Farmers

The Maryland Poultry Swap & Farmers Market will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 16, at Green Hill Farm located at 5329 Mondell Road, Sharpsburg. The swap is for neighbors to buy/sell/trade their services and products. Spaces cost $10. Bring tables, chairs and a canopy and hang out for the day or just drop the tailgate.    For more information, call Erin at 304-279-0016 or go to www.mdpoultryswap.blogspot.com

The role of the tenant farmer is to keep land open, in high fertility and weeds under control. This is a service to the landlord and the tenant's pay is the sale of his crops. While the tenant is caring for the land, the land is appreciating and the landlord will reap the benefit of this appreciation. If you say my tenant doesn't do that, then you need to have a talk with them. They are stewards of all land, both owned and rented. Secondly, by farming your land, your tax assessment as agricultural land is secure - rezoning by your own petition or that of a government body withstanding.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Maryland Cattlemen's Association welcomed nearly 200 people to its 25th Annual Maryland Cattle Industry Convention in Hagerstown earlier this month. A highlight of the banquet was the announcement of the Top Hand Award. Association President Mike Harrison of Woodbine, Md., presented the award to Bill Poffenberger of M&M Farm in Hagerstown. The award recognizes an individual who has contributed significantly to the well-being of Maryland's cattle industry.

Mary Teal Mulligan looked the picture of poise, all smiles and elegance in her teal sequined gown and shimmering crown. But she said she was feeling a little shaky. After the curtain had gone down Saturday night at The Maryland Theatre, Mulligan stood on stage trying to take in her new title of Miss Washington County 2012. The 18-year-old Williamsport resident captured the local crown before a crowd of more than 600 people during the Miss Washington County/Miss Western Maryland Scholarship Pageant 2012.

The United States imports 2.3 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee a month, more than any other country, according to the International Coffee Organization. Amid all the java flowing in the Tri-State, some businesses are selecting beans that help others. Jeff and Stacy Myers opened a Chambersburg, Pa., coffee-roasting business, Abednego Coffee, in 2008, and started donating 25 percent of sales to nonprofit organizations. One of the primary recipients of funds is South East Asia Prayer Center ( www.seapc.us )

At almost 1,300 pounds, Red, a hefty 19-month-old, is a sight to see. A Limousin heifer, this muscular dark golden-red beauty belongs to local farmer Adam Griffith, 20, of Boonsboro. Griffith has participated in and won many local stock show awards. Red has proven to be stiff competition, but she has yet to win a national gold medal.   Griffith hopes this year will be different. He hopes Red will be the heifer that brings home the gold medal in the upcoming, week-long, National Western Stock Show held in Denver beginning on Thursday, Jan. 5. Griffith began competing with Red a year ago. Since then, she was named Grand Champion Female at the 2011 Eastern Regional Junior Show in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and at the Junior Show of the 2011 Keystone International Livestock Exposition in Harrisburg, Pa. At the 2011 North American International Livestock Exposition, she was the Grand Champion Female in the Junior Show and the Reserve Grand Champion Female in the Open Show.

Last Thursday, Sept. 29, was “A Day in Agriculture” put on by many individuals and coordinated and posted to the Internet by the folks at AG Web powered by Farm Journal. It was an opportunity for Americans and others around the world to see food being produced by those stewards we call farmers and ranchers. The site is still live, and you can see photos and watch video. I am proud to be involved in an industry that involves every human on earth, whether they are a consumer or a producer.

Clear Spring farmer Steven "Steve" Ernst doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. The state of Maryland has recognized him with Excellence in Agricultural Stewardship, as a 2011 Smart Green and Growing Award recipient. "It was a surprise to us," Ernst said of being honored for his years of sustainable, conservation farming. Ernst Grain and Livestock also was recognized in 2010 as one of two Maryland farms, along with Rinehart Orchard in Smithsburg, in the Farm Stewardship Certification and Assessment Program launched last year, Ernst said.

Ten years ago Sunday was a day just like Dec. 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy. Sept. 17, 1862, was a day that still echoes through the corridors of time for us in Washington County. The area will mark that day on Saturday. What do any of these dates really have in common? What they have in common is how the people affected responded. This sleepy valley was busy being a part of the bread basket of the nation in 1862. Wheat and barley dominated the cropping of most farmers, and the mills that dotted the streams and creeks of the area ground the grain into flour for export down the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal or over the National Pike.

Ward Zigler, a farmer in Jefferson County's Bullskin Run Watershed, is the linchpin of a campaign to stop nearly 5,000 acres from being listed in the National Register of Historical Places. Zigler, 77, told the Jefferson County Commission Thursday that farmers and property owners are worried that inclusion in the register would place restrictions on the use of their properties and make them fall under restrictive local zoning laws. The best estimates on the number of properties in the proposed area was more than 80, according to Zigler and state and local officials involved in the issue.