♪ ♪ HOST: It's a hardworking agricultural world out there, from the Appalachians to the Atlantic Coast.

Did you know soybeans can keep a farm couple together?

Roses by any other name aren't roses, and not all Valentine's Day flowers come in a vase.

Don't go away.

Stories about the people who work the land and grow our food, plus, 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 lives.

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: This week, we're visiting Hillcrest Nursery in Northern Baltimore County where, in 1976, owners Steve and Jim Hershfeld, followed their love of horticulture and bought a 30-acre parcel of land that was once a '70s commune, and turned it into a premier wholesale nursery selling annuals, perennials, vegetables, succulents, and herbs.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining.

Welcome to the 10th anniversary season of Maryland Farm and Harvest .

A love of agriculture is this episode's theme, fitting for Valentine's Day, but this traditional day of love comes with mysterious origins, from its religious backstory of a martyred patron saint to chubby cherubs slinging arrows of love to a first-century pagan festival that involved waving goat skins over crop fields, Valentine's Day has had quite the story in the past.

Today, we're not as ritualistic, of course.

A nice card, a box of chocolates, and perhaps some flowers will do just fine, thank you very much.

Speaking of flowers, coming up, roses are the flower of love, but for one local flower farm, there's more flowers than roses to love.

But first, between the long days and hard work, about the only thing that gets most farmers up and out to the fields, is a love of family and farming.

This first story is a prime example.

Husband and wife farmers who prove that teamwork can make the dream work.

♪ ♪ The trouble with dreams is that they can change to a nightmare in a snap, a cold snap that is.

But for farmers like Dave and Belinda Burrier of Burrier's Linganore Farm in Frederick County, Maryland, a nightmare just means you go to plan B or C. BELINDA BURRIER: Sometimes, we're on plan D from what we thought we were going to do in the morning, and we got to be able to pivot.

JOANNE: Today, the Burriers had hoped to begin harvesting their soybeans, but overnight, Mother Nature threw them a curve ball.

DAVE BURRIER: Sunday and Monday we had a killer frost, which means the temperature here Sunday morning was 26 degrees.

When you have that kind of temperature drop, the bean will be finished and it will go ahead and mature at whatever growth stage it's at.

So, at that point, we're waiting for this bean to dry down that we can harvest it and store it.

JOANNE: That could mean hours or days.

Time for plan E?

DAVE: My dad always says, "What you do on a rainy day pays you double on a clear day."

It's always something to be focused on.

JOANNE: Today, Dave and Belinda will focus on prepping the combine for when the soybeans are ready for harvest.

DAVE: Downtime is critical because when the weather's good, we want to be harvesting.

The thing of it is to manage it and not let it consume you.

It can consume you, but the good guys manage it and move it forward.

(closes the combine top) JOANNE: It helps to have a partner who can balance the load.

DAVE: Let me put this up there first, Belinda.

BELINDA: I really enjoy farming with my husband, and I'll tell you, I think in 20 years, we've only had one, "Why did you turn that way instead of this way?"

That was it.

DAVE: She didn't come from a farm background.

She is a quick learner.

She's adapted to it.

Her heart's in it too, and when two people pull together with your heart in it, it's nothing better on this green earth, I can tell you.

JOANNE: A greener earth is one thing the Burrier family has maintained since buying the farm in 1962.

That's when the original 109 acre dairy farm was partially converted to strip crop farming, pivoting to a progressive commitment to conserving the land by adopting a green farming philosophy.

Over the years, the Burrier's transitioned to no-till farming, crop rotation, and cover crops, but the turn of the century brought some unforeseen changes.

DAVE: In 2,000, there was starting to be environmental concerns and our cow yard was very, very close to the creek.

JOANNE: Linganore Creek runs right down the middle of the farm where it connects to the Monocacy River and to the Potomac, and then, right into the Chesapeake Bay.

Over the years, studies had proven that excessive runoff pollution contributes to the Chesapeake Bay's poor water quality.

DAVE: And so...proactively, we were looking at what it would take to continue and reduce our environmental footprint.

JOANNE: Dave had a big decision to make, whether to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars for dairy waste containment, or pivot to a new plan.

DAVE: At that time, it was going to be a huge investment with no return other than just the environmental aspect.

So, we decided to sell our herd of cows.

So since 2000, it's been a crop farm.

So we raise corn, wheat, soybeans, and we raise hay.

JOANNE: Today, thanks to over 48 years of no-till farming, strip cropping, and two expansive buffer strips, the Linganore Creek weeds are filtering impurities before they hit the Bay.

DAVE: We've had our water tested on both ends of our property and it goes out cleaner than it comes in.

BELINDA: We are top of the line on getting any new conservation put out there.

We want to protect the Bay every day, and we want to do it so that everybody is comfortable with how we produce their crops.

JOANNE: Despite the changes to the farm, Dave and Belinda's commitment to producing quality food has only increased with time.

BELINDA: The American farmer is down to one percent of the population, so one percent of the population feeds all of the US and international.

DAVE: We want to put out a crop that's the best in the world.

We have competition from other countries and so they're competing for our market.

So, to retain our markets, we have to put out a better product.

JOANNE: And that means being able to pivot, for example, the sun has mostly dried the soybeans, allowing Dave to harvest the crop.

DAVE: We get to this time of the year, we don't miss any harvesting opportunities.

Even though the beans are really dry, it's really, really critical to get these beans off.

JOANNE: Beyond a quality product, Dave and Belinda have been giving back to the farm community.

For the past nine years, Belinda has served on the United Soybean Board where she has shared Maryland's environmental gains.

BELINDA: We both have joined different commodity groups and are advocates for the farming industry, and we are happy doing that.

DAVE: When you go to meetings nationwide, Maryland Agriculture has become the hub of a lot of the environmental aspects of what's coming, and we try to engage them in what they can expect and how they can make the changes that they need in their State and their Counties.

I would say at this point, we're not a follower, Maryland is a leader.

JOANNE: Dave and Belinda Burrier, farming is their life, and they've learned over the years that they have to be ready to pivot in new directions and roll with the changes, and they've done a fine job.

And did you know...75 million acres of soybeans are planted in the US?

In Maryland alone, the multi-use beans are grown on 500,000 acres of farmland.

♪ ♪ All right, it's time to test your agricultural know-how.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

Do you think, you know what it is?

Well, here's a hint.

It's a handy tool in the barn when there are hungry mouths to feed.

Stay tuned, and we'll have the answer at the end of the show.

For this Valentine's Day, we are flipping the script on what love means.

For us, it's farming and family.

We asked you all to send in your farm family photos.

Enjoy.

♪ ♪ Flowers have a way of brightening everyone's day.

Roses, of course, have become synonymous with Valentine's Day, and one local flower grower pushes petals of love, dozens at a time.

♪ ♪ HEATHER CARR: The roses are definitely the most popular flower.

I think they're a flower of love.

They smell great and they're beautiful too.

JOANNE: Valentines across the state are in search of the best roses in town.

At Willow Oak Flower & Herb Farm in Severn, Maryland, you can find some of the state's most beautiful fragrant roses and more.

Heather Carr is a 4th-generation horticulturalist.

HEATHER: My great-grandparents bought the farm back in the '20s and they had animals, and my mom started the actual nursery flower shop in '79.

JOANNE: Three and a half years ago, Heather's mother hung up her gardening gloves and passed the shears to her daughter.

HEATHER: I always envisioned myself here.

It doesn't feel like a job.

I love coming to work every day.

I grew up on the farm and we used to run down the hill and play in the pond, run around the woods.

We'd build forts around here and I'd always help out with whatever I could in the gardens.

The farm has been here for five generations now, including my son.

Silis seems to be interested in the farm.

Do you want to make an arrangement?

SILIS CARR: Sure.

HEATHER: Great.

He likes to help out with cutting some things and making some arrangements.

And we cut all of these this morning, so we have a great selection to use.

How is yours going?

SILIS: Good.

HEATHER: Good.

These are a nice representation of what we have in the gardens for summer, a nice summer arrangement.

JOANNE: Silas already shows potential as a young horticulturalist as he follows in his mother's footsteps, one petal at a time.

A rose is a rose is a rose, or is it?

Heather and her team at Willow Oak Farm might make it look easy, but don't be fooled.

Growing the perfect rose is no easy task.

HEATHER: Roses are pretty temperamental.

It takes a lot of fertilizer and pruning to keep a rose happy.

They'll kind of bloom really nice in June, and then you have to keep feeding, and deadheading them to keep them blooming, and happy through the summer.

The varieties that we use are nice and fragrant, and they have lots of petals.

They open wide.

They're just really pretty and a little different than your typical rose.

So, we cut and use our roses in our arrangements.

June through July, August, I would say, and in the winter, we get them in.

They just don't grow in our climate that time of the year.

For Valentine's Day, we do have to get them in.

They come in from Ecuador for the most part.

We trim them and get them in water, and then we'll mix them with our greens that we grow here.

JOANNE: Although, Maryland winters are too harsh for roses, business doesn't slow down for this flower farm.

Last year, the farm sold almost 200 dozen Valentine's Day rose arrangements.

Customers also appreciate the farm's environmentally-friendly approach.

Willow Oak Farm is committed to organic and chemical-free horticulture.

The farm also grows most of the flowers and greenery used in their arrangements.

HEATHER: We try to use most of what we grow and people are more accepting now of some flowers not being quite perfect, if they know it's been grown here.

JOANNE: The farm also offers customers a chance to step away from their busy schedule to stop and smell the roses.

HEATHER: We love it when people come out and walk around, and spend some time here, and get into the gardens, and everything.

People will spend hours in the garden and we love it.

JOANNE: Maryland Valentines will surely wander to Willow Oak year after year for fragrant flowers and radiant roses.

Did you know...roses have been around for 35 million years, but they weren't always the symbol of love?

In the 15th century, different color roses were used as symbols for warring factions in England.

Those battles became known as the "War of the Roses."

Coming up, Al Spoler sprinkles petals of joy around a bakery.

But first, we touched on the history of Valentine's Day earlier in the show, but we thought it deserved a deeper dive into this holiday that has us all seeing red, both then and now.

♪ ♪ Sweet to some and sappy to others, today's Valentine's Day holiday is all about romantic love, flowers, chocolate, and colorful cards.

However, the origins of this holiday are rooted in a raucous Roman festival, the feast of Lupercalia, celebrated annually from February 13 to 15.

Ancient Rome is also the likely origin of the name of our contemporary day of celebration.

On February 14, the Roman Emperor Claudius II executed two men named Valentine in as many years.

The Catholic Church honored these men as saints.

Their saint's day, St. Valentine's Day, eventually became associated with courtly love.

The holiday became sweeter over time.

Authors such as Shakespeare and Chaucer romanticized it in their work, and the holiday gained popularity throughout Europe.

Factories began producing paper cards during the Industrial Revolution, and by 1913, the American company, Hallmark Cards, began mass production of its iconic Valentine's Day greeting cards.

In contemporary culture, many people now choose to celebrate self-love, family love, and friendship, bringing new meaning to the day of love.

A Valentine's Day tradition is sweets for the sweet.

On this week's, The Local Buy, Al Spoler discovers his sweet tooth making cookies with edible petals.

Al.

♪ ♪ ALLIE SMITH: There's something really direct and sort of honest about sharing beautiful baked goods with folks and the little bit of joy that could bring.

We have been creating lots of heart-shaped things.

AL SPOLER: Especially during this time of the year, when love is in the air.

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and nothing says, "I love you" more than flowers.

We're here at Bramble Bakery in Baltimore where baker Allie is whipping up a batch of cookies, finished with edible flower petals.

Allie Smith has found a sweet and tender way to win the hearts of her customers with her baked goods topped off with edible florals.

ALLIE: It's really lovely to get to work with flowers in any capacity.

AL: Today's special, heart-shaped shortbread cookies with vanilla rose glaze.

It's Allie's grandmother's family recipe with a Scottish twist.

ALLIE: You know, Scottish shortbread is nothing fancy, truly four ingredients, flour, butter, sugar, and a little bit of salt.

AL: And of course, a touch of colorful local Maryland blooms.

While, fresh edible flowers last only a few days, no petals go to waste in Allie's kitchen.

What doesn't get used fresh, is pressed, dried, and stored away for later.

ALLIE: Dried edible flowers or pressed edible flowers will last a very long time for you, especially if they're not exposed to any light and you store them well, they can last you know, for as long as you want them to last, like a pressed flower that would be kept in a book for years and years, and years.

AL: What were these?

ALLIE: Poppies.

So, these are poppy petals.

AL: No kidding.

Wow.

ALLIE: And some really large violets.

AL: When it comes to using them with cakes and cookies, I guess it's just your imagination that takes over.

ALLIE: Yeah.

They lend themselves to a lot of natural inspiration.

We let the shape of the flower lead us in one direction or the other.

JOHN SHAW: Allie is just an amazingly creative and skilled baker.

AL: Allie sources edible flowers from many different farms, but during winter, she counts on the farmer, John Shaw.

JOHN: Edible flowers, we grow 52 weeks a year.

Some flowers like cold weather, some like warm weather, some like hot weather.

AL: And in this controlled environment, John can grow year-round, rain or shine.

JOHN: It feels good.

I mean, when I walk in here, I feel good.

(laughs) You know, I like flowers.

Everybody who doesn't like flowers, and you know when you combine it with something else people really like, which is good food, it's really a winning combination.

AL: The cookies are out of the oven, cooled, and ready for a makeover.

ALLIE: We're going to glaze them by dipping them in this mixture of honey, powdered sugar, some milk to thin it out, vanilla bean, and rose water.

So, it's a nice flavorful glaze.

AL: I'm going in for the perfect dunk.

ALLIE: Yeah, that's a good dip.

It's nice and flat against the bottom.

AL: Hey, that's not too bad.

ALLIE: Beautiful.

AL: (laughs) Now that's a sweet-looking canvas.

Time to get crafty.

ALLIE: I think there's something really lovely about eating something that also looks so beautiful and so colorful and in a natural way.

It's been a way for us to incorporate a lot of color into what we make without using like...fake food dyes or food colorings.

♪ ♪ AL: Allie, this is just a feast for the eyes.

It is so, so beautiful.

Well done.

I'm so impressed, and I can only imagine what people think the first time they walk in here.

ALLIE: I think all the flowers and the greenery kind of help it be a more welcoming space, and we have had some folks that have mistakenly thought we were a plant shop before.

(Allie and Al laugh) AL: That's really funny.

Now, you've made up a bunch of cookies here.

Let me try one.

Do you make these all year round?

ALLIE: We do, yeah.

We make shortbread year-round, often with glazes that kind of changes flavor a little bit.

This one, in particular, has some rose water and some vanilla bean that play nicely with the honey and the butter flavors.

AL: It is so delicious, I just can't get over it, and I'm a big fan of shortbread.

So, what we'd like to do is put your shortbread recipe on our website at mpt.org/farm so you can try it at home.

Thank you.

For The Local Buy, I'm Al Spoler.

Joanne.

JOANNE: Thanks, Al.

Be sure to check out mpt.org/farm for all our recipes and resources, plus, you can watch all 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 it?

Our hint was, it's a handy tool in the barn when there are hungry mouths to feed.

This is a hay bale twine cutter.

It's the perfect tool to have in the barn or a horse trailer.

It cuts the twine holding the hay bale, making it easy to distribute the hay to hungry animals.

Congratulations, if you got it right.

Join us next week for another thingamajig along with more stories about the diverse, passionate people who feed our State.

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 lives.

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... ♪ ♪