Community Relations Manager

June at ACLT – A Month of Celebrations & Events

July 5, 2023 By Community Relations Manager

The month of June began with a celebration of good food, fellowship, and appreciation for the beauty of our land at the Dining in the Field event and the celebrations continued with not one, but two events on the same day – the Yoe Property Open House and the Juneteenth Celebration at Jefferson Patterson Park on June 17^th.

Dining in the Field

“Magical”, “Fabulous”, “Incredible” are just a few of the words attendees used to describe The Dining in the Field (DITF) event held on June 1^st at ACLT. Over 120 ACLT supporters and friends gathered in the field behind Double Oak Barn for a sumptuous meal consisting exclusively of locally sourced ingredients.

The organizers of Dining in the Field – Trish Weaver of Dream Weaver Catering, Sue Kullen, and Sue Dzurec – describe themselves as, “Three friends whose mission is to honor local farmers and food artisans who provided the ingredients for the meal – all to create an experience to raise money for a good cause.” The trio reached out to ACLT this spring to ask whether ACLT would host the fundraiser. They have held several such events throughout Southern Maryland, including a previous one at ACLT in 2019. Net proceeds are donated to local charities, and the June event raised approximately $10,000 for ACLT!

The weather was ideal – no clouds or bugs! The setting was serene – the (very) long table was set up so that diners had views of the meadow on one side and the flower garden on the other. Speaking of which, the “Flower Girls” (ACLT members Judy Ferris, Jan Degeneffe, and Liz Laher) provided beautiful freshly cut bouquets for the centerpieces. Sue Dzurec, who has decorated ACLT’s Dinner/Auctions for the past several years, created stunning decor, including hand-stenciled napkins featuring ACLT’s logo, Mountain Laurel flowers, and Christmas Fern leaves. Long-time ACLT member Sue Kullen concocted a special signature drink for the evening – the “Rhubarb Gin Gin”, which consisted of juice from fresh local rhubarb, gin, ginger, and prosecco.

In addition to all of the work the DITF ladies did before, during and after, the event would not have been possible without the support of local businesses, sponsors, and volunteers:

Southern Maryland Electric Coop. for a monetary donation
Chesapeake’s Bounty for supplying produce for the meal and flowers for the decor
Double Oak Farm volunteers who donated some of the produce
Dream Weaver Cafe & Catering for preparing and serving the delicious meal
Enzo’s Kitchen for delicious bread from locally grown grains
Steve Weems, of Wemyss Liquors for offering a discount on the wine & beer
Gary Dzurec, (Sue’s hubby), who helped with set-up and tear-down
Parking attendants – Mary Hollinger, Liz Laher, and Chris Riollano
Shuttle/golf cart driver, Penny Moran
Izzy Gholl, Photographer-izcreative.co

If you missed this year’s event, no worries – the DITF ladies have already begun planning next year’s dinner and hope to hold it at the Yoe Farm. See more photos here: bit.ly/DITF2023Photos

To view more photos or to download or order photos, go to: bit.ly/DITF2023Photos

A Celebration at the Yoe Property

On June 17^th, ACLT supporters gathered to celebrate the completion of the Yoe house renovations with an open house and guided tours of the property. The event was a celebration of the success of quite an ambitious campaign that began back in 2019 when the Yoe family approached Executive Director Greg Bowen about the possibility of ACLT purchasing the family farm. Read all the details about the acquisition here in the Summer 2022 Newsletter: www.acltweb.org/Summer2022Newsletter

Since ACLT settled on the property in June 2022 the house which was built in 1918 has been under renovation by local contractor, Gerry Neal. The house had sustained extensive water damage in recent years, resulting in cracked plaster, peeling wallpaper, and sagging ceilings. But the house has “good bones” and with lots of TLC, has been restored and upgraded where needed. Rather than replacing most of the plaster walls and ceilings, they were repaired. Compared to drywall, plaster is a more solid, thicker material, so it provides better sound dampening, insulation, and fire protection. Other improvements included new kitchen cabinets, refinished floors, and repair of the windows to make them functional again. To make the house more energy efficient, the oil burner was replaced with a high efficiency SEER 20 HVAC system, and R-38 insulation was installed in the attic and R-19 in the crawlspace.

The Yoe house will be rented out to the two Chesapeake Conservation Corps interns who work for ACLT for one year beginning every August. To prepare for their arrival and for the open house, a “Procurement Team” was assembled, consisting of Board Members Randi Vogt and Cheryl Place, who were also responsible for designing the kitchen, suggesting other treatments such as the wallpaper in the blue bedroom. Volunteer Tom Dugan was also part of the team and hauled and refinished several of the furniture pieces, including a beautiful dresser for the blue bedroom, the dining room table, and several other pieces that had been stored in the barn.

A call went out to ACLT members requesting furnishings that were appropriate for the period when the house was built. Special thanks to the following supporters for their donations:

Small decorative table – Shirley Knight & Bonnie Carter
Iron bed – Harriett Yaffe and Gerry Adams
Kitchen table (original to the house) and two chairs – John and Cindy Yoe
6 dining room chairs – Jody Longhill & Jim Borell
Five framed historic photographs of the house and farm – Yoe family
Armoire – Coates-Adams-Gorman Family
Armoire – Greg & Tamea Bowen
Dresser – Richard Aldrich
Hand-made curtains for the dining room and under the sink – Randi Vogt
Living Room chair – Cheryl Place
Others also offered furniture pieces but there were too many to be accepted!
Additional indoor and outdoor plants, chairs, tables, and decorations for use at the open house – Chris Riollano, ACLT Donor Relations Coordinator
Special thanks to Nick Bohaska and Gabe LaCount for arranging and re-arranging the furniture several times on move-in day

A very special moment came when the Yoe siblings arrived just prior to the Open House for a “big reveal” to see all the work that had been done since the sale of the property. They were very pleased and those present enjoyed listening to them reminisce about the many days they spent at the house with their grandparents. The siblings stuck around for the remainder of the event and were happy to speak to other attendees – both inside the house and elsewhere on the farm, happily sharing the history of the farm and family. We are very grateful for their participation! Read more about the history of the Yoe family and farm in this blog post written by Beth Yoe Fiddler: “A Brief History of the Yoe Family & Farm“.

All photos by Carl Fleischhauer unless otherwise specified.

Living Room

Photo by Beth Yoe Fiddler

Living Room

Bedroom above Kitchen

Blue Bedroom

Kitchen

Blue Bedroom

Yoe Siblings with Board member Cheryl Place

Yoe Siblings with Board Member Randi Vogt and Exec Dir Greg Bowen

Yoe Siblings with Greg Bowen

Greg Bowen and Guests

Yoe Siblings with Board Member Robyn Truslow

Another big part of what made the Open House event special was the property tours. Board Member/Land Management Committee Chair Bob Field, staff, and volunteers had created a 3/4-mile trail and several volunteers were trained to lead guided hikes, explaining along the way the significance and history of several outbuildings.

Special thanks to the following volunteers who served as tour guides and Parking Attendants:

Jan Degeneffe (who also painted and hid rocks for the occasion)
Judy Ferris (one of the Double Oak Farm “Flower Girls”, along with Jan Degeneffe and Liz Laher, who provided beautiful bouquets of freshly cut flowers that were placed throughout the house and added a special touch to the event)
Bob Field
Mary Hollinger
Paul Kachurak
John Koelbel
Greg Montgomery
Allison Shulman
Mari-Ann Sweeney
Ginger Walls
Mike Walls

The 3/4-mile hike was a perfect distance with enough stops for children, old and young, to enjoy it. And, when a Yoe family member was in the hiking group, what interesting and historical stories were told! The painted rocks were sought after on the trail and coveted when found.

Attendees who wished to take the tour were directed to meet by a split rail fence that had been an Earth Day volunteer project for a group of Boy Scouts. Highlights of the tour also included:

Farm road and stream stabilization project which was necessary to fix erosion caused by Route 4
Reclaimed meadow where staff and volunteers had removed sweet gum trees to prevent them from overtaking the field
Farm road connecting string of meadows
Meadow blooming with wildflowers
Forest and small stream crossing (with a boardwalk bridge at the crossing)
Agricultural field with winter wheat
Original house built in the 1860s
Tobacco barn
Livestock horse stable with harness gear display

The acquisition of the Yoe property was a win-win for ACLT and the Yoe family. The ability to offer housing to prospective interns makes ACLT an attractive choice, and the Yoe family was able to sell their beloved house and farm knowing it will be cared for and permanently preserved by ACLT. Special thanks to Beth Yoe Fiddler for creating a flyer outlining the history of the Yoe farm and family, as well as a more detailed blog that can be read here: https://www.acltweb.org/index.php/history-of-yoe-property/

All of this would not have been possible without a grant from the France-Merrick Foundation and the generous donations from ACLT members and supporters. Thank you!

All images by Bob Field.

Special thanks to John and Jim Yoe for jumping in and helping with the guided tours. Their knowledge of the farm operations was invaluable.

Juneteenth Celebration

Juneteenth, the annual celebration of the end of slavery in the United States, was marked by the Calvert County Chapter of the NAACP’s event at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum on June 17^th. ACLT attended the event and shared information with attendees about the ongoing Parkers Creek Heritage Trail (PCHT) project.

The PCHT project team is researching the prehistory and history of the Parkers Creek and Governors Run watersheds, including the important role and contributions made by African Americans. To date, the team has assembled a wide range of materials, summarized in a publication entitled “African American Community of Parkers Creek, circa 1800-1960”, which is a work in progress. Download a PDF copy here: https://bit.ly/PrkCrkCommBook.

Members of the PCHT team – Lead Researcher Carl Fleischhauer, ACLT Board Member Darlene Harrod, and Historian Kirsti Uunila – were on hand to discuss the project with attendees. Board Member Penny Moran, CCC Intern Kassandra Patrick, and Summer Intern Gabe LaCount also assisted at the ACLT booth.

We recognize that there are many more stories and much more information to add to the PCHT for the benefit of all. We are eager to hear about any material that should be added. We would also like to know about people who might share their stories, photographs, or documents relating to life in the Parkers Creek area. If you would like to share such information, please call the office at (410) 414-3400 or email gbowen@acltweb.org.

The Parkers Creek Heritage Trail project is being carried out by the American Chestnut Land Trust with support from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, part of the Maryland Historical Trust in the Maryland State Department of Planning.

Read more about the PCHT in an article in the Fall 2022 Newsletter: bit.ly/ACLTFall22NL and the Winter 2022 Newsletter: bit.ly/ACLTWinter22NL

AFRICAN AMERICANS OF PARKERS CREEK
Excerpt from ACLT’s Exhibit Board

From the early 18th until the mid-20th century, Calvert County was majority African American. Blacks began to move out of the county after the Civil War, when other areas offered greater economic opportunity and social mobility.

Many African American men enlisted for service in the Civil War; more than 200 African American men from Calvert County enrolled in the US Colored Troops. Some, like Joseph H. Wallace of Parkers Creek, were free at the time they enlisted. Others were enslaved, and the people who held them in bondage applied for a cash bounty to free them for enlistment.

There were few African American landowners before the end of slavery, but opportunities for ownership expanded following the Civil War. The map shows some Black-owned properties near Parkers Creek from about 1880-1930. The area is still home to several African American landowners today.

Parkers Creek has also been the home for churches, schools, and fraternal and sororal organizations like the Grand Order of Galilean Fishermen, the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, and the Household of Ruth.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE YOE FAMILY & FARM

June 14, 2023 By Community Relations Manager

Introduction

This blog was researched and written by Beth Yoe Fiddler with the help of her sisters and brothers. As documented in the first section, Beth and her four siblings represent the ninth generation of this branch of the Yoe family to live in Maryland. They are also the sellers of the family farm to the ACLT, happy to know that the fields and woods they knew and loved will remain undeveloped forever.

The Yoe Family in Calvert County: The First Nine Generations

First Generation

Stephen Yeo/Yoe, born circa1638 in England, died circa 1667 in Calvert County. The inventory of his estate included “four table forks,” then uncommon.

Excerpts from the Prerogative Court (Testamentary Proceedings) Stephen Yeo, Book 2, pp.206-211, dated July 22, 1667 [MSA S529-7;01/12/02/27]. Top: "A True Inventory of the Estate of one Stephen Yeo, deceased, made this two and twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty seven." Bottom: excerpt from the inventory, including "one looking glasse." All items are valued in pounds of tobacco, the primary currency at the time.

Second Generation

John Yoe, born circa 1666-1668, died 1733. His eldest son, Stephen, conveyed his interest in a tract of land that he had obtained from his grandfather, Stephen Yoe.

This conveyance establishes Stephen Yoe (died 1667) as the father of our lineage’s John Yoe. Over the years, the presence in Calvert County of a second John Yoe–born 1651, died 1686, and not related to Stephen–has led to some confusion. This second John Yoe (or Yeo) was a well-known cleric, almost certainly the first rector of Christ Church, then in Calverton on the Patuxent River, now located at Port Republic. The Reverend John Yoe moved away from Calvert County in 1677.

Third Generation

Robert Yoe, date of birth unknown, died circa 1761.

Fourth Generation

John Yoe, born July 29, 1750, died circa 1813. Among John’s six sons and three daughters by two wives was a son named Robert. Robert observed the enslaved Frisby Harris “acting as an officer” when the British burned the Calvert County courthouse in 1814. Harris had escaped his owners and joined the British fleet as it sailed up the Patuxent, en route to Washington, where the British burned the Capitol building and White House. (More about Frisby Harris here: https://bit.ly/42Blwyu.)

Fifth Generation

James Yoe, born August 28, 1795, date of death unknown (after 1860.) James married Ann Williams. The 1860 census shows James Yoe, age 60, and John Williams Yoe, age 25, farming together in Port Republic. Also living on the property at the time was an African American named Nelson Sanders, a free man with the occupation carpenter.

Sixth Generation

John Williams Yoe, born November 15, 1833, died January 26, 1901. He married Mahala Eugenia Holt (1857-1943) on January 21, 1879; she survived him.

Seventh Generation

John Williams Yoe, born April 8, 1886, died June 5, 1964. John Williams Yoe and Elsie Mae Weems were married on January 20, 1909. Together, they had six children. They had been married for 55 years when John died. Elsie died December 31, 1978, at the age of 87. Both John and Elsie are buried at Christ Church, Port Republic MD. They are the grandparents fondly remembered in the statements that conclude this blog.

Eighth Generation

The eighth generation are John and Elsie’s six children. The eighth generation’s own children, now grown, provided the reminiscences in the last section of this blog.

Howard Philip Yoe was born in 1910. His first wife was Susanna Dixon Yoe. Susanna’s daughters from a previous marriage, Mary Jane Warren McMenamy and Carolyn Warren Gafner, recalled many happy childhood visits to the Yoe Farm. Howard and Susanna’s two children were H. Randolph Yoe, who died very young, and Pamela Yoe Hoffman, who also shared memories of visiting her Yoe grandparents on trips from Baltimore. Susanna died in 1955 and, some years later, Howard married Della Marie Yoe.

Mary Madeline Yoe was born in 1912. Madeline married George Fink, and they lived in Baltimore. They had one daughter, Shirley, who died in 2011. Madeline and George welcomed their niece, Pamela Yoe Hoffman, into their home, as she was still a baby when her mother died.

John Alvin Yoe, generally called Alvin, was born in 1914. Except for his World War II service in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, Alvin spent his entire life in Calvert County. He married Mae Elizabeth Gosnell in 1948, and they had five children: Elizabeth (Beth) Degitz Yoe Fiddler, Mary Ruth Yoe, John Williams Yoe, Marjorie Anne Yoe, and James Gosnell Yoe. These children lived just north of the Yoe Farm, a short walk across “the flat” from their grandparents’ home.

Betty Louise Yoe was born in 1916. She married Philip J. Trueschler, Jr. They lived in Baltimore and had no children.

Thomas Linwood Yoe, generally called Linwood, was born in 1922. He married Grace Gibson. They lived in Huntingtown and had no children.

Elsie Anne Yoe was born in 1929. The house on the Yoe Farm was her residence for most of her life.

Ninth Generation

The ninth generation is composed of the many children of the eighth-generation parents named above. As the grandchildren of the seventh-generation John Williams Yoe and Elsie Mae Weems Yoe, they provided the memories in the section titled Life on our Yoe Grandparents’ Farm, below.

History of the Yoe Farm

Determining a historical chain of title for property in Calvert County is complicated by two disastrous fires in 1882, destroying the courthouse in March, when some records were saved, and then destroying the temporary storage building in June. The information that remains is characterized by vague descriptions and fluctuating acreages. Meanwhile, research continues to determine with certainty which colonial-era patent or patents underlie today’s Yoe Farm. One segment is almost certainly part of a tract known as Horse Range, patented by James Ayling in 1723.

By 1901, when John Williams Yoe died, he had lived on the Yoe Farm since 1860. He was survived by his widow, Mahala Eugenia Holt Yoe, and five children, including a son also named John Williams Yoe (1886-1964, the authors’ grandfather). Tobacco was the farm’s cash crop from the 1860s until the mid-1980s.

After John Williams Yoe’s death in 1901, there was a legal dispute between his siblings for ownership that lasted until 1913.

In 1909, during this familial dispute, John Williams Yoe (born 1886) married Elsie Mae Weems. The farm was still occupied by the family, however, and that is where John and Elsie began their married life. The first of their six children was born in the “old house,” a handsome timber-framed building that still stands today, although in very deteriorated condition.

The timber-framed “old house” as it stands today, about 200 yards west of the “new house.” Construction details support the mid-19th century date, including a large stone fireplace that, like the house itself, is now deteriorated. Photographs 2022 by Carl Fleischhauer.

By 1911, in part to protect against the risk of loss of the farm, John purchased 80 acres on the Chesapeake Bay, part of which is today’s gate D neighborhood in Scientists’ Cliffs. John and Elsie’s second child was born in “the Bay house.”‘

As it happened, the bayfront “hedge” property was not needed. In 1913, the court-appointed trustee sold the Yoe Farm to a third party and, in 1914, he sold it to John Williams Yoe, bringing the property back into the family. Yoe sold the bayfront 80 acres in 1915.

John and Elsie’s children have had a “family debate” as to whether their third child, John Alvin Yoe, generally called Alvin, was born in the “Bay house” or the “old house” but by 1916, the Bay property had been sold and their fourth child was born in the “old house.” The “new house” was built circa 1918, and the two youngest children of John and Elsie were born there.

Regarding tobacco, the farm’s peak production occurred before, during, and just after World War II. Tobacco was grown on ten or twelve acres, yielding a crop that often filled the family’s four barns plus a fifth barn they rented just down the road. The decision to stop growing tobacco was made in 1985 or 1986 by John Williams Yoe’s grandson Alvin (eighth generation). Alvin’s decision reflected the very recent death of his wife Elizabeth, and his reaching the age of 71. The family let the land lie fallow for two years and then began leasing the fields to farmers who cultivated small grains, corn, and soybeans.

After John Williams Yoe died in 1964, his heirs did not divide the farm, only selling shares among themselves. Thus, the Yoe Farm remained essentially as it had been until it was purchased by the American Chestnut Land Trust in 2022.

Life On Our Yoe Grandparents' Farm

These memories were written by the grandchildren of John Williams Yoe and Elsie Weems Yoe. We loved our grandparents–and we cherish our memories of them, their home, and their farm.

The oldest of us remember times before the current house had electricity, indoor plumbing, or central heating. Some of us lived in Baltimore, and so coming to the country for a visit was a great adventure.

Mary Jane McMenamy recalls that Grandmother Yoe would put wood in the big stove for cooking; it made the kitchen very cozy. Dinners included vegetables from her garden and biscuits made from scratch. The most fun was watching her chase the chicken that was to be our dinner.
Carolyn Gafner wrote that at night, we would huddle by the wood stove in the kitchen. Our light was an oil lamp. There was an outhouse for use in the daytime; there were porcelain potties with lids for nighttime. Each bedroom also had large ceramic pitchers with matching large bowls, for washing up.
Mary Jane and Carolyn both remember that on Saturday evening, the bathtub was brought into the kitchen, water (drawn by bucket from the well in the side yard) was heated on the stove, and one by one each family member took a turn to bathe. The men filled a basin with warm water from the stove and shaved on the glassed-in back porch.
While Beth was too young to remember this event herself, she does remember being told, quite often, the story of her parents’ first trip to Prince Frederick, about three weeks after she was born. It was a rainy, chilly April day, and Grandmom, who had been enlisted as an experienced babysitter, became concerned that tiny Beth, who weighed just over five pounds, would take a chill in the house. At that time, the kitchen stove was still a wood stove, and the oven door opened out into the kitchen. To keep Beth warm, Grandmom tucked her swaddled body into her roasting pan and set the pan on the oven door! Fortunately, it was not a Sunday, and so the roasting pan was not occupied by a chicken. Grandmom was occasionally heard to say, “None of MY babies was that small!”

Every grandchild recalls that even after the house had indoor plumbing, Grandma or Grandpop would draw water from the well and we would drink the icy cold water from a tin dipper—a refreshing treat on a hot summer evening. Those of us who lived next door and ran around mostly barefoot and bare legged all summer also recall the rivulets of cool water running down our legs, streaking our dust-covered shins.
John, the namesake of his grandfather, vividly recounts the story of his first tobacco crop: When I turned six in 1961, Grandpop decided I should have a direct stake in that year’s tobacco crop. A small field, no more than a quarter acre, was “Johnny’s Field” that year. August rolled around and the harvest crew made their way to the fields adjacent to mine. Disappointed that no one was assigned to my field, I took matters into my own hands. Retrieving a small hand saw from the red F-250, I started sawing my crop down. This got a big laugh from everyone, as normally tobacco is chopped down. Grandpop said kindly that my field was not quite ready for harvest, and I could put my saw away for the day. The next spring, my crop fetched $75 at the market, a small fortune to an almost seven-year-old.

Pam remembers that Grandmom would putter around the kitchen, singing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Pam continued, Grandmom always wore a plaid housedress, an apron, stockings rolled just above her knees and held in place with elastic garters, and black oxfords, which I think were called Enna Jetticks. Sometimes she had a picture of her oldest, my father, pinned to her dress. It was the pin he had worn as an air raid warden during WW 2. One afternoon, she went out to the hen house and came out with a large hen under her arm and went into the kitchen. I shuddered in disbelief because I knew what was going to happen. Sure enough we had fried chicken for dinner that night.
There is no one who remembers leaving Grandmom’s house hungry and those who enjoyed her Sunday or company dinners all praised her cooking. However, those of her grandchildren who lived next door appreciated her generous snack policy, whether it was a ham sandwich cut diagonally or across, to your preference, or an offering of candy from her pantry. Grandpop liked yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and it was kept in the refrigerator. That, too, was a treat.

Margie, too, recalls drinking hot Lipton tea and ginger snaps at the red-trimmed kitchen table. She remembers, too, singing familiar church hymns from memory with Grandmom, who would praise her singing ability.
Snacks were not limited to her grandchildren, however. Beth recalls a warm summer afternoon when Grandpop was working, hoeing tobacco, in a field far from the house. Grandmom gave her a lidded mason jar filled with water and lemon slices, and a small brown bag with gingersnaps, with instructions to take them to Grandpop. She was reminded not to eat any of the cookies on the way to the field as they were for her “Johnny” to “settle his stomach.” When she arrived at the field, Grandpop opened the bag of gingersnaps and immediately handed her one, which she of course ate. When she got back to the house, Grandmom gave her gingersnaps, too, even though she explained that she had already had one.

Beth also remembers that in the late afternoon, she would sit on the kitchen steps and hold a mirror for Grandmom, who “fixed myself up for Johnny” before Grandpop came home for supper. Grandmom changed her apron, and after a touch of Pond’s Cold Cream, eyebrow pencil, rouge, and lipstick, and a fresh twist of her long hair into a bun, she looked pretty and happy.
After Grandpop’s death in 1964, Grandmom enjoyed having one of her nearby grandchildren spend the night for company. John recounts: I remember her making sure I had a proper snack of Pepsi and fudge stripe cookies while doing homework, which she called lessons. Lessons completed, I would read every word of the Evening Sun sports section. On some winter nights, even with the house heated, the wind would rattle the windows and seemingly come right into the bedrooms. Grandmom always prepared a hot water bottle to keep at my feet on those coldest of nights.
Those of us grandchildren who lived nearby also are able to recall a few events on the farm which we have only shared with each other. Our parents never knew the particulars, and since the statute of limitations may not have run out on these misadventures, we will not share them here! They were, suffice it to say, great bonding experiences as we were always able to resolve the situations on our own!

Beth adds, too, that while some memories are of specific events, there are some others that are snippets, consisting of moments of remembered light, or never to be forgotten smells. The smell of tobacco lingers in barns that have not held tobacco for years, or is infused in the antique, crooked tobacco stick that now serves only a decorative purpose. Shafts of light still fall, slanted, through the walls of the corn crib and the meat house. Larger rays of light create patterns on the hard-packed dirt floors of the barn. Fingers still feel the hard kernels of field corn on the cob, and the sound of the kernels falling as the corn was shelled into a metal pan, to feed the chickens. There is the feel of a scratchy wool cardigan sweater against the tender skin of a little girl sitting on her grandfather’s lap. There is the feel of the velvet dust that rose between bare toes on the family’s evening walks to the old barn, to close its doors, or inspect the fields.
Then there are the more recent memories. Mary Ruth shares: In the 1970s, I stood with Daddy at the edge of “the flat,” the long, broad swatch of fields that lay between our house and that of our grandparents, stretching back to poplar, pine, and hickory woods. Our backs to Route 4, we watched my brothers plant row after row of tobacco in the early June evening. As shadows began the lengthen, Daddy turned to me and asked, “Do you know why I farm?” I could tell a rhetorical question when I heard one, so I waited. His answer was not what I expected: “I farm for the curve of the trees against the sky.” His eyes shifted to the field, and his voice shifted gears, barking out an order to my brothers, “Get that tractor back in line.”

These memories are preserved in the hearts of all the grandchildren who, whether visitors from the city or living right next door, were privileged to experience life on the farm. With the acquisition of the Yoe Farm by the American Chestnut Land Trust, we are delighted that “the curve of the trees against the sky” has been preserved for generations to come.

USFWS Land Protection Plan received positively by Southern Marylanders

April 19, 2023 By Community Relations Manager

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s plan to establish a new wildlife refuge in Southern Maryland was positively received by the public at the last of three listening sessions on Tuesday, April 18th. Held at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, the event was attended by mainly Calvert County residents, but the nearly full house of attendees had representation from all over Southern Maryland.

The three listening sessions have been a way for the Service to engage public input in the rollout of the plan, complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires a public scoping period. The purpose of the meetings was to inform the relevant communities about the Land Protection Plan/ Environmental Assessment (LPP/EA) being drafted for establishing a refuge, provide the rationale behind the proposed acquisition boundary, and answer any questions the public might have. While the Service was well prepared to assuage worries about the plan, such as how it might affect private property within the acquisition boundary, there was very little discourse at any of the three sessions that stemmed from criticism or concern. The reaction from the audience at Tuesday’s session was overwhelmingly positive, with most comments being inquiries about the logistics of the plan or words of support.

Once completed, the draft plan will be released to the public for a 45 day review period, where more comments will be welcomed. The finalized plan must be approved by the USFWS director, after which the Service may begin seeking properties from willing sellers to compose the new national wildlife refuge. See the presentation from the listening sessions here.

Now that the listening sessions are completed, the Service invites the public to send comments for consideration in the final draft of the LPP/EA.

Email: FW5southernmarylandplan@fws.gov
Project Website:
https://www.fws.gov/project/proposed-new-refuge-lands-southern-maryland

Change Is Coming. Grow Into It.

April 19, 2023 By Community Relations Manager

By Kassandra Patrick, Chesapeake Conservation Corps Intern/Double Oak Farm Manager

Our food systems are under threat, and our food systems are threatening us. Threats to us come from agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions, but climate change caused by the emissions threaten agriculture as well, and by extension all food systems, through catastrophic weather changes. Luckily, agriculture has the potential to reverse its own trend of releasing emissions by making farming more ecologically friendly. Changing farming practices across the globe to incorporate perennial crops, cover crops, minimal tillage, and other sustainable practices would not only sequester more carbon but also improve soil health and food production^[1].

Changing a whole world’s worth of farming practices is already a near impossible task, but what makes things worse is our current food system, which does not support farmers trying to adopt these practices. Farming careers are undervalued by society, leading to interested young people being discouraged from going into the field and people who do work in the field being subjected to poor working conditions^[2], low pay^[3], and little to no benefits^[4]. I love agriculture, and I would love nothing more than to farm for the rest of my life in a way that serves the Earth and the communities around me. If I thought that it was possible for me to start farming as a career and have good working conditions, a living wage, and benefits, I would have already been farming while I was still attending college, gaining the experience to continue in the field as I worked toward my degree in Environment and Sustainability. I may have even chosen to focus my major electives around agriculture and food systems, but farming as a career path just did not seem feasible at the time, especially knowing I would be graduating with debts to pay. Luckily for me, I did end up finding a way to start farming by coming to ACLT. Becoming the Double Oak Farm Manager has not only allowed me to start gaining the valuable experience necessary to improve as a beginning farmer, but also showed me the inherent value of stewarding the land one farms.

As things stand, land is mostly seen through its ability to be exploited, leading to prime agricultural land being degraded or developed for housing, utilities, and other buildings before a single crop can be grown. Food systems are disconnected from the people they feed, leaving them incredibly vulnerable to disruptions to supply chains. Food that can not be moved goes bad and becomes food waste, and people facing food insecurity go hungry even when there is enough food produced to feed them. Despite the above systemic issues impacting the food system, a lot of public pressure has been directed towards farmers^[5]. Farmers are told that their practices are hurting the planet, and that they need to change and be more sustainable or regenerative, which means different things depending on who is asking. When so many definitions of “sustainable agriculture^[6]” and “regenerative agriculture^[7]” exist, what are we asking from our farmers, and are the changes we’re asking for feasible?

The definitions of “sustainable” and “regenerative” seem to constantly morph. There are widely accepted aspects of both, but there is no standard that says any aspects must be included^[8]. Therefore, rather than attempt to craft a universal definition, I aim to argue for what I believe “sustainable agriculture” and “regenerative agriculture” ought to mean. Sustainable agriculture ought to mean farming to sustain public health, environmental health, and farmers’ financial health. Sustaining public health goes beyond reducing greenhouse gasses. Nutrients in modern food have been dropping since 1950^[9], but since food pricing is normally based on calories, farming food with higher nutritional value isn’t valued in the market. Environmental health includes issues of climate change and biodiversity. The UN Environment Programme identified international food systems as the main driver of global biodiversity loss due to habitat loss when land is cleared for farming^[10].

To solve the first two issues, sustainable profit is key because directing our money toward sustainable agriculture collectively assigns worth to ethically grown, nutritious produce; when our money is put toward resilient food systems, the systems can continue to provide for our communities during times of economic hardship and supply chain shortages. All farmers, whether they own land or work on a farm, deserve fair, livable wages and healthcare.

If separating the term “farmer” from “land owner” confuses you, it’s likely because the two have been synonymous in America for decades now. Not Our Farm, a non-profit organization that represents people who have chosen farming for their career but do not own land, has interviewed many farmers currently employed as farm workers, farm employees, members of farm crews, farm managers, and apprentices and interns and asked them who should be considered a “farmer^[11].” Quotes from the farmers interviewed point out that the terms “farmer” and “farm worker” perpetuate a class difference and power imbalance between agricultural landowners and people who work for them, that sometimes landowners do not personally farm their land, and that gatekeeping of the term “farmer” is often said to be based on years of experience despite immigrant farmers with years of experience being labeled as “unskilled labor.” Nomenclature aside, many of the farmers interviewed spoke of harrowing experiences with workplace harassment, lack of access to potable water and bathrooms, and, ironically enough, food insecurity. These experiences were and are not exclusive to large industrial farms, but they can not be completely blamed on the farming industry either. The devaluing of the work required to produce food creates situations where farmers who don’t own farms contribute valuable, skilled labor yet still go unprotected by minimum wage laws.

On the land-owning farmers’ side of things, profit margins are incredibly slim and getting slimmer as input costs continue to rise. Research on global farming economics has shown that farmer owners receive an average of 27% of what consumers spend on food if the food is sold and consumed in their home country, and the percentage becomes lower if the food is exported, which it often is in the US^[12]. In fact, the same 2021 study found that the average return in America is much lower than 27% at an average of 9%^[13]. The American Farm Bureau Federation reports an even lower rate of return of only 8 cents per dollar a consumer spends^[14].

To put into perspective just how tight a profit margin that is, I ask one question: Could you survive selling heads of broccoli? Broccoli is a high value crop rated as the 6th most popular vegetable as of October 2021. A single head of broccoli, regarded by the USDA as crown cut broccoli, can sell for as much as $2.99 a crown, with the average price across the US being $2.05. That means that just to get above the federal poverty line for a single person, you would need to sell 82,866 crowns, and if you’re supporting a family of four, that number increases to a whopping 169,208 crowns. It bears repeating that this is just to clear the poverty line. If you want to clear the median household income with your broccoli, you’d need to sell 431,610 crowns. Granted, this 8 cents assumption takes into account wages for labor, so a farm owner may be able to make more by hiring only the bare minimum of employees and paying the lowest wages possible, which leads to the exploitation of employed farmers as described above. Costs of production are also taken into account, but referring back to the fact that the costs of inputs are increasing, lowering production costs simply may not be an option. This leaves little to no money, and likely little to no time, to invest in adopting sustainable practices. Rather than sustain these trends, we should want to change them. Where do we go from here to create a better agricultural system for these farmers?

Enter regenerative agriculture, which ought to mean farming to restore and improve public health, environmental health, farmer’s lives and livelihoods, and the culture of farming. The American idea of agriculture is dominated by the idyllic vision of small farms centered around the family unit, but this vision is only one way of farming, rooted in cultures in large part due to colonialism. In his Keynote speech for the 2023 Pasa Virtual Conference, Col Grodon details the history of farming in his home country of Scotland, describing how the invading British forces dispossessed indigenous people (in this case, the Gaelic people) from land with the excuse of “agricultural improvement” to institute British family controlled farms. Patterns of colonialism leading to land being taken from indigenous groups are observable in every colonized country, but before those events, land was still being managed to produce food. According to Col, in the case of the Gaelic people, the land was often managed communally with no private ownership. The consequence of colonizing countries enforcing their model of farming onto new areas was that colonizers farmed while culturally disconnected from the previous history and cultures of the land they were farming, meaning they lacked an essential motivation to foster land stewardship. Regenerative agriculture’s fourth goal is to recreate those cultural connections. In the words of Jason Gerhardt, another Pasa conference speaker who presented on Community Action Farming, “The real point of regenerative agriculture is to regenerate the culture of agriculture.” Whether land is farmed by a family or communally, all farms need the support of the people they serve. Like the relationship between agriculture and climate change, the relationship is two-way. Cultural support for farmers leads people to care about the land and its management, protecting agricultural land and farmers’ access to it. Farmers who are integrated into a culture of agricultural appreciation can have a dialogue with the people they feed about community needs and the farming practices used to make their products, which creates trust in the farmers’ produce and an appreciation of their work, ultimately leading to a dedicated customer-base that will be less phased by higher prices that internalize the full cost of farm production.

How do we rebuild the culture of agriculture? Firstly, we restore the land. Once again, when I say “restore,” I am referring to more than just ecological restoration. To truly restore the land, in the words of Col, “we must re-story the land.” We need to reconnect the stories and traditions of the landscape with the people living on it, cultivating their appreciation of the land and stimulating their imagination with ideas for a future in harmony with the land. Re-storying also serves to connect people within a community through a shared local culture. Secondly, we empower communities to create robust local food systems. Reconnecting people not only to their neighbors, but also to their food and the land that they inhabit is essential to rebuild the value of farming within American culture. Finally, we mobilize as communities in financial support of agricultural practices that serve the goals of the first two steps. The food systems these practices support will create long-term, fresh, nutritious, and local yields of produce and animal products that can meet community needs. These financial systems won’t be one-size fit all. In some places, there may be family farms, while in others, there may be community gardens. Some communities may utilize land protected by conservation easements, while others may participate in Co-op farming. Whatever way works best for the people involved is fine, as long as it stabilizes the profit of agriculture, allowing for farmer owners to live well despite incurring extra costs to farm in an ecologically and public-health conscious way, for farm-employed farmers to receive a living wage and other necessary benefits, such as healthcare, and for the community to directly benefit from the extra dollars they choose to spend on food grown and raised fairly and consciously.

To even begin changing the world’s worth of farming practices, we need to change the way farmers and their contributions are viewed. If we want to continue eating, we need to build our food systems to be more resilient, not only to climate change, but also to changes in our communities. If we are all to continue living on this planet, we need even more than just a planet where climate change has been mitigated. Lack of access to nature, pollution of water and air, and degradation of soils are only a few of the other environmental problems directly affecting public health that we can fix through regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture recognizes that a food system is just as dynamic as the larger society that it serves. Building resilience in culture protects our land, in people protects public health, in ecosystems protect the environment, and in profit contributes back to the systems that people rely on outside of food to live healthy lives.

A transition is coming whether we want it to or not. 50% of agricultural land is set to change hands in the next two decades. 78% of young farmers do not come from farming families. The 2023 Farm Bill, legislation that sets federal agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and forestry policy every five years, is being discussed in the Senate right now, with public hearings still ongoing. Agriculture is going to change, and our food systems along with it. Luckily, if anyone has experience adapting to dynamic, ever-changing systems, it’s farmers. Whether beginning or experienced, young or old, owner or employee, farmers dedicate a large portion of their work to adapting, but they aren’t well prepared. They can’t be, because their level of preparedness depends in large part on the support from the people they feed. Yes, that means the government needs better agriculture policies, and we should support the policies that increase the capacity of farmers to adopt regenerative practices. Start by commenting on the 2023 Farm Bill, but comments can’t be our only collective action. The best thing that all of us can do to create change is to buy local. It’s the key action to create the financial conditions for regenerative agriculture and resilient food systems. The second best thing we can all do is grow some of our own food. This is for the sake of protecting ourselves from the next break in the global food chain, understanding the time commitment and skilled labor of farmers, and creating a personal connection to the land literally in our own backyards. These actions will defend our food systems from threats of all nature, from climate change to pandemics, and they will demand that our food systems no longer threaten our health and instead increase our quality of life. If change is inevitable, then let’s take a lesson from our farmers and grow into it.

[1] “Soil-Based Carbon Sequestration.” April 15, 2021. MIT Climate Portal. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/soil-based-carbon-sequestration.

[2] “Resources.” 2021. Not Our Farm (blog). October 22, 2021. https://notourfarm.org/resources/.

[3] Kelmenson, Sophie. 2022. “Between the Farm and the Fork: Job Quality in Sustainable Food Systems.” Agriculture and Human Values, October. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-022-10362-x.

[4] See note 2 above.

[5] Karst, Tom. “Growers Feel Shortchanged with Sustainability Efforts.” 2022. AgWeb. June 30, 2022. https://www.agweb.com/news/business/conservation/growers-feel-shortchanged-sustainability-efforts.

[6]Gambino, Chris. “Defining Sustainable Agriculture & Why That Matters.” Lecture, Pasa 2023 Virtual Sustainable Agriculture Conference, January 17, 2023.

[7] Johnson, Nathanael. 2019. “‘Regenerative Agriculture’: World-Saving Idea or Food Marketing Ploy?” Grist. March 12, 2019. https://grist.org/article/regenerative-agriculture-world-saving-idea-or-food-marketing-ploy/.

[8] See note 7 above.

[9] Lovell, Rachel. “How Modern Food Can Regain Its Nutrients.” 2021. Accessed February 13, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food-test/why-modern-food-lost-its-nutrients/.

[10] “Our Global Food System Is the Primary Driver of Biodiversity Loss.” 2021. UN Environment. February 3, 2021. http://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/our-global-food-system-primary-driver-biodiversity-loss.

[11] Adalja, Anita. “Not Our Farm: Stories from Farmers Who Don’t Own Farms.” Lecture, Pasa 2023 Virtual Sustainable Agriculture Conference, January 17, 2023.

[12] Yi, Jing, Eva-Marie Meemken, Veronica Mazariegos-Anastassiou, Jiali Liu, Ejin Kim, Miguel I. Gómez, Patrick Canning, and Christopher B. Barrett. 2021. “Post-Farmgate Food Value Chains Make up Most of Consumer Food Expenditures Globally.” Nature Food 2 (6): 4??–??. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00279-9.

[13] Yi et al.“Post-Farmgate Food Value Chains Make up Most of Consumer Food Expenditures Globally.” 4??

[14] “Fast Facts About Agriculture & Food.” 2021. American Farm Bureau Federation. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.fb.org/newsroom/fast-facts?token=H0IEw1v7wfq7RwDCypu3W-Vm5E_CupKz.

Listening Sessions to be held for a Southern Maryland Land Protection Plan

March 27, 2023 By Community Relations Manager

By Mary Hoover, SMCA Coordinator

It is well established that the Southern Maryland region is one of indispensable ecological importance. The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Land Mapping Tool (below) reveals that the five county expanse houses some of the state’s most resilient landscapes, making this an opportune region for those who wish to conserve their lands. The green hues painting the Southern Maryland region on the map signify a landscape with abundant biodiversity and habitat connectedness, starkly contrasting the dark grays and browns that characterize the highly developed D.C. region. Although the Southern Maryland region currently houses some of the state’s most diverse species and connected lands, it is not guaranteed to stay this way. So long as land remains unprotected, the region is vulnerable to the omnipresent threat of the expansion of the D.C. Metro area. The good news is that ACLT, the Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance (SMCA), and the wider land trust community are working hard to preserve as much land as possible to maintain the environmental integrity of our critical region.

An exciting opportunity to amplify the scale of land protection in Southern Maryland is underway. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes the creation of a new wildlife refuge in Southern Maryland, and SMCA is assisting with the preparation of a Land Protection Plan/Environmental Assessment (LPP/EA) to do so. In short, the Land Protection Plan details the rationale for establishing a refuge in Southern Maryland, including a map of the acquisition boundary (the draft of which is below) and why it supports the USFWS mission to protect fish and wildlife habitat. If approved, the plan will greenlight USFWS pursuit of land from willing sellers within the acquisition boundary.

As of March 2023, the Service is in the process of drafting the plan and actively soliciting public input before seeking the document’s approval from the USFWS director. The approval of this plan could be a critical juncture for land preservation in Maryland. There has never been a more urgent time to protect Maryland’s most ecologically resilient lands, and an approved LPP/EA for Southern Maryland could greatly accelerate land protection by allowing USFWS to purchase via fee or easement up to 30,000 total acres of land within the acquisition boundary.

In September 2022, USFWS held a meeting to engage stakeholders and hear feedback about the proposal. On March 23, 2023, the Service held the first of three public listening sessions to further engage public opinion before finalizing the proposal. Between the two sessions, one of the most notable recurring concerns was how landowners would receive the plan. The term “acquisition boundary” may seem threatening to those whose properties fall within the border, but USFWS wants to be clear that the establishment of an acquisition boundary actually presents an opportunity. Joe McCauley, Chesapeake Fellow at the Chesapeake Conservancy and member of the LPP/EA core team, explained at the March 23 session that “this plan gives the Service the same right as everyone in this room, which is the right to purchase land from willing sellers.” The plan, although necessarily laced with technical terminology, is as simple as this.

Two more public listening sessions are scheduled for March 30 at the St. Charles County Administration Building in La Plata and April 18 at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons. Both sessions will be from 7-8pm, with ample time to ask questions. Public support is highly important to the Service, and this is a great opportunity for Southern Maryland citizens to inform their consent and offer valuable feedback, making the final proposal as effective as possible.

For more info., view the FAQs here: www.acltweb.org/SoMdRefugeFAQ