MPT Series Maryland Farm & Harvest Visits Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George’s Counties During Dec. 18 Episode

Charles Koiner of Koiner Farm in Silver Spring. photo credit: MPT’s Maryland Farm & Harvest

ANNAPOLIS, MD (Dec. 14, 2018) – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, in its sixth season, will feature farms and other locations in Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George’s Counties during a new episode airing Tuesday, December 18 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 upcoming episode are:

• 97-Year-Old Farmer (Montgomery County): They say farmers never truly retire, but Charles Koiner of Koiner Farm in Silver Spring takes that to a completely new level. At 97, Charles still farms full-time with the help of his 72-year-old daughter, Lynn Koiner. For years, Charles has refused to sell his property. Now, to show their appreciation, community members, including founder Kate Medina, have created the Charles Koiner Center for Urban Farming to help ensure the farm will stay in agriculture long after the Koiner family is gone.
• Preparing the Barn for Winter (Howard County): As temperatures dip, farmers need to winterize barns used to house livestock, just as homeowners winterize their homes. Farmer Dale Hough of Woodcamp Farm in Mount Airy takes viewers through the winterizing process and introduces them to the beneficiaries of his efforts: an adorable litter of piglets.
• Farm to Foodbank (Baltimore County): Since 2010, the Maryland Food Bank has partnered with local farms through the Farm to Food Bank Program, which provides fresh, local produce to the one in nine Marylanders who do not have enough to eat. One of these farms is First Fruits Farm in Freeland, a non-profit Christian ministry founded in 1998 by Rick and Carol Bernstein, which produces about two million pounds of food each year. The segment describes how the Bernsteins and other farmers work with the food bank through contract growing, donations, and gleaning. Carmen Del Guercio, CEO of the Maryland Food Bank, is also interviewed during the segment.
• The Local Buy: Pea Shoots (Prince George’s County): The Local Buy segment host Al Spoler visits Owl’s Nest Farm in Upper Marlboro to learn from farmer Liz Whitehurst about how she grows and harvests pea shoots. Al then visits Timber Pizza in NW Washington, D.C. to taste the harvest in a seasonal salad. The recipe is available to viewers at mpt.org/farm.

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.

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.

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Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter @MdAgDept