Welcome to My Maryland Farmers Blog

(DICKERSON, MARYLAND) - Once upon a time, Rockville, Md., was farmland. But as the population around Washington, DC, grew, so did residential and commercial development. Sophia Watkins’ grandmother had a dairy farm in the path of the build-up. In 1963, she...

(ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND) –  Mack and Tukka are sniffer dogs. Like their canine counterparts in law enforcement, they look for evil-doers. But the bad guys they sniff out aren’t found lurking in dark alleyways. They are bacteria hiding in beehives.The pair are...

(BERLIN, MARYLAND) Bob Bunting gets up with the birds. Actually, he gets up before the birds. He’s a crop duster and is at the airport planning his day’s flights before the first bird cheeps.Crop dusting, or aerial application involves treating fields from a...

As temperatures cool, farmers’ markets and roadside stands replace their tomatoes and lettuce with a crazy-quilt display of winter squash. The gourds are a cheerful accent to autumn’s falling leaves and gloomy skies. The squash and gourds are orange and blue and...

(RANDALLSTOWN, MARYLAND) – December 2018 – Jamie Condon smells like pine sap from Thanksgiving through Christmas. It’s an occupational hazard. Along with her husband, Kyle, and their two children, she runs A Snowball’s Chance Christmas Tree Farm, a cut-your-own...

(GALENA, MARYLAND) – December 2018. What started as a dairy farm four decades ago has evolved into a modern poultry and grain farm for the Davis family. Farming nearly 3,000 acres in Kent County, Maryland, Allen Davis has experimented with many farm practices to...

(ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND) – November 2018 – David Hancock of Hancock Family Farms in Charles County, Md., was a little nervous the day he brought 200 young turkeys home in the back of his wife’s minivan.For one thing, that many turkeys can be surprisingly loud, making...

For autumn farm fun, finding your way through a corn maze is almost as popular as playing in a pumpkin patch. Meandering through paths hidden by high stalks of corn is in turns funny, confusing, frustrating – when you finish – triumphant. The largest corn maze in...

The air is crisp. The leaves are changing. The tastes of belly-warming fall foods make our mouths water. And, folks are looking for outdoor fun. Lucky for you, because you can find it all at a local Maryland farm! At this time of year, pumpkin patches and fall farm...

(CARROLL COUNTY, MARYLAND) – From light, fruity and bright white wines to dark, smoky and oaky reds, Maryland wineries offer something for every palate – and promise adventure, opportunities to educate that palate and unique experiences when you visit. We put...

In Maryland, we “do” food. Especially in summer. With more than 12,000 farms raising fresh, delicious fruits, veggies, meats, dairy, eggs and more, and more than 500 million pounds of seafood harvested from the Chesapeake Bay each year, there are infinite ways to...

(ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND) – July 2018 – Buying local and “hyper-local” is still trending as one of the hottest movements in food. And it’s no wonder: Most foods are best when they’re freshest. Our Maryland farmers and watermen work hard to bring you and your family the...

“Milk does the body good.” From an early age, you’ve been told this time and time again. Why? Because it really is good for you! Let us start by saying that nutrition is based on science, not opinion. And, according to science, milk plays a key role in your overall...

(ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND) – It’s June. School’s out. They’re roaming the house, looking for food, already complaining that they’re bored. Houston, we’ve got a problem. Fortunately, we’ve got answers. Maryland has about 12,000 farm families. And while farm kids usually...

(ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND) – Ah, spring. The air is crisp, the birds are singing, the daffodils are blooming and your lawn … well, your lawn looks like a swamp. This calls for a trip to a “big box” store, and a big bag of fertilizer, right? Not so fast, cautions...

A gallon of milk. It’s a simple thing that’s found in most of our fridges. And, whether you choose whole, skim or 1- or 2-percent, we’ve got some dairy truths for you. 1. You can tell a lot from a cow's name. “Cows are all named the same way: First the name of the...

You will be surprised at how many things you have in common with a farmer. Ready to find out? 1. You can track your health with a fit bit. Farmers monitor their dairy cows using ankle bracelets that track things like how much milk each cow produces, how much...

(FEDERALSBURG) – March 2018 – With gray clouds stretched across the sky and a sharp breeze blowing, Rick Uva hunches his shoulders against the cold and steers his golf cart into his fields to find his crew. It’s about 40 degrees at Seaberry Farm — the Caroline...

You may have seen them at the local hardware store. They’re cute. They’re fluffy. They make a soft whistling peep sound that is irresistible. And the idea of fresh eggs appeals to that suburban homesteader in you. Before you cave in to the kids and buy a box of...

(FRIENDSVILLE, MARYLAND) – It’s 7 a.m. and “the girls” are already lined up, tails swishing impatiently as Garrett County farmer Billy Bishoff switches on the lights in his family’s milking parlor. Cows have been a central part of life on the farm here since 1958,...

When you grab a gallon of milk from the shelves of your local grocery store, do you ever wonder where it came from? You might be surprised. Billy Bishoff, a dairy farmer in Garrett County, Maryland, sells his milk to United Dairy in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where...

(CHAMBERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA) – In some ways it’s exactly the same: You look under the hood, take a test drive and do a ceremonial kick of the tires. Then, you prepare to negotiate with the salesperson. After checking the lot of the local dealer and not finding a...

(VALLEY LEE, MARYLAND) — It’s one of those things that you don’t really think about. Until you think about it. And then, you can’t stop thinking about it until you know. Where do eggs come from? Are they the beginning of baby chicks? If they’re not, then what are...

(HOLLYWOOD, MARYLAND) — While most grain farmers are wrapping up harvest and transitioning to “winter mode,” one farmer in St. Mary’s County spent the day after Thanksgiving putting a new crop in the ground. Priscilla Wentworth of Anchored Roots Farm in Hollywood...

There’s nothing better than sipping an exceptional wine. But, sometimes, we take for granted what makes a wine so good: great grapes and skillful winemakers. In Maryland, there’s no doubt that our winemakers have the expertise. It’s the unpredictable weather that...

Spring through fall, Jamie and Benson Tiralla stay busy caring for livestock and selling meat at the farmer’s market. But what about winter? “It’s just as busy on the farm in the winter as it is any other time of the year,” Jamie said. Maryland weather is...

(AND NO ONE IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT) (DAVIDSONVILLE, MARYLAND) – Katie Ward was slowing down to make a turn when the eight-point buck sprang from the woods. Within a split second, the big deer bounded into the roadway, colliding with the front end of her...

On every chicken farm, there’s open ground between the chicken houses and the property line. Stand there, and you can look toward the chicken house, or turn around, and look to a road, a neighboring farm, or other people’s homes. Family farmers raising chickens...

What do our farm fields and school soccer fields have in common? It’s Integrated Pest Management! While schools and farms have different pest problems, both have to worry about nuisances all year long. For the farmers, whether they are planning on how to manage...

When Benson and Jamie Tiralla started Monnett Farms, their first product was grass-fed beef. They sold it by the quarter or side, which means a customer would buy a portion of the beef and customize the cuts to their preferences. This was a crash course in learning...

(POOLESVILLE, MARYLAND) – October 2017 – When the letter came, it was during a busy week, and Eric Spates tossed it on his desk with the rest of his mail, thinking he’d get to it later. When he opened the envelope several days later, he realized he had just two...

Fall’s here! You may not miss the dog days of summer. But what you might miss is fresh produce from your local farmers or your own garden. Hopefully, you were able to stock up on your favorites before the end of the season. So, what can you do with your surplus of...

(POOLESVILLE, MARYLAND) – October 2017 – As he turned the key of his combine, the big engine turned over and started to hum. That’s when Maryland farmer Eric Spates breathed a sigh of relief. In July, when he was harvesting oats, the combine had gotten clogged....

(QUEENSTOWN, MARYLAND) – The spark that helped ignite a nationwide revolution in modern farming practices was discovered growing near a pear tree in Queenstown, Md. That’s where the first glyphosate tolerant soybean emerged from a small plot of plants, all of which...

From the time colonists settled in St. Mary’s county until recent decades, tobacco was the primary crop in Southern Maryland. When the Maryland tobacco buyout happened in the early 2000s, the industry disappeared, almost over night. Farms across Southern Maryland...

   The days are getting cooler and summer may be coming to a close, but farmer’s markets across Maryland are open for business. Many farmer’s markets are open through November and there’s lots to choose from. We spoke with three Maryland farmers to get the inside...

For people, being put out to pasture isn’t a good thing. For livestock, it’s a different story. When Benson and Jamie Tiralla moved to their family farm in 2007, it wasn’t in the best shape.  “My grandfather was a part-time tobacco farmer,” said Benson. “He grew...

(SALISBURY, MARYLAND) – Farming is a lot different than when your great-grandpa roamed the earth. Today, Maryland farmers use technology and some pretty nifty techniques to grow a bigger crop using fewer inputs. They also operate with conservation and...

(REYKJAVIK, ICELAND) – August 7, 2017 – Watching the runway rise up beneath him, Eric Spates had that sinking feeling there would be trouble. His flight had run over an hour late. Now he was going to miss his connection, and that would cut a rare chance to visit...

(BALTIMORE) — Before the beer, there’s the barley. Before the burgers, there’s the beef. Before the fries and the ink for the tickets, there are soybeans. Who knew Maryland’s farms had so much in common with the Ravens Nation? Maryland farmers are game-day MVPs...

There’s a lot of special care that goes into raising livestock. “Everyone is enchanted by the idea of all-natural, but the reality is that domesticated animals need humans to care for them and keep them healthy,” said Jamie Tiralla, co-owner of Monnett Farms in...

(BALTIMORE) — Before the beer, there’s the barley. Before the burgers, there’s the beef. Before the fries and the ink for the tickets, there are soybeans. Who knew Maryland’s farms had so much in common with the Ravens Nation? Maryland farmers are game-day MVPs...

(CENTREVILLE, MARYLAND) – July 27, 2017 – Travis Hutchison takes a deep breath, glances at his notes one more time, and steps up to the podium. Before him, 300 faces are looking expectantly back, fanning themselves with the day’s program against the 85-degree heat....

When people think about sheep, they usually think about wool. At a farm in Southern Maryland, Benson and Jamie Tiralla are raising sheep to produce meat. “Lamb isn’t something people eat every day,” said Jamie, co-owner of Monnett Farms in Prince Frederick. “People...

Floppy hat: Check. Reusable grocery totes: Check. Fistful of cash: Check. You’ve got the FM basics. Now, are you ready to take it next-level? We asked three Maryland farmers for the skinny on how to shop like a pro. Ready? Here’s their advice: Don’t worry about...

(POOLESVILLE, MARYLAND) – Early July 2017 – It’s been over two weeks without a single drop of rain and the crops are looking thirsty at Stoney Castle Farm. Plants wear their feelings on their sleeves, so to speak. After two long hot weeks of Maryland summer sun...

During the Great Depression, when the Hutchison family bought a farm on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, farmers used horse-drawn tools to plow and harvest fields. “We have come a long way since my great grandfather started this farm,” said Travis Hutchison, now the...

Myth: Farmers douse wheat with Roundup/glyphosate prior to harvestTruth: Roundup, which is the most common brand name for the herbicide containing the active ingredient glyphosate, is rarely used by Maryland farmers as a pre-harvest treatment on wheat.Farmers in...

(OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND) - If someone else is driving, it’s tempting to bury your nose in your cell phone and use a beach-bound road trip to catch up on your Insta. Every now and then, though, it’s good to give your eyes a break and focus on a distant sight. Here are...