Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its sixth season, features farms and other locations across the state during new episodes airing during the holidays – on Tuesday, December 25 and January 1 at 7 p.m.

Maryland Farm & Harvest takes viewers on journeys across the state, telling stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow Maryland’s number one industry: agriculture. During the past year, MPT’s production team has filmed episode segments at more than four dozen farms in preparation for the new season. Segments featured on the December 25 episode are:

• Milk to Eggnog (Howard and Frederick counties). Eggnog is synonymous with the holidays and in Maryland there’s no better way to celebrate the season than with a glass of creamy eggnog using milk from a local farm. This segment follows farmer Denny Patrick’s milk from Maple Dell Farm in Woodbine to Dairy Maid Dairy in Frederick, where it’s the key ingredient in this Christmas favorite.
• Great Kids Farm (Baltimore County). Great Kids Farm in Catonsville, owned and operated by Baltimore City Public Schools, gives students an opportunity to experience a day on the farm. This segment follows a curious group of third graders as they enjoy the sights, sounds, and tastes of Maryland agriculture. Each year approximately 3,000 school students visit Great Kids Farm.
• Cut Flowers (Baltimore County). A bouquet of fresh flowers is always lovely but there are other ways to enjoy a beautiful bloom, as participants at a recent workshop conducted at Butterbee Farm in Pikesville discover in this segment. Farmer Laura Beth Resnick harvests upwards of 3,000 stems each week from her 3.5-acre farm, which she sells to about 50 florists in the Baltimore/ Washington region. She also hosts events, including an annual floral wreaths workshop, during which customers learn to make floral crowns.
• The Local Buy: The Next Super Fruit (Kent County). From kale to quinoa to goji berries, super foods are all the rage. During this segment,The Local Buy host Al Spoler reveals that the next big super fruit might be growing in Maryland. At Chester River Aronia in Chestertown, farmers Roy and Molly Mears raise Aronia: a small, dark, berry prized for its health benefits but not for its astringent taste. Originally from Russia, Aronia found its way to Chestertown, in part, thanks to University of Maryland Extension Specialist Andrew Ristvey, who began researching the fruit’s potential in 2006 and now helps farmers like Mears grow it. Al tastes the berry on its own and in a recipe for zucchini bread designed to mask the harsh flavor. The recipe is available to viewers at mpt.org/farm.

Segments featured on the January 1 Maryland Farm & Harvest episode are:

• Wet Spring (Caroline and Carroll counties). The biggest variable in farming is the weather. When it’s extreme, as it was this past growing season, the effects can be devastating. This segment explores the impact the year’s exceptionally wet weather had on crops. It begins at 2 Cool Farms in Greensboro, where farmer Chris Schoonover has seen damage to his wheat and corn crops. Next, the series visits Baugher’s Orchards in Westminster where farmer Dwight Baugher surveys his apple crop, damaged by heavy rain. He says in 27 years, this growing season was the worst he’s seen.
• Showing for Recovery (Harford). Twin Stream Learning to Live Ranch in Pylesville is a unique recovery house, in that it’s also a working farm, owned and operated by the Char Hope Foundation. The women living there are battling addiction and working to recover through learning to raise and show Charolais cattle. Founder Derek Hopkins explains the program, as viewers follow 24-year-old Lea through her journey to the Maryland State Fair.
• State Fair President (Carroll and Baltimore counties). Donna Myers of Windsor Manor in New Windsor has been attending the Maryland State Fair in Timonium for as long as she can remember. Back when she was a kid growing up on her parents’ dairy farm, the fair was an annual vacation—a chance to see people in the community, show animals and just have fun with her family. Today, as the fair’s newly-elected president, Donna is responsible for getting the fair ready for more than half a million visitors.
• The Local Buy: Blue Crab (Dorchester County). The Local Buy segment host Al Spoler visits Lindy’s Seafood on Hoopers Island for a look at how its staff picks, processes, and, in some cases, pasteurizes crab meat. Then, Al heads to Wegmans, where Executive Chef Kevin Grenzig explains how he uses Lindy’s crabmeat in the supermarket’s fresh sushi and its mac & cheese. The recipe is available to viewers at mpt.org/farm.

Agriculture continues to be Maryland’s largest commercial industry, contributing more than $17 billion in revenue each year. The state currently has some 12,200 farms – 84 percent of them family-owned – and nearly 6,000 full-time farmers. These farms account for more than two million acres, which translates into 40 percent of Maryland’s land being used for agriculture. Approximately 350,000 Marylanders are employed in some aspect of agriculture.

More than six million viewers have tuned in to Maryland Farm & Harvest since its fall 2013 debut. The series has taken MPT viewers to nearly 250 farms, fisheries, and other agriculture-related locations during its first five seasons, covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City and Washington, D.C.

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and is rebroadcast on Thursdays at 11:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. Each show also airs on MPT2 on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. More information about the series is available at mpt.org/farm, and viewers can join the conversation on social media at the hashtag #MDFarmHarvestFans. You can find Maryland Farm & Harvest pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture is MPT's co-production partner for Maryland Farm & Harvest. Major funding is provided by the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board.

Additional funding is provided by Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit; Maryland's Best; the Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation; the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; and the Maryland Soybean Board.

Other support comes from the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; Wegmans Food Markets; the Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.; the Rural Maryland Council; the Maryland Seafood Marketing Advisory Commission; the Maryland Farm Bureau, Inc.; Mar-Del Watermelon Association; and the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission.

About MPT

Launched in 1969 and headquartered in Owings Mills, MD, Maryland Public Television is a nonprofit, state-licensed public television network and member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). MPT’s six transmitters cover Maryland plus portions of contiguous states and the District of Columbia. Frequent winner of regional Emmy® awards, MPT creates local, regional, and national television shows. Beyond broadcast, MPT’s commitment to professional educators, parents, caregivers, and learners of all ages is delivered through year-round instructional events and the super-website Thinkport, which garners in excess of five million page views annually. For more information visitmpt.org.