ORIGINS: A Speaker Series

This episode of ORIGINS features three representatives from the Evermore Cannabis Company located in Baltimore, Maryland. Medical marijuana was legalized in Maryland in 2014 and has been available to the public since December of 2017. This is a discussion of the nascent industry in the state. Our panelists are: Gary Nusinov. Gary is an accomplished horticulturalist and expert with the hands on knowledge required to successfully cultivate cannabis for consistent quality and results in a well-regulated atmosphere. He has been consistently growing and consulting for 23 years and wants to contribute to updated standards and practices in this well regulated industry. Currently Gary is using these skills to help Evermore Cannabis Company as the Vice President of Cultivation and Processing. Jason Marshall is the VP of Sales & Marketing at Evermore Cannabis Company. As one of the company’s first hires, he works with other growers, processors, and dispensary groups across the state of Maryland to provide medical cannabis products for patients. A graduate from the University of Virginia, and has worked in sales and marketing for 18 years. He is excited about his role in the medical cannabis industry and helping to expand his company’s footprint in the state Ras Crucial Johnson, is dedicated to his role as a Marketing Manager for Evermore Cannabis Company. Born and raised in Maryland, Ras has his finger on the pulse of Baltimore and is focused on building the brand for the company through customer outreach & education. He has a special eye for understanding the industry and conveying the medical benefits of cannabis to patients across the state through educational & community events It's HRN's annual summer fund drive, this is when we turn to our listeners and ask that you make a donation to help ensure a bright future for food radio. Help us keep broadcasting the most thought provoking, entertaining, and educational conversations happening in the world of food and beverage. Become a member today! To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we have brand new member gifts available. So snag your favorite new pizza - themed tee shirt or enamel pin today and show the world how much you love HRN, just go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast.

This episode of ORIGINS continues the conversation we started on Thursday, September 20th about the economic impact of buying and sourcing food locally. Last week we heard from Scott Nash, the CEO and Founder of Mom’s Organic Market and Tracy Ward, the Director of a new food hub in Easton called Chesapeake Harvest. We’re continuing our look at the economics of buying and selling locally with two farmers and business owners with different but successful models. Mark Toigo is the farmer/owner of Toigo Orchards in Shippensburg, PA. Mark began his career in agriculture at an early age moving with this family from Washington DC to his family’s newly acquired orchard in Shippensburg. After a brief stint in the aeronautics industry, Mark returned to the family farm. With expansion in mind, Mark was at the forefront of developing the farm to table model which allowed rural farms to collaborate and partner together to bring their products to the urban marketplace. This program is now an extensive network of Farmer’s Markets saturating the New York City and Washington DC areas. Mark sells to multiple sales channels including Whole Foods, Mom’s Market and others. He has a clear understanding of the marketplace and buyer trends which allows him to forecast trends and select crops that show promising yields and buyer preference. Mark makes sustainability a top priority and has built and retrofitted facilities to reduce the negative affects commercial agriculture has on the environment. Our other panelist is Dave Liker, farmer/co-owner of Gorman Farms in Howard County, Maryland. Dave started working in organic farming over 20 years ago in both California and high altitude Colorado. He moved to Maryland in late 2008 to start Gorman Farms. They are now in their 10th season of production. They have expending and purchased their own farm in 2016 and are now operating off of 2 locations in Howard County. He grows diversified annual vegetables for a 600+ member CSA. They are a CSA only model and also run a pick your own strawberries for a few weeks in late spring. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast.

The intent behind ORIGINS, a speaker series, was to highlight the farmers, fisherman, producers, and makers behind the local food movement in the Mid-Atlantic region. Spike Gjerde started his first restaurant, Woodberry Kitchen, with a commitment to local growers and producers. He and his team have returned more than $2.1 million annually to the local economy during the last several years. This episode will take a closer look at the economics of the local food system from both a retailer’s perspective and an Eastern Shore aggregator called Chesapeake Harvest, based in Easton, Maryland. In Episode #27, we continue the conversation with two local farmers, Dave Liker from Gorman Farms and Mark Toigo from Toigo Orchards. This episode’s panelists are Scott Nash and Tracy Ward. Scott Nash started MOM’s Organic Market at the age of 22 with an initial investment of $100 as a home delivery business out of his mom’s garage. On July 2nd 1987, MOM’s made its first sale delivering to a customer who lived in Rockville, MD. Since then, MOM’s has grown to become one of the nation's premier chains of family owned and operated organic grocery stores. MOM’s has nineteen stores in DC, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Tracy Ward has over 30 years of experience as an economic and community development leader, devoting her career to community transformation and change through collaborative public/private partnership and cross-disciplinary strategies. In 2004, Tracy founded Urbanite, an award-winning glossy magazine with a circulation of over 60,000 in the Baltimore metropolitan area.   After shuttering Urbanite in 2012, Tracy took a year off to work on farms and learn about our local food system.  In 2014, as executive director of the Easton Economic Development Corporation, Tracy started Chesapeake Harvest, a sales, marketing and branding organization committed to increasing sales of locally and sustainably grown food products in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast.

This episode will be on foraging in the mid-Atlantic area and features two longtime foragers, Jeff Long and Tom Mueller. Jeff has been an amateur mycologist for 30 years. He has been foraging mushrooms for 30 years and truffle hunting for almost 8 years now.  He is past president of the Mycological Association of Washington, DC and is currently the only living lifetime honorary member of that organization.  Jeff also lectures and speaks about mushrooms and truffles at least a couple of times a year.  Tom Mueller, Wild Edible Forager is a CIA trained chef and co-owner of a catering company for 25 years focusing on local and organic ingredients before it was in vogue.  A lifetime of enjoying nature, Tom started foraging for mushrooms in the late 1980’s and began providing to restaurants in 2012.  Tom has been foraging full time since 2017 focusing on wild mushrooms (about 65 varieties) and wild edibles including ramps, wild asparagus and spice bush berries. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast.

This ORIGINS episode will be about the future of fish farming as well as its current status. Our panel consists of Jillian Fry, TJ Tate, Mark Ely and Jesse Blom. Jillian Fry directs the Seafood, Public Health & Food Systems Project at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. The project aims to increase awareness, expand the relevant evidence base, and advance policy goals in support of a healthy, equitable, and sustainable supply of farmed and wild seafood products. Jillian is a researcher and educator who believes in the importance of effective science communication. She received her Master’s of Public Health degree from the University of New Mexico and doctorate from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Jesse Blom is an educator with a great interest in agriculture and the environment. He uses aquaponics, the symbiotic production of fish and plants, and other forms of urban agriculture, as teaching tools for people of all ages at the Food System Lab @ Cylburn. Jesse received an M.S. in Freshwater Sciences from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Dartmouth College. Mark Ely is the owner of Limestone Springs Preserve located in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Limestone Springs is the largest private aquaculture facility in Pennsylvania. They grow Rainbow trout for their recreational fishing preserve located on its 25 acre farm, also for private stocking, and they process trout for the food industry. Mark currently sits on the PennAg Industries (PA aquaculture trade association) and the US Trout Farmers Assoc. board of directors. June will mark his 30th year in the aquaculture industry. Tj Tate is the Founder of Seafood.Life a strategic company focused on the defining, implementing and executing solutions to secure the future needs of our seafood consumption. TJ’s goal is to unify cross-sector messaging regarding responsible aquaculture on a global scale. TJ is rooted in her beliefs that a responsible ecosystem of wild and farmed seafood holds the power to change our futures and attain goals of food security, economic gains and maintaining cultural connections to the ocean. TJ has worked in the world of fisheries for over 18 years beginning her career in Aquaculture and fisheries working at Hubbs Research Institute. She was previously the Director of Seafood Sustainability for the National Aquarium, Founder and Director of the first brand of responsibly harvested and traceable wild caught fish from the Gulf of Mexico called Gulf Wild. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast.

Our discussion tonight will be on natural sweeteners. We are delighted to welcome Joseph and Margaret-Ann Burkholder, who are the owner/farmers of Compass Winds Sorghum, based in Dayton, Virginia, outside of Harrisonberg. Sorghum can be grown either for grain or for crushing into molasses. “Sorghum moved west over the Blue Ridge with the pioneers,” says Joseph. “It was more adaptable to our climate than sugar cane, and it became the first sustainable sweetener of the frontier.”   Our other panelist is Chris Krantz who is the owner of the HT Krantz Honey Company in Frederick, Maryland.  Chris started his company with 2 hives and now has close to 400. His focus is mainly on bulk honey, package bees and honeybee queens. Their queen bee mating program is at the heart of their success. You’ll also hear from Alex Weiss from Caledonia Spirits who provided us with our punch this evening. Alex 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.  Currently, Caledonia Spirits employs more than 40 people in Vermont and up and down the East Coast, while making a positive impact on our community and agricultural landscape. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast.

Michael is a noted culinary and cultural historian and the creator of AFROCULINARIA, the first blog devoted to African American historic foodways and their legacies. He has been honored by FIRSTWEFEAST.com as one of the twenty greatest food bloggers of all time and named one of the “Fifty People Who Are Changing the South”, by Southern Living magazine and one of the “Five Chetavists to Watch” by TakePart.com. Michael’s work has appeared in EBONY, the GUARDIAN and on NPR. He is also a Smith fellow with the Southern Foodways Alliance, a TED fellow and speaker and the first Revolutionary in Residence at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. His recently published book won the 2018 James Beard Foundation’s Book of the Year award. The book explores the history of southern cuisine and is entitled: The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African-American Culinary History in the Old South. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast.

Tonight’s episode will take a look at coffee, the drink that fuels most us every day. Our panelists are Miguel Mateo, Getu Bekele and Lenore Yerkes. Miguel is the sales and export manager for Manos Campesinas, an umbrella organization that works with 8 grassroots organizations of four different geographic departments: San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Retalhuleu and Sololá. Overall, Manos Campesinas represents 1,073 individual members, all of them small coffee producers. Many, but not all, these small farmers are producing organic coffees. Getu is the Ethiopia and East Africa Supply Chain Manager for Counter Culture Coffee. An agronomist based in Addis Ababa, he is an expert in Ethiopian coffee varieties. Lenora Yerkes is Counter Culture Coffee’s wholesale support representative. She will provide stateside context for how Counter Culture Coffee continues their sustainability efforts and quality control. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast.

McKay Jenkins has been writing about people and the natural world for 30 years. His new book is Food Fight: GMOs and the Future of the American Diet (Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2017). He is also the author of ContamiNation (Avery, 2016, previously published in hardcover by Random House as What’s Gotten Into Us), which chronicles his investigation into the myriad synthetic chemicals we encounter in our daily lives, and the growing body of evidence about the harm these chemicals do to our bodies and the environment. Jenkins holds degrees from Amherst, Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, and Princeton, where he received a PhD in English. A former staff writer for the Atlanta Constitution, he has also written for Outside, Orion, The New Republic, and many other publications. Jenkins is currently the Cornelius Tilghman Professor of English, Journalism and Environmental Humanities at the University of Delaware, where he has won the Excellence in Teaching Award. He lives in Baltimore with his family. ORIGINS is powered by Simplecast

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

ORIGINS is celebrating its 2nd anniversary with a one on one conversation between Chef Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore and Rona Kobell, an environmental reporter. Rona Kobell is a reporter for the Chesapeake Bay Journal. She also was co-producer and co-host with Dan Rodricks of Midday on the Bay, a monthly public affairs show on WYPR in Baltimore that ran for more than five years. She blogs daily and breaks news at www.bayjournal.com and maintains an active Bay Journal presence on Facebook. A former Baltimore Sun reporter, she has also contributed to Grist, Slate, Modern Farmer, Columbia Journalism Review, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Undark, and Chesapeake Bay magazine. She was recently the main writer for an agriculture pollution report produced by the Abell Foundation, the solo writer on a second report about hemp. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and was a 2008-2009 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the university. She dreams of writing a book about oyster aquaculture in the Chesapeake Bay and beyond.

In this episode of ORIGINS, we take a look at local orchards, orchardists and a cider distillery. Our first panelist is Ben Wenk , the seventh generation partner/manager at Three Springs Fruit Farm based in Aspers, Pennsylvania. Three Springs attends local farmers markets, sells wholesale, and makes Ploughman brand hard cider. The Wenk family's diversified farm grows a little bit of everything but specializes in apples and peaches. Our next panelist is Rob Miller, who together with his wife Patricia Power own Distillery Lane Ciderworks. They planted their first apple trees 16 years ago with a planting of 1000 trees. They've been adding trees ever since then and now have over 4000 trees of specialty American and European cider apples. They sell their hard ciders in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, D.C., and West Virginia. They operate a tasting room at their farm that is open every weekend. Our third panelist is Gwen Kokes, the Stewardship Coordinator at the BALTIMORE ORCHARD PROJECT which is a program of CIVIC WORKS. Gwen was the Project Specialist for the Baltimore Orchard Project where she conducted research, did some community organizing and volunteer management. Now, she organizes the Orchard Stewards Program, a network of trained orchardists, and makes Stewardship Year plans with participating Community Orchards. The Baltimore Orchard Project just planted its 1,000th tree! And….there are almost 100 orchards in Baltimore City alone.

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.