Maryland Farm

The Maryland Farm Bureau wants to bring royalty back to county fairs. After renaming the six-decade-old competition last year to the Agricultural Ambassador Contest and giving up crowns and formal gowns in favor of businesslike blazers, the farm bureau's board of directors decided Tuesday to return to the tradition. The blazers are out. The tiaras are back. The winners will again be named farm queen. "Last year, we made a change, we tried it out," said state bureau President Earl Hance.

Although by all accounts the Maryland legislature had a very productive session, legislators fell short in protecting the land that most sustains us - our farmland. While we applaud the successful defense of open space funding overall, for the second year in a row, both the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Fund and the Rural Legacy Program were slashed. This year they lost a combined $8.7 million. The trend and timing of these cuts is alarming. In addition to providing a host of benefits, starting with our food, farmland is central to meeting the Chesapeake Bay restoration goals to which Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay states and the District of Columbia have committed.

Jamie Bullock was all ready to pack her things and head back to college in North Carolina when it happened. School will have to wait another week for Bullock, an 18-year-old from Ellicott City, who beat out 20 other young women Friday night to be crowned the Maryland Farm Bureau Queen. The win came as a shock to the college sophomore, who this year served as the Howard County Farm Bureau Queen. "I was trying to make sure they called the right name," Bullock said yesterday before she returned to her duties at the Maryland State Fair in Timonium.

After a lifetime in Maryland, my husband and I have come to the conclusion to put our farm on the market. Due to the burden of new regulations and the financial burden of higher taxes, we can no longer afford to live in this state. While lawmakers in Annapolis struggle to pay for their excessive spending while furthering their own political agendas, we are the ones being penalized. Whether it be higher taxes on gasoline, higher costs to citizens in order to facilitate illegal immigration, speed-camera rip-offs or new fines and penalties for lawful firearms ownership, we are watching our income dwindle.

Farm Bureau wins honors for programsThe Carroll County Farm Bureau was recently honored for program excellence in seven areas during 1993 by the Maryland Farm Bureau at its convention in Clinton, Prince George's County.Gold Star recognition went to Carroll County for membership, public affairs, national affairs, information, young farmers, discussion groups and service to members.Maryland Farm Bureau President C. William Knill presented Jennell Rinehart of Taneytown with a $500 scholarship at the convention.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Dairy Committee is sponsoring a series of producer information meetings to review the Dairy Task Force's proposal to establish a Maryland Milk Commission.The local meeting will be from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the Carroll County Extension Office in Westminster. Another meeting will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. that day at the Frederick County Extension Office.Under current Maryland Farm Bureau policy, the group can only support establishing a commission if it is producer-approved.

Maryland Farm Bureau president C. William Knill of Mount Airy recently announced the appointment of Dave Kelly as information specialist/field representative in Carroll, Baltimore and Harford counties.Mr. Kelly will act as a liaison between the agricultural industry and the community. He will edit the bureau's monthly publication, Spotlight.

The Carroll County Farm Bureau is offering two $500 scholarships to students for the 1991 -1992 academic year.To be eligible, applicants or their parents must be members of the Carroll County Farm Bureau. Applicants also must be enrolled in an agricultural curriculum or be an entering freshman planning an agriculture-related course of study.Applications may be obtained from Philip Snader, P.O. Box 397, New Windsor, Md. 21776; the Farm Bureau secretary; high school agriculture teachers or the Extension Office.

Manchester woman joins Md. Farm Bureau staffManchester resident Laura Kaminski has joined the Maryland Farm Bureau staff as a field representative for the Western Maryland District.She will work the nine Western Maryland counties.She is a 1993 graduate of Villa Julie College, with a bachelor of science degree in paralegal studies.Ms. Kaminski previously was an administrative assistant with a realty company and human resources assistant with the Maryland Port Administration.She is a partner in K&K Business Services, a temporary employment firm providing office duties and cleaning services.

Phase II of the Air Business Park has started moving, with the purchase of two lots and contracts on two more of the 15 lots next to the Carroll County Airport.Lots have been purchased by Central Maryland Farm Credit, based in Frederick County, and by Design Enterprises, now in the Cranberry Industrial Park.Central Maryland Farm Credit, a federally chartered agricultural lender, is moving its administrative offices from Frederick to Carroll, along with the branch office on Littlestown Pike.

As large-scale poultry farmers are required to do, Alan Hudson of Berlin filed a plan last year with Maryland environmental regulators spelling out how he intended to prevent manure from his flocks from fouling the Chesapeake Bay. Hudson had hired a consultant to write the plan, but before submitting it he made the consultant remove recommendations that he take steps to prevent manure blown out of his chicken houses by ventilation fans from reaching...

One Straw Farm , one of the biggest independent farms in Maryland and a familiar presence at farmers' markets across the Baltimore region, is on a quest to build two iPhone apps that will help modernize its business and better connect with its customers. Joan and Drew Norman, the owners of the farm, have gotten hooked on the iPhone and believe they can use it to make their work on the farm more efficient and better share and connect their customers. They've been farming since 1983 and grow on 175 acres.

After six months off to recover from the wear and tear of a North American record 22 straight victories, Rapid Redux will be retired next week to Kentucky Horse Park, his owner Robert Cole and trainer David Wells said. "He's perfect right now and we want him to stay that way," said Cole, a Towson native. "Why risk having him get beat. " Located outside of Lexington, Kentucky Horse Park is home to many famous horses, including Cigar, Da Horse and Funny Cide. John Henry, who was a resident, is buried there.

Pterodactyls. Giant airplane propellers in the sky. Graceful, gliding birds. Blots on the verdant landscape. Among residents of rural Garrett County, the 28 wind turbines now pin-wheeling atop Backbone Mountain conjure many images — some nicer than others. But whatever one's perception, the massive windmills are here to stay. And they demand attention. Constellation Energy assembled several dozen guests next to one of the behemoths — about the size of a 40-story building — on Tuesday for a ribbon-cutting for Maryland's first commercial wind farm, even though the turbines started generating electricity months ago. "Sit back, relax and enjoy the view of our wind park," Constellation's project manager Don Shilobod said to the group as they gazed at a vista dominated by eight of the light gray turbines looming over the treetops.

Marc Dixon, chef and owner of Bistro Blanc in Dayton, gets his berries from a nearby farm. This year's strawberries, he said, were "hands down, the best strawberries of my life. They were like strawberry candy. " The strawberry season is just about over in Maryland, and the raspberries, blackberries and blueberries are coming in. This year, thanks to a nearly frost-free April and a relatively dry, mild spring, both wild and cultivated berries will likely be abundant and delicious, said Dave Myers, senior agent with the University of Maryland extension.

Under a blazing sun, Calvert County farmer David A. Cox Sr. stood beside the 7-acre tobacco field he had planted around Memorial Day and dragged his boot through ash-colored soil. Instead of darker, wetter dirt an inch or two down, there's just more gray dust. The tobacco leaves are beginning to yellow for lack of water, and the plants are no bigger than basketballs. "If this was a normal season, they would probably be approaching our waists," Cox said. "It's a rough year.

OCEAN CITY -- Carroll County Farm Bureau members were contenders for an overall achievement award from the Maryland Farm Bureau this yearbut lost to Anne Arundel County.The Carroll group, which has 1,330 members, won the Award of Excellence at the annual Farm Bureau convention last year. The award is based on achievement in eight categories.The Maryland Farm Bureau, a private, non-profit group, is the state's largest agricultural organization. It represents 14,000 familiesand is active in lobbying state legislators.

The theme for the Christmas show at the U.S. Botanic Garden is holiday dreams. The show is open daily through Jan. 8, including Christmas and New Year's Day, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The display includes more than 1,000 poinsettias, along with other holiday plants, two large topiary bears and toys. The East Gallery features a model train. Free. The garden is at 100 Maryland Ave. S.W. Call (202) 225-7099.*"Farm Day During the Winter" exposes children ages 6 to 12 to farm life during winter months at the Old Maryland Farm in Upper Marlboro Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost is $15 and includes all activities, snacks and lunch cooked over an open fire.

Horses are good for Maryland farms, and slots are good for the state's horse industry. This is the reasoning behind the state's largest agricultural lobbying organization's recent decision to throw its support behind the slots referendum that is on the ballet in the Nov. 4 election. "If passed, the slots proposal will bring much-needed income to the state and will bolster our equine and farm businesses," said Mike Phipps, president of the Maryland Farm Bureau, which represents more than 30,000 farm families in the state.

John Roth stood on a mist-shrouded ridge above the Western Maryland farm where his grandfather first plowed the rocky soil in 1892. Beside him, a wind-speed gauge spun on a pole. It is here, atop one of the state's highest places - Roth Rock, named after his family - that a developer wants to build Maryland's first wind farm. The $75 million, 20-turbine Roth Rock Wind Power Project could bring Roth, 69, enough money to retire and keep the farm where he and his father were born.