MPT series Maryland Farm & Harvest visits Howard, Kent, and Frederick counties during February 7 episode

ANNAPOLIS, MD (February 2, 2023) – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its 10th anniversary season, will feature farms and locations in Howard, Kent, and Frederick counties during a new episode premiering on Tuesday, February 7.  

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. Each episode also 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.  

The popular weekly series takes viewers on a journey across the Free State, telling engaging and enlightening stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow agriculture in Maryland, the state’s number one commercial industry. During its 10th season, the series revisits some favorite farms and farmers from past episodes.

The February 7 episode features the following segments: 

• Ananda Farm to Table (Howard County): Ananda Farm and Ananda Restaurant in Fulton are owned by Binda Singh, who immigrated to Maryland from India at age 14. During this segment, Binda talks about growing up in a family of farmers and in a household where they ate only what they grew. After many years of working in the restaurant industry, Binda opened his own farm-to- table experience, fulfilling a long-held dream. Binda even grows the heritage produce his father grew in India. When his family immigrated to the United States, his father brought small bags of seeds, which he saved until Binda was able to start his own farm. Ananda Farm supplies much of the produce and protein used in the restaurant, raising chickens and ducks for eggs and growing herbs and vegetables used in its Indian recipes. What Binda and his staff can’t grow themselves, they buy from local farmers. For the restaurant’s customers, many of whom have also come from India, Ananda Restaurant food transports them back to their home country. 
• Pigs & Politics – 10th Anniversary segment, originally aired during season one (Kent County):  The Langenfelder family runs Grand View Farm in Kennedyville, one of Maryland’s largest swine farms. As the Maryland Farm Bureau’s first woman president, Pat Langenfelder is always in a state of motion. Viewers follow Pat to farm bureau meetings in Annapolis and back to her hog farm in Kent County. There, her two daughters and son tend to all swine-related matters while her husband manages crop production. The segment includes an update on what Pat (now former Maryland Farm Bureau president, 2009-2013) and the Langenfelder family are up to today.  
• The Local Buy: Cider – Distillery Lane (Frederick County): Maryland apple cider brings segment host Al Spoler to Distillery Lane Ciderworks in Jefferson, just outside of Burkittsville. Al meets Robin Miller, owner and orchard manager, who started Distillery Lane in 2001. Today the farm has some 3,000 apple trees consisting of more than 45 varieties. During a walk through the orchard, Robin explains why Washington County is such a favorable place to grow apples and why a wide variety of apples is needed to make good apple cider. Then it’s time for cider-maker Tim Rose to take over in the press room. Tim shows how the procedure works as juice is collected and set aside for finishing (for fresh) or aging (for hard). Next, it’s to the tasting room, where Rob explains what the perfect blends are for various ciders and introduces Al to his high-end creation, a Pommeau (a fortified cider made with distilled apple cider) called La Mela dela Notte.  Al samples the ciders and is especially impressed with the Pommeau.

More than 15 million viewers have watched Maryland Farm & Harvest on MPT since its fall 2013 debut. 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