Governor Martin O’Malley, First Lady Katie O’Malley and Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown hosted the 2nd Annual Buy Local Cookout to celebrate Maryland’s Best bounty of locally grown, made and harvested foods and to challenge all Marylanders to eat at least one local product each day during the week.  This year, Governor Martin O’Malley invited teams of a chef and one or more farmer, waterman or producer to submit recipes featuring local ingredients.  Over 60 recipes were submitted in the categories of appetizers, side dishes or salads, main dishes, desserts, beverages and table decorations (centerpieces).  All 60-plus recipe submissions, along with a few O’Malley family favorites are available online at www.mda.state.md.us/pdf/cookbook.pdf.

Maryland hospitals are setting a strong example of how companies and organizations can participate in the Buy Local Week challenge. More than 20 hospitals & nursing homes in Maryland are participating by serving at least one local food product a day and/or their employees have pledged to do the same on their own during Buy Local Week.  Some hospitals have close to 200 employees participating by taking the pledge.  Contact Louise Mitchell at Lmitc001@son.umaryland.edu for additional information.

For information about the Buy Local Challenge Week and to find local products, visit www.marylandsbest.net.

Governor Martin O’Malley, Lt. Governor Brown and Maryland’s Executive Cabinet joined Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller, Jr. and local officials in Calvert County on June 19, declaring it Maryland’s “Capital for a Day.”  The program brings the State Capital to every corner of Maryland through a series of events in Maryland cities, towns and communities.

Sec. Hance, a fourth generation Calvert County farmer, accompanied Governor O’Malley to events throughout the day. Events included a prayer brunch with county faith leaders at the North Beach Volunteer Fire Hall, an official ribbon cutting to open the Calvert Medical Arts Center at Calvert Memorial Hospital, and tour of Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in St. Leonard. To kick off the public Cabinet meeting and to honor Calvert County’s strong agricultural heritage, Joe Swann (Swann Farms, Owings) presented the Governor with the county’s first harvest of sweet corn and peaches.

Click here for a video and more information.

(Caption: Joe Swann, Swann Farms, presents Gov. O’Malley with farm-fresh produce.)

The Farm to School program brings Maryland-based products into school lunches in order to stimulate local economies, help keep Maryland farmland open and productive and educate students about where their food comes, how it is produced, and the benefits of a healthy diet.

This summer marks the first ever state-wide Farm to School Workshop to be held on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Indian Creek Upper School in Crownsville, MD.  Attendees will include Maryland farmers, food service staff, parents, teachers, and interested citizens.  Together these groups can join forces to grow healthier children, a stronger economy and a better environment.  Registration is required for the event and can be done online by clicking here.

The program also hosts Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week which will be held from September 14-18, 2009.

In an effort to boost participation, the Farm to School website will be expanded to contain various new resources including per-grade curriculum and activities that teachers can bring to the classroom as well as ways parents can get involved and support the program.

The Marlin Hoff Memorial barn was dedicated on Saturday, July 18 at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster under beautiful blue skies. The barn was built in the late 1700s on what is now the Hoff family farm near New Windsor. It was disassembled and moved to the Farm Museum where its history and unique construction can be shared with others. The barn is currently being  reconstructed. Sec. Hance along with numerous state and local dignitaries joined at least 200 local residents for the ceremony.

A five-member high school team from Carroll County won the 19th Annual Maryland Envirothon. Teams from Harford, St. Mary’s, Washington and Howard counties rounded out the remaining top scores. The Envirothon is an outdoor natural resources competition that challenges students to identify and categorize living resources, perform soil surveys and solve other complex natural resource issues.  More than 100 challengers from 19 counties across Maryland and Baltimore City participated in this year’s competition, held June 16-18 at the Mount St. Mary’s University in Frederick County.

The winning team will represent the state at the national 2009 Canon Envirothon, which will be held at the University of North Carolina at Asheville from August 2-8.  During the past five years, Maryland teams have consistently placed in the top 10 percent at national competitions. Click here for more details.

The Maryland Statewide Farm Energy Audit Program will help farmers reduce their energy costs through farm energy audits and equipment incentives for qualifying energy saving projects.

Many farmers are now seeing a negative result of persistent spring rain in their wheat and barley harvest in the form of vomitoxin.  Deoxynivalenol (DON), better known as vomitoxin, may be produced in wheat and barley grain infected by the fungus, Fusarium head blight (FHB) or scab. The presence of vomitoxin can make the crop unmarketable or unusable as feed, depending upon the level of contamination.  Anyone planning to feed this year’s crop to livestock should test their grain first. The Maryland Department of Agriculture’s State Chemist is sampling grain at grain elevators and feed mills to determine if vomitoxin is present and if so, at what level.  MDA is providing free testing and guidance to farmers who may be considering feeding this year’s small grains to livestock.  Testing for crop insurance purposes must be done through a crop insurance adjuster.

Contact the Maryland State Chemist at 410-841-2721 for more information or to arrange for sampling.

Bill Woodfield serves as the chairman of Maryland’s Seafood Marketing Advisory Commission.  The Seafood Marketing Advisory Commission assists the Seafood Marketing Program to “promote increased consumption and distribution of Maryland seafood” and to “seek effective methods to reduce cost and improve the quality and marketability of Maryland seafood.”   The Commission is comprised of 13 members that represent different areas of the Maryland seafood industry.  These represented areas include seafood packers, licensed Maryland watermen, consumers, the Secretaries of Natural Resources and Agriculture and the aquaculture and retail food industries.  Currently, the commission is focused on promoting Maryland crab meat and both hard and soft crabs.  As Chairman, Woodfield runs the meetings and represents the Commission by hosting an exhibit at the annual International Boston Seafood Show.

Woodfield comes from a family with a long history in the seafood business and has great knowledge of the industry.  After high school, Woodfield went straight into the Navy.  Upon completion of his term, he entered into the family business: the seafood industry.  For almost 40 years he worked at Woodfield Fish and Oyster Company in Galesville, Maryland.  In 2002, the family-run business was bought by the Annapolis Produce and Seafood Division. Although it no longer operates under the same name, Woodfield continues to work there.

Courtesy of the Government House

Ingredients:
1 lb         Maryland jumbo lump crab meat
1 c          mayonnaise
1 tsp       yellow mustard
1 tsp       dry mustard powder
1 tsp        Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp        Old Bay seasoning
1 tbs        fresh chopped parsley
1/3 cup    Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 egg       slightly beaten
Dash        hot sauce

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly butter a baking pan and set aside.  In a large bowl combine all items except crab meat.  Gently fold in crabmeat.  Allow mixture to chill for at least 2 hours. Using a large scoop, portion out each crab cake to approximately 4 oz.  Place on baking sheet and bake until golden brown (approximately 20-30 minutes).

Yields: 12 – 4 oz. cakes