JOANNE CLENDINING: From the mountains to the shore, Maryland agriculture is on full display.

Did you know grains can be a learning experience?

That learning continues into adulthood?

And that a pepper can teach us about the past?

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 Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program, progress powered by farmers.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

The Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

The Maryland Pork Producers Association proudly works to educate consumers and advocate for farmers.

Taste what pork can do.

♪ (theme music playing) ♪ (bird chirping).

JOANNE: Benjamin Franklin once said, "Tell me and I forget.

Teach me, and I may remember.

Involve me, and I learn."

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining.

Welcome to "Maryland Farm and Harvest."

Ask any farmer, and they'll tell you that they never stop learning.

There's always some new machine to operate or fix, an innovative way to amend soil, or be challenged to market what they grow.

This week, we're near Annapolis at a lamb farm called Hollywood Farm, where the owners have also created a community garden for beginning farmers.

Maryland isn't necessarily known for lamb, so the challenge for them is to change that perception one rack of lamb at a time.

Coming up, an urban farm academy that sows the seeds for a greener future.

But first, the future of farming relies on getting future generations involved.

One way is a University of Maryland program that connects agriculture to nutrition, the environment, and human health through hands-on activities.

(tractor engine).

Fall in Maryland's Washington County means chilly mornings, harvests, pumpkins, and for a few busloads of elementary school kids, a day at the farm.

GUIDE: You guys ready for a fun day?

JOANNE: For a lot of these kids, this is their first time being on a farm, but this isn't any old farm.

This is the University of Maryland's Agricultural Extension and Experiment Station in Keedysville, Maryland.

This is where agriculture specialists conduct research on everything from tree fruit to hops, pest management to pasture management, so they know a thing or two about wrangling.

JENN BURGER: Nope, you're going there.

JOANNE: These students have come here today to take part in the Kids Growing with Grains program.

JENN: I am Miss Jenn.

I work for the Washington County Extension Office.

I am with the 4-H program.

JOANNE: The program has been bringing grade school students to the farm in order to learn about agriculture and where their food comes from for over 20 years.

JENN: On all of our products, we have a nutrition label.

Our nutrition label... ASHLEY TRAVIS: Although Washington County is what we would probably consider a fairly rural county, the majority of our students that come to our Kids Growing with Grains program have not been on a farm before, and they have not had any type of grain or agricultural education.

JENN: So our grains grow in three parts.

Each part gives us certain nutrients that we need.

ASHLEY: Our grain nutrition station is based around why whole grains are important, why it's better for your body.

JENN: Which do you prefer, the brown bread or the white bread?

STUDENT: My parents make me eat the brown bread more.

But I like the white bread.

(laughter).

JENN: Way to be honest.

All right.

JOANNE: By the time the kids are ready to leave the nutrition station, they know what grains are... STUDENT: Corn.

JENN: Corn, very good.

JOANNE: ...or are not.

STUDENT: Sugar.

JENN: Sugar is not a grain.

(laughter).

JOANNE: At the grains and animal science station, the students get to meet some other kids.

GUIDE: Do you, do you have a brother?

STUDENT: Uh-huh.

GUIDE: Do you and your brother fight?

STUDENT: Uh-huh.

GUIDE: Okay, there, I think I've answered your question.

ASHLEY: A lot of them, you know, maybe driving in the car, they've seen cows out in the field or something.

GUIDE: She is part of a group of animals called ruminants.

So they have a four-compartment stomach.

ASHLEY: Being able to be up close and personal and learn about the different livestock that we raise for farming is important.

GUIDE: I got news for you, ladies and gentlemen, all eggs come from farms, okay?

They don't make them somewhere else.

STUDENT: Oh!

ASHLEY: And we also talk about how cattle and goats, and chickens utilize grains in their diet, ultimately to produce products that people eat and use.

GUIDE: The other thing is, you boys and girls eat corn, right?

STUDENTS: Yeah.

GUIDE: You just eat the grain; we can feed them the whole plants.

JOANNE: From here, the kids are ready for some hands-on learning.

BRIAN SPIELMAN: Who can tell me what this plant is?

STUDENTS: Corn.

BRIAN: Corn!

See, this section will teach you what grains we grow here at Western Maryland.

Feel the difference?

STUDENT: Are these real?

BRIAN: Yes, that's real corn.

That's real corn I cut out of the field last week, and they're real soybeans I grew this year.

Kids live in rural Washington County.

They see corn, they see soybeans, and they'll come here, and they'll say, "Yeah, we have that near our house, but we didn't know it was corn.

We didn't know it was soybeans."

JOANNE: And they usually don't know what those grains are being used for.

BRIAN: Diesel can be made from soybeans; gas can be made from corn.

Yep, so this is popcorn.

Who drinks pop, soda?

Pretzels, anybody eat pretzels?

STUDENT: He's making me hungry.

BRIAN: Yep.

JOANNE: Sounds like a perfect time for the day's last station, right after a little trip through the fields to see where all this grain is grown.

ANA RENNER: Love it.

Who loves pancakes, raise your hand.

So this is a food demonstration, and we kind of wrap up all the fun things that we talked about throughout the day, the importance of grains, the importance of grains in our nutrition.

And they get to make pancakes.

Yeah, I think we could have started a riot today that we didn't have any syrup.

You'll have students that come into this food demonstration opportunity who have never poured a pancake on a griddle, who don't know what the ingredients are of a pancake, who have never flipped a pancake.

They're so proud of themselves, so we love to see that for them.

BRIAN: We're, we're about three generations removed from the farm, and they live in a rural county that has a lot of farmland left.

Now they know what's growing actually behind their house or next to their development.

JOANNE: As the buses take these kids back to school, it's everyone's hope that the fields they pass won't be as much of a mystery anymore.

The day-long program has become a generational legacy in the state.

The kids who attended the first Kids Growing With Grains have all grown up, and now their kids are attending the program.

♪ ♪ All right, it's time to put your agricultural thinking cap on.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

Do you think you know what it is?

So you probably know this is a branding iron, but why the letter T?

Here's a hint.

While it's not the letter S, it's still a scarlet letter, so to speak.

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

Earlier, we mentioned that the future of farming depends on the next generation.

We asked you all to send us pics of your future farmers.

Here are just a few.

Enjoy.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ When a young community organizer got wind of a vacant lot in South Baltimore, it was the opportunity he'd been waiting for to teach young people about farming and the connection to their past.

(tractor engine).

The heart of South Baltimore's Curtis Bay neighborhood is not the first place you would look to find a farm.

But that's changed.

Today, there is an alliance of urban farmers who are growing more than just produce and flowers.

They are cultivating a new crop of farmers.

DENZEL MITCHELL: We are at the Black Butterfly Farm in South Baltimore City, and we're harvesting dent corn.

JOANNE: Denzel Mitchell is a founding organizer and executive director of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore and the Black Butterfly Urban Farming Academy.

DENZEL: We are growing two varieties, Oaxacan green, which is a Mexican heirloom variety, and then Reid's Yellow Dent, which will get milled and processed down into grits, cornmeal, and corn flour.

The organization was created to support small-scale growers that wanted to get into the commercial space, wanted to manage community space for their neighbors, and for other Baltimore City residents.

JOANNE: For the past 12 years, Farm Alliance has collaborated with the city and state to reexamine zoning regulations to better serve urban agriculture communities in Baltimore.

BILL THARPE: Urban farmers, along with the Farm Alliance of Baltimore, provide access to locally grown urban foods, and there's no shorter distance than growing it right in the same community.

Denzel Mitchell has been a leader in this movement for providing urban education for agriculture, along with providing access to healthy foods.

JOANNE: So when these seven acres of Baybrook Park were leased to the Farm Alliance back in 2022, they created the Black Butterfly Urban Farm Academy, and the name has a significant meaning.

DENZEL: So the name of the farm is Black Butterfly.

That is a nod to Dr.

Lawrence Brown's work that he encapsulated in this book.

He talked specifically about the wings of the butterfly being the highest concentrations of Black, brown, underrepresented, and under-resourced folks in Baltimore City.

JOANNE: For Denzel, a location near homes, play fields, and schools was key.

DENZEL: And so one of the things that the farm does is, is it's situated to reintroduce urban agriculture to the residents.

So we are in the high tunnel.

We've got a couple of varieties of peppers in here, and we've got a few different varieties of tomatoes.

JOANNE: And while the farm provides the community with fresh farm-grown produce, the singular focus from its inception was never lost on Denzel.

DENZEL: That's the next level.

You have to manage your space.

Uh, greenhouse for nursery production and transplant production, small grain production.

But at the end of the day, the site is designed to be a classroom, to teach people how to farm.

Many of the growers in our network were asking for very direct, specific training in commercial agriculture.

They wanted to know what it meant to run a farm and what it means to be a farmer.

BILL: The land now in the use that, that Denzel and, and the Farm Alliance have really shows the community a purpose.

Uh, and really it's twofold: it's to grow green, clean, urban food, and also to teach the next generation of farmers to do it themselves.

DENZEL: One of the objectives of this farm is not only to introduce people to small-scale urban agriculture, but it's also to recognize that you're a business owner, and you grow crops that then have to be marketed and then sold in a bunch of different ways.

JOANNE: The farm's produce and cut flowers are distributed across seven food pantries, the 32nd Street Farmers Market, as well as local restaurants.

Denzel's dedication to teaching young farmers and his commitment to feeding his community has fostered deep relationships, none more so than with award-winning Chef Spike Gjerde.

SPIKE GJERDE: Hey, Denzel.

DENZEL: How you doing, Spike?

SPIKE: It's good to see you.

DENZEL: Good to see you, brother.

SPIKE: Oh, man, fish pepper's looking pretty good right about now.

DENZEL: Yeah, man, this is, this is a good time of year.

We've got tons of ripe fruit.

SPIKE: So one of the things I love about these peppers, of course, beyond how delicious they are, the amazing heat they, they bring to our cooking, is the incredible story behind how these peppers came to be here at Black Butterfly.

DENZEL: Yeah.

SPIKE: Uh... DENZEL: Yeah, it's a long, long story that, that predates us.

As you know, the fish pepper kinda has a mysterious introduction to Chesapeake Bay cuisine.

JOANNE: The fish pepper is deeply rooted in the culinary history of the Chesapeake Bay.

It's believed that the pepper came to Maryland by way of Caribbean migration and trade, likely originating in Haiti.

Enslaved Africans and free Black farmers cultivated the pepper in home gardens and farm plots throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

By the 19th century, it was widely used by African American cooks up and down the Chesapeake.

DENZEL: And then became a staple in this region's cuisine, and came to be called the fish pepper because of how well they went with crab, shrimp, and oysters that folks were eating in this region.

JOANNE: By the mid-20th century, with the decline in Maryland fisheries, the fish pepper had nearly disappeared.

It wasn't until around the 1990s when the pepper's comeback story began.

SPIKE: That's where we enter the story.

DENZEL: Right, right.

So I just started growing them.

I looked them up.

Their history really resonated with me, as a, as a Black agrarian, as a Black farmer, as a, as a, as a cook, somebody who was really into food history.

Uh, the fish pepper really spoke to me.

And then, serendipitously, actually ended up meeting you, but immediately knew you were the guy that was looking for fish peppers.

SPIKE: Yes, yes.

DENZEL: Yeah.

SPIKE: And, um, yeah, the rest, as they say, is, is, history.

DENZEL: Is history.

JOANNE: And the history between Spike and Denzel is one of mutual love and respect.

SPIKE: You know, there's a, there's an old saying, right?

That those that can't do, teach.

DENZEL: Yeah.

SPIKE: And yet, this is, this is, like, the greatest refutation of that statement ever, because the, at the Black Butterfly teaching farm, they're not only teaching, but they're doing in a massive way.

I never visit without coming away inspired, and kind of, just fired up, to cook and to represent our region as well as, as, as the farm does.

DENZEL: That's a major driver in the thinking of how this farm is set up, because, you know, you wanna come here and find things to cook.

Because at the end of the day, this is about growing food, and having a great time in community with your favorite people in the kitchen.

SPIKE: I'm definitely taking the fish pepper with me.

JOANNE: The fish pepper was first introduced as a unique heat added to white sauces for fish and shellfish dishes, leading to its name.

But for Spike, it's his go-to spice for everything, from casserole to filet of sole.

(sizzling).

SPIKE: All right, it's fish pepper time here at Woodberry Kitchen.

It is a year-round staple of our kitchen, and we love using them fresh here in, when they're in season, but of course, we wanna have them in our kitchen all year round.

And so I'm gonna show you a couple ways that, that give a lot of our cooking, any kind of heat or spice.

Hey, all right.

DENZEL: What's up?

SPIKE: Let's do this, um... DENZEL: Some eggplant.

SPIKE: Yeah, you know, from the farm, I just got so fired up and, and one of the things, whenever I see eggplant, I start thinking ratatouille.

DENZEL: Mm.

SPIKE: Um, I wanna do kind of a, a super loose version of ratatouille.

DENZEL: Okay.

SPIKE: Loose in every sense.

DENZEL: I like that.

SPIKE: I was gonna kinda do it in a simple way.

I like to kinda start by, by roasting the eggplant.

DENZEL: Okay.

SPIKE: What do you think about that?

DENZEL: I got you.

SPIKE: So maybe give these some thick slices.

We'll get them onto a baking tray and into the oven.

DENZEL: Right on.

SPIKE: If you could, hit them with a little oil, salt, and fish pepper.

DENZEL: Fish pepper.

SPIKE: On we go.

DENZEL: All right.

SPIKE: Also, start with a little of our olive oil.

Nicely coat the bottom of the pan.

Red onion.

Garlic is another thing we try to hold onto for the whole season.

If we can get it from a farm like Farm Alliance, that will be a godsend for us into the fall and winter.

But I love having a, kind of a bold garlic flavor in this ratatouille.

I'm gonna keep rolling... DENZEL: Got you.

SPIKE: ...with the, other ingredients.

DENZEL: Got you.

SPIKE: The, the key here is, is to go pretty quickly.

Um, we're trying to, maintain... Unlike a lot of ratatouilles, we're trying to maintain the texture of the vegetables.

And then these beautiful Jimmy Nardellos.

DENZEL: Yeah, I, I, I love Jimmy Nardellos.

They're, they're an easy sweet pepper for any farmer to grow.

We, we, we grow them at Black Butterfly.

SPIKE: Now we're gonna go right in with the eggplant, and you'll notice, towards the end, usually I would start with the eggplant, but because we've already done the roasting of the eggplant, it, it, it'll have a nice texture.

One of my extreme dislikes, and there aren't many in this world, is undercooked eggplant.

DENZEL: Yeah.

SPIKE: So the roasting will kinda give us a head start on the cooking of the eggplant and also assure that it's not that unpleasant kind of chewy texture.

This is essentially done.

You can see how quickly that came together.

This is our, what I like to call, summer ratatouille.

It's, it's a light, crunchy version of the trad, traditional ra, ratatouille, which can be baked for a long time in the oven.

Also delicious, but this is our light, summery version.

And then we're gonna get into our last, fish pepper-inspired dish.

By most accounts, it originated in the Caribbean, which is pepper pot.

DENZEL: Pepper pot, right.

SPIKE: And we've cooked, I think, together, many variations of pepper pot over the years.

So we've got this beautiful... So this is whole dried, and it dries interestingly.

This is, it's completely dry when it's harvested.

DENZEL: Absolutely.

SPIKE: Right.

DENZEL: Yeah, it's a dent corn.

SPIKE: So it's a dent corn, dries in the field on the cob, and then it's processed off the cob.

But otherwise, it's still the, it's the whole green corn.

So the corn, from this beautiful state, to the, to the, to where we can use it in pozole, there's an important step called nixtamalization, which is a mouthful.

Um, but it's a crucial step when you're dealing with this kind of corn, and any of the traditions in which it was used in Mexican cooking.

But I'm gonna start here, with a little bit of oil in the pan.

Go back for my onions.

The last of those Jimmies, our beloved Jimmy Nardellos.

And, you know, I think pozole really can, you can take it in a lot of different directions.

I don't think there's any; there are barely any written recipes for pozole.

Um, this is gonna be, again, one that's, that's largely inspired, and comprised of, beautiful summer produce from the farm, including these pickled fish peppers.

We are gonna take it in a slightly different direction, though, and add a little bit of smoked trout.

Um, I'm also gonna add, um... Did we get this cabbage?

Yeah, this is the last... DENZEL: Yeah, this is the last of the cabbage.

SPIKE: This is like literally the last of the Farm Alliance cabbage.

Vegetables just softening a bit.

DENZEL: Fish pepper.

Beautiful.

SPIKE: This is looking lovely, as we'd hoped.

And here is our nixtamalized and simmered, Oaxacan green corn from Farm Alliance.

Starting to kind of pop a little bit, which we like to see.

And we're gonna add a generous amount of this into our pozole, 'cause this is really the reason we cook this.

This is the main event.

Oh, man.

DENZEL: Beautiful.

So we got Syracuse salt potato with fish pepper butter.

Uh, Calabasas pumpkin with fish pepper and hot honey.

SPIKE: Yes.

DENZEL: A smoked trout pozole, and a quick summer ratatouille.

SPIKE: Lovely.

DENZEL: Perfect, let's eat.

SPIKE: Yes.

All right, Farm Alliance in the house.

So glad you guys are here, and I hope you're hungry.

ALL: Oooh!

DENZEL: Thank you, Spike.

SPIKE: Of course.

DENZEL: We've had a great day.

SPIKE: Yes.

DENZEL: Got to do a little harvest, got to do a little cook.

SPIKE: Yes.

DENZEL: Now we get to eat.

SPIKE: Now we get to do a little eat.

DENZEL: Right on.

SPIKE: So, let's to, toast to the, the magnificent fish pepper that brought us all together.

DENZEL: Yeah.

SPIKE: All these years ago.

DENZEL: Cheers.

So many years.

SPIKE: Thank you, Denzel.

DENZEL: Thank you, brother.

SPIKE: And thank you to the Farm Alliance of Baltimore for this delicious, feast.

Uh, all the vegetables grown at the Black Butterfly teaching farm.

If you'd like to know more about the recipes or how to cook with fish pepper, go to mpt.org/farm, and the recipes are there.

Um, hope to cook with fish pepper, and I hope to see you soon.

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?

We know it's a branding iron, but why the letter T?

Our hint was, while it's not the letter S, it's still a scarlet letter, so to speak.

The letter T on this branding iron stands for tuberculosis.

The brand would mark the cattle for separation from the rest of the herd so as not to spread the disease.

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 Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program, progress powered by farmers.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

The Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

The Maryland Pork Producers Association proudly works to educate consumers and advocate for farmers.

Taste what pork can do.

(bird chirping).

♪ ♪