amy gjerde

Our panelists include Sarah Gordon and Sheila Fain, owners and founders of Gordy’s Pickle Jar; Meaghan and Shane Carpenter, the owners and founders of Hex Ferments; and Lauren Sandler, the Director of Preservation for Foodshed, Inc.

Sarah Gordon and Sheila Fain are the founders of Gordy’s Pickle Jar, the much-loved, small batch pickle company from Washington DC. Founded in 2011, Gordy’s quickly become a DC favorite not only for its delicious product line but also for its commitment to craftsmanship, community, and sustainability. The brand has received numerous accolades from the press, including the Washington Post, Food & Wine, Bloomberg, and The Food Network, among others (http://www.gordyspicklejar.com).

HEX Ferments are Maryland-based food alchemists, dedicated to sourcing from local and organic farms. They believe in creating partnerships from these providers of sustenance to create unique ferments that support our individual health as well as the health of our local foodshed. HEX ferments employs a traditional process – they do not use heat or white vinegar – so that they’re creations are teeming with beneficial bacteria, healthy acids and enzymes. They balance old world quality and flavor with modern interpretations, and choose optimal, nourishing ingredients. HEX Ferments is a certified B-Corporation, 100% Wind Powered. (http://www.hexferments.com)

Lauren Sandler is the production manager of Canningshed, a Maryland-approved food manufacturing facility that produces seasonal jams, jellies, and hot sauce, as well as fermented, dried, and frozen foods.  Born and raised in Baltimore, Lauren worked as a line cook at Franny;s Restaurant in Brooklyn, NY, where she developed a commitment to working with local growers and produce. Everything made at Canningshed is sourced from independent Mid- Atlantic growers, from the lavender dried for tea to the vinegar used in Snake Oil Hot Sauce.  Lauren and her team are particularly committed to minimizing food waste: beyond constantly exploring new ways to use the generally unused parts of food (from cherry pits to fibrous leek greens), Canningshed ferments, cans, dries, freezes, and juices, so that they can provide seasonal local produce year long.

ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast

Panelists:
Beth Mathie, Farm Educator, Great Kids Farm
Sharon Hood, Director of Roots Farm at McDonogh School
Dan Schocor, Executive Director of Green Street Academy
Eric Oberlechner, Farm Director, Green Street Academy

Eric Oberlechner ran his own Landscaping company for 9 years and managed and worked at a nursery for 7 years He has been at Green Street Academy for 4 years managing the farm and supporting the agriculture class as well as generally filling in wherever needed to support the functioning of the school and facilities management. 

Born and raised in Baltimore City, with a dream of teaching and living on a farm and owning a cow, Sharon Hood became Director of McDonogh School Roots Farm in July 2016.  Sharon works, manages, directs and teaches students PreK-12th grade farming, with a mission of connecting them to the land and the food we eat and getting their hands in the dirt while always instilling John McDonogh’s rule for living “to do the greatest possible amount of good.”

Beth has been the educator at Great Kids Farm for the past 7 years. Prior to working for City Schools she taught high school agriculture and science for 6 years in PA.  Beth has a BS in Agriculture and Extension Education and an MS in Horticulture from Penn State University, and Education Administration certification from Towson University.  She enjoys teaching the diverse range of students she sees every day at the farm.

Dr. Dan Schochor is the Executive Director of Green Street Academy. He earned his B.A. from Brown University in Education and History, and his M.Ed. and Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in Educational Leadership. Building on a year of experience working as a teacher in Baltimore City, the Special Projects Liaison for the Living Classrooms Foundation and subsequently three years as Principal of the Crossroads School (a Baltimore City Public Charter Middle School), he has been the Executive Director of Green Street Academy for four years.

ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast

Our four panelists are Janna Howley, Director of Operations, Grow and Fortify: Alex Weiss, Sales Director, Caledonia Spirits; Monica Pearce and Kyle Pfalzer, co-owners and founders of Tenth Ward Distillery.

Food, farms and economic development have been Janna Howley’s passions since the early 2000s. Janna is currently the Director of Operations for Grow & Fortify, which manages the Maryland brewers, distillers and wineries associations. In her previous position she worked for the USDA National Organic Program’s Accreditation and International Activities Division, where she conducted auditing and accreditation activities related to organic certifiers and international partners.

Alex Weiss started his journey into distilled spirits via a degree in Botany and a fierce love and respect for agriculture and the relationships humans forge with their environment. After a two year stint studying this subject in China, Alex moved to New York City and began managing sales for a grass-fed beef producer in Central NY. Eventually, Alex was approached by the founder and master beekeeper for Caledonia Spirits to come on board as a Brand Ambassador, becoming the Sales Director a year later and helping to grow the distribution footprint to 29 States and five countries. 

As a nature lover and wildlife enthusiast, Monica Pearce built her career in the conservation field.  Monica has a BS in environmental science and policy from the University of Maryland and her Master’s in natural resource management from Virginia Tech. Prior to the launch of Tenth Ward, she worked for a few non-profits and even spent a year in the Galapagos volunteering for a biological station. With inspiration from the growing spirit industry, she chose to make the crazy leap into booze manufacturing.

Kyle Pfalzer is originally from Long Island, but came to the Frederick area to major in the Civil War at Shepherd University.  The job market for Civil War studies on Long Island being a little slow, he decided to stay (and is very glad he did.)  He grew up in a household that appreciated good beer which introduced him to craft booze.  He took up homebrewing as a hobby, and when presented with the opportunity to start a distillery it was a no brainer.

ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast

In this episode of ORIGINS, we’ll take a closer look at women who have chosen farming as a career and as a way of life. According to the Maryland state census in 2012, there were 2,296 women farm operators in our state – a 20% increase from the 2002 census. We know women have always played important roles on the family farm but increasingly women are turning to farming on their own.

Our first farmer is Lisa Wheeler Duff, owner of Oak Spring Farm is a small, diversified farm in Freeland, MD in northern Baltimore County. The mission of Oak Spring Farm is to provide families and the community with organic, wholesome fruits, vegetables and humanely raised eggs.

Our second panelist is Alison Worman, who grew up gardening in the city of Milwaukee, and came to Baltimore to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art. She stumbled upon Whitelock Community Farm through MICA’s Urban Farming class and has been working there ever since. The farm began in 2010 when Reservoir Hill residents converted a vacant lot into an active urban farm with the help of hundreds of volunteers. Whitelock Community Farm serves as a model community based project showing that providing neighborhoods access to land and resources is a sustainable way of revitalizing urban environments and building communities.

Our third farmer is Ginger Myers, who, along with her husband owns Evermore Farm, a small, family-owned and operated livestock and produce farm. Located in Westminster, Maryland, Evermore Farm raises all their animals on pasture. Ginger has over 25 years of experience in agri-business and small farm production. Ginger has worked as an agricultural marketing specialist in Maryland since 1999.

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.