husband Darrel, letting customers pick their own fruit is a big part of their business.

MAN: You got it.

Aw Good.

Nice pull.

CANDACE: We do the pick your own peaches, we do pick your own strawberries and we usually do a little stint of pick your own cherries.

And then the main picking is this time of year with apples and we're available every day for people to come out and pick.

AL: As we walk through the orchard next to trees loaded with big, beautiful apples, I understood the appeal.

[kid in back talking] CANDACE: There are so many people that come in and say, I've never been to a farm and picked an apple before, which for me is very surprising because I've grown up on one.

I'm probably somebody that's never ever bought an apple out of the store because I've grown up eating fresh apples and I know you can't get any fresher than picking it off of the tree.

AL: And picking is easy.

All it takes is a flick of the wrist.

CANDACE: Your best if you can give it a twist instead of just tugging and pulling because that'll help break the contact with the tree and you don't take the bud wood.

You just keep the apple.

AL: Okay.

Let's try it.

CANDACE: Yeah.

AL: Look at that!

CANDACE: Yep.

AL: It worked perfectly.

[laughing] CANDACE: It was meant to be yours.

* AL: With seven acres of apple trees, there's plenty of varieties to pick from.

CANDACE: Galas, McIntosh, Romes, Empires, Jonathans, Staymans Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, we have some Granny Smiths, Fuji.

AL: But if you can't choose a favorite, you can sample a medley of them in their fresh apple cider.

AL: What kind of apples make the best cider?

ANDREW LOHR: A mix.

We like to have some sweet apples and some tart apples and try to have at least three different kinds of apples in each batch of cider.

AL: Candace's father, Andrew, started making cider back in the day to earn extra money during the winter after the apple season ended.

ANDREW: Made 500 gallons the first year with a little hand press.

AL: What do you do now?

ANDREW: Little over 100,000 gallons.

AL: That's a little bit of an improvement.

ANDREW: Yeah, yeah, but don't forget now that's been 60 years.

AL: Yeah.

Okay.

Of course, the hand crank cider press soon gave way to a much faster system.

Today, the apples are washed by a machine before getting ground to a pulp.

Workers spread the pulp onto fabric covered racks, which are then squeezed in a giant press.

The juice runs out where it's collected into a big tank before it's quickly pasteurized and bottled.

And now Lohr's cider has become so popular, they have to buy extra apples from other orchards just to meet demand.

Talk about a sweet success.

AL: Do you happen to have a favorite apple?

ANDREW: My favorite apple is the golden delicious.

I can cook with it, I can eat it fresh.

When you make an apple pie, it doesn't cook into apple sauce.

It stays along me.

I like pieces of apple in my apple pie.

AL: I think so.

ANDREW: And I like an apple pie that tastes like apples.

AL: Which reminds me of all the different ways to use apples, pie has to be one of the best.

Well, Candace, this is the time of year where something in me just says, go out and make an apple pie.

It's irresistible.

And we have here the Lohr's Orchard apple pie, the real traditional one.

CANDACE: Yes it is.

AL: What kind of apples are you using in this?

CANDACE: Actually, I use whatever baking ones we have available.

Today, I used Ida red.

I used Grimes.

I used Golden Delicious, and I used an Empire.

So I mixed them all up, so it has a nice blended flavor.

AL: I think it's really important to do that, to get the blend.

I'm going to have a little taste here.

CANDACE: Please do.

Hopefully, you enjoy it.

AL: Are there any secret ingredients in this?

CANDACE: Well, my mom always used instead of using flour to make it congeal, we always use tapioca pudding.

So two to four tablespoons to gel it up and you have a much nicer flavor.

AL: This is a beautiful pie.

It really taste great.

We're going to put the recipe on our website at mpt.org/farm so you can try it home, and I really think you should.

For The Local Buy, I'm Al Spoler.

Joanne.

JOANNE: Thanks, Al.

To get all our Local Buy recipes, including some great apple desserts visit mpt.org/farm.

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.

And speaking of apples, we're not done yet.

Remember our thingamajig?

Did you guess it?

Our hint was that doctors won't go near it.

That is if you believe the old saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

This is an antique cider press.

It grinds apples into tiny pieces and then a farmer cranks this down to squeeze the juice out of them.

JOANNE: The resulting cider was fermented and can be consumed all year when fresh fruit wasn't available.

Congratulations if you got it right.

And for the record, we're pretty sure everyone loves apple cider, including doctors.

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.

Cheers.

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 Markets, 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...