Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its 11^th season,  will feature farms and locations in Anne Arundel, Kent, and Worcester counties during a special Chesapeake Bay seafood-themed episode premiering on Tuesday, December 12. A preview of the episode can be found on the series’ YouTube channel here.

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and online at mpt.org/livestream. Following their broadcast premiere, episodes are also available to view using MPT’s online video player and the PBS App. Encore broadcasts air on MPT-HD on Thursdays at 11 p.m. and on Sundays at 6 a.m. Episodes also air on MPT2/Create® on Fridays at 7:30 p.m.

The popular weekly series takes viewers on a journey across the Free State, telling engaging and enlightening stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow agriculture in Maryland, the state’s number one commercial industry.

Joanne Clendining, who has earned two regional Emmy® awards for her work on Maryland Farm & Harvest, serves as series host. She is joined throughout the season by Al Spoler, host of “The Local Buy” segments, and by a rotation of local chefs who each take a turn hosting a new segment called “Farm to Skillet,” during which viewers are led through the process of finding, preparing, and presenting the locally produced ingredients that make up some of the chefs’ favorite dishes.

With introductions filmed at Holloway Brothers Farms in Darlington (Harford County), the December 12 episode features the following segments:

• Scallop Aquaculture (Worcester County). Baywater Seafood in Snow Hill is Maryland’s sole bay scallop aquaculture company and one of only few in the United States. Matt Holloway, Bryan Dickey, and Lee Beauchamp – Eastern Shore natives who have been best friends since age six – grow scallops offshore in custom-made lantern nets. Viewers learn about the environmental benefits of these bivalves while following Matt, Bryan, and eco-tourism manager Claire Rush on a boat ride to retrieve mature scallops and prepare them for delivery to Oaked 110, where they are included in the night’s menu.

• Crab Feast to Compost (Anne Arundel County). Every year, the Rotary Club of Annapolisholds its self-proclaimed “largest crab feast in the world,” but the event is notable for more than just its size. The feast is also zero waste, with 100% of its trash being either recycled or composted with the help of local company Veteran Compost. Viewers join local watermen catching crabs for the feast, witness the event’s massive crab steaming operation, follow members of the rotary’s “green team” during compost setup and sorting, and visit the facility where the food scraps are turned into nutrient-rich soil ideal for farming and gardening.

• Farm to Skillet: Chef Rodney Scruggs, Chestertown Farmers Market (Kent County).Chef Rodney Scruggs, executive chef at Watershed Alley in Chestertown, leads the audience through the Chestertown Farmers Market, where he finds all the locally produced ingredients he needs to make one of his restaurant’s most popular summertime dishes. After buying the necessary ingredients, Scruggs heads to the Watershed Alley kitchen to prepare his sweet corn panna cotta with green tomato consommé and a heap of lump crabmeat. The recipe will be available for viewers to try themselves at mpt.org/farm.

Nearly 16 million viewers have watched Maryland Farm & Harvest on MPT since its debut in 2013. The series has traveled to nearly 450 farms, fisheries, and other agriculture-related locations during its first 10 seasons, covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City and Washington, D.C.

Past episodes can be viewed at video.mpt.tv/show/maryland-farm-harvest/, while episode segments are available on the series’ YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/MarylandFarmHarvest/featured. Engage with the show on social media @MarylandFarmHarvest on Facebook and @mdfarmtv on Instagram.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture is MPT’s co-production partner for Maryland Farm & Harvest.  Major funding is provided by the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board.

Additional funding is provided by Maryland’s Best; a grant from the Rural Maryland Council Agriculture Education and Rural Development Fund; MARBIDCO; a grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program; Farm Credit; Maryland Soybean Board; Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; Wegmans Food Markets; Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; Maryland Farm Bureau; The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; and a contribution made by the Citizens of Baltimore County. Other support comes from the Mar-Del Watermelon Association and Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation.

SYNOPSIS OF DEC. 12 EPISODE:

Meet the owners of Baywater Seafood in Snow Hill, Maryland’s only bay scallop aquaculture farm, and learn about their efforts to bring back a classic Maryland delicacy. Then, visit the “largest crab feast in the United States,” organized annually by the Rotary Club of Annapolis, and discover how it manages to produce zero waste. Finally, get green with envy as Watershed Alley chef Rodney Scruggs uses ingredients sourced from the Chestertown Farmers Market to create a sweet corn panna cotta with green tomato consommé during this week’s “Farm to Skillet” segment.

Calling all budding pastry chefs! Sign up now for the Annual Gingerbread Cookie Workshop. This FREE event is Saturday, December 16, 2 pm  at KidSPOT. Children ages 4 – 12 are welcome to attend with a parent or guardian.

Pre-registration is required as space is limited.

Email [email protected] or call 410 778 6300 for more information and to register.

Chef Stu Cawley, assisted by various elves, will demonstrate the proper icing technique with gingerbread cookies generously donated by The Spicerie.

This annual event is not possible without  our sponsors: Twigs and Teacups and The Spicerie. It is presented by the Downtown Chestertown Association and hosted by RiverArts’ KidSPOT. Special thanks to Stu Cawley and elves.

 

 

If you are an inveterate booklover or casual browser of books, Selkie Books in Rock Hall is well worth a visit, not only for its maze of rooms stacked ceiling-high with books or its popular series of author readings but for a congenial chat with its owner, Marta Kumer.

 

Kumer and her partner, commercial crabber Kelly Crouse, moved from Fell’s Point, Baltimore to Rock Hall three years ago after dozens of visits to the Eastern Shore and deciding that the small maritime port was perfect for Kumer’s lifelong dream of having a her own country bookstore, and for Crouse to continue his livelihood as a commercial crabber.

 

Twelve truckloads of books later, Selkie Books was founded and described as “Rock Hall’s Old-fashioned bookstore on the Old Post Road (Rt. 20)—and Undine’s Cottage for Art and Rare Books.”  And it lives up to its description,

 

Selkie Books does feel like an old-fashioned country bookstore. Without its signage, the two-story cottage could be mistaken for someone’s residence. That’s part of its charm and how Kumer expresses her love for books and the community that has come to know and embrace her. 

 

It’s been a lifelong goal.

 

“I had my first lending library when I was seven or eight. I’ve always loved books. But I never did anything with it. My career was in computers and working for the Federal Government. That’s why I have an old-fashioned bookstore because thirty years of computers was enough,” she says.

 

Living above the bookstore, Kumer says that after years of commuting from Baltimore to Washington, walking downstairs to the shop is the easiest commute she’s ever had to make.

 

And downstairs is a haven for book browsers. Among Selkies’ 6,000+ used and new books, local artists’ work, and tables offering cookies for her dedicated “gentle readers” and new visitors, over eighty Eastern Shore writers, artists and consignors are also on display.

 

Kumer not only promotes her regional authors and artists by carrying their books, she takes no profit from their sales. In turn, authors and artists have been supportive of Selkie Books and have spread the word, and the shop has become a stopping-off place for many of the community residents.

 

Don’t let the shop’s quaintness fool you. The wide trellis across the front of the shop does have an Alice in Wonderland on The Bay hint about it, but the interior offers a surprisingly rich selection of new and rare books, collectible maps, art, prints, and photography. 

Selkie Books is also a popular forum for author readings.and are a significant part of the Selkie experience. In one recent November reading, authors Nancy Taylor Robson and Sue Collins discussed their book OK, Now What?—A Caregivers Guide to what Matters to an engaged audience who recognized the importance of conversations about care during end-of-life and hospice experiences.

 

An upcoming event planned for December 2, 2-4 pm is the Fabulous “Singing Captains” in Undine’s Cottage. All Selkie Events are free, open, and “come with” complimentary bubbles and nibbles! 

 

But beware, Selkie Books is the kind of place you’ll browse for a few minutes only to discover you’ve missed everything you planned for the rest of the day. 

 

Although Kumer is camera-shy, the Spy interviewed her and explored the charming cottage shop on Rock Hall’s outskirts.

 

For more information and to be added to her email list for announcements, see the Selkie Books’ Facebook page here or their website here.

 

Selkie Books is at 6202 Rock Hall Road, Route 20, Rock Hall, MD. Contact (480) 430-4692 or [email protected] for more information.