ORIGINS: A Speaker Series

The 12th program in the ORIGINS speaker series features a conversation with 3 local chicken farmers from Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.

Andrew McClean is the owner of Relief Farms, based in Queen Anne County, Maryland and recently converted his 350 acre chicken operation from conventional to organic and now sells over 900,000 birds to Coleman Organic, a division of Perdue.

Beau Ramsburg is the founder and co-owner with his wife, Cat, of Rettland Farms. Beau founded Rettland Farm in Gettysburg, PA in 2007 and produces pastured chickens and heritage breed pork for direct sale to professional and home cooks. Rettland Farm was recently certified by the USDA to process the Farm’s chicken under inspection by the agency.

Will Morrow owns and operates Whitmore Farm, a diversified, pasture-based livestock operation raising pigs, sheep and chickens in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Whitmore Farm emphasizes sustainability and specializes in heritage breed livestock. Will’s goods are currently sold at area farmer’s markets, direct on-farm sales as well as select local restaurants.

The 11th program in the ORIGINS series is about locally made items for your pantry – salt, vinegar and cooking oil. All three makers are working in the Chesapeake watershed area. We are pleased to welcome Paige Payne from JQ Dickinson Salt Works. Paige, along with her husband Lewis and sister-in-law Nancy Bruns are 7th generation salt makers. Their brine source is the 400-600 million year old ancient sea, the Iapetus ocean. Sarah Conezio and Isaiah Billington, former pastry chef and chef de cuisine, accordingly, of Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore, Maryland, recently founded Keepwell Vinegar. They use locally-sourced grains, fruits, and vegetable to fuel their fermentation process. Josh Leidhecker is the owner of the Susquehanna Mills Company in Montoursville, Pennsylvania. Josh provides locally grown, non GMO food oils that are mechanically pressed to create healthier oils that maintain higher level of nutrients.

The 10th program in the ORIGINS series features a conversation with Bernie Herman, the department chair and George B. Tindall Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The discussion will focus on the food, foodways and culture of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Herman, along with Tom Gallivan, Mills Wehner and Heather Terry Lusk, founded the ESVA Foodways, LLC. Their collective goal is to create one job for one person so one family doesn’t have to leave this area.

The 9th program in the ORIGINS series is about sustainable seafood. With the Chesapeake Bay at our doorstep, it is important to note that the Chesapeake Bay provides 50 percent of the total blue crab harvest in the United States. Each year, the Maryland seafood industry contributes some $600 million to the State's economy. Besides blue crabs, the Chesapeake Bay is a source for striped bass, oysters,soft clams, flounder, perch, spot, croaker, catfish, sea trout, and bluefish. Our distinguished panel features Tj Tate, the Director of Seafood Sustainability at the National Aquarium, Lee Duncan Carrion, co-owner with her husband, Captain Richard Young of Coveside Crabs and Tony Conrad, waterman and owner of Conrad’s Crabs and Seafood Market.

The 8th program in the ORIGINS series is about sourcing and baking with local whole grains. We are pleased to welcome Heinz Thomet from Next Step Produce in Newburg, who along with his wife Gabrielle, owns a 87 acre organic farm. Heinz grows and mills whole grains including wheat, oats, barley, and rye and is also one of the leading growers of field rice in Maryland. Our featured baker, Russell Trimmer, worked with Heinz for several years and learned as much as he could about whole grains. Russell is a tireless advocate for incorporating whole grains into your baking repertoire.

A conversation with Dr. William Woys Weaver, an international food historian, author, teacher, gardener, and epicure. Dr. Weaver is the founder of the Roughwood Seed Collection, which houses over 4000 heirloom food plants. Dr. Weaver is also the director of the Keystone Center for the Study of Regional Foods and Food Tourism™, located in the historic Lamb Tavern in Devon, Pennsylvania. The Keystone Center is an independent research institute unaffiliated with state or private industry organizations. Its primary purpose is the survey, documentation, and promotion of Pennsylvania’s five regional food identities, their related culinary cultures in Europe, and their diasporas within the United States.

Discussion about pollinators and honeybees and their critical role in our food production. Panelists include Dr. Dennis van Englesdorp, Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland’s Department of Entomology and an internationally known honeybee epidemiologist; David C. Heisler, farmer and owner of The Comus Market in Comus, Maryland; and Jack Leonard, landscape architect, beekeeper and assistant professor of Morgan State University’s Landscape Architecture Program.

Local Cheese: Discussion about local Maryland cheese featuring 3 artisanal cheesemakers representing 3 different animal sources — cow, sheep and goat. And the cheese buyer and ACS Certified Cheese Professional from the Baltimore Whole Foods Market. Speakers are Colleen and Michael Histon, owners of Shepherd’s Manor Creamery; Pam Miller, cheesemaker, Charlottetown Farm; Holly Foster, owner and cheesemaker Chapel’s Country Creamery; and Anedina Canzian, Cheesemonger, Whole Foods Market, Baltimore.

Local Beer and Wine: Discussion about the rise of the Maryland wine and beer industry. Speakers include the Director of the Maryland Wineries and now Breweries and Distilleries, a brewer and local hops farmer, a local winery, and a restauranteur focused on serving local beverages.

Discussion about the economics of producing high quality pork and beef on local farms. Speakers include a butcher, a processor, Heritage pig farmers and the director of a grass-fed beef farm operation.

Local Produce: Discussion about local produce and how the Baltimore City School System is incorporating produce into their lunch programs. The Baltimore City Food Policy Director speaks about the work her office is doing regarding food access. Speakers include the Baltimore City Food Policy Director, the owners of one of the largest organic vegetable farms in Maryland, and Baltimore City School System Office of Nutrition employee.

Oysters: Discussion about oysters, aquaculture and an overview of the industry in the region. Speakers include an award-winning Chesapeake Bay journalist, an aquaculture practitioner, and a bioengineer involved with powering aquaculture machinery.