Spending locally with farms and other makers helps you find products that are fresher and have traveled much shorter distances from farm to fork. Plus, you’re supporting independent family farms and local businesses, which helps strengthen the local economy. Now, more than ever, it’s important to show support for our local farms.
Maryland Buy Local Week
The annual Maryland Buy Local Week, taking place from July 19-28, offers an excellent opportunity to do just that. Throughout this week, Marylanders are encouraged to take the Buy Local Challenge by committing to purchase at least one local product each day. This can involve shopping at a local farmers market or farm store, visiting a nearby winery, brewery, or distillery, or participating in various agritourism activities across the region.
Buy Local Challenge Celebration
The week culminates on July 29 with the Buy Local Challenge Celebration hosted by the Southern Maryland Agriculture Development Commission (SMADC) at Serenity Farms in Benedict, MD, from 5 to 8 pm. This family-friendly event will feature up to 50 local vendors offering farm products, food, and entertainment in a farmers-market style setting. Attendees can enjoy Maryland’s summer bounty, including farm-raised meats, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, flowers, oysters, baked goods, jams, pickles, honey, and farm-made soaps and scents. Additionally, there will be local arts and crafts, and artisanal beverages from Maryland’s wineries, distilleries, and breweries.
Admission is $5 (kids 6yrs. and under free). Tickets are available to purchase online until 4 p.m. Monday, July 29, or at the door via PayPal. Purchased tickets include a complimentary insulated shopping tote (with ice to keep your purchases fresh), a free raffle (must be present to win) with generously donated vendor prizes, carriage rides with the magnificent Suttler Post Farm Clydesdales, and for the kids, rides with ‘Mary's Go Round' adorable ponies, Serenity Farm petting pen, and face painting.
Spotlight on Charles County Agriculture
Charles County is home to 371 farms and over 47,000 acres of farmland. Many of these farms sell directly to consumers and have farm stands or stores. Some also provide agritourism opportunities in Charles County.
Many farms offer community-supported agriculture (CSAs) for consumers to sign up for a “subscription style” box of local products ranging from local meat, produce and even floral CSAs. This approach, as well as value-added agriculture, is allowing smaller-scale farms to keep consumers engaged. Value-added agriculture is a fast growing and economically significant sector in the agriculture industry. Value-added agriculture allows producers to take products they grow and add value to them by creating a more-finished product rather than just an ingredient. The most popular of this form of this is craft beverage production.
To find local agriculture, check out Explore Charles County for an interactive map with agritourism opportunities and farm stores in our community. Check out Maryland's Best to find local producers in the region.
