JOANNE: From the Mason-Dixon line south to the mighty Potomac, from the Atlantic to the Appalachians, Maryland's agriculture reigns supreme.

Did you know there's a difference between old world and heritage wheat?

An auctioneers fast talk is called a "Cattle Rattle"?

And goat's milk will make your skin glow?

Don't go anywhere!

Stories about the people who work the land and feed our state are coming up next, on "Maryland Farm and Harvest".

NARRATOR: 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.

A grant from the Rural Maryland Council, Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Fund.

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 Soy Bean board and Soy Bean Check Off program, progress powered by farmers.

Wegmans Food Markets, healthier, better lives through food.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences.

And by... (theme music plays).

JOANNE: Did you know that over 40% of Maryland land is in agriculture?

That's over 2 million acres.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining, welcome to "Maryland Farm and Harvest".

We're here at Deep Run Farms near Westminster.

This family farm grows a variety of specialty crops, like produce, fruits, and berries.

It's a category that covers a wide array agriculture products.

Anything from leafy greens to apple orchards to vineyards, and pretty much everything in between.

Coming up, a livestock auction house is where deals are made, but it's also a place to catch up with friends and fellow farmers.

But first, farming was the last thing this young couple thought would be their future.

But the green fields of the family farm called, and these young farmers decided to try growing different crops a bit differently than the generations before them.

Welcome to Fiddler's Green, a 107 acre organic farm, just a hair's breadth from Taneytown, Maryland.

It's been in the Batten family since 1946, when Navy captain Hugh Batten purchased and named it after a 19th century sailors' folklore.

A fiddler's green was an afterlife for sailors and soldiers who'd served in battle.

Their reward?

Perpetual mirth, and a fiddle that never stops playing.

But it has changed.

Today, there's a new tune playing on the farm.

Meet Ben Batten, Hugh's great-grandson and neo-farmer.

BEN: I grew up here.

We moved here when I was four and at that point we basically just lived here on the farm and we rented it out.

JOANNE: That all changed in 2018, when Maryland's hemp bill passed, and Ben and his wife Brynn moved back to the farm to escape corporate work by pivoting to organic work.

Their first crop?

Hemp.

BRYNN: Initially we grew just over two acres of hemp.

Which might not seem like a lot to other farmers in the area, but it's similar to tobacco.

There's a lot of value in a small amount of land.

BEN: So we turned that into a line of CBD products that we create ourselves.

And we've expanded to the rest of the fields, cause that takes up such a small area, to doing small grains.

BRYNN: We really wanted to shift more into food, something that we can nourish people with.

BEN: Up here in Carroll County, there's farms all over the place, but not a lot of them are producing food that is consumed here.

We really want to provide food for our community.

JOANNE: They started with rye for local distillers.

And instead of worrying about what they don't know about farming, they see it as an advantage.

BEN: We don't have to unlearn any old ways of doing things.

So, it's all an experiment.

JOANNE: Their latest is testing to see how the rye works as a cover crop for soybean.

BEN: This is a variety of rye that most people aren't using as a cover.

We're actually harvesting most of this, but we're using this as an experiment to see if we can get some soybeans to come up through here.

We're experimenting all the time and trying and failing different ways, and figuring out what works.

And it is working.

So we're making progress in not spraying, not relying on fertilizers and helping the soil do the work instead of our inputs.

JOANNE: Today, Ben and his father Chris, are preparing to harvest their latest experiment.

BEN: Today we are harvesting our turkey red, it's a hard red winter wheat, it's an ancient grain.

And it's just, it's thriving here.

It's growing really well.

Today we'll be harvesting with our old 19-somethings Gleaner F series.

It's a big, loud monster and rattles and shakes but it gets the grain out of the field.

CHRIS: It's working pretty well, you know, I mean it doesn't get everything.

BEN: It's just not threshing ideally.

They're leaving some out, out here.

There's probably an adjustment we could do.

If I knew this machine better.

(laughing).

You know that's probably one of the things I like the most is, the problem solving aspect is, getting things working better.

JOANNE: That's a good attitude to have, especially working with an old harvester like this one.

It's kinda like a dance.

Go too slow and you lose grain.

Go too fast.... CHRIS: Yeah, something's burning.

BEN: Well, it started making a new noise, and smoke started pouring out.

Might have something to do with one of these belts.

It was probably taking in too much material at one time, going a little too fast, think just overwhelmed it.

If you're not breaking stuff every once in a while, you're not trying hard enough.

CHRIS: Hey, look at that, we're free!

BEN: Part of being new to farming is you don't always know what not to do until you do it.

Oh we're close.

(rumbling).

Oh yeah, we got it!

Got it going again!

Now we can get back to the job at hand.

Kind of.

You're gonna hit roadblocks and have mechanical issues, especially with something like this, so you just, you just have to kind of fight through it.

Got it, a little bit of daylight left.

We'll go get some grain in today.

JOANNE: Ben and Brynn are eager to take Fiddler's Green to the next level, and with the support they have from family and friends there's little doubt they'll succeed.

All right, it's time to test your inner agronomist.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

Do you think you know what it is?

No, it's not an alien insect.

Here's a hint: when the fruit is ripe it'd be a pity not to use this tool.

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

Almost as ubiquitous as a big red barn, a common sight on farms like this one is a roadside farm stand.

Here are pics of some of our favorites.

Enjoy.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ When it comes when it comes to the business of agriculture, few things are as intriguing as an auction.

We went out to Western Maryland where livestock was going once, going twice, sold to the highest bidder.

Garrett County runs the western edge of Maryland and provide 95,000 acres of ample farmland, fertile soil, and livestock.

Everything from lamb, to goats, to swine, to beef.

And while Maryland's beef industry is small-scale compared to other states, it's still essential for sustaining local communities.

Luckily, for Garrett County farmers, they have some friends in town.

Welcome to Friends Stockyard and Livestock Auction House in Accident, Maryland.

It's Wall Street on Main Street, where a livestock producer's work is rewarded.

JOE: Sold!

JOANNE: Joe Friend and his brother John are the third generation to run this auction house.

They run a second one further north in Grantsville.

JOE: The auction here has been a part of the Garrett County Western Maryland since 1964 or 5 when they built the barn, and it's been a kind of a staple to the community.

JOANNE: Livestock auction houses are a unique service.

They provide farmers a market where they can buy and sell their livestock that provides an income for their families.

For over the past 50 years, Friends Stockyard has been that market for western Maryland.

JOHN: If a farmer doesn't have a place to market his livestock here, he's gonna have to go to the next sale down the road or the next packer down the road, and that's just a whole nother you know an hour or two hour drive, whatever.

And if he can bring it here it's a little closer it's a little more economic for him.

Right now the markets have been very strong with the past 6 months 8 months the markets have been very strong.

It's definitely a seller's market right now.

JOANNE: And that brings up a question: how do farmers know what the going rates are for livestock?

JOE: My dad and my grandfather and many people have always said, if you go to an auction, let your eyes be your market which gives the value of the animal, and your pocketbook be your guide, what you're able to pay for the animal.

JOANNE: Or, you could check with Scott Rhodes.

He's a market reporter with Maryland's Department of Agriculture.

SCOTT: As a market reporter, we watch livestock as they come through the sale and get sold.

We assign them a grade, we have a set of national standards through USDA.

Cuz that way whenever all this is over you can look up the market report on ams.usda.gov and see where the best market is to go, where the best bang for my buck is.

Whether it's here at Accident sale barn or Winchester down in Virginia, Hagerstown sale barn, Greencastle, Waynesburg, you can look at all the different prices and you could say "all right well they were a little bit higher here at Accident".

JOANNE: For Maryland's small family livestock farms, getting the best price for their cattle is key to their survival.

MIKE: Livestock auctions, in our business, is pretty important to us.

We sell very little livestock that doesn't go through the, the auction.

JOANNE: Mike Diehl is a sheep and cattle farmer.

The majority of this livestock is either bought or sold at auction.

(moo).

Today, Mike, with a lot of help from his sister Jane... JANE: Okay, come on.

Show us you're cooperative, that's what we want to see.

JOANNE: And son Adam, are selecting which of his Angus feeder cattle he'll take to tonight's auction.

ADAM: 105, you want her dad.

MIKE: The feeder sale day, we try to take calves that have been weaned for several weeks, they have been vaccinated so that the buyer can take them and put them right into either pasture or into their feedlot.

JOANNE: With the selections made, it's time to get them to market.

That's sometimes easier said than done.

MIKE: We don't want them to get hurt trying to get away from us, we don't want to be hurt in the process either.

So, you know, we try to keep them as calm as possible so we can keep them as healthy as possible.

(moo) Once we take 'em to the stockyard they just write up a slip with our name and the number of our cows.

We let them use their expertise and they group them in the way they feel they'll sell best and bring the best money, because obviously it's better for us and them for them to bring the most money, because we, we pay them a commission to sell.

JOANNE: With the cattle sorted, Mike's job is done.

It's now in Joe and John Friend's hands to sell the cattle at a good price.

JOE: It's our duty to do the best job that we possibly can for our farmers, our producers.

Every time we sell something it's personal enough to me that I think it's my own.

(auctioneer cattle prattle) SCOTT: This isn't factory farming, this is family farming.

This is what we do to keep the family farm running and yeah the sale barns really, really help to keep things rolling for us.

JOANNE: If you're thinking of buying livestock at an auction then come prepared, do your research, and try not to scratch your head or wave to a friend during the bidding, or you just might end up buying the lot.

The cattle and calf industry is big business.

In Maryland alone on average annual livestock sales are just shy of $2 million.

Coming up, Al Spoler gets himself all in a lather at a goat farm.

But first, dealing with animal waste is the number one and number two most challenging aspect of farming.

We look at how farms manage their manure, both Then and Now.

For over 8,000 years it has been a farmer's duty to manage manure.

Farmers have been using manure for plant and crop growth to help maintain a healthy and robust crop.

Early farmers used simple tools like shovels to spread manure, and the hardiest of souls even use their hands.

But in 1875 the job became slightly less dirty, when Joseph Kemp designed the first successful automated horse-powered manure spreader.

By the 1930s, tractors replaced horses and made the job quicker and more efficient.

After World War II, an alternative to manure was introduced and became widely available to farmers.

Commercially produced, or rather, synthetic fertilizer.

But natural fertilizer from animals was still preferred over the artificially manufactured manure.

Whether natural or artificial, managing this manure has always been a challenge for farmers.

Spreading the manure remains the best option, but over fertilization can run off into waterways, which can lead to a host of problems including poor water quality for aquatic life.

To help combat the potential pollution, farmers are helping to meet that goal by not spreading manure during a heavy rain event, or in winter when the ground is frozen.

The key is to eliminate manure runoff as much as possible, and our waterways will be healthier for it.

Soap made from goat's milk?

That's right!

On this week's The Local Buy Al Spoler is utterly fascinated by how this small farm in Damascus is cleaning up.

Al.

AL: Here at East Rivendell farm in Montgomery County, the hills are alive with produce, herbs and a plethora of farm animals.

Now here at their market they sell everything from organic local eggs to fresh cut flowers.

But the real find is their homemade goat's milk soap.

And while produce may be the most popular seller on the farm, for over 25 years the goat's milk soap has been a close second.

SHARON: I had the goats, and we were milking them, and a lady that made goat's milk soap called and wanted to get some milk from me.

So, she brought me some of her soap, and I loved it.

"You know, this is really silly buying my soap," she said, "I'll teach you how to make it".

So she did, very graciously.

AL: From lavender and patchouli to mandarin orange and mint, Sharon's soap comes in a variety of scents.

But the best part is it's benefits for healthy skin.

SHARON: There's been a lot of people that have bought it saying that it helps their eczema.

I think because it doesn't have any chemicals in it.

It's very moisturizing, you don't have to use moisturizer.

AL: I think I know what goes on in this paddock, you got a lot of kids here!

SHARON: Yes.

AL: Look at these little guys, how old are they?

SHARON: They were born in March and April.

AL: Oh they're youngsters.

Sharon tells me the soap is named after the farm's first goat, Briden.

But the farm's name has far more literary origins.

SHARON: My son had read all of the Lord of the Rings books, so we submitted Rivendell Farm, because he said, "that's where the elves lived, Mom!"

There was already Rivendell in Ohio so just to try something I put East in front of it and they took it.

They're very temperamental, they like a schedule and they like things done the same way.

If you move the milk stand they have to get used to that otherwise they freak out you know, the first couple times.

AL: I see a bunch of different colors, are there a bunch of different breeds here?

SHARON: There's two breeds, this one with the short ears are La Manchas, and then the long-eared ones are Nubians.

AL: Oh is that a Nubian!

Oh, okay I've heard of them.

I like their long, floppy ears.

SHARON: Yeah.

AL: After a tour of the farm it was my turn to milk one of the goats.

Sharon who is this girl that we're working on today?

SHARON: Belladonna.

AL: Belladonna, hi Bella, how are you doing?

She's very, very hungry right now.

SHARON: Yes.

AL: Eating her sweet feed and everything.

SHARON: She doesn't care what you do right now, cause she's eating, okay?

AL: Oh, okay.

(laughing).

So, I saw you working on it and...

I'll just sit here?

SHARON: Yes.

AL: Let's see what we can do.

SHARON: Okay.

AL: Okay.

Even though this wasn't my first time helping out on a farm, I was utterly hopeless when it came to milking Belladonna.

Nothing's happening!

This is so embarrassing it looks so simple.

SHARON: It's okay, it's alright!

It's okay.

(laughing) AL: This is... in all the years I've been doing this show, this is the worst thing I've ever done, I can't figure it out!

I'm so sorry.

SHARON: No, you're fine.

AL: I, I let her down.

(laughing).

While it wasn't so much the third times the charm, I did eventually get Belladonna to work with me.

Oh!

SHARON: There you go, there you go.

And look, you got some more milk out of her.

AL: Now that we had some fresh goat's milk, it was off to Sharon's kitchen to make some soap.

So Sharon, you're telling me that all this stuff will eventually end up as a bar of soap?

SHARON: Yes.

AL: How does that happen?

The first step is blending the olive, castor, coconut and palm oils together.

Next we mix the goat's milk and lye where you can see the chemical reaction between the two as they change colors.

SHARON: The lye actually starts to heat up, if you feel the bottom of that pitcher.

AL: Oh my gosh, it's almost hot!

SHARON: Yeah.

AL: And finally, we blended them with the oil mixture and some fragrant oil to complete our soap.

Sharon then pours it into molds for it to solidify.

Well Sharon this is the time of my segment that I usually take a knife and fork to whatever we fixed, but when it's a bar of soap, uh no I think I'll pass on that.

But we do have a nice faucet here and I can give the product a try.

And which variety is this?

SHARON: Jewelweed.

AL: Jewelweed.

SHARON: Yeah, it's a poison ivy relief.

AL: Oh, is that right?

SHARON: Yup.

AL: It's very slippery which I think is a good thing, that's all those oils and look at the big bubbles on, it really lathers up very, very nicely.

What's your favorite variety personally?

SHARON: Mandarin orange.

AL: Mandarin orange?

Does it really smell like that?

SHARON: Yeah, smells good.

AL: Oh my gosh.

Well we're gonna put all sorts of information about your farm on our website, at mpt.org/farm you can learn about it.

I'm Al Spoler for The Local Buy, Joanne.

JOANNE: 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, when the fruit is ripe it'd be a pity not to use this tool.

This is a cherry pitter.

This is an early American vintage pitter.

You drop a cherry in here, you turn the hand crank, and viola, a pitted cherry drops out the chute.

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.

(music plays through credits).

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Major funding for "Maryland Farm and Harvest" was 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.

A grant from the Rural Maryland Council, Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Fund.

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 Soy Bean board and Soy Bean Check Off program, progress powered by farmers.

Wegmans Food Markets, healthier, better lives through food.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences.

And by... (auctioneer Cattle Rattle)