Grown Local - 2024

Supplement to Hagerstown Magazine

PUBLISHER

Hagerstown Publishing

WASHINGTON COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Leslie Hart, Business Specialist, Agriculture, Tourism, and Hospitality Industries

Carmen Harbaugh, Business Support Specialist

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Jeff Thoreson

ART DIRECTOR

Alexandra Werder

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Ian Sager

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Turner Photography Studio

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Chuck Boteler cboteler@hagerstownmag.com

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Grown Local (ISSN #1555-337X), is an annual publication of Hagerstown Publishing, LLC. ©2024 by Hagerstown Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Subscription price: $18.87 per year which includes Grown Local. Single issues $3.71. Prices include 6% Maryland state sales tax. To subscribe, send a check or money order to the business office payable to Hagerstown Magazine, call 301-662-8171 or visit www.hagerstownmagazine. com. Periodicals Postage Paid at Frederick, MD, 21701 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to P.O. Box 2415, Hagerstown, MD 21741. Distributed through subscriptions, advertisers, and sold at newsstands and other locations throughout Washington County, Md., and the surrounding area.

Greetings Washington County residents and surrounding communities. Thank you for living, working, and playing in Washington County. This third edition of the Grown Local agricultural magazine is dedicated to all our farmers and producers of the past, present, and future. This “Legacy” Grown Local edition looks back at the roots of agriculture and the last several generations of farmers.

In Washington County in the year 1910, there were 2,466 farms operating. Fast forward to the year 1950, and that number had reduced to 2,025 farms. Today there are less than half that number with 958 local operating family farms in Washington County continuing the proud heritage of agricultural endeavors.

Washington County’s agricultural industry is the backbone and today is still at the heart of the county’s landscape. Founded in 1776, agriculture and farming were a necessity for every person to feed their families. Fast forward a few hundred years and Washington County is still rooted in agriculture and feeding the community, state, nation, and world. Today, the work of one farmer feeds 155 people worldwide. By 2050, the global population is expected to reach 9.8 billion people. To meet that increased need, farmers will need to grow about 70 percent more food than what is being produced today.

The Washington County Commissioners would like to thank you for living, doing business, and raising your families in Washington County. Our county is very rich in historically significant landmarks, world-class businesses, awardwinning educational facilities, and a rich strong agricultural community. We value the needs of our citizens to provide our residents with the highest quality of life including safety, infrastructure, and community services. You do not have to travel very far in our county to see our vast land heritage. The Washington County landscape is rich in agricultural

enterprises, and we value each landowner and farmer who provides the beauty that is our community. The Washington County agricultural landscape has kept pace to provide for local and global demands.

We are proud of the largest industry and economic driver in Washington County: agriculture. Agri-Tourism operations continue to grow to provide the community with ways to connect with the land, the food, and their farming neighbors.

Additionally, the farm craft beverage industry, including wineries, breweries, and distilleries, represents one of the fastest growing agricultural business sectors.

Technology continues to expand in the agricultural sector to allow farms and farmers to be more profitable, efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly.

The Washington County Board of County Commissioners and the Washington County Department of Business and Economic Development would like to recognize the diverse agricultural landscape of Washington County and thank the farmers that provide us with life sustaining food, fiber, and fuel. We would also like to thank you, the local citizens, for supporting our local farms and farmers and choosing to raise your families in Washington County.

The Grown Local magazine is published once per year and is dedicated to the hard work, commitment, and passion of the Washington County farms, farmers, and related agricultural businesses. This publication is created in partnership with Hagerstown Magazine and The Washington County Department of Business and Economic Development. Leslie Hart and Carmen Harbaugh have dedicated countless hours to showcase the depth and breadth of the farming community and reflect on the agricultural legacy of those who have gone ahead of us.

It’s been almost 300 years since Othmar Schnebly immigrated from Switzerland and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the late 1720s. Schnebly set up a farm, which was eventually sold or lost so one of his sons, John Schnebly, made his way to Washington County. He set up his own farming operation which has been handed down from generation to generation and remains in the family today.

The farm is now owned by J.C. Schnebly and his father, also John, who the family believes are the seventh and eighth generations to farm the land. J.C.’s children are the ninth generation to live on the farm.

As with most local land records going back hundreds of years, not everything is perfectly clear. But what is known is that

the Schnebly’s Crown Stone Farm has been around long enough to apply for Maryland’s Century Farm status. J.C.’s daughter, Emma, is working with her

grandmother to get that done. The farm will be the 12th Washington County farm to be accredited as a century farm.

“As long as my grandfather and dad remember, the date the farm was established was 1845. But when my grandmother got courts documents we saw it actually said 1819,” Emma says. “Now we’re not really sure where the 1845 came from, but as far as we can see our ancestor, John Schnebly, maybe six generations back, is the one who established the farm as it is today.”

If the 1819 date is confirmed, it would make Crown Stone, a dairy farm that milks about 200 cows of various breeds, the oldest farm in the county. The farm was originally called Pleasant Springs Farm, but when a crown stone monument marking the Mason-Dixon Line was found, the name was changed. The monument would have been one of the original markers set by the two famous surveyors. They placed marking stones every mile and crown stones—more elaborate markers with an “M” on the Maryland side and a “P” on the Pennsylvania side and the coat of arms of each state on the other two sides—every five miles along the line that established the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland in one of the most historic American surveys.

The family farm, which grows all the grains to feed the cows, crosses the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania.

Maryland’s Century Farm Program was established in 1994 by former Gov. William Donald Schaefer with assistance from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Secretary Lewis Riley. The purpose of the program is to honor families whose farms have been in the same family for at least 100 years and continue to be productive.

A Farming Legacy

Creek Bound Farms named Washington County Farm of the Year

Jim and Bonnie Weddle knew from an early age they wanted to be farmers.

Jim grew up on a horse farm and Bonnie on a dairy farm. They met in college and that seemed to seal the deal. After graduating they married and worked for Bonnie’s father for two years before starting their own dairy farm, Creek Bound Farm, in 1980.

In the beginning they carried milk in buckets by hand to tanks, but as the business expanded they built a milking parlor, and silos and over the years massaged Creek Bound Farm into the 4,500 acres that has been named the 2023-24 Washington County Farm of the Year.

Creek Bound Farm raised dairy cows for 25 years before the farm transitioned into crop farming and custom heifer farming. The Weddle family owns 730 acres and rents or leases more than 3,900 additional acres, all dedicated to crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, grass hay, and straw.

The Washington County Farm of the Year program recognizes a farm that showcases excellence in agriculture and promotes a greater understanding of the challenges faced by today’s farmers. Production, conservation, preservation, community involvement, and dedication to farming and agriculture, are the gold standard for this award.

Members of the Weddle family and the team at Creek Bound Farms, which was named Washington County Farm of the Year for 2023-24.

Proficiencies in production methods include spraying utilizing an agricultural drone that allows for precision application and cost reduction and savings, and a newly added 11-bin grain system that provides additional storage and grain drying capacity to maintain high quality crops. These are just a few proficiencies found within the Weddle operations.

“Agriculture is our passion, and we feel as though it is what we were intended to do with our resources and our lives,” says Jim Weddle, who served on the Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association board of directors for 12 years. “Our family has been blessed with opportunities in agriculture for previous and future generations and we want to pass on those opportunities.”

Jeremiah and Janelle Weddle, along with their family, have dedicated their lives to agricultural preservation programs to

restrict development on prime farmland. Conservation programs exist on all the Creek Bound Farms locations to help maintain soil fertility, stability, and pest control along with nutrient management plans adhering to government regulations for land, water, and air quality.

All commodity products produced by the Weddle Family are fertilized, the land is prepared, sprayed, maintained, harvested, dried, and hauled by a Weddle family member or Creek Bound Farms employee.

Creek Bound Farms LLC will receive a Farm of the year plaque for display on the farm, a Board of County Commissioner proclamation, an on-farm photoshoot, and Creek Bound Farms LLC will be used in the 2023-2024 promotions and marketing efforts by the Washington County Department of Business and Economic Development.

Applications for the Washington County Farm of the Year are accepted annually from August to September and after judging, the winner is announced in October. For more information, please contact Leslie Hart, Business Development Specialist with Washington County Department of Business and Economic Development at lhart@washco-md.net or (240) 3132284 or (301) 573-7039.

When Chester Price started farming in Washington County during the Depression era, he had no idea what kind of legacy he was beginning. It was a time when folks did whatever you needed to do to survive, and Price became a sharecropper before deciding to try farming on his own.

“That began the legacy,” says his grandson, Dale Price, who is continuing the legacy at Price and Price Farm in Keedysville.

Chester had five sons and continually acquired land for farming. As each son got old enough to go out on his own, Chester would leave the farm, 30 head of dairy cows and enough equipment to keep the farm going and move on with

his other sons to start a new farm. It was up to each son to keep the farms Chester established going.

One son married into a farming family in Clear Spring, but the other four all got farms. Two of the farms are still active.

Terry Price was the youngest of the five boys and the last to get a farm, this one in Keedysville where his son, Dale, continues the family farming tradition.

Terry Price had been a dairy farmer for decades before he turned to crop farming, and now Dale grows corn, soybeans, and wheat on the 76 acres of the original farm. They farm a total of 2,100 acres in Washington County.

But for Dale, it wasn’t always clear that he would carry on the legacy.

“I was one of those farm kids who just had to get away,” he says. “When you’re young, you’re sure there’s something better out there for you.”

Dale worked in construction for two years and as a diesel mechanic for two more, both handy skills when he returned to the farm.

“At some point you decide home is where you want to be, and four years later I felt the need to come back,” he says. “That was 1989. My father took me on as partner in 1996 and turned everything over to me in 2003.”

Now Dale and his wife have four sons and a daughter. All have gone off to college and started careers in other fields. Dale’s oldest son, Chet, along with his wife Annie and their daughter Reagan, has returned to the farm. Chet continues his career as an engineer and is working his way back into farming full time. Dale says the door is always open for his other sons, and his daughter who is still in college, to return if they want to. Together the Prices are hoping to add acreage to expand their retail beef and corn sales.

For Dale, he doesn’t spend a lot of time worrying about how long the Price family farming legacy can go on, he just wants his grandchildren to have the farming experience.

“We’ve been here three generations now. My grandchildren would be generation five,” he says. “Our goal, I guess, is not to worry about whether they want to farm or how long the farming operation can go on, but to preserve the family atmosphere and the opportunities to run on the farm and play in the straw that I know will mean a lot to them for years to come.”

Long Delite Farm

By Crystal Schelle

Since 1831, Long Delite Farm, just north of Downsville, has been traditionally passed from father to son. Brooks Long is the seventh generation to take the reins of the dairy farm. It was passed from his father, Galen Long, 71, who still helps milk the herd. The farm was passed to Galen from his late father, Lawrence Long, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 92. And he had received the farm from his father, and so forth.

Brooks Long says he has fond memories of working alongside his father and grandfather on the 160-acre property. And when it came time for him to take over the property, Brooks said he knew what he wanted to do.

When he graduated from Williamsport High School in 2001, Brooks decided to work with his father full time on the farm.

“I mean, it sounds cliche, from the time I was old enough to get out and ride on the tractor, there was never really a time in my life where I was like, maybe I’ll do something else,” Brooks says. “It wasn’t really something that crossed my mind.”

I always said from a long time ago that you can’t be a farmer unless that’s really what you want to do. “ ”

— Brooks Long

Brooks has a sister and brother but says both really wanted to pursue a life off the farm. Luckily, Brooks was eager to take it on.

“There really wasn’t a plan B for me,” he says.

Long Delite Farm is a rotational grazing operation, which they made a transition to in 2002.

“We milk cows year round, but our primary source of feed is grass, either through grazing during the grazing season or through hay that we made in the summer to feed through the winter,” he says.

They typically milk between 50 and 60 head of dairy cows, with some additional young stock. He said he mainly has Jersey cows, but he also does a lot of crossbreeding with other dairy breeds. Although their focus is dairy, he also has a small herd of beef cattle, some are dairy cattle and the rest is beef cattle that he raises for beef sales privately or through their store, Deliteful Dairy. The total of all cattle both dairy and beef, he said, is about 100 head total.

In 2004, Brooks, 40, married Katie, who is also from a generation of farming.

Her family owns Misty Meadow Farm in Smithsburg. They grew up showing cows together in 4-H.

He says it was “pretty special” to marry a woman who grew up on a farm. “It made it nice for me to marry somebody who knew what she was getting herself into,” he says.

Farming isn’t for everyone and Brooks says he understands how lucky he was to find a partner willing to live the farm life.

“It’s a lifestyle. You have to have somebody (who) understands the lifestyle and buys into it,” he says.

Today, he and Katie, 41, are keeping the legacy alive and raising their children, Kaleb, 17, and Brielle, 16. Galen Long says he’s glad to see his son and his family working the farm. Galen was born in the farmhouse.

Like his son, Galen felt like taking over the family farm was a lifestyle he was used to, and wanted to continue. “It just seemed the natural thing to do,” he says.

He says he always enjoyed working with the animals, plowing the fields, and harvesting crops. “I just thoroughly enjoyed running the farm equipment, and that was part of the thing that drove me to stay on the farm.”

Galen says Long Delite Farm has been a father-son operation from the beginning. He said when his grandfather died in 1967, Galen was a sophomore in high school. He said his father came to him and told him to help the farm survive he’d have to do more than his regular chores around the farm. And he did that full time before Brooks and his family took it over.

Although Brooks took over the farm in 2009, Galen still enjoys milking. He says since Brooks has hired a farm hand, he has scaled back tremendously. “But I’m still the first person in the barn in the morning,” he says.

Dairy has always been the type of farming that his family has done on the farm. He said he remembers shipping milk commercially in metal cans that were put in ice banks and later put on milk trucks when he was younger. What milk they don’t process is then sent to a milk co-op. For 60 years, Brooks says they have shipped to Maryland and Virginia milk producers. Prior to that, he says, they shipped locally.

In 2019, Brooks and Katie decided to take a leap and start processing their own milk with Deliteful Dairy, which is also a store where customers can come and purchase fresh milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and more. They also wholesale in the Tri-State area and down into Washington, D.C. He said starting a business just one year before the pandemic led to “some stressful and interesting times, but we’re still standing as of now and we’re making the best of it.”

Galen says there are other farms in Washington County that are generational as well, but as times have changed so have people staying on the farm.

“The next generation has found that life outside the farm is a whole lot less work and a whole lot more prosperous,” he says, adding that when Brooks took over the farm “it was my greatest achievement.” But he says with the economy he sometimes regrets pushing him too hard. “I’m still very proud of the fact that the farm is still in the family, and he has started the dairy and has a reputation that he has. It’s been very gratifying.”

Galen says it’s hard to see into the future, but he predicts a future when production agricultural will be tailored so closely to the consumer, meaning farming won’t look quite the same as it did when he was farming. He guesses farmers will be able to set prices because they will be the only game in town.

But, he says, who knows what the future might hold.

Brooks admits he isn’t sure if the farm will see an eighth generation, for a number of reasons including the agriculture community dwindling and the interest of his own children. He says his son wants to major in psychology in college and his daughter is at Boyd J. Michael III Technical High School for cosmetology. But he feels that the farm will carry on with someone who loves farming whether they are a Long or not.

“I always said from a long time ago that you can’t be a farmer unless that’s really what you want to do,” he

says, “because nobody’s choosing to be a farmer because they want to get rich, or it’s a really easy good-paying job. That’s not what farming is, so it has to be in your blood. It just has to be a desire that you have. And it’s not something you can force.”

Until that time, Galen says “there’s no place like a farm to raise a family.”

“It wasn’t so much that we were looking to be at the top of the game to make the most money that anybody had made or anything,” he says. “It was a lifestyle. I raised my kids and I grew up there, and it’s just the kind of thing that is very satisfying.”

cot Poffenberger admits it took a little conjuring by his parents to come back and work the family farm MM Ranch in Sharpsburg.

He had gone away to Virginia Tech to earn an animal science degree with plans to enter veterinarian school, but says he got “sidetracked with a job and money.” He finished his degree, but decided to drop the idea of vet school. He did put that new degree to good work.

“I pretty much just started managing farms straight out of college,” he says.

None of those farms, through, were MM Ranch. In 1996, his parents, Mary Margaret Poffenberger and his late father Bill Poffenberger wanted him to come home and continue the legacy of the ranch on Mondell and Powell roads in Sharpsburg. At the time, he was working and living in Baltimore County.

By the time Poffenberger was talking to his parents, he was married to Christie Wilt Poffenberger, and was raising two children, Seth and Tori. It took a lot of conversations to convince him after 20 years to come home. One that sealed the deal for the younger Poffenberger was that the land would be protected for future generations. They agreed. In 1999, Scot and his family moved back home.

Mary Margaret, Christie, Scot, and Seth Poffenberger.

“And with a little bit of money and a lot of a lot of giving, I now have the farm,” Scot says.

In 2017, MM Ranch was recognized as a Century Farm by then-Gov. Larry Hogan. The title of Century Farm is awarded in Maryland to families who have farmed

the same land for more than 100 years. In 1998, MM Ranch was one of the first farms in the county to be entered into Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program that “provides funding to preserve large, contiguous tracts of land and to enhance natural resource, agricultural, forestry, and environmental protection…” according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources website.

MM Ranch has been passed through Mary Margaret’s family, the Swains. The ranch is named after her, MM for Mary Margaret. Her grandfather, Benjamin Swain

purchased the land originally, then her parents Raymond and Anna Swain took over the farm.

Mary Margaret, 87, says her husband Bill “always had an interest in farming” and she bought two acres of ground on MM ranch where they built a house. When her parents passed away, she and Bill took on the farm.

Today, Scot and Christie are continuing the family tradition in their own home on acres cut from the MM Ranch plat.

Mary Margaret says she and her husband were delighted when Scot decided to take over the farm. Bill Poffenberger came from a long line of farmers as well. The historical Joseph Poffenberger Farm that sits on Antietam National Battlefied was part of his lineage. Bill passed away in 2013 at the age of 78.

Scot says when his father was younger, Bill worked for his grandfather on the

The Poffenberger Farm.

The Poffenberger Farm. The family farming legacy includes the Joseph Poffenberger farm, which is now preserved as part of Antietam National Battlefield.

farm. Mary Margaret says when Bill was about 14, he was horse-plowing fields in Sharpsburg. They were married in 1954 when she was 17 years old.

Growing up on MM Ranch, Mary Margaret says they raised dairy cows.

“We used to milk the cows in the orchard instead of taking them back to the barn,” she says. “We called it the orchard because it was where we had apple and pear trees.”

Mary Margaret says she and her sister’s job was to milk the cows by hand in the evening. Eventually, they stopped with the dairy farm and raised stockers, or young male and female cows.

While Bill tended to the cows, Mary Margaret raised six children, Jeff, Debbie, Doug, Lisa, Scot, and Brian.

Today, cows are still at MM Ranch, but Scot leads a beef cow-calf operation with 60 heads of cows, which he thinks is “too many” because they have to be grazed on 90 acres of pasture. He hopes to rectify that by clearing some wooded area for more grazing spots.

In addition to MM Ranch, Scot says his father managed Antietam Meadows Farm, across the road. Today, Scot’s brother, Brian Poffenberger, manages that land. Bill also worked at Mack Trucks to help supplement their income.

Just like his dad, Scot also works off the farm. For 20 years, Scot’s full-time job is farm manger and oversees roughly 3,000 acres of crops for Wiliam F. Willard Farms, LLC, in Poolesville, Maryland. The farm was inducted into the Governor’s Agriculture Hall of Fame on Feb. 1. Scot and his wife of 34 years run MM Farm, tag-teaming duties when it comes to overseeing the cattle and calves.

Mary Margaret says her mother, Anna, was still alive when Scot took over the farm and they were able to have land protected through the Rural Land Program.

Scot Poffenberger on the farm in a pasture.

“I say that’s my job and this farm is my hobby,” he says.

As the forth generation farming family, Scot hopes that his son Seth might eventually want to take over the farm and make it fifth generation. His daughter, Tori, has already pursued her passion and is the head women’s lacrosse coach for Fredonia State University in New York State.

“My mom, she was very excited that it was staying in family and it wasn’t going to be sold,” she says.

Although farming is long hours and backbreaking work, Poffenberger loves what he does.

“I like walking out my back door and being on the farm,” he says. “It’s not like I’m even going to work.”

and the

heese may seem an odd way to keep a family together, but that’s where the legacy of now five generations that began in 1923 when William and Mary Shank married and laid down agricultural roots in the county has landed. The Palmyra Farm and the cheese made from its world-class herd of Ayrshire cows has become ingrained in the local food scene.

William and Mary Shank began the family farming lifestyle with a 36-acre patch of land near Huyetts Crossroads in Hagerstown. By 1943, they had four kids Ralph, Robert, John, and Geneva and had purchased the 105-acre Rocky Spring Farm just south of Funkstown.

It was here the young Shank brothers grew old enough to work on the farm, beginning by milking the cattle by hand. In 1952, the Shanks purchased the Palmyra Farm on Wagaman Road. The farm name is derived from the original deed that references the nearby historic National Highway and includes

properties granted in the early 1700s.

The family worked the Rocky Springs Farm and Palmyra together

Young Ayrshire calves grow up to produce milk that makes especially creamy cheeses on the Palmyra Farm.

until Ralph and his wife, Patricia, bought the Palmyra farm, and John and his wife, Beth, stayed on the Rocky Spring Farm. Today Ralph, Jr. and wife, Terrie, and Mary Creek and husband Mike oversee the development of the herd and cheese business with their children and grandchildren. Robert and his wife, Mildred, purchased Cool Hollow Farm, while Geneva and her husband, Ray Clark, purchased the Faith Road Farm. The four families continue to operate the dairy farms.

The Shank family has an extended history with the Ayrshire cattle breed, beginning at the Rocky Springs Farm. William, John, and Ralph showed cham pion cattle at the Maryland State Fair. This tradition continues today at the Palmyra Farm with Ralph and Patricia’s children involved in showing.

Shrine. Mary and Ralph Jr. were honored as master breeders by the National Dairy Shrine. Ayrshire cows are known for their unique milk qualities that yield a smooth, creamy, somewhat sweet-tasting cheese.

Ralph Sr., his wife and children have all been inducted into the Maryland Dairy

The Palmyra Farm’s emphasis on breeding for production has been widely successful, having bred more than 150 cows with lifetime production of 100,000 pounds of milk or more. Another 40 bred at Palmyra have produced more than 150,000 pounds and five have produced more than 200,000 pounds. Four have been World Dairy Expo champions. Palmyra is a progressive Ayrshire herd, being the first in the country to utilize embryo transfer, and the farm has showcased its genetics internationally by exporting embryos to 10 countries. In 2022, the Palmyra Farm

won the Robert ‘Whitey’ McKown Master Breeder Award.

Currently, William and Mary Shank’s descendants farm more than 5,000 acres. The families own approximately 2,000 acres, with half of that land in farm preservation. Scott Shank, grandson of Beth and John Shank, believes preserving his family’s land is important for sustainability for farming and agriculture.

He says it is important to have all his land and natural resources preserved for generations in the future. Today, the original farm at Rocky Spring is a rotational crop farm and Palmyra Farm still has worldclass show cattle whose milk produces the farm’s own brand of cheese.

Ralph Shank’s family runs the Palmyra Dairy Farm that has four clones of their World Champion cow, Ruth, along with the Palmyra Cheese. The Shank family also operates Beaver Creek Farm and Shenandoah Jerseys, a dairy farm,

which uses robotic milkers and calf feeders. John Shank’s family also operates Valley Ho Farm, which focuses on dairy and two-crop farming. Also included are Creek Bound Farms and Rocky Spring Farm, both operated on Shank land.

Geneva Shank’s family runs Mountain Brook Farm and Sky Wind Farm. Lastly, the Shank women are all known for their amazing cookies, cakes, and pies.

Mary Shank makes melt-in-your-mouth meringue cookies from a family recipe and a locally famous walnut cake. Mary’s tradition of making homemade noodles for Salem Reform Church is still carried out by family members today for their annual soup sale.

Scott Shank says he remembers walking to his grandmother Beth Shank’s house to help make meringue cookies and the family traditions of the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s of getting together for Sunday family dinners on the farm. In the 1980s and ‘90s all the families had a big Christmas party at Ray and Geneva Clark’s farm.

And the legacy of William and Mary continues on strong, now more than a century later.

• 2 cups (1/2 pound) black walnuts, finely chopped

• 4 eggs; beat whites and yolks separately

• 1/2 cup of butter

• 2 cups of sugar

• 3 cups of flour

• 1 1/2 tsp. of baking powder

• 1/2 tsp. of salt

• 1 cup of milk

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

3. Bake in a tube pan lined with wax paper for 45 minutes.

4. Turn oven up to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes or so.

5. Let cool, serve, and enjoy!

&

History Heritage

In Washington County, agricultural fairs have been held for more than 150 years

by crystal schelle photos by turner photography studio

“

The cattle barn, when I was a kid, farmers would come and there would

be 10 to 25 head in there.

– Michael Guessford, Williamsport

Since before the Civil War, Washington County has celebrated its agricultural history by hosting fairs.

The first fairs were hosted by the Agricultural and Mechanical Association of Washington County in what is now referred to today as City Park. During the Civil War years fairs were suspended until 1880. That’s when the Great Hagerstown Fair was resurrected and moved across town to the North End where the Hagerstown Fairgrounds are today at North Cleveland Avenue. It continued there until 1980.

But in 1985, four partners decided to revive the fairgrounds and bring back the fair. The first year, it was only a carnival. But by the next year the fair added animals and exhibits.

Michael Guessford, 58, of Williamsport was part of that ‘80s revival. He and his family were long-time Great Hagerstown Fair exhibitors, and when he heard there was a movement to restart the event, he volunteered to help.

He said he volunteered to help with the household departments, horticultural, and exhibits. And when he asked about his vision of the fair, he said, “I’d like to take it back to what it used to be.”

through old fair books and figure out how much money certain ribbons winners would receive. At the time, he was working at a local bank and volunteering, but it grew into a more permanent position.

Being part of helping to resurrect the fair was something that held a special meaning because of his family’s long history with the fair. He said his great uncle had

Guessford remembers the exhibition area filled with entries and ribbon-winning items. In the commercial area, he said, people would sell commercial items. “People were just walking the grandstands,” he said.

He also remembered that when people talked about bringing back the Great Hagerstown Fair there was an excitement. But, he said, it didn’t have the

Guessford said he started helping to rebuild the exhibitors’ roster by going

The hard work of farming sometimes requires a little relaxation, even if it is with your animals at the fair.

been in the fair as a 4-H member and his great aunt had three suitcases filled with ironed and tissue-wrapped ribbons she had won over the years in several categories.

Under the grandstand was where the exhibitors for flowers, pies, canning, quilting, and the like would be displayed.

community support that the original fair had because during the ‘80s many family farms were closing.

“The cattle barn, when I was a kid, farmers would come and there would be 10 to 25 head in there,” he said. “When I was in charge of it, we didn’t have a lot of farms that showed cattle anymore.”

And, he said, 4-H wasn’t as much a part of the fair as it once was. Guessford said without the kids, the fair lacked the excitement. Even farm equipment that once was a large display had dwindled. “It just didn’t have the pizzazz that people wanted because they always thought it used to be like this,” he said.

The last Great Hagerstown Fair eventually moved to the Hagerstown Speedway and was renamed the Washington County Ag Expo and Fair.

Tom Shaw, 83, of Sharpsburg was the Ag Expo and Fair’s first president and held that position for 15 years. He said he and a group of friends who had grown up showing animals through 4-H had heard the Hagerstown Fair was ending. They wanted to continue the tradition.

That’s when Frank Plessinger, owner of Hagerstown Speedway, offered the use of the Speedway’s parking lot. Plessinger said he would build and exhibition barn if the group that was renewing the expo would built a livestock barn. Shaw said they had a deal.

At the time, they were all volunteers. “They were all farmers and they’d work all day and in winter at night and work on the barn,” Shaw said.

By fair time, Shaw said they had a tent to show, an exhibition hall for the exhibits, and a barn for the cows.

A Christmas Day fire ended the event at the Hagerstown Speedway. Shaw said some homeless boys had snuck into the barn and had started a fire to keep warm. Before they knew it, the fire overlook the barn with two tractor-trailer loads of hay. No one was hurt. “We had absolutely nothing left,” he said.

Shaw credits the Washington County Government for allowing the Ag Expo & Fair to relocate to the Washington

“It was fairly nice, and we didn’t charge any crazy prices,” Shaw said. “We charged a buck in the beginning. We were very successful.”

County Agricultural Education Center, south of Hagerstown, which was completed in the mid 1990s.

Although Shaw has seen changes in the agricultural community over the years, he’s pleased that the event is still going on.

“I just think the current boards do a real good job. And I still support them as much as I possibly can,” he said.

There are always plenty of blue ribbons to be passed out for the best jams, preserves, and pickled vegetables at the fair.

The last Great Hagerstown Fair eventually moved to the Hagerstown Speedway and renamed the Washington County Ag Expo and Fair.

2024 Washington County Ag Expo & Fair

Boonsboro

July 13-20

The event has become a Washington County summer tradition with a week of tractor pulls, carnival rides, bull riding, demolition derbies, live music, and, of course, livestock showcases by 4-H and Future Farmers of America members as well as baking competitions. There are plenty of ribbons and awards throughout the week. One of the highlights is the crowning of the Ag Expo Queen. For visitors who aren’t involved in agriculture, walking through the barns to see how kids interact with the animals is a look inside their world. The kids are always willing to answer questions.

WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY, AND SATURDAY

The Market Hub

Operating since 2022

The Barn at the View 14113 Pennsylvania Ave., Hagerstown

Open every Wednesday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Contact: Jill Hudson at www.the markethub.net or 301-991-7736

Vendor Fees: varied monthly fees

TUESDAY MARKETS

Boonsboro Farmers Market

Operating since 2015

241 Potomac Ave, Boonsboro

Tuesdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Open April 30 to October 29

Contact: Jen Raab at farmersmarket boonboro@gmail.com

Vendor Fees: $15 per day, $125 for full season; partial season $60

Meritus Medical Center

Farmers Market

Operating since 2009

Robinwood Professional Center

Atrium Area

11110 Medical Campus Road, Hagerstown

Open year round

Contact: Cindy Missling, Cindy. missling@meritus.com or call 301-7908964

Vendor Fees: $10 per week

WEDNESDAY MARKETS

Elks Farmers Market

A producer’s only market, operating since 1991

Elks Lodge No. 378

11063 Robinwood Drive, Hagerstown

Open Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Open from May 15 to Sept. 25

Last market is Oct. 9 for fall

Contact: Rich Calimer at 240-215-7956 or Laurie Waltz 301-730-7225

Vendor Fees: $10 per day

https://www.facebook.com/ Washington-County-Farmers-Market-114150795445/?fref=ts

THURSDAY MARKETS

Historic Hagerstown City Farmers Market

Operating since 1783

The Central Lot

14 N. Potomac Street, Hagerstown

Open the third Thursday, 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

June 20, July 18, Aug. 15, Sept. 19

Contact: mainstreethagerstown.org/ farmersmarket

Vendor fees: Free for full season

Williamsport Main Street

Farmers Market

Parking behind town hall

2 N. Conococheague St., Williamsport

Open second and fourth Thursday

monthly from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

May 9, May 23, June 13, June 27, July 11, July 25, Aug. 8, Aug. 22, Sept. 12, Sept. 26, Oct. 11, Oct. 24

Contact: Rachael at 301-573-0459 or mainstreet@williamsportmd.org

Vendor fees: $50 for the season or $10 per day

Arc Farmers Market

Monthly market operating since 2017 820 Florida Ave. Hagerstown

Open second Friday: July 12, Aug. 9, Sept. 13 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Contact: Janis Williamson at jwilliamson@arcwc-md.org or call 301-797-2121 ext. 2236

Vendor fee: Free

FRIDAY MARKETS

Fort Ritchie Farmers Market

Castle Drive, Fort Ritchie, Cascade, Starting at the Flagpole

June 28, July 26, Aug. 23, Sept. 27 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Contact: ritchierevival@gmail.com

Vendor fees: Drop-in rate $25 monthly or $100 for full season

SUNDAY MARKETS

Sharpsburg Farmers Market at Battleview

Opened in 2023, parking behind Battleview Market

5331 Sharpsburg Pike, Sharpsburg

Open first and third Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

April 7, April 21, May 5, May 19, June 2, June 16, July 7, July 21, Aug. 4, Aug. 18, Sept. 1, Sept. 15, Oct. 6, Oct. 20

Contact: Deanna Adkins at 301-9920751 or sharpsburgfm@gmail.com

Vendor fees: Free for the season

BECKLEY FARMS

Steve Beckley leased his first farm east of Hagerstown when he was fourteen years old and has spent his life in support of the agricultural community in Washington County.

Growing soybean, corn and wheat, Steve is the steward of over 3700 acres in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The experienced team at Beckley Farms is always interested in new farm land opportunities. Beckley Farms is equipped with a fleet of tractor trailers, and a grain storage facility to store commodities for delivery to end users in the tristate area.

Washington County

GROWN LOCAL NEAR YOU 2024

These farms represent a portion of the 900+ farms in Washington County

3 Clovers Ranch

13720 Cearfoss Pike

Hagerstown 717-360-0460

EQUINE

78 Acres

Matt and Mary Harsh

23340 Fruit Tree Dr

Smithsburg 78 acres

FRUIT, VEGETABLE

Above and Beyond Farm 13228 Greencastle Pike

Hagerstown

301-801-6952

EQUINE

Antietam Creek Vineyards

George Warmenhoven

4835 Branch Avenue

Sharpsburg

240-490-2851

WINERY

Arlin Diller Farms 21347 Leiter’s Mill Road Hagerstown 301-733-2195

EQUIPMENT DEALER

Avondale Farms 14337 Broadfording Road

Clear Spring CROPS

Barefoot Farm

Sherri Massie 17826 Lappans Road Fairplay 301-582-5786

PLANTS, VEGETABLES

Belle Prairie Big Pool

301-300-0340

belleprairiefarm@gmail.com ORGANIC PRODUCE

Belle Prarie Farm

Bogley Farm

John Bogley

20166 Benevola Church Road

Boonsboro

BEEF

Bragunier Orchard

Clayton Armstrong

12775 Indian Spring Road

Big Pool

301842-2444

FRUIT

Breezy Acres Herbst Farm

Cook Family

20204 Old Forge Road

Hagerstown

301-797-8157

DAIRY

C & J Acres

3120 Valley View Ct

Rohrersville

240-529-7777

guardianpropertiesllc@gmail.com

EQUINE

Cedar Cliff Farm Supply

13722 National Pike

Clear Spring

301-842-2022

EQUIPMENT

Clever Cattle Farms

Sharpsburg 240-405-2120

clevercattlefarms@gmail.com ANIMALS

Cockleshell Farm

Mary Zastrow

19218 Deer Path Knoxville 301-343-7265

cockleshellfarm@gmail.com FLOWERS

Corwell Farm

Neal Corwell 11702 Rocky Meadow Road Clear Spring CROPS

Dartraigh Farm 4105 Mill Road

Sharpsburg 443-864-1234

David R Keadle Farm

David Keadle

7345 Wheeler Road

Boonsboro

301-432-8186

DAIRY

Deep Meadow Farm

19515 Beaver Creek Road

Hagerstown

301-733-0612

Deo Volente Stables 16709 Broadfording Road

Hagerstown 301-337-0348

STABLES

Double H Farm 6606 Gilardi Road

Boonsboro

301-432-6852

Dry Run Ranch

13010 Wolfsville Road

Smithsburg 240-405-2512

Dyer Farm

20524 Benevola Church Road Boonsboro 240-675-1530

Evergreen Holsteins

13735 Greencastle Pike Hagerstown

301-791-1690

DAIRY

Family Tree Nursery 9915 Garis Shop Road

Hagerstown

301-745-4222

NURSERY

Gary’s Dairy Farm

19836 Reidtown Road Hagerstown

301-739-2341

DAIRY

Green Acres Farm

Curvin Eby 19534 Reidtown Road

Hagerstown

301-992-7785

DAIRY, CROPS HAY PASTURE

Hidden Creek Pastures

Grove Farms or Mount Airy

17201 Shepherdstown Pike

Sharpsburg

HISTORIC

H & M Greenhouse

17450 Garden View Road

Hagerstown GREENHOUSE

Halteman’s Homegrown Harvest

12635 Flying Duck Ln

Clear Spring

301-964-0039

VEGETABLES, FLOWERS

Hidden Creek Pastures

22046 Old Forge Road

Smithsburg

301-491-3154

GOATS

Hillenbruck Farm

Bernard Hellenbrand

Sharpsburg

HISTORIC, AGRI TOURISM

Hoffman Family Farm

14013 Broadfording Road

Clear Spring

301-842-2888

HISTORIC

Hoffman Farm

18651 Keedysville Road

Keedysville

HISTORIC

Honey Hole Apiary

Carrie Capezuto

13324 Blairs Valley Road

Clear Spring

301-491-2986

honeyholeapiary@gmail.com

BEES, HONEY

Hooks Mill Farm

5419 Creek Road Hancock

301-678-6778

EQUINE

Hope Valley Farm & Retreat

Cindy Smith

1069 Valley Road

Knoxville

301-514-5268

hopevalleyfarmretreat@gmail.com

FLOWERS

Ivy Hill Farm

Steve and Karen Martin 13840 Smithsburg Pike

Smithsburg

301-824-4658

FRUIT, FARM MARKET

James Horst Farm

11800 Ernstville Road

Big Pool

301-842-3458

DAIRY

King’s Farm

10702 Mapleville Road

Hagerstown

804-721-5681

BEEF

Lancaster Dairy Tri State

Jerry Poffenberger

10142 White Hall Road

Hagerstown

301-416-7340

CROPS

Lappans Springs Farm

Fairplay

LIVESTOCK

Milk Barn LLC

11606 Greencastle Pike

Hagerstown

301-223-6877

DAIRY EQUIPMENT

Miller’s Farmstead 14506 National Pike

Clear Spring

301-842-0330

EVENT VENUE

Misty Meadow Farm

Dave and Betsy Herbst 14325 Misty Meadow Road

Smithsburg

301-824-2112

DAIRY, EXPERIENCE ICE CREAM

MM Ranch

Scott and Christie Poffenberger 17116 Powell Road

Sharpsburg

240-446-1359

BEEF, CROPS

Mountain Valley Orchard

Leroy and Sharon Tracey 22541 Jefferson Boulevard

Smithsburg

301-824-2089

ORCHARD, VEGETABLES

Mountain View Stable 23025 Ringgold Pike

Smithsburg EQUINE

Old Springhouse Farm, LLC

Micro Dairy Designs

Frank Kipe 13339 Smithburg Pike

Smithsburg

301-824-3689

frank@kipe.com

DAIRY, EQUIPMENT

Poor Boy Stables 16419 Woburn Road

Sharpsburg

301-223-9089

EQUINE

Prather Farm 11118 4 Locks Road

Clear Spring

HISTORIC

Price and Price Farm

Dale and Wendy Price 17314 Bakersville Road

Boonsboro

301-791-3998

CROPS

Purifying Pastures

Carl Hatch

19612 Albert Roelkey Ln

Knoxville

240-505-3517

info@purifyingpastures.com

MEAT, EGGS

Quantum Leap Eventing

Katie Carr

16811 Shaffer Road

Sharpsburg

301-223-6956

EQUINE

RD Farms and Livestock Hauling

Dale Longerbeam 15662 Falling Waters Road

Williamsport

304-820-5466

HAULING

Red Heifer Winery

Kevin Ford 24606 Raven Rock Road

Smithsburg

301-824-5210

WINERY

Reid Farm

Paul Reid 4410 Harpers Ferry Road

Sharpsburg

Rhoderick Family Farms

10401 White Hall Road

Hagerstown LIVESTOCK

Rocky Hollow Farm 17317 Reiff Church Road

Hagerstown

301-797-3133

FLOWERS

Rooster Vane Gardens

Denny Warrenfeltz

36 Frederick Road

Funkstown

301-739-2439

FLOWERS

Runaway Bull

17163 Lappans Road

Hagerstown

BEEF, AGRI TOURISM

Sam Petre

8306 Mapleville Road

Boonsboro

301-791-9326

CROPS

Saratoga Farm

17842 Carter Ln

Hagerstown

301-797-5319

SCL Farms

13010 Wolfsville Road

Smithsburg

301-293-2024

EQUINE

Serenity Crown Horse Farm

17907 Spielman Road

Fairplay

301-256-4995

EQUINE

Shenandoah’s Pride Dairy

1433 Oakmont Dr

Hagerstown

301-739-3210

DAIRY

Shepherds View Show Cattle

The Crawford Family info@themulchman.com

CATTLE

Slice of Heaven

Clear Spring

301-842-0034

RETAIL

Spitfire Equine LLC

Williamsport

301-573-9003

spitfire.equine.md@gmail.com

EQUINE

Stoneleigh Equine

Clear Spring

301-302-5234

stoneleighequine@gmail.com

EQUINE

Stoney Creek Farm

Brandon Green 19223 Manor Church Road

Boonsboro

301-432-6272

FRUIT, AGRI TOURISM

Summer Rose Horsemanship

5618 Mt Briar Road

Keedysville

240-625-6424

EQUINE

Summer Rose Horsemanship

Lindsay O’Brien

5618 Mt Briar Road

Keedysville

240-625-6424

borntopboogie@yahoo.com

EQUINE

T & C Agri and Cattle Co

Carrie Ammons

Smithsburg

BEEF

Tammany Spring MicroFarm

240-527-8652

tammanyspringmicrofarm@gmail.com

VEGETABLE

Thomas and Son Farm

Tracy Thomas 7249 Monroe Road

Boonsboro

301-432-4261

BEEF, CROPS

Timber Valley Farm Barn

Tom Grosh

12731 Big Pool Road

Clear Spring

301-573-0948

AGRI TOURISM

Twelve Oaks Farm

16215 Woburn Road

Sharpsburg

240-818-1297

PLANTS, VEGETABLES

Twilight Homestead LLC

Deanna Adkins

6239 Appletown Road

Boonsboro twilighthomesteadllc@gmail.com POULTRY

Tyler Toth

Tyler Toth 6321 King Road

Boonsboro

DAIRY

Valley Farms Lamb

8306 Reichard Road

Fairplay

240-347-3145

valleyfarmslamb@gmail.com

LAMB

Valley Meadow Farms

Trails Getaway 14702 Mountain Road

Hancock 301-678-6584

info@valleymeadowfarms.com

EQUINE AGRITOURISM

Velisek Farm

Doug and Pam Velisek 18125 Lappans Road

Fairplay

BEEF, POULTRY

Vixen Hollow Equestrian Center

Caiti Kuczynski 13030 Bikle Road

Smithsburg

301-302-1284

caitikeventing@gmail.com EQUINE

Waltz Family Farm

Jay and Laurie Waltz

12063 Waltz Road

Smithsburg 301-714-0584

BEEF, HOGS

WD Hatcher Farms LLC

13405 Windsor Dr

Hagerstown 240-818-9451

TRANSPORT

Whispering Flower Farm

Rohrersville

yeon@whisperingflowerfarm.com FLOWERS

Whistling Wren Farm

5601 Mt. Carmel Church Road

Keedysville 240-815-7131

AGRI TOURISM

Wilde Thistle Farm

The Nichols Family 18040 Pashen Dr Fairplay 240-625-4793

bbnichols6@gmail.com

LIVESTOCK

Willow Run Farm

Brian Babington

19347 Dog Street

Keedysville

301-491-8885

LIVESTOCK, CROPS, LANDSCAPING

Willow Run Farm and Landscaping

Bryan and Debbie Babbington 19347 Dog Street Road

Keedysville

301-432-7656

BEEF CROPS

Wilmer Keener Farms

13859 Cearfoss Pike

Hagerstown

301-733-9328

Winder’s Diary Inc

Kirk Winders 12551 Itnyre Road

Smithsburg DAIRY

Winding Root

Caroline Selle 4939 Raspberry Road

Rohrersville 410-549-7878

windingrootffarm@gmail.com FLOWERS

Windy Rock Equine 12324 St Paul Road Clear Spring nonakayt8@gmail.com EQUINE

Yours Florally

Kayla McShea 21821 Black Rock Lane

Hagerstown yoursfolorraly.flowers@gmail.com FLOWERS

Hoffman Farm

Still Growing

Viticulture in Washington County’s farm vineyards keeps getting better

By Charles Jeffries

In 2008 Gretchen Simard got tired of teaching in Virginia and made an unusual career switch. She got her contractor’s license and began remodeling homes. Her business was going along fine, but she uprooted her life again to move to Washington County to start a new life with her fiancée, who owns two farms. Now she’s on to the next segment of her life.

Three years ago, she planted the first vines at The Vineyards of Mapleville Manor and then broke ground on an event center, which will include what she describes as a wedding barn.

“It will be very European,” she says. “It will look like a barn on the outside, but it will be a very exquisite place for weddings on the inside.”

She hopes to have the complex open later this summer and that her wedding will be the first the venue hosts. She hopes to start booking weddings for the fall and 2025. For now, she also has her hands full with the vineyard near Stottlemeyer Road north of Boonsboro. “I’ve spent seven days a week out there for the last two summers,” she says.

In that time she’s learned that growing wine grapes is not as simple as planting vines and watching them flower and produce fruit.

“Growing grapes is full of a multitude of challenges and requires the dedication of someone willing to work on growing grapes almost every day all spring, summer, and fall,” she says. “Even then,

it is not a sure thing, as grapes are a sensitive crop.”

Indeed. Growing Vitis vinifera, the species of grape used to make quality wine, in the Middle Atlantic has been hundreds of years of failure. Although that is changing as viticultural experts start applying science to the process and experimenting with varietals that might adapt to the soil and climate conditions of the region. For much of the past vineyard owners have just planted European varietals and hoping to make European-style wine.

Simard has planted some traditional grapes like Cabernet Franc and Malbec but, interestingly, she’s trying some new varietals, hybrid grapes bred for terroir similar to that of Washington County. Not many will recognize the varietal Chelois, a late-budding, early ripening red grape that will have a better chance of avoiding potential damage from both spring frosts and fall rain. She has also planted Diamond, a white grape bred in 1855, which is having success in

the Finger Lakes region of New York where it produces still and sparkling wine. The varietal hasn’t migrated far from upstate New York, so Simard is one of the few to plant the grape in the Middle Atlantic.

She will also feature a much more recently developed hybrid from New York. Aravelle, also known as New York 81 for the year it was bred. Aravelle is a cross of Cayuga, another successful Finger Lakes grape, and

The progress at the Vineyards of Mapleville Manor of setting the posts for trellising.

Riesling, a white grape that makes worldclass wines in the Alsace region of France.

Joe Fiola, a specialist in viticulture at the University of Maryland Extension, has been working with Simard and many other vineyards in Maryland and has been testing these grapes’ viability around Maryland and in Washington County.

“I have had them in trial at multiple sites around Maryland [including the Western Maryland Research and Education Center in Keedysville] and they have proven to be cold hardy and disease resistant, two critical issues when sustainably growing grapes in Maryland,” Fiola says.

Simard is betting that he’s right.

“Our goal is to eventually produce our own estate wines and specialize in sparkling wines,” Simard says. “That goes along with

weddings. Brides can come in and do a tasting of sparkling wines and decide what they want for their wedding.”

In the beginning, she will have her wine made by an outside production facility. Like many such projects, Simard’s is costing more than she expected, but eventually she hopes to have a production facility and tasting room.

“Our building that is going to host exquisite weddings is going up now. Our event center will host weddings and will eventually become our winery and tasting room,” she says.

Try a Bottle of Something Different

There are four farm vineyards in Washington County open for tastings or

The process of growing the young vines and nurturing them into growing grapes.

just enjoying a glass or a bottle (some are by appointment only). Each has spent time studying the local terroir and discovered there are grapes other than standard varietals that can grow well here. Here’s something a little different from each of them.

Cool Spring Vineyard: Gruner Veltliner is the most significant white grape in Austria. At Cool Spring it delivers a light, acidic wine with aromas of citrus zest and notes of stone fruit and spice on the palate.

Antietam Creek Vineyard: Vidal Blanc is a hybrid white grape proven to survive cold winters and produce high sugar levels in cooler growing climates. (Despite our sometimes oppressively hot summers, Maryland is a cool-weather climate in viticultural terms.) Antietam makes this in an off-dry style with notes of honeysuckle and lychee.

Big Cork Vineyard: The flagship wine here is made with the spectacular Italian grape called Nebbiolo, where in its spiritual home of the Italian piedmont it produces world-class wines like Borola and Barbaresco. Big Cork’s version might not reach those heights, but its strong tannins and complexity make it perhaps Washington County’s best red.

Red Heifer Vineyard: Blaufrankisch is an Eastern European grape and makes elegant light- to medium-bodies reds in Hungary. Red Heifer’s Winemaker’s Reserve Blaufrankisch is fruit forward with red fruit on the palate and an earthy, herbaceous finish.

Antietam Creek Vineyards

4835 Branch Avenue, Sharpsburg 240-490-2851

Big Cork Vineyards 4236 Main Street, Rohrersville 301-302-8032

Cool Ridge Vineyard 19638 Cool Hollow Road, Hagerstown 301-991-9246

Red Heifer Winery

12840 Red Heifer Winery Lane Smithsburg 301-824-5210

Frog Eye Vineyard

19612 Albert Roelkey Lane, Knoxville www.frogeyevineyard.com

Wine Makers

Blue Mountain Wine Crafters 117 East Baltimore Street, Funkstown 301-791-2882 or 240-675-0845

Stone House Urban Winery

12810 Shank Farm Way, Hagerstown 240-513-4565

Farm Breweries

Upper Stem Brewery

20150 Leitersburg Pike, Hagerstown upperstembrewery.com

Other Breweries

Antietam Brewery

140 Western Maryland Parkway Hagerstown Antietambrewery.com; 240-513-4490 2 3

Cushwa Brewing Company

10210 Governor Lane Blvd., Williamsport Cushwabrewing.com; 301-223-3434

Thick-N-Thin Brewing Co.

18330 Spark Drive, Hagerstown www.thickandthinbrewery.com; 240-366-4147

Hub City Brewery

25 West Church Street, Hagerstown www.hubcitybrewery.com, 301-302-3717

Farm Distilleries

Pathfinder Farm 5515 Mount Carmel Church Road Keedysville www.pathfinder.com 301-799-4455

Slick & Letts Distillery at Elmwood Farm (Open Soon) 16311 B Kendle Road, Williamsport 240-684-8655

Other Distilleries

Meinelschmidt Distillery

54 S. Potomac Street, Hagerstown www.meineldistillery.com

Recipes From the Farmers

Orange Creamsicle Pound Cake

By Alexandria Spithaler

Cake Ingredients

1 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons fresh orange zest

2/12 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup whole milk

4 ounces white baking chocolate

Icing Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon prepared powdered milk

Additional orange zest with granulated sugar to garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.

2. In a small bowl, melt the white chocolate in 30 second increments in the microwave on full power, stirring in between bursts, until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt and set aside.

4. Cream the butter together with the sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs into the creamed mixture, one at a time until combined. Stir in the vanilla extract, orange juice, and orange zest into the creamed mixture to incorporate.

5. Gradually mix the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk, in three separate additions of each, beating each addition well.

6. Stir in the melted white chocolate until thoroughly combined. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan.

7. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

8. Allow cake to cool completely.

9. To prepare the icing, mix all the ingredients well. Use more or less prepared powdered milk until desired consistency. Pour over cake.

Cantaloupe Bread with Praline Glaze

By Alexis Iseminger

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 cups cantaloupe puréed

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup butter

1 2/3 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease and flour two 9x5-inch loaf pans.

2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla, and cantaloupe. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger. Stir flour mixture into cantaloupe mixture, stir to combine. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Meringue cookie recipe

By Beth Shank

Ingredients

4 egg whites

¼ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon cream of tarter

½ teaspoon of vanilla (can add more and add gradually).

½ cup of sugar

12 ounce package of chocolate bits

3. Bake in preheated oven for one hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

4. Meanwhile, combine butter and brown sugar. Microwave for three minutes, stirring at one-minute intervals; mix in pecans. Pour sauce over warm bread. Let cool for one hour before serving.

Directions

1. Beat the first three ingredients until

2. Add in vanilla gradually.

3. Add in chocolate bits

4. Form into cookies and bake at 300 for 25