Maryland Farm & Harvest Visits Locations Across the State During December 6 Episode 

Series Travels to Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard, Washington, and Wicomico Counties and Baltimore City during “Soil” Themed Episode

ANNAPOLIS, MD (December 1, 2022) – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its 10th anniversary season, will feature farms and locations in from Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore during a “soil” themed episode premiering on Tuesday, December 6.

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and online at mpt.org/livestream. Encore

broadcasts are available on MPT-HD Thursdays at 11 p.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. In addition, each episode airs on MPT2/Create® on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Episodes are also available to watch on demand using MPT’s online video player and the PBS Video App.

With introductions filmed at Kinder Farm Park in Millersville (Anne Arundel County), the December 6 episode features the following segments:

• Soils of Maryland (Anne Arundel, Howard, and Washington counties)– When it comes to agriculture nothing is more crucial than fertile soil. There are more than 100 types of soil in Maryland alone. During this segment, viewers hear from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services soil scientists, who highlight several types of Maryland soil. The first stop is the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Cape St. Claire where scientists look at Sassafras soils, crowned as the Maryland State soil. The next stop is the Piedmont Plateau region and its fertile cropland to learn about Glenelg soils, found from roughly I-95 West to the Catoctin mountain range. And finally, traveling west into the Appalachian Highlands, there’s a look at the Hagerstown soils, found from the Catoctin Mountains west to Garrett County. Each soil type presents advantages and challenges. Farmers must learn to adapt to the soil they work to achieve their farm’s full potential.
• Parkside High School Agriculture Education (Wicomico County)– 2019 Horticulture Teacher of the Year, Jerry Kelly, helped Parkside High School in Salisbury become the home of Maryland’s top horticulture program – the A+ Garden Centre – a community-supported and student-operated career and technology education program. During this three-year program, students gain skills in business, greenhouse organization, crop production, research, and sustainability. Viewers visit the Centre to take in its beautiful plants and flowers and see the horticulture students in action. During the school year, students grow and sell more than 100,000 plants of different varieties. Jerry expresses his passion for teaching and explains how he helps each student develop an individual study program based on their interests and career goals. Students also share their love for horticulture and describe what they have learned.
• The Local Buy: Foraging for Mushrooms with Chef Chris Amendola (Baltimore County/Baltimore City) – A devotee of wild mushrooms, Chris has secret spots across Maryland that yields choice, fresh mushrooms at no cost. Al Spoler tags along with Chris to an undisclosed location in northern Baltimore County. Al observes as Chris goes about his search through the woods, peeking under piles of dead leaves and rotting logs and offering bits and pieces of mushroom lore. The pair come away with a variety of wild mushrooms, and they return to the restaurant where Chris cleans and prepares them for cooking. With Al’s assistance, Chris prepares a delicious mushroom stew. The recipe for the stew will be available to viewers online at mpt.org/farm.

Since its Fall 2013 debut, more than 14 million viewers have watched Maryland Farm & Harvest on MPT. The series has traveled to more than 430 farms, fisheries, and other agriculture-related locations during its first nine seasons, covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City, and Washington, D.C.

Past episodes can be viewed at video.mpt.tv/show/maryland-farm-harvest/, while episode segments are available on the series’ YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/MarylandFarmHarvest/featured. Engage with the show on social media @MarylandFarmHarvest on Facebook and @mdfarmtv on Twitter.

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, Rural Maryland Council, Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation (Marbidco), a grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program, Farm Credit, Maryland Soybean Board, Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts, Wegmans Food Markets, Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association, Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund, Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation, Maryland Farm Bureau, and The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

Other support comes from Mar-Del Watermelon Association.

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Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter @MdAgDept