11-08-2024 4:21am

MPT SERIES FEATURES

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Maryland Public Television’s original series “Maryland Farm & Harvest” returns for its 12th season on Tuesday, Nov. 12 with the first of 13 new half-hour episodes.

“Maryland Farm & Harvest” airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and online at mpt.org/livestream. Episodes are also available to view live and on demand using the free PBS app and MPT’s online video player.

The weekly series takes viewers on a journey across the state, telling engaging and enlightening stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow agriculture in Maryland, the state’s No. 1 commercial industry.

Over the course of the season, “Maryland Farm & Harvest” will follow three farming families with children competing in 4-H across the state. Viewers will be introduced to the Smithson family from Harford County, the Chamelin family from Carroll County, and the King family from Queen Anne’s County as their children compete at their respective county fairs.

Those who win at the county level will appear again during a special season finale episode covering their competitions at the 2024 Maryland State Fair. Joanne Clendining, who has earned two Emmy awards from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for her work on “Maryland Farm & Harvest,” returns as host.

She is again joined by Al Spoler, host of “The Local Buy” segments, and by a variety of local chefs who serve as guest hosts of the series’ “Farm to Skillet” segments.
With introductions filmed at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster, the Nov. 12 season premiere features the following stories:

• Deere Valley Farm (Montgomery County): Clendining heads to Dickerson, where she meets the Baker family of Deere Valley Farm just in time for the winter wheat harvest.
The Bakers are fourth- and fifth-generation grain and livestock farmers. Behind the wheel of the combine harvester, Joanne helps the family cut the last of the season’s wheat and plant the farm’s early summer soybeans.

• Downey Family Farm (Baltimore County): U.S. Air Force veteran Eddie Downey and family are raising Texas Longhorn cattle at Downey Family Farm in Upperco. Their goal is to raise the best longhorns in the country and — with Hubbell’s Jeremiah 29:11, a bull with off-the-charts genetics — they might just be able to do it. Meanwhile, veterinarians visit the farm to determine whether any cows have gotten pregnant.

• The Local Buy: Black Locust Farm Brewery (Baltimore County): Segment host Spoler heads to Black Locust Hops farm brewery in Freeland, where he meets owners Che’ and Lisa Carton and is shown how hops are grown, harvested, and used in the beer making process. Spoler learns about Che’s evolution from passionate home brewer to expert hop grower. Then, he joins Lisa in the taproom to get a taste of what makes Black Locust Hops special.

More than 16 million viewers have watched “Maryland Farm & Harvest” on the statewide public TV network since its debut in 2013. The series has traveled to nearly 500 farms, fisheries, and other agriculture-related locations during its first 11 seasons while covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City and Washington, D.C.

Encore broadcasts of “Maryland Farm & Harvest” air on MPT-HD on Thursdays at 11 p.m. and on Sundays at 6 a.m.