MPT Series Maryland Farm & Harvest Features Education-Themed Episode on December 31

Episode Segments Take Viewers to Carroll and Montgomery Counties and Baltimore City

Photo Credit: Maryland Public Television’s Maryland Farm & Harvest

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its seventh season, will feature farms and locations in Carroll and Montgomery Counties as well as Baltimore City during a new education-themed episode airing on Tuesday, December 31 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 commercial industry – agriculture. MPT’s production team filmed episode segments at more than four dozen farms in preparation for its seventh season.

The episode begins with introductions at Clark’s Elioak Farm in Ellicott City and features the following education-themed segments:

• Green Street Academy (Baltimore City): Green Street Academy – a Baltimore City charter school with a focus on sustainability – is actually located on the bustling North Hilton Street, but one glance around the campus and the reason for the school’s name becomes clear. With solar panels, greenhouses, chicken flocks, and tanks of fish, the school’s robust farm program provides fertile ground for learning new math and science skills and developing a greater appreciation for the importance of agriculture.
• 4-H Market Project Program (Carroll County): At Whitetail Acres Boer Goats in Hampstead, teenager Hannah Haines has been raising goats for years. Viewers see the development of Hannah’s competition goat from young kid to sale-ready adult as Hannah and her peers prepare for and participate in the annual Carroll County 4-H & FFA Fair in Westminster. 
• The Local Buy: Red Wiggler Community Farm (Montgomery County): Segment host Al Spoler heads to Red Wiggler Community Farm near Clarksville, where individuals with developmental disabilities contribute to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. As paid employees of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, participants learn the value of farm work and the satisfaction of a job well done. Spoler then speaks with local author Claudia Kousoula, writer of “Bread and Beauty,” a collection of recipes using local produce. Claudia shares her delicious recipe for zucchini tian, prepared using fresh produce from Red Wiggler. The recipe is available 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. Previous episodes of the series can be viewed for free on the MPT app and online at MPT’s website.

Viewers can join in on the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by using the hashtag #MDFarmHarvest.

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: Maryland’s Best; the Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation; MidAtlantic Farm Credit; the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program; the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; the Rural Maryland Council; 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 Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund; the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service; the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.; the Maryland Farm Bureau; The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; Mar-Del Watermelon Association; Eddie Mercer Agri-Services, Inc.; and Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission.

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Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter @MdAgDept