♪ ♪ Maryland growers run the agricultural gamut, from the Western mountains to the Eastern shore... Did you know?

There's a farmer's trick to test if wheat is ready for harvest?

That there's a farming philosophy which believes everything is connected?

And that regenerative farming is good for the body as well as the environment ?

Don't go anywhere, stories about the people who work the land and grow our food, along with the Local Buy, are coming up next, on Maryland Farm and Harvest !

ANNOUNCER: Major funding for Maryland Farm and Harvest is made possible in part by...

The Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board: Investing in smarter farming to support safe and affordable food, feed, and fuel, and a healthy Bay... Additional funding provided by... Maryland's Best: Good for You, Good for Maryland...

Rural Maryland Council, a collective voice for rural Maryland... MARBIDCO: Helping to sustain food and fiber enterprise for future generations... A grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program... Farm Credit: Lending Support to Agriculture and Rural America...

The Maryland Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program: Progress Powered by Farmers... Wegmans Food Market: Healthier, better lives through food...

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts... CHILD: The Maryland Agriculture Educational Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily life.

ANNOUNCER: And by...

The Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association...

The Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund...

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated...

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment... And by... Closed Captioning has been made possible by Maryland Relay, empowering those who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech disabled to stay connected by phone.

♪ ♪ HOST: We're here at Clark's Elioak Farm in Howard County where five generations of Clark's have taken root here serving the community with fine meats and produce.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining.

Welcome to Maryland Farm and Harvest !

Can you believe it?

This season marks our 10th year of bringing you the stories of folks who dedicate their lives to the service of growing our food... We'll be celebrating all season long by revisiting some of our favorite farms and farmers from years past...

But this special episode is dedicated to Veteran farmers - the men and women who not only grow our food, but devoted their lives in service to our country... Coming up... A Vietnam War Vet overcomes a life altering injury to provide a lasting legacy...

But first, an Eastern Shore grain grower returns from a tour in Iraq to work the land he served to protect... ♪ ♪ EVAN MILES: This year we grew about 800 acres of winter wheat.

We probably grew a little more this year.

JOANNE: Grain grower, Evan Miles is a partner in his family operation, Bluestem Farms.

EVAN: We till about 3000 acres total.

JOANNE: Today, it's harvest time... And while, most harvests happen in the fall, this crop gets cut in summer... EVAN: This is what they call a "soft red winter wheat."

It will be used primarily for confectionary cakes, cookies, crackers, and it has low protein, low gluten.

So, it's primarily used for those types of items.

It's planted in September/October timeframe.

Usually, around October.

And then, harvested late June, early July.

JOANNE: Winter wheat acts as a winter ground cover which helps protect nearby water sources... Every bit of the plant is harvested...

The seed head for wheat... And the stem is raked, bailed and sold as straw for animal bedding.

But timing the harvest is everything... EVAN: Right here, is your moisture, which is right on target, about where we want it, 13.1, 12.9, it continually changes as we go across the field.

JOANNE: And if you've been around wheat as much as Evan has, it'll tell you when it's ready.

EVAN: You can easily tell, that this is ready just because of the color, and see how it's like really kind of dry and the straw is yellow, amber color so I mean, you know, there's several different farmer tricks, that you know, that I've done over the years, I learned.

You know, you can do stuff like this you know, see how it all pops out there easily.

And then, you know, a lot of farmers what they do is they'll just take a couple of kernels and you know-- pop them in and chew em, and a lot of times, if they're real chewy, it's probably too wet and not ready but if they kinda crack and they're real hard-- probably ready to go.

So, it's just a quick farmer trick.

JOANNE: Evan knows his way around a farm, and likely would have never left these fields, he calls home, if it weren't for a tragic event that changed the life course for so many young men and women... EVAN: I ended up going to college for a year after I got out of high school.

I graduated in 2001, in June of 2001... September 11th happened, and then I just kinda had like a sense of urgency to help my country and kinda support the troops and so I said, why not join up and go ahead in.

So, I joined in July of 2002, and then ended up actually shipping out in January of 2003.

JOANNE: Evan joined the Navy and was soon patrolling the Persian Gulf on a Marine transport vessel during operation Iraqi freedom and operation enduring freedom.

EVAN: I love supporting the country, and I love supporting my fellow Americans, and there's such a comradery with my fellow service members when I was in the Navy, but it's the same comradery in farming and agriculture.

Come on... JOANNE: That comradery Evan speaks of is a familiar feeling for many veteran farmers...

ROB BURNETT: We own and operate good run farms.

It's a 100% grass fed beef cattle operation on leased and owned ground.

JOANNE: Rob Burnett is an Army Vet and a smallholder cattle farmer from Union Bridge, Maryland...

ROB: Primary breed is Red Devon's, We also have some Devon Cross, so it's a heritage breed, a small frame animal that does well on grass...

I come from a military family, every generation before me served in the military.

So, it was something, I always wanted to do.

I spent about five years as a watercraft operator in the Army, then transitioned over to Intelligence, and then got out of the army in 2014 I believe, so did about 12 years.

JOANNE: Like Evan, Rob sees military life analogous to farm life...

ROB: When you talk to people who served, it is very much a part of them, it shapes who they are, the same thing in agriculture.

Farmers, it is very much who they are and their identity, so there are a lot of similarities between farming and the Veteran community.

JOANNE: Rob is a first generation farmer...

So, he faced a lot of the struggles many Veterans face who've decided to follow their dreams in agriculture...

He turned to Farmers Veterans Coalition.

ROB: Their mission is to mobilize Veterans to feed America.

And they're doing that through helping Veterans that are interested in agriculture.

JOANNE: Now, he's heading up the Maryland chapter...

ROB: It was a good opportunity for me to give back because people had helped us along the way and that's one thing that's very important to us is to pay it forward.

JOANNE: It takes a certain selflessness to join the military to serve your country.

Just as it is for those who serve to grow our food... EVAN: It's basically, a mission.

I mean, when you join the service, you go on these missions and you go to support the country, and support what we fight for and support freedom, and then support other countries as well.

Growing food for fellow Americans is just as important a mission.

JOANNE: And for that we thank them.

♪ ♪ All right, it's time to test your agricultural expertise!

Here is our thing-a-ma-jig for the week.

Do you think you know what it is?

Here's a hint.

In keeping with our Veterans Day Special...

Finish the famous proverb, "beating swords into..." stay tuned and we'll have the answer at the end of the show.

For most Vets returning home from Vietnam, transitioning back to life after their tour of duty was a difficult row to hoe...

But this Garrett county Marine, profoundly affected by the war, nurtured his civilian calling and created a living lasting legacy.

♪ ♪ (crackling noise of a forge) (sound of hammer beating metal) Kenny Braitman is a metal artist and Vietnam Veteran.

Like, many of his fellow Marines, Kenny returned home a changed man.

But he has lived his life with a metal tougher than iron.

And at 75 years old Kenny isn't done forging solutions to life's toughest problems.

KENNY BRAITMAN: Together, we have to work to the betterment of our species, in some way.

I choose to try and build sense of community through food.

JOANNE: Fearing the potential effects of climate change, Kenny started Edgesville Farm, in Western Maryland where he hopes to one day feed an entire community for generations to come.

KENNY: I have to do something beyond me and bigger than me.

And the only thing I feel comfortable with and that I know, and have some ideas about, and have the resources for is permaculture.

JOANNE: Permaculture is an approach to agriculture that looks to nature and forests as models to create sustainable, and resilient food producing ecosystems.

But it's more than just a farming method.

KENNY: the three basic covenants, the morals, the values are earth share, people share, and fair share.

So, care about our planet, care about your fellow person and care about sharing, and distribution, so that no one has an advantage over the others.

JOANNE: The Edgesville Permaculture Project will become a self-sustaining food source, filled with perennial plants like fruits, nuts, and berries.

KENNY: I make choices based on nature as my model and teacher.

What goes with what?

And nature teaches me that I need plants of all levels, I need a variety of different abilities and aspects, and properties of all these plants collectively, that creates this whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Success through diversity isn't just about the plants, it's also about the community of people helping to build Edgesville.

Like, Sierra Reckley and Austin Persons, two ethnobotanists who believe their skills mixed with Kenny's will make Edgesville truly bloom.

SIERRA RECKLEY: I'm glad that we found each other, because you can't do it alone.

And like, a single tree doesn't grow alone in the forest.

Like, there's multiple different kinds of trees.

And if one tree needs some nutrients or something, other trees kind of share.

So, that's basically what we're seeing in this community.

Meeting different needs.

We all have different strengths and like-- putting all those together and being stronger because of it.

One tree can't like, survive on its own.

AUSTIN PERSONS: We can grow a lot more food per acre theoretically with practically no inputs through this method.

Alls we have to do is be patient and put in the effort up front.

This is a way of kind of focusing the successionary process of forest building, but focusing it on human needs where there's a human presence.

I don't think anything really makes more sense than that.

KENNY: The goal here is to create as much bio-diversity as possible.

What looks to a lot of people is a very messy, you know, wild area is in fact, wild and rich.

JOANNE: It's all still in it's infancy but Kenny is planning for the future, especially when it comes to the uncertainty of climate change.

KENNY: What I don't know is what our climate going to be?

And so, I wanna have plants that are drought resistant, that are flood resistant, that are heat resistant and that are cold resistant.

Resilience is the answer whether it's the food forest or the community.

JOANNE: And if there is anyone who knows what it means to be resilient, it's Kenny Braitman.

In 1968, after enlisting as a Marine voluntarily, Kenny was stationed at Khe Sanh.

The base would become surrounded by 20,000 North Vietnamese soldiers resulting in one of the bloodiest conflicts of Vietnam and an act of valor that forever changed Kenny's life.

KENNY: One of my partners next to me got wounded.

He got a piece of shrapnel in his chest and he knew he was going to die.

He just jumped out of the trench and went running to the enemy.

When he went down, I went to get him, and as I went to get him and a machine gun took my legs out.

And I thought I tripped, and so I tried to get back up and couldn't.

And when I looked down and saw what happened, I crawled to Gary and put him on my back and started to crawl back to the lines with Gary on my back, and a mortar round hit me, just back behind me and it blew everything off including Gary.

Kenny would spend the next year in a military hospital, getting used to his prosthetics and fighting infections.

And while, it would have been easy to give up instead this sparked Kenny to devote himself to serving others and after his time in the hospital, he became a counselor and advocate for Veterans, a college dean, and now a farmer fighting climate change for the next generation, inspiring those who he hopes to empower.

Austin: He has to put in extra effort and fight against more challenges in order to do this work, and it just makes me feel like, I don't have any excuse not to.

KENNY: If I'm disabled in certain ways, as we all are disabled just some in ways that I don't see.

The question is should that stop me or should I find another way to do what I feel needs to be done.

And what has guided me is that if I can help others, we all rise.

JOANNE: Downplaying his wartime heroics, Kenny Braitman wants his legacy to be his permaculture farm and for it to thrive well after he's gone... Agriculture during wartime has always played an integral role in our nation's history, both on the home front and the battle front...

Here's how they've been intertwined from then to now... ♪ ♪ When American colonies were ordered to ship their agricultural commodities, such as tobacco and tea, exclusively to England, those were fighting words as far as the founding fathers were concerned.

The lording posture to control American agriculture, combined with exorbitant taxes, prompted the famous Boston Tea Party...

Inspired by the northern colonies, Marylanders had their own tea party in Annapolis harbor and the port of Chestertown... And during the war, the Delmarva peninsula provided essential supplies to the Army, earning the region the nickname "breadbasket of the revolution."

Troop movement and battles during the Civil War severely impacted the livelihoods of many Maryland farmers... During both World Wars, as the men were shipped out, the women stepped up to answer the "call to farm."

More than million women enlisted in the Women's Land Army during the course of World War II.

And while women retuned to their traditional roles after the war, the image of men working the fields alone had changed for good.

According to a USDA study in 2013, nearly 1 million farmers were women.

These folks supply our nation's troops with the fuel the need to defend our freedom... Then and now.

Veterans who turn to farming are no strangers to discipline and responsibility, and for this Baltimore County farmer, the responsibility is now aimed toward the environment on this week's Local Buy...Al!

♪ ♪ AL SPOLER: Back in colonial times this tract of land was known as "My Lady's Manor," and it was considered to be some of the best farmland in all of Maryland.

Today, we're at Ladybrook Farm where owners Vince and Carin are doing their very best to maintain an enlightened stewardship over this privileged piece of land.

When Vince Matanoski and Carin Celebuski bought this 80-acre tract of land it was planted in soybean and corn...

But they wanted to try their hand at regenerative farming... VINCE MATANOSKI: Our land runs right down to the little Gunpowder which flows into the Chesapeake, so we wanted to change it so there'd be permanent cover on the ground.

Get pasture down, grass down so it keeps the soil in place.

And helps protect the Bay.

AL: They began by planting riparian buffers along the river... Getting off the grid with solar power... Carin created a flower farm for pollinators... Bee hives for honey... And Vince set his sights on a rotational, pasture-raised poultry operation with ducks, geese, and chickens...

It's a magical transformation, considering farming was completely new to Vince...

He had spent his entire 31-year career in the Navy as a JAG Officer...

But dropping anchor on a farm made more sense than you'd think... AL: You know, it occurs to me that both a military career and farming career require the same two things: dedication and discipline.

VINCE: That's absolutely right, Al.

And there is a real connect between the two.

You do have to be disciplined for sure.

And you have to be dedicated because there are days, we just don't want to face it but you gotta get out there and do it.

But there's also, I think there's another tie, there's a sense of doing something for the community... You kmow, both military and farmers do service for the community and I think there's that kind of tie to the two careers as well.

(chickens clucking) AL: With the chickens feasting on a fresh patch of pasture, I joined Vince to collect the morning offering... AL: So what does the rooster do?

VINCE: Well, he keeps the peace out here, that's why we call him "Sheriff Lucky."

When the hens are fighting he jumps in the middle of them and breaks them up.

Breaks up the fight.

And so, the nesting boxes are behind these panels... We just open them and voila.

AL: Open says a me.

Should we grab these?

AL: Hi girls, sorry... Let me make life more comfortable for you.

Thank you sweetheart.

AL: How many eggs are we going to get today?

VINCE: We're probably get about 30 dozen, 360.

AL: Oh, my goodness, she's working overtime.

Watch out girlie... AL: (closing door) I haven't done too bad here.

VINCE: No... AL: They really look very healthy.

Does this regime of keeping them on rotating grass does that really help them?

VINCE: It definitely, is good for their health.

They get a steady diet of, nutrients and vitamins that they need, bugs at this time of year too, which they love.

They're not constrained to you know, some small space, they get to move around and its just more natural and that has to better for them.

AL: They look real happy...

The chickens are a mixed flock of Rhode Island Reds and White Plymouth Rocks... And thanks to Carin, I'm about to find out how yummy their eggs are... AL: Carin, you're cooking up quite a dish here, you got some onions sauteing, what are we making?

CARIN: Today, we're going to make some shakshuka.

Which is a nice thing to make when there's some summer bounty.

You can use fresh tomatoes, fresh kale, and onions, all from local farms, which is delicious.

AL: And eggs, I suppose?

CARIN: And eggs from Ladybrook Farm.

AL: Great, what's the next step?

CARIN: Would you please add the kale?

AL: Sure, all of it, huh?

CARIN: Yup.

Mm-hmm.

AL: Yeah, we have quite a bit.

CARIN: Yep.

AL: And you'll do the tomatoes?

CARIN: Yes.

AL: There we go.

AL: That's for the middle.

CARIN: for the middle.

(Carin dropping eggs) AL: All righty.

(rooster crows) AL: Really pretty... CARIN: Ready?

AL: Okay, let's get them poaching... CARIN: Okay.

AL: Let's take a quick look and see how those eggs are doing.

CARIN: Okay, we'll see... Al; Oh, my goodness... CARIN: There'a a bowl, right there with your name on it.

AL: Look at that, that's beautiful.

CARIN: Yeah.

AL: Oh, my that looks just fabulous.

How often do you serve this beautiful dish?

CARIN: It's a really good brunch dish... AL: Mm-hmm.

What we'd like to do is put the recipe on our website at MPT.ORG/FARM.

So, you can try it at home.

It's a winner.

For the Local Buy, I'm Al Spoler.

Joanne.

JOANNE: Thanks Al.

Be sure to check out MPT.ORG/FARM for a link to all our recipes... Plus, you can watch all the Maryland Farm and Harvest episodes there as well.

Also, don't forget to follow us on social media for show updates, pictures, and videos!

Now hold on, we're not done yet.

Remember our thingamajig?

Did you guess what it is?

No, it's not a trident...

The hint fitting was to finish the proverb: beating swords into...

The answer is plowshares.

The phrase means to move from war to peace.

The plowshare is the blade edge of the plow designed to cut through and till soil.

Congratulations, if you got it right!

Join us next week for another thing-a-ma-jig, along with more stories about the diverse, passionate people who feed our state.

And to all the Veteran farmers out there, thank you for your service.

I'm Joanne Clendining.

Thanks for watching!

Closed Captioning has been made possible by Maryland Relay, empowering those with hearing and speech loss to stay connected.

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Major funding for Maryland Farm and Harvest is made possible in part by...

The Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board: Investing in smarter farming to support safe and affordable food, feed, and fuel, and a healthy Bay.

Additional funding provided by... Maryland's Best: Good for You, Good for Maryland.

Rural Maryland Council, a collective voice for rural Maryland.

MARBIDCO: Helping to sustain food and fiber enterprise for future generations... A grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program... Farm Credit: Lending Support to Agriculture and Rural America...

The Maryland Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program: Progress Powered by Farmers... Wegmans Food Market: Healthier, better lives through food...

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts... CHILD: The Maryland Agriculture Educational Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily life.

ANNOUNCER: And by...

The Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association...

The Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund...

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated...

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment... And by... (rooster crows) ♪ ♪