That episode will feature a Frederick County Farm.
Owings Mills, Md (KM) “Maryland Farm and Harvest” will begin its 7th season on Maryland Public Television next Tuesday, November 12th, ,and it will feature a Frederick County Farm.
The program has been a popular staple of the MPT, says Producer/Director Joe Ligo. “We have farmers who watch it who love to see themselves and see their neighbors. But then we also have city forks who absolutely adore this show,” he says. “If you look at our Facebook page and some of the comments, people are thrilled we are coming back for a 7th season,” he says.
One of the farms being featured on Tuesday’s episode is the Summer Creek Farm in Thurmont. Ligo says the owners are organic farmers who grow their crops starting off in a greenhouse, and later move them to the outside. “They found out when they first started doing organic produce that they couldn’t really buy a potting mix that met all their needs. So they started making it themselves,” he says.
“Their potting mix that they make has become so popular that they’ve actually started bagging it and selling it to other organic farms just because they seem to have figured out what it take to make the perfect start for vegetables,” Ligo continues.
It’s not in Frederick County, but another farm in the region being featured on “Maryland Farm and Harvest” this coming Tuesday is the Tulip Pond Farm in Union Bridge in Carroll County. Ligo says like any dairy farm, their cows not only produce milk, but a lot of manure. He says the owners need to properly manage this manure so it doesn’t end up in nearby waterways. “This is a story about a dairy farm, how they manage their manure, but then also how they use it to fertilize the crops that they’re growing,” he says.
In future episodes, Ligo says “Maryland Farm and Harvest” will tell the story of Eddie Mercer Agri-Services located on Linganore Road in Frederick. “He has a grain elevator. Whenever farmers bring in their harvest of corn or wheat or things like soybeans, they bring them to Eddie Mercer, and unload them there. They’re stored there; they’re processed there; or sent to other businesses there,” he says. “So that’s kind of interesting: a story about what happens to all the corn when it leaves the field. So that’s what that story’s all about.”
Ligo says another Frederick County farm being featured on the program in a later episode is the Lawyer-Winterbrook Farm on Creagerstown Road in Thurmont. He says this program will describe how these folks plan and build a corn maze using “GPS guided tractors that they’re cutting down corn with. They’ve got a big map and a computer mapping out the maze. So we go through the whole process which starts in March planning to make this corn maze that then becomes a big attraction in September, October, November.”
MPT receives tips on which farms to visit from the Maryland Department of Agriculture, and University of Maryland Extension Agents. Ligo also says they hear from individual farmers who suggest a neighbor’s farm which might make a good story.
Ligo says he realizes farmers are busy people and often don’t have a lot of time to spare. Despite that, most have been very cooperative. “Lots of Maryland farmers are very generous, kind people. You have to figure this is their work; this is their job. We’re going into their workplace and interrupting them to film these stories. So they’ve been very generous with their time and with their properties to us let up come and do this,” he says.
“Maryland Farm and Harvest” airs on MPT on Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, and is rebroadcast on Thursdays at 11:30 PM, and Sundays at 6:00 AM. The program also airs on MPT2/Create on Fridays at 7:30 PM. Viewers can also watch past episodes of “Maryland Farm and Harvest” on the MPT app, or at https://video.mpt.tv/show/maryland-farm-harvest/.
By Kevin McManus