Kelly and Kristin's Great Farm Adventure~DAY EIGHTEEN

Tonight, Kristin "hooked us UP!"  She has old friends, Matt and Mary Harsh, who were educated at Virginia Tech in horticulture and biology (respectively).  Matt also has a Masters in Farm Management from Lincoln Tech in New Zealand!  Well, the good news, for you local folks, is that they are BACK IN TOWN and Farmin'!  BAM!

We visited their amazing greenhouse and farm tonight, and were innundated with new ideas and information to chew on...AND...they gave us REAL stuff to chew on as well (ie. their own lettuce mix, asparagus, and strawberries!)

We asked Matt and Mary about organic farming.  They made us aware that organic does NOT mean that it hasn't been treated and is "au naturale."  There is a list of organic approved insecticides and pesticides that will blow your mind, baby!

Matt talked about two kinds of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) tonight, "Round up ready" and "BT infused."  We found out that very nearly all corn IS "round up ready" meaning it is nearly impossible for corn and soybeans in the world to NOT include some form of "round up resistant" gene in it.  "Round up ready" gene is patented by Monsanto, which you may have heard of if you've watched the documentary "Food Inc."  The good news about this gene is that when round up is sprayed on the field to kill the weeds, it will not kill the corn.  Farmers no longer have to till their land in order to plant their corn or soybeans, which reduces soil erosion and sediment in the Chesapeake Bay (sediment being the #1 pollutant in the bay).  Since the round up ready gene has made its way into the general corn population, it is nearly impossible to get corn in America that does NOT have the gene.  Our question is, "Is this a BAD thing?"  Kelly watched a lecture a week or so ago that mentioned that food allergies have increased drastically since the round up gene was introduced, so we're at a loss right now.  So here's the deal.  Kristin and Kelly both LIKE CORN.  We're not going to stop eating it, so deal with it.  You kind of have to be okay with eating round up ready corn.  It's everywhere (except, apparently, New Zealand) !)

Onto the "BT corn gene."  BT is an insecticide that has been introduced into the DNA/RNA of the corn.  BT corn will kill any worm that bites it.  BT is also on the list of organically approved insecticides, meaning that some organic farms use BT.  So how do you tell the difference between Round up Ready corn and BT corn?  We will never know.  This also only scratches the surface of GMO corn, we realize, but it's all we could comprehend tonight, and we think Matt picked up on that.  By the way, we must put a disclaimer up:  We may have gotten this ALL WRONG.  !)

After our "lesson," we got a tour of their (Kelly) "FABULOUS" (Kristin) "AMAZING" greenhouse!  They have it ALL!  Flowers, herbs, veggies, lettuces, even llamas (though they were NOT in the greenhouse, and you may not want to eat them).  Matt let us taste his tasty lettuce (and then GAVE us a whole lotta lettuce!).  Kristin is going back to buy her herbs to grow at home soon!  They even sell their bell pepper to WEGMANS!  Well, Wegmans, we can one-up you now!  We're goin' straight to the source!

After that, Mary gave us some asparagus from their market stand, which...listen up, folks: YOU CAN BUY FROM, TOO!!!  They are not an organic farm, but they do not (knowingly~remember, the round up ready has made its way into the general American corn population) use GMO seed.  They are very environmentally conscious, which is a perk!  They do not currently use manure because of the risk of infection, and if he does use it in the future, he told us that he will apply it in the fall.

13220 Edgemont Rd

Smithsburg, MD 21783

(if you live in town, it's just down past Cool's Pond on the right)



We met up with Matt "down on the farm" after that and picked strawberries that were amazing!  Matt came up to us and said, "If you're REALLY committed to this, try THIS ONE!"  ("THIS ONE" was a strawberry that was littered with worm holes)  Our reply? "WE have Young Life in us.  We'll try anything once.  Your worm hole strawberry doesn't scare us."  Chomp, chomp...oh, baby...SO...GOOD.  Matt said the worms eat the GOOD ONES, and he...was...right.

Then, they gave us a tour of the farm, and we chatted it up for awhile in under the cover of the barn, and we were on our way!  We found out that WALMART does what they can to buy their produce locally (better than Weis and Martins), however, they don't do a good job marketing that!  How are we supposed to know it's local, WALMART?!  We'd love to see them clearly display when they buy locally.  TIP:  If a fruit or vegetable is not in season...it is NOT LOCAL.  Matt also mentioned not to buy pears from the Northwest (he would not feed them to his own children)...cuz they spray those suckers somethin' fierce (emphasis-ours).  His big tip was this:  "KNOW YOUR FARMER!!!"  Your farmer knows exactly how the produce is grown.  He knows exactly what he treated the crops with.  That's important, folks!

All-in-all, we will both be hittin' them up for fruits and veggies ALL summer long, and they even pointed us in the direction of a book that will help us cook with produce that is in season.  We can tell y'all more about this after we figure it out, but we're EXCITED!

Our "painful" next field trip will be to Misty Meadows to learn more about milk, hormones and antibiotics..."PAINFUL" because they also sell ice cream.  And, you know...we're "VEGAN" right now, so pretty much everything they sell will be "painful."