Dallam

For months, Mark Haley of Jarrettsville had been driving past the "coming soon" sign on Route 543 in Bel Air, waiting for the new ice cream shop to open. Finally, on Thursday, he was able to step inside the newly opened Broom's Bloom Creamery and order a waffle cone filled with rich pecan brittle ice cream. Haley, who declared the ice cream "as good as Ben and Jerry's" joined other customers, including Gloria Montague of Bel Air and Elmer Smith of Fallston, who were enjoying scoops during the shop's second day of business.

Last fall, Kate Dallam of Creswell noticed that no one in Harford County was selling cheese at farmers' markets, and she wondered why. Then the fourth-generation dairy farmer wondered something else: Why wasn't she selling cheese at farmers' markets? So she came home and suggested to her husband, David, that they give it a shot. "My husband kind of thought I was a little crazy," she said. There were plenty of reasons not to do it: Their farm, Broom's Bloom Dairy in southern Harford County, centers on high-quality milk production.

On the last Friday evening of every summer month, a group of Harford County farmers sets up folding tables and tents in a park in Bel Air for the Twilight Farmers' Market. They sell all the items you'd expect to see - meats, cheeses, produce, honey, cut flowers - but there is also live music, wine by the glass, picnic tables and a petting zoo. Shoppers are encouraged to make their purchases and then hang out for a while. The next one is tomorrow night. "This is more of a social occasion," said Kate Dallam, a Harford County dairy farmer who also runs the market.

As their numbers dwindle, Harford County dairy farmers are turning to related lines of business, including the production and sale of ice cream, to enhance their chances of survival. According to C. John Sullivan, agricultural coordinator with the county's Office of Economic Development, four of the 30 remaining dairy farms in the county have moved into the production of ice cream or are in the process of moving into the business. In most cases, the farmers are assisted in their new venture by a one-of-a-kind county agricultural grant program that takes some of the financial risk out of their expansions.

As their numbers dwindle, Harford County dairy farmers are turning to related lines of business, including the production and sale of ice cream, to enhance their chances of survival. According to C. John Sullivan, agricultural coordinator with the county's Office of Economic Development, four of the 30 remaining dairy farms in the county have moved into the production of ice cream or are in the process of moving into the business. In most cases, the farmers are assisted in their new venture by a one-of-a-kind county agricultural grant program that takes some of the financial risk out of their expansions.

Historic buildings and other structures owned by the county could not be razed without approval from the County Council and the Harford Historic Preservation Commission under a proposal before the council.Council President Jeffrey D. Wilson said he introduced the measure, put to a public hearing last week, because he believes the county should have a policy of "leadership by example."Wilson said his proposal was prompted in part by the destruction last year of the old county maternity hospital at routes 22 and 543.The hospital building, used as an office in recent years, was soldby its private owner to make way for a service station.

Every day, a steady stream of traffic passes by the 215-acre Harford County farm where David and Kate Dallam are milking cows, gathering eggs, making milk soap and getting cheese and other products ready to sell at area farmers' markets. "I saw 25 cars go by in the last minute [on Route 543]," Kate Dallam said. "We're in the heart of suburbia. Our farm is right on the edge of Bel Air's development envelope." Farmers all over Harford County are feeling the pressure of residential and commercial development as the population swells, farmland is sold for housing and the area changes from an agricultural community to a bedroom community.

Josephine Webster Dallam, a community volunteer who was named a Harford County Living Treasure, died in her sleep Feb. 14 at Broom's Bloom Farm, where she had lived all her life. She was 95. Born on that farm, she was a 1931 Bel Air High School graduate. Family members said she could recall the end of World War I in 1918 and Armistice bunting draped around the Bel Air courthouse's iron fence. Her home on the farm was called North Point, after the Battle of North Point in which her great-grandfather, John Adams Webster, played a role in defeating the British during the War of 1812.

On October 24, 2007, CARL FREDERICK ACKERMAN, JR., of Creswell, MD. Beloved husband of Margaret Katherine Dallam. Devoted father of Samuel Webster Ackerman. Loving son of Carl Frederick Ackerman Sr., and the late Louise Sevin Ackerman. Brother of Joyce Ackerman and Susan Ackerman Sommer. A Memorial Service will be held at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Bel Air, MD on Saturday, October 27, 2007, at 10:00 A.M. Friends may call at home on Friday, October 26, 2007, from 5-7 P.M. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Harford Day School, 715 Moores Mill Rd., Bel Air, MD 21014.

In an industry that is the essence of routine, David and Kate Dallam are undergoing a radical lifestyle change. After 16 years of adhering to a rigid milking schedule on their Harford County dairy farm, the Dallams no longer must rise at dawn with the cows. They can go out to dinner or catch one of their children's ballgames without rushing home. David Dallam can spend more time in the fields, and Kate can tend their ice cream store. After all, the robot minds the herd. The Dallams, who run Brooms Bloom Dairy, a 240-acre farm in Creswell, recently installed a $180,000 computerized system that milks the cows, tracks yield data -- even keeps the cows calm.