December 1, 2023 • 44 mins
In this episode of “The UMB Pulse” podcast, we are joined by Megan Todd, JD, managing director for the Agriculture Law Education Initiative (ALEI) at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, and Nia Nyamweya, founder and farm manager of Beauty Blooms Farm in Montgomery County.
They discuss the new generation of Maryland farming, the role of ALEI in aiding Maryland farmers, and the nuances and challenges new farmers face. Maryland’s new face of farming is ethnically diverse, growing food and vegetables that reflect their cultures, especially from Africa, Asian, and Latin American countries — all done on small tracts of public land.
Todd shares insights on how ALEI educates farmers on complex legal topics and collaborates with other institutions to provide comprehensive resources. Nyamweya shares her journey from nonprofit work to becoming a returning generation farmer and the innovative steps she has taken to overcome challenges in this emerging system. The conversation also explores the practical implications of farming regulations, the importance of community organizations, and the impact of local farming on cultural heritage.
ALEI is a University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State joint venture among Maryland Carey Law, the University of Maryland College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences.
In a bonus segment, Dana recaps holiday events and drives at UMB including the Holiday Craft Fair, Student Food Pantry Drive and the Christmas Store.
Listen to The UMB Pulse on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you like to listen. The UMB Pulse is also now on YouTube.
Visit our website at umaryland.edu/pulse or email us at umbpulse@umaryland.edu.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Charles Schelle (00:00):
It's December.
We've had a bit of a chill.
I have my winter sweater on withsome snowflakes.
I'm wishing for more snow.
We had a little bit of flurrieswhen we were recording this
today.
The holiday season is here andit's a great time to visit farms
with all the wreaths, the trees,maybe it's the jams, the
jellies, the oranges that youget.
(00:20):
I know my sisters love to seekout some of those homemade
jellies from the farm stands.
You can just find a little bitof anything at a farmer's
market, produce stand or wholeoperating farm.
Dana Rampolla (00:31):
I agree with you.
I love those homemade items thatmaybe I haven't made, but I know
that someone local has that'sincorporating either local
produce or local herbs, thatsort of thing.
And there aren't a lot of thosethat are around.
You just have to seek them out,but it's a nice opportunity to
give something that's a littlemore personal than the big box
store kind of
Charles Schelle (00:51):
stuff.
And they're not justincidentally made, it takes a
lot of hard work to even getthat final product.
You have to grow it in theground, right?
And so we're going to have areally cool conversation today
about a new look of Marylandfarming.
There's this entire newgeneration of farmers who are
(01:13):
not just those who inheritedthat generational farm.
with those, acres and acres ofsoybeans, right?
And you're going to hear about aculturally diverse farming on
small plots of land wherethey're growing the produce and
they're trying to make the endproduct.
So we're going to talk to MeganTodd, she's the Managing
(01:34):
Director for the AgriculturalLaw Education Initiative for
Maryland Cary Law here at theUniversity of Maryland,
Baltimore, about how thisprogram works, what ALEI does,
as we'll refer to the program.
And we're also going to talk toNia Nyamwea, she's the founder
and farm manager of BeautyBlooms and you'll hear all about
(01:55):
the things that she had to gothrough just to farm on a very
small plot of land and thethings that she still has to
contend with.
Dana Rampolla (02:04):
And it'll be interesting to learn more about
how she started from a tinyparcel of land.
I think she talks about an 8thof an acre and then how that's
grown and evolved.
And I also Charles find thatthis whole topic is interesting
because it really gives us achance to share how UMB has made
a commitment to Maryland and howwe collaborate with not only
(02:25):
University of Maryland, CollegePark, but also University of
Maryland, Eastern Shore toreally make a difference in
Maryland.
So we pride ourselves on sharingour changemaker stories and this
one hits close to home, so let'sget to it.
Charles Schelle (02:55):
Hello, Megan.
Hello, Nia.
Thank you for joining us on theUMB Pulse.
Megan Todd (03:01):
Hey, Charles.
Great to be here.
Thanks for inviting me.
Thanks so much.
Excited to be here.
Charles Schelle (03:06):
We're here to talk about the new generation of
Maryland farming and how ALEIhelps that.
But Megan, first explain to ourlisteners what ALEI does.
Megan Todd (03:17):
Sure, I can try to do this in a nutshell for you.
So ALEI stands for theAgriculture Law Education
Initiative, and it's really inMPowering the State.
It's a strategic partnershipwith the University of Maryland
College Park and the Universityof Maryland Carey School of Law
and also the University ofMaryland Eastern Shore Campus as
well.
We have legal specialists ateach campus, um, working both
(03:39):
independently and together tocreate free legal resources for
the farmers in Maryland.
Um, And it really is just hereas a service to help them really
understand a lot of the legaltopics and issues that stem from
wanting to run a farm business.
They're really, diverse andmultifaceted and it depends a
(04:00):
lot on the type of operationthat the person is pursuing.
But, we're here as a resourceand free resource to help them
understand what those issues areand how they can manage those
risks associated with thosepotential legal liabilities and
compliance requirements andpermitting and all.
The lovely details of the law.
(04:21):
Yeah, and we're free.
So we do educationally, a lot ofworkshops things like that.
Charles Schelle (04:25):
All right.
So you mentioned the threeuniversities involved and it's
part of this MPower umbrellapartnership that we refer to,
what are each of the roles whenit comes to College Park,
Maryland Carey Law and theUniversity of Maryland Eastern
Shore?
Megan Todd (04:42):
Oh, that's a great question.
So it's not that we each havedifferent roles.
So to speak, but the beauty ofthe collaboration is that
together we can reach furtherand do more with the resources
we have by collaborating becausewe each have different
strengths, right?
The College Park campus, verylarge, their School of Ag and
Natural Resources with theirextension program.
(05:04):
So we work really closely withthe state's extension educators
as well And my role in theUniversity of Maryland, Carey
School of Law, we have thatconnection to Baltimore, some
more urban growers in the state,and then the Eastern Shore
campus is an historic 1890sschool focused on The
historically Black students andcreating that campus and
(05:28):
agricultural program out on theEastern Shore.
So we're able to really youthink about it where we're
physically located.
We cover the whole state.
We have a presence throughoutthe state.
And when we work together forour website, we bring on to
bring together our resources onthe ALEI website and we host our
annual conference every year inAnnapolis.
(05:48):
So it's really just a groupeffort.
We focus in on what topics wefind are relevant to the members
of the state that we work withclosely and just run with it
from there.
Dana Rampolla (05:58):
And so Maryland Carey Law offers students the
chance to study business law,health law and environmental
law.
And ALEI is a way for studentsto wrap all those things
together.
So tell me, what doesparticipation look like for the
student?
Megan Todd (06:14):
Thank you for that question.
I'm really glad you askedbecause one of the key
components or key missions ofALEI is to really get students
involved and more aware of theagricultural issues that farmers
do face, like the legal issuesthat farmers face.
So we do offer internships everysummer for both undergraduate
students and law students.
(06:36):
Both independently.
So my colleagues at College Parkare Paul Goringer and Elizabeth
Domeney.
And they host They can host lawstudent interns on their campus,
as well as interns, during thesemester, um, for me, for, I can
also do law student researchassistance during the semester
just to help with some of our,with our resources, our
(06:58):
research, our presentations thatwe do I'll be hiring a legal
fellow, a recent graduateactually in January, so I look
to aquaculture to land access tonutrition benefits.
That was just from last summer,and that's only half of the
projects they covered.
If any, if there's anyundergraduate student or law
student who is interested inlearning more about, like, how
(07:18):
the farming community navigates.
The laws and regulations of thestate and federal government.
We definitely have opportunitiesfor them and they can reach out
to me.
They can go to our webpage.
Yeah, we try to work with atleast a handful of students
every year.
Dana Rampolla (07:32):
And you said that works to educate the farmers and
the policy makers.
1 of the ways you do that isthrough workshops.
You mentioned you just had aconference just that was just a
week or 2 ago.
So what kind of workshops andwebinars do you offer?
Megan Todd (07:48):
It changes from year to year.
I would say a lot of the workthat we do is grant funded.
So we often have a particulartopic in mind that we want to do
education on, something that wesee that there's a need for and
we organize a series over two tothree years.
We organize a series ofworkshops.
So that so this year, my topicwould be increasing the
(08:09):
knowledge for agriculturalservice providers.
So that means extension agentsand county economic development
officers about federal nutritionbenefit programs and how farmers
can become authorized to acceptmoney from those shoppers.
We also do pretty frequentlyworkshops on agricultural
leasing, just basics of leasingand conservation leasing
(08:31):
practices.
Because you'd be surprised howmany people are still on a
handshake lease.
And those types of things arevery important, written
contracts.
We have a lot of topics.
Are very important topic that weget to ask to present on pretty
often.
Colleagues at College Parkpresent on a state planning
pretty frequently accessingland.
Um, Is something that we do.
So we have got a lot of topics.
We do webinars on differenttopics every August as well.
(08:54):
I do an August webinar serieswhere I take a month to focus in
on one topic over four weeks anddo like a deep dive, um, and
invite experts.
To come and talk and give usmore knowledge on like
permitting requirements and whoto talk to you in local
government.
I Hope that answers yourquestion.
It varies every year, but wealso have this set type of
(09:18):
topics that we can revisit.
We always get asked to come andpresent pretty regularly at
different conferences and winterworkshops.
Dana Rampolla (09:25):
Okay, that sounds good.
And so how would I find outabout this or sign up and is it
just for existing farmers andagribusiness people?
Or if I'm new, can I join aswell?
Megan Todd (09:37):
Yeah, so anybody who's interested can attend one
of our webinars, like whetherthey're farming or not, whether
they're gardening or farming asa hobby or, whether they're
commercial farming or they'rejust farming for nonprofit and
to donate, right?
So whatever level of interest,anybody can sign up for our
workshops or webinars.
The ones that we host throughALEI, we usually will post on
(09:59):
our webpage.
We have a calendar and events,upcoming events, where we post
things.
We have a quarterly newsletterthat we send out and we usually
include the links to ourupcoming events there as well.
And you can sign up for thequarterly newsletter on our
webpage.
For the farmers out there wealso post all of our events and
workshops on the countyextension web page calendar.
(10:21):
So there's a state extension andeach county has their own
calendar too.
So we try to get on.
We try to get it on all thosecalendars.
It's hard sometimes.
And then when we do workshops orpanels at conferences whichever
organization that they'reinterested in, like if it's
future harvest shore rivers,things like that, and they can
connect through those web pagesas well to find out what work
(10:44):
we've done.
Charles Schelle (10:45):
You mentioned your website a couple of times.
What's your website address?
Megan Todd (10:48):
Www.
umaglaw.
org.
Charles Schelle (10:52):
Easy to remember.
Now as Dana asked about, peoplenew to farming, you help them
too.
You help people from allgenerations, from your heritage
farmers to people who are new.
Maryland is a cultural meltingpot.
That's definitely extended tofarming.
And we have a new farmer,relatively new here today with
Nia and we'll get to Nia in asecond, but in a nutshell, at a
(11:15):
high level, Megan, who are thesenew generations of farmers?
Megan Todd (11:21):
I think one of the things that I've noticed in my 5
years with ALEI so far is that,um, farmers are very diverse.
They're innovative people andhistorically, the USDA census
data does show us that mostfarmers are still older men,
gentlemen, but there'sdefinitely a transition toward
younger folks trying to come ininto farming.
(11:43):
One of the biggest issuesassociated with.
Yeah.
Allowing younger folks who aremaybe don't have quite as much
access to capital, right?
Or they haven't inherited afarm, a family farm is land
access.
And so that's just simply one ofthe issues that has been coming
up for me a lot lately and justtrying to help people understand
the different ways that they canaccess land if they don't have a
(12:05):
very large plot in their family.
So definitely a lot of up andcoming people from diverse
backgrounds trying to get intofarming, and they don't, they're
not necessarily looking for 20acres.
They're happy to do it on asmall plot you know, get started
small, right?
Small steps and then grow andsee how they like it.
So that's what I've beennoticing in my time with ALEI.
Charles Schelle (12:26):
Nia, we have Nia here from Beauty Blooms
Farm, and that wasn't your,first iteration of farming.
You got to that chance.
So let's back up.
Tell us about yourself yourbackground, and how you got into
farming.
Nia Nyamweya (12:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I began Beauty Blooms Farm in2020, and before that I was
working in non profit work andcommunity organizing in D.
C., and the last kind of pieceof work I was working on was
healing justice, and that's aTerm used by folks in the South
who were community organizersasking civil rights leaders, how
(13:02):
do you stay resilient?
What are our traditionalpractices to keep joy and hope
alive?
And through that, I found outabout this great community of
local farmers farming.
And then I also learned aboutFuture Harvest and their
beginning farmer trainingprogram.
I joined that and just loved it.
So I call myself a returninggeneration farmer because both
(13:24):
sets of my grandparents werefarmers.
My mom's side here in the statesand my dad's from Kenya, so he
grew up farming in Kenya.
So I really wanted to farm whileconnecting to my cultural roots
and also have farming as asocial change, social justice
practice.
Because a bunch of Culturallyimportant crops may not be
(13:45):
available in grocery stores, butgrowing them fresh locally with
natural green methods wassomething important to me.
So the farm's mission is tocelebrate cultural heritage
through food and grow inMontgomery County and Damascus
on six acres.
Charles Schelle (13:59):
So what type of crops are you growing?
You mentioned about theculturally significant crops and
then, what kind of dishes wouldyou make with them or would you
just eat them out of the ground?
Nia Nyamweya (14:09):
That is the fun thing about for me is sometimes
you can just pick a pea off somevine and eat it.
But for cultural importantcrops, African heritage crops,
the dark leafy greens are astaple.
So heirloom collards, kale.
And then some dishes are alsounique in that.
Like bean leaves, cowpea leavesare a staple in Kenyan diet.
(14:32):
It's called kunde.
And so you grow the bean, butyou don't grow it for the bean
itself.
You grow it for the leaves.
And so you can just saute thatwith onions, garlic, super
simple and delicious.
Hot peppers is another staple.
So cayenne peppers, berberpeppers, scotch bonnet.
Eggplants, okra.
So similar varieties, justheirloom varieties that have a
(14:54):
lot of cultural importance andhave been used for generations.
Charles Schelle (14:58):
And I'm sure you're finding a strong
population in Maryland who areseeking out these crops, right?
Nia Nyamweya (15:07):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's the great thing about theD.
C.
metro area is that we're soracially and ethnically diverse
that there's a good amount offolks African heritage, but also
from Asian and Latino heritagethat also eat some of the
similar crops.
So it's a great place to growculturally important
Charles Schelle (15:24):
crops.
You mentioned about.
The land and being able to growand I understand there are
different types of agriculturalreserves and programs in
Maryland where you can getaccess.
So how did you find the land?
Because you're not looking justfor a small patch of grass that
you could go into your backyard.
You're looking for something alittle bit more organized.
Nia Nyamweya (15:45):
Yeah, that's right.
And initially I started throughthe lane link program through
Montgomery Countryside Allianceand that was so great because I
did start on a smaller plot andeighth acre and that was a
really great way to get startedin farming but have a manageable
space.
And for my current land, IApproached state park Rangers
(16:05):
and built a relationship withthem over the past two years.
So Maryland State throughDepartment of Natural Resources
leases to farmers, but it'sprimarily corn and soybean
farmers, and they grow forgrain.
So I approached the park Rangersand the good thing is that we
shared values and conservation.
Regenerating the soil.
And so that was really my footin is that I proposed that I
(16:29):
would regenerate the soil.
So we cover crop five acres,increasing organic matter,
building topsoil health and thenactively cultivate the
vegetables on one acre.
But through building therelationship with Department of
Natural Resources, ensuringthose values, that's how I got
access to this
Charles Schelle (16:45):
land.
And which park was that again?
I'm
Nia Nyamweya (16:49):
in the Patuxent
Megan Todd (16:49):
River State Park.
Charles Schelle (16:51):
Okay.
Wow.
I, you can grow anywhere.
Wow.
That's
Megan Todd (16:55):
right.
Yeah.
And
Nia Nyamweya (16:55):
it spans across multiple counties, but I'm right
on the edge in Damascus andMontgomery County.
Dana Rampolla (17:01):
That's so interesting.
Megan, can you tell us a littlebit if, so say I'm somebody like
Nia in that situation startingout, what types of programs
would specifically help me thatALEI offers?
Megan Todd (17:15):
Oh, that's interesting question.
And I would say the ALEI.
I don't think we wouldnecessarily be the sole person
to go to.
To get access to different statelands.
We did hear at the conference afew weeks ago that Charles
mentioned our annual conference.
We were this year.
We were actually able to havethe three secretaries for
Department of Natural Resources,Department of Agriculture and
(17:36):
Department of Environment showup.
And one of the points that theDepartment of Natural Resources
secretary mentioned SecretaryKurtz.
Is that they'll be working morecollaboratively with MDA to, to
increase access to state parkland for farming purposes.
So allowing more programs likewe have one in Prince George's
(18:00):
County, it's called Eco CityFarms, where they have a plot of
land from the county parksdepartment and they're able to
break it up into quarter acreplots and lease those out to
beginning farmers as a way to,for them, just like Nia
mentioned, to Get started figureout what they want to grow, get
used to managing the businessand growing the business and
(18:21):
then give them time to to have atrack record as they look for
access to a more permanent pieceof land or a larger plot of
land, because oftentimes, there,there's going to be a need to
apply for funding.
And so Marbinco is a greatorganization in the state of
Maryland that, offers funding tofarmers.
(18:42):
But you might also see peoplethat go to banks, farm credit
banks, institutions to apply forfunding for loans to buy the
property and oftentimes you'llsee, requirement of a business
plan or a track record ofsuccessful sales over a number
of years and having theseprograms like Eco City in Prince
George's County and hopefullymore across the state as the
Department of Natural Resourcesworks with MDA, they're able to
(19:05):
provide that history of farmingthat allows them to then access
that that lending or capitalfrom Marbid Co or another bank.
So that's part of it.
And then, we work with, I workwith, The growers and eco city
farms and future harvest andextension to give them training
on principles about leasing andland purchasing and you know
(19:26):
that what's the process ofbuying land and if they want to,
we'll talk about this a littlebit, but if they want to start,
um, have a farm stand.
What do they have to look for intheir zoning or their land code?
If they want to build astructure, what permits do they
need to go to through theircounty offices?
And again, if they want toprocess it into a different
(19:47):
product, they might need acommercial kitchen.
So all of these different pointsin the process will require some
sort of legal knowledge andunderstanding of contracts.
And that's how we fit into thewhole picture.
We're not the only player.
We're just like a very smallpart that we hope will help save
farmers time and money andheadaches down the line as they
go through all of theseprocesses.
Dana Rampolla (20:07):
Yeah, so many different facets of production
to think about that.
It's not just growing thatplant, but then what do you do
with it afterwards?
Which Nia, that kind of bringsus back to you.
So other than providing theland, what did the reserves and
operations offer?
Nia Nyamweya (20:25):
So for the most part, it's all on the farmer to
come up with the infrastructureand that's something Megan
touched on earlier, is as ayoung farmer of color who's just
starting out, that access tocapital can be a major barrier
so that's why I'm really hopefulin terms of the state park or
even ecocity farms and programsthat do help you with that
(20:46):
infrastructure, so providing afence.
Providing a well.
Those are really important ingetting started in farming.
And so I'm really hopeful thatprograms like that will continue
to expand and help provide thatinfrastructure because currently
it's solely on the farmer.
Dana Rampolla (21:01):
So from a practical standpoint what did
you do then once you got theland?
Like, how did you move to thatnext step?
Nia Nyamweya (21:08):
Yeah, so thankfully, my dad has been a
landscaper for over 40 years.
I've been using his tools andalso his help a ton.
He's been great and reallysupportive.
So having him as someone to helpout with the farm has been
immense in terms of labor.
The other piece is that Wecurrently don't have access to
(21:29):
water, so we have to pumpthrough the local river and get
really creative by necessity.
Drive a 300 gallon tank down tothe Patuxent State River, pump
out 300 gallons and drive itback to the farm.
But I would say that's whereALEI in terms of legal resources
and knowing how much is cappedin terms of farmers and how much
(21:50):
you can take out of public Watersources each day.
Knowing those parameters ishelpful when you have to get
creative on the farm to make itwork.
Dana Rampolla (22:01):
Who even knew all of those things, like I wouldn't
have even known that you wouldtap into.
Thank you for sharing that.
Charles Schelle (22:08):
Yeah.
Just literally almost like oldtime farming, like going to get
buckets of water out of theriver and hauling them shoulder
and shoulder But now you're justdoing with the giant water truck
and just loading up and pumpingit and it sounds, as you
mentioned.
The land is one part of it.
You still need your equipment.
Depending on the size of theland, maybe you can get by with
maybe a tiller or something, butmaybe some others, like you
(22:29):
might have to go in on perhaps,a tractor, potentially a small
tractor with either yourself orsomeone else.
Nia Nyamweya (22:35):
Yeah, that's right.
Thankfully, we have a reallykind neighbor across from the
state park that lets us use hisNew Holland tractor.
The biggest piece of, yeah, it'sbeen great.
And we barter with hot peppersand bring him over some of those
during the season And thebiggest piece of equipment we
have is a BCS walk behindtractor.
So it has a flail mower.
We have a compost spreader,which has been great because I'd
(22:56):
have to get some friends.
And with wheelbarrows to spreada compost on the farm.
So yes, equipment's a majorpiece.
And I would also say fencing,because there's a ton of deer in
the area.
Deer pressure's immense.
So having a fence up and gettingthat put up is a big thing.
And thankfully throughMontgomery Countryside Alliance
(23:17):
that runs the Land Link program,they have a partnership where if
you are giving to the local foodbanks or selling to the local
food banks, They'll partner withyou in helping with fencing
costs.
So I, I would say that's anotherbig piece of the farm journey is
that it's been primarilywholesale to the capital area
and Manna Food Center, foodbanks, and that's really where
(23:38):
culturally important crops forfolks who need access to food
has been a really greatpartnership in the beginning of
my farm journey.
Charles Schelle (23:45):
Yeah.
And as Megan alluded to a littlebit earlier you have Just the
growing part and all thosechallenges that you just
mentioned about gettingequipment and water and
everything.
But once you grow it, you got tosell it, right?
And so there's the marketing,there's the business end of, of
things.
And so where maybe during yourjourney where you're like, okay,
I need to find some resourcesand help to figure some of these
(24:06):
things out to make my business alittle bit smoother and
eliminate some of theseheadaches.
Nia Nyamweya (24:13):
I think that is actually a constant thing
throughout the farming process.
So the resources from ALEI orfuture harvest and organizations
that serve farmers, I think areimportant throughout.
So finding anywhere where youcan learn more about telling
your story, I think that's thepiece about marketing is like
why you want to farm.
(24:34):
What is your passion behind it?
What do you grow and sharingthat is important.
And I also think that revivingor reclaiming the history of
African heritage crops andgrowing them here is another
piece of that.
I think finding those resourcesthroughout that just help you
get better because each yearyou're learning more, you're
learning on the fly.
(24:55):
And as you continue to improvethose resources help throughout.
Dana Rampolla (24:58):
So Nia, this education, then it's not
strictly about growing produceor livestock or even oysters if
we're on the Eastern Shore,farmers would have stands that
could have sauces and jams andjellies and that sort of thing.
And then Megan, that gets usinto this whole other
opportunity talking aboutagripreneurs for both business
and law tell us a little bitabout that piece of it
Megan Todd (25:22):
Oh, yeah that's definitely true.
I think farmers nowadays, um,it's a tough, it's tough market
out there.
And so farmers, especially localfarmers are finding a large need
to diversify their incomestreams.
And so that often translatesinto value added agriculture is
the term that we use in thestate.
It's been adopted.
And so that includes agritourismactivities.
(25:43):
So like experiences on the farm.
Think your pumpkin patches,petting zoos, corn mazes tasting
rooms.
Maybe some educational workshopson farms and then also value
added processed foods.
Baked goods, jams and jelliespeople have been doing like
prepared meals with some oftheir foods like their local
(26:04):
meats and produce.
And so when you bring all ofthat into the scene, it's
definitely gets more complicatedlegally and, risk wise, right?
So two resources that we workedon that I worked on with ALEI
recently are the legal guide todirect farm marketing for
produce growers in the state,and that's sort of a survey of
(26:24):
all the different types of legalissues that will pop up when you
invite members of the publiconto your farm for these
experiences that are definitelyvaluable and needed to keep
these businesses running.
They need that extra income,right?
They can't just make it on salesof produce alone.
And it's a lot, you know, it'skind of like one way that one of
my coworkers used to phrase it.
It's like your farm is turninginto an aisle at the grocery
(26:47):
store.
It's like that level of carethat you owe to the guests that
you invite onto your farm.
So it's definitely somethingthat people, farmers should be
thinking about.
And then on the terms of thevalue added processing.
Or food production, right?
That's a whole other thing, too.
We have in Maryland, theregulatory scheme for value
added foods is a little bit morecomplicated than some other of
our neighboring states.
(27:09):
We do have cottage foodproduction, which does not
require a license, but it'slimited to a certain type of
food and certain listedproducts.
And so you don't want to get introuble with the health
department by making a foodthat's not on the cottage food
license list without firstgetting your health license,
your processing license.
And that can be a complicatedendeavor as well because we have
(27:29):
licenses from the state leveland also from the county health
departments and what you makeand where you want to sell it
and the volume that you'reselling will determine which
office you go to apply for yourpermit.
We have a resource that we putout.
It's called actually, I have itright here next to me, adding
value to specialty crops,regulatory decision trees for
(27:50):
Maryland producers.
That is a decision tree.
Resource that a farmer can go toit.
They say, I want to make a jamand jelly.
So they go to the table for jamand jelly and look at the ask
the questions that willdetermine where they need to go
to apply for their permit.
And what are the documents theyneed to prepare in advance?
And, what are the plans theyneed to have in place?
(28:11):
and the recipes and all thatstuff.
So hopefully it's a resourcethat will streamline that
process for growers instead ofhaving them, you know, like I
did during the creation of thatresource, go to the health
department webpage and see lotsof links and be very confused
and not know what, what appliedto which operation at first.
Yeah, we do some of that, likethat legwork in between to make
it easier for the growers.
Dana Rampolla (28:32):
Yeah, that's interesting.
I had a sister in law a numberof years ago who tried to do a
cottage business where she madesome jams and jellies and
granola and things.
And it, it was before any ofthese resources and she got
very, so caught up in it all andnot understanding that she wound
up, not, it didn't become athing.
She got pretty far into it, butthen it was just a lot to
(28:55):
navigate what the legalitieswere.
Having a kitchen that waswhatever you have to do with a
special kitchen to get itqualified as that for business.
Megan Todd (29:05):
Yeah.
And I would say I've, I'vetalked to a lot of people in,
who are involved in educationfor agriculture in the state.
And it's something that it's aknown issue.
Like it can be stifling tobusinesses, people have an idea
and they get really excitedabout it and they go to look
like, how do I do this?
And it just seems reallyoverwhelming, and it just either
kills their desire, or they tryto go after it for a while, and
(29:28):
then they just keep reading,meeting roadblock after
roadblock.
And so that is, I think, one ofALEI's important roles is not
just with the farmers, butworking with the local county
departments and officials tohelp them understand what are
the struggles the farmers aregoing through, and what are they
trying to accomplish, and tryingto figure out how we can let
(29:49):
them connect to each other in away that allows those ideas to,
to thrive and flourish andcontribute to our economy and
our food security.
Charles Schelle (29:58):
Nia with all the hoops that we've just
listened, and I'm sure you hadto jump through a lot on your
own.
What advice would you give toother new farmers similar to you
about things they maybe shouldbe prepared to face?
Nia Nyamweya (30:14):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I would say, first, takeadvantage as much as you can of
the resources that areavailable.
So, ALEI, Future Harvest, otherfarm serving organizations,
that's where I truly learn themost.
And also having on farm eventsand learning from farmers that
are growing themselves werecrucial to me.
(30:34):
And when I first was learningabout making the transition to
farm, and then the second thingI would say is, Don't think
about it too much.
I think if you reflect on allthe barriers and all the
challenges, you're going to bethinking about that forever.
So what's actually worked for meand what I recommend is take
action first to try it out firstwith whatever space, whatever
(30:56):
time and capacity you have, andthen go from there because
you'll learn as you go.
Each season is different.
Each weather pattern isdifferent.
So just take action first and gofor it.
Charles Schelle (31:07):
And on the other side of the policy side,
and you have a platform herenow, is there like a friction
point that you're still facingor you're seeing other new
farmers face that you think thatthe policy or maybe regulation
could be improved?
And what would that look like?
Nia Nyamweya (31:24):
Yeah, absolutely.
So it essentially took two yearsto secure a long term lease.
So currently the lease terms arefive years, but if you're
growing an operation, it takes alot longer to improve the soil
and learn over those five years.
So long term lease stability iscrucial for farmers.
So currently just got approvedlast month for a 10 year lease
(31:46):
with the option to extend for15.
And I would say that is Soimportant and so needed because
if it's a two or five yearlease, your land unstable,
essentially, you don't know ifyou have to be looking for land
while you're actively farming.
You don't know if the equity andthe compost and all the time and
(32:08):
love you're putting into thatfarm, you'll then have to start
up at a new place in the nextcouple of years.
So long term leases are soimportant for farmers to build
stability and to really get.
Yeah.
Just long term leases are reallyimportant for stability and
farming.
Charles Schelle (32:24):
I was going to say I can't imagine the stress
of two years because you're soweather dependent, right?
And so you could have a summerof, torrential downpours and
flooding, or you could have anextended drought and there goes
one year of my two years and I'ma little bit out of luck.
So thanks.
Thanks for sharing that.
Yeah.
Megan, it's really interestingto hear all of this and the new
(32:46):
wave, whether it's, a Kenyanbackground, it could be a
Caribbean background, or, LatinAmerica, Central America, and
all these things are happeningin the background.
But at what point did ALEI learnabout this trend?
And how do you get involved inthese types of issues?
Megan Todd (33:07):
That, that's.
It's hard.
I feel I've joined ali fiveyears ago.
And the way that we learn aboutthings really the best part of
my job is when we get to go toconferences that are for farmers
and I get to meet the farmersand then talk to them about
their issues and get feedbackfrom them.
This talk was really great.
And here's my story.
Here's what I've beenexperiencing.
(33:28):
And so we really do draw a lotof our inspiration and plan our
future projects, our researchprojects, our grant projects,
our workshops, based on whatwe've been hearing from the
farmers and are in the statewhen we attend these workshops
and these these conferences andthings like that.
So that's the best part of myjob.
That's how we really figure outwhich direction to start going
on our projects in the future.
(33:49):
Yeah.
And so this issue with landstability and land access, so I
think this has been an issue fora very long time, predating my
time with ALEI and it's justbeen like a topic of constant
conversation whenever we, I goto conferences or talk to other
service providers, it's likeLand is very expensive now.
And then we saw, during thepandemic, during COVID 19, and
(34:10):
there was, a different, adifference in buying trends, but
people were trying to get outinto the country.
And very wealthy people werebuying, country, rural plots,
traditionally agricultural landon a cash offers above offer
sight unseen oftentimes.
And so it was very frustratingfor everybody involved in the,
in farming, I think, to realizethat.
(34:32):
We're are we're losing someresources that really should be
focused and reserved foragricultural activities and
increasing our local food systemresiliency, as we also saw
during epidemic was a very bigissue.
I would say the pandemic isreally when we shine the light
on the issue of land access andaffordability on that particular
topic.
And another topic that has beenreally big and a point of
(34:54):
conversation is the agritourismdefinitions and link limitations
that because they're all verycounty specific.
And so depending on which countyyou're in, what's allowed for
agritourism operations is goingto be varied.
And so trying to reach a betterconsensus or understanding
across the state or even locallyabout what's allowed and
communicating that with thegrowers in, the region is very
(35:18):
important.
Again, because like I mentioned,a lot of growers rely on that
income.
To keep their farm going.
Dana Rampolla (35:24):
I was going to also ask if there's any hot
topics that ALEI is researchingnew things we should be looking
forward to.
Megan Todd (35:33):
Yeah, so I just mentioned two of them.
bUt I think that we've learnedanything over this past 30
minutes or so.
It's farming is very nuanced,right?
And very complicated.
So some other topics I alsomentioned about increasing
access to or local access pointsfor, Shoppers who use federal
nutrition benefit programs.
(35:53):
So getting farmers educatedabout what those programs are
and what the requirements are tobecome an authorized vendor.
So we have, a greater market forthose shoppers.
We also see a lot of researchfor agrivoltaics, renewable
energy portfolio in the state isvery aggressive and ambitious.
And so that's going to require.
Potentially transitioning somefarmland or, installing solar
(36:14):
panels on farmland.
And that's a point of tensionand research.
And how can we harmonize the twouses and to reach our goals for
renewable energy and for localfoods?
Aquaculture is always a verypopular topic as well, because
we have the Chesapeake Bayregion and our water quality is
very important to us.
And I think we've made reallygreat strides in the state of
(36:36):
Maryland.
To reduce our nutrient loadingin the bay which no, therefore
goes to increase the size andhealth of our aquaculture and
watermen markets as well.
It's a heritage for the state.
And what other issues are therebesides everything.
I feel like everything is like ahot topic.
It's like very interesting and Ilove the work I do.
(36:59):
It changes from day to day.
Oftentimes marketing issues likeNia mentioned, marketing.
If you're a farmer, I feel likethey're just such smart and
hardworking people and they haveto wear so many hats.
And so another one is likemarketing activities and how do
you, you know, Go on socialmedia and make sure you're
complying with FTC rules,because I think FTC is starting
(37:19):
to crack down a little bit moreon influencers and, the types of
claims that you make when youare promoting your products.
And just as a solo, businessowner or just have a partner or
a few employees, it's reallyeasy to kind of misstep if
you're not using like an ad,advertising contractor or
something like that.
Charles Schelle (37:37):
It's a tough world.
Nia.
Speaking of marketing, so wherecan people find you?
And what do you sell, in personor online even?
Nia Nyamweya (37:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
So for the past two seasons,we've been at Crossroads Market
in Tacoma Park.
It's a Wednesday market, andwe're still figuring out market
season for next year.
So you can follow any updates atbeautyblooms.
org, which is our website, orfollow on Instagram at
beautybloomsfarm.
Charles Schelle (38:06):
Great.
And Megan, how can people learnmore and sign up for ALEI events
or get in contact with you?
Megan Todd (38:13):
So the best way is to go to our webpage.
It's www.
umaglaw.
org.
And you can subscribe to ourquarterly newsletter or if
anyone wants to, they can emailme directly.
My email address is M O T O D Dat law.
umaryland.
edu.
Charles Schelle (38:32):
And we'll make sure to have all of that in our
show notes as well, for anyonelistening or watching on
YouTube.
And you're all across the state.
So do you have any tour stops inthe works going around Maryland?
Megan Todd (38:45):
So yeah, I think I'll be presenting on value
added agri production forEcocity Farms mid December.
I'll be at the Future HarvestConference in early January
presenting on leasing, um, Andwe'll be doing our workshops for
the County AgriculturalMarketing Producers
professionals sometime inFebruary.
(39:06):
We also have our annual growerproduce safety rule trainings
that will be happening inFebruary this year, and we're
going to be doing two in person.
One will be in Baltimore County.
And the second will be on theEastern Shore, very likely at
the Packing House facilitythat's that opened up in
Cambridge and then we'll do avirtual grower training as well.
(39:30):
And those are for any growersout there who are listening.
Those are usually$35 to registerfor, which is a great deal
because we get supplements fromMDA funding.
Typically it could be a fewhundred dollars through other
places to take that training.
And then, just keep an eye outfor a webinar series in August
coming out.
(39:50):
I'll do a bonus one in April aswell.
Just go to our webpage, look atour calendar.
We've got, I'm not the only onedoing work for ALEI.
We've got Paul and Nicole Cookat Eastern Shore too, like doing
their own activities andworkshops.
We've got tax and estateplanning, all kinds of stuff.
Charles Schelle (40:07):
A little bit of everything.
Before we wrap, Dana, do youhave anything else that you
wanted to ask?
Dana Rampolla (40:14):
No, I'm doing that bad girl thing though.
I'm sitting here like stalkingNia's Instagram while I'm
listening with the other ear.
And so if our listeners areinterested, if nothing more than
to get a beautiful array of justreally colorful images
reflecting the farm and whatshe's growing, I suggest you,
you take a peek.
So congratulations, Nia.
(40:35):
It looks like you're doing greatstuff out there.
Nia Nyamweya (40:38):
Thank you, Dana.
I appreciate that.
Charles Schelle (40:40):
Yeah, I saw the dried flowers on there looked
amazing.
So with that thank you, Nia.
Thank you, Megan, for your timeand have a great holiday season.
This is a, giving time of yearand no, we're not exactly Santa
and the elves, but Dana, I'msure there are plenty of ways
for people to make a holidaynice and cheery and bright.
Dana Rampolla (41:04):
Yeah.
There's lots of great ways togive through UMB and to purchase
through UMB and support some ofour community partners this
holiday season.
So let's talk about what'sstarting next week.
We'll have the UMB Holiday CraftFair.
That's on Wednesday, December6th.
It's from 11 a.
m.
until 2 p.
m., and it's in the CampusCenter Elm Ballrooms, which are
(41:26):
on the second floor.
All you need to bring is an ID.
Our community members arewelcome, as well as our, our UMB
folks.
Just bring an ID, and that givesyou access.
Lots and lots of vendors.
Have you ever gone to thatevent, Charles?
Charles Schelle (41:40):
Yeah, I went last year.
I think it was our first big oneafter the pandemic.
And it was great to see, I thinkthere were like, at least one,
two, three, four, maybe five orsix rows of vendors.
At least it seemed and justevery table was filled with all
sorts of cool gifts that, thatyou can buy for your family and
friends.
Dana Rampolla (41:57):
Yep, for sure.
And if you'd like to give tosomeone other than just your own
family, think about giving topeople within our UMB community.
We have something called theStudent Food Pantry, which
Courtney Jones Carney wasspeaking about recently.
She's the director of theIntercultural Center, and she
was saying, which I did notrealize, that student hunger in
(42:18):
graduate and professionalschools can be really difficult.
And it exists that it exists toa large scale, but there are
things that we can do here tohelp right at UMB.
She emphasized that they get alot of grant funding, but also
donations are really importantfor the support of the student
pantry.
Each food kit costs ten dollarsto create, and it provides four
(42:39):
servings of food per recipientand together we can make a
difference.
We're going to leave thedonation link in our show notes.
And then on the other hand, ifyou're.
Interested in helping childrenand giving right back to the
Baltimore community who wepartner with on a lot of events
and occasions, you can make adonation to the Office of
Community Engagement, UMB'sOffice of Community Engagement.
(43:02):
And what they do is they partnerwith the University of Maryland
Medical Center, the FoundryChurch, and our own UMB Staff
Senate.
And they put on a Christmasstore and it's for local
families and you can provide adonation or an actual gift
through one of their Amazonregistry or Target registry
sites to really make adifference in a family's life
(43:24):
here in Baltimore.
So that CEC Christmas store isopen on December 15th and 16th
from 11 a.
m.
to 4 p.
m.
And I think you can pretty muchdonate right up until The day
before and again, those linkswill be in, in our show notes.
And it's not just gifts, butalso cash donations as well.
Charles Schelle (43:43):
You can even volunteer at the store as well
to help be the, shoppingassistants and these families,
they just have, the biggestsmiles on their face to, to see
all of these toys and giftsavailable at a super low cost.
Dana Rampolla (43:58):
So whether you're purchasing something through one
of our ALEI connected farmers ormerchants or just giving to the
community, enjoy this holidayseason, make a difference
wherever you are.
Charles Schelle (44:11):
That was a great wrap up to send us right
into the holiday break.
We'll see everybody on the UMBPulse in 2024.
It's December.
We've had a bit of a chill.
I have my winter sweater on withsome snowflakes.
I'm wishing for more snow.
We had a little bit of flurrieswhen we were recording this
today.
The holiday season is here andit's a great time to visit farms
with all the wreaths, the trees,maybe it's the jams, the
jellies, the oranges that youget.
(00:20):
I know my sisters love to seekout some of those homemade
jellies from the farm stands.
You can just find a little bitof anything at a farmer's
market, produce stand or wholeoperating farm.
Dana Rampolla (00:31):
I agree with you.
I love those homemade items thatmaybe I haven't made, but I know
that someone local has that'sincorporating either local
produce or local herbs, thatsort of thing.
And there aren't a lot of thosethat are around.
You just have to seek them out,but it's a nice opportunity to
give something that's a littlemore personal than the big box
store kind of
Charles Schelle (00:51):
stuff.
And they're not justincidentally made, it takes a
lot of hard work to even getthat final product.
You have to grow it in theground, right?
And so we're going to have areally cool conversation today
about a new look of Marylandfarming.
There's this entire newgeneration of farmers who are
(01:13):
not just those who inheritedthat generational farm.
with those, acres and acres ofsoybeans, right?
And you're going to hear about aculturally diverse farming on
small plots of land wherethey're growing the produce and
they're trying to make the endproduct.
So we're going to talk to MeganTodd, she's the Managing
(01:34):
Director for the AgriculturalLaw Education Initiative for
Maryland Cary Law here at theUniversity of Maryland,
Baltimore, about how thisprogram works, what ALEI does,
as we'll refer to the program.
And we're also going to talk toNia Nyamwea, she's the founder
and farm manager of BeautyBlooms and you'll hear all about
(01:55):
the things that she had to gothrough just to farm on a very
small plot of land and thethings that she still has to
contend with.
Dana Rampolla (02:04):
And it'll be interesting to learn more about
how she started from a tinyparcel of land.
I think she talks about an 8thof an acre and then how that's
grown and evolved.
And I also Charles find thatthis whole topic is interesting
because it really gives us achance to share how UMB has made
a commitment to Maryland and howwe collaborate with not only
(02:25):
University of Maryland, CollegePark, but also University of
Maryland, Eastern Shore toreally make a difference in
Maryland.
So we pride ourselves on sharingour changemaker stories and this
one hits close to home, so let'sget to it.
Charles Schelle (02:55):
Hello, Megan.
Hello, Nia.
Thank you for joining us on theUMB Pulse.
Megan Todd (03:01):
Hey, Charles.
Great to be here.
Thanks for inviting me.
Thanks so much.
Excited to be here.
Charles Schelle (03:06):
We're here to talk about the new generation of
Maryland farming and how ALEIhelps that.
But Megan, first explain to ourlisteners what ALEI does.
Megan Todd (03:17):
Sure, I can try to do this in a nutshell for you.
So ALEI stands for theAgriculture Law Education
Initiative, and it's really inMPowering the State.
It's a strategic partnershipwith the University of Maryland
College Park and the Universityof Maryland Carey School of Law
and also the University ofMaryland Eastern Shore Campus as
well.
We have legal specialists ateach campus, um, working both
(03:39):
independently and together tocreate free legal resources for
the farmers in Maryland.
Um, And it really is just hereas a service to help them really
understand a lot of the legaltopics and issues that stem from
wanting to run a farm business.
They're really, diverse andmultifaceted and it depends a
(04:00):
lot on the type of operationthat the person is pursuing.
But, we're here as a resourceand free resource to help them
understand what those issues areand how they can manage those
risks associated with thosepotential legal liabilities and
compliance requirements andpermitting and all.
The lovely details of the law.
(04:21):
Yeah, and we're free.
So we do educationally, a lot ofworkshops things like that.
Charles Schelle (04:25):
All right.
So you mentioned the threeuniversities involved and it's
part of this MPower umbrellapartnership that we refer to,
what are each of the roles whenit comes to College Park,
Maryland Carey Law and theUniversity of Maryland Eastern
Shore?
Megan Todd (04:42):
Oh, that's a great question.
So it's not that we each havedifferent roles.
So to speak, but the beauty ofthe collaboration is that
together we can reach furtherand do more with the resources
we have by collaborating becausewe each have different
strengths, right?
The College Park campus, verylarge, their School of Ag and
Natural Resources with theirextension program.
(05:04):
So we work really closely withthe state's extension educators
as well And my role in theUniversity of Maryland, Carey
School of Law, we have thatconnection to Baltimore, some
more urban growers in the state,and then the Eastern Shore
campus is an historic 1890sschool focused on The
historically Black students andcreating that campus and
(05:28):
agricultural program out on theEastern Shore.
So we're able to really youthink about it where we're
physically located.
We cover the whole state.
We have a presence throughoutthe state.
And when we work together forour website, we bring on to
bring together our resources onthe ALEI website and we host our
annual conference every year inAnnapolis.
(05:48):
So it's really just a groupeffort.
We focus in on what topics wefind are relevant to the members
of the state that we work withclosely and just run with it
from there.
Dana Rampolla (05:58):
And so Maryland Carey Law offers students the
chance to study business law,health law and environmental
law.
And ALEI is a way for studentsto wrap all those things
together.
So tell me, what doesparticipation look like for the
student?
Megan Todd (06:14):
Thank you for that question.
I'm really glad you askedbecause one of the key
components or key missions ofALEI is to really get students
involved and more aware of theagricultural issues that farmers
do face, like the legal issuesthat farmers face.
So we do offer internships everysummer for both undergraduate
students and law students.
(06:36):
Both independently.
So my colleagues at College Parkare Paul Goringer and Elizabeth
Domeney.
And they host They can host lawstudent interns on their campus,
as well as interns, during thesemester, um, for me, for, I can
also do law student researchassistance during the semester
just to help with some of our,with our resources, our
(06:58):
research, our presentations thatwe do I'll be hiring a legal
fellow, a recent graduateactually in January, so I look
to aquaculture to land access tonutrition benefits.
That was just from last summer,and that's only half of the
projects they covered.
If any, if there's anyundergraduate student or law
student who is interested inlearning more about, like, how
(07:18):
the farming community navigates.
The laws and regulations of thestate and federal government.
We definitely have opportunitiesfor them and they can reach out
to me.
They can go to our webpage.
Yeah, we try to work with atleast a handful of students
every year.
Dana Rampolla (07:32):
And you said that works to educate the farmers and
the policy makers.
1 of the ways you do that isthrough workshops.
You mentioned you just had aconference just that was just a
week or 2 ago.
So what kind of workshops andwebinars do you offer?
Megan Todd (07:48):
It changes from year to year.
I would say a lot of the workthat we do is grant funded.
So we often have a particulartopic in mind that we want to do
education on, something that wesee that there's a need for and
we organize a series over two tothree years.
We organize a series ofworkshops.
So that so this year, my topicwould be increasing the
(08:09):
knowledge for agriculturalservice providers.
So that means extension agentsand county economic development
officers about federal nutritionbenefit programs and how farmers
can become authorized to acceptmoney from those shoppers.
We also do pretty frequentlyworkshops on agricultural
leasing, just basics of leasingand conservation leasing
(08:31):
practices.
Because you'd be surprised howmany people are still on a
handshake lease.
And those types of things arevery important, written
contracts.
We have a lot of topics.
Are very important topic that weget to ask to present on pretty
often.
Colleagues at College Parkpresent on a state planning
pretty frequently accessingland.
Um, Is something that we do.
So we have got a lot of topics.
We do webinars on differenttopics every August as well.
(08:54):
I do an August webinar serieswhere I take a month to focus in
on one topic over four weeks anddo like a deep dive, um, and
invite experts.
To come and talk and give usmore knowledge on like
permitting requirements and whoto talk to you in local
government.
I Hope that answers yourquestion.
It varies every year, but wealso have this set type of
(09:18):
topics that we can revisit.
We always get asked to come andpresent pretty regularly at
different conferences and winterworkshops.
Dana Rampolla (09:25):
Okay, that sounds good.
And so how would I find outabout this or sign up and is it
just for existing farmers andagribusiness people?
Or if I'm new, can I join aswell?
Megan Todd (09:37):
Yeah, so anybody who's interested can attend one
of our webinars, like whetherthey're farming or not, whether
they're gardening or farming asa hobby or, whether they're
commercial farming or they'rejust farming for nonprofit and
to donate, right?
So whatever level of interest,anybody can sign up for our
workshops or webinars.
The ones that we host throughALEI, we usually will post on
(09:59):
our webpage.
We have a calendar and events,upcoming events, where we post
things.
We have a quarterly newsletterthat we send out and we usually
include the links to ourupcoming events there as well.
And you can sign up for thequarterly newsletter on our
webpage.
For the farmers out there wealso post all of our events and
workshops on the countyextension web page calendar.
(10:21):
So there's a state extension andeach county has their own
calendar too.
So we try to get on.
We try to get it on all thosecalendars.
It's hard sometimes.
And then when we do workshops orpanels at conferences whichever
organization that they'reinterested in, like if it's
future harvest shore rivers,things like that, and they can
connect through those web pagesas well to find out what work
(10:44):
we've done.
Charles Schelle (10:45):
You mentioned your website a couple of times.
What's your website address?
Megan Todd (10:48):
Www.
umaglaw.
org.
Charles Schelle (10:52):
Easy to remember.
Now as Dana asked about, peoplenew to farming, you help them
too.
You help people from allgenerations, from your heritage
farmers to people who are new.
Maryland is a cultural meltingpot.
That's definitely extended tofarming.
And we have a new farmer,relatively new here today with
Nia and we'll get to Nia in asecond, but in a nutshell, at a
(11:15):
high level, Megan, who are thesenew generations of farmers?
Megan Todd (11:21):
I think one of the things that I've noticed in my 5
years with ALEI so far is that,um, farmers are very diverse.
They're innovative people andhistorically, the USDA census
data does show us that mostfarmers are still older men,
gentlemen, but there'sdefinitely a transition toward
younger folks trying to come ininto farming.
(11:43):
One of the biggest issuesassociated with.
Yeah.
Allowing younger folks who aremaybe don't have quite as much
access to capital, right?
Or they haven't inherited afarm, a family farm is land
access.
And so that's just simply one ofthe issues that has been coming
up for me a lot lately and justtrying to help people understand
the different ways that they canaccess land if they don't have a
(12:05):
very large plot in their family.
So definitely a lot of up andcoming people from diverse
backgrounds trying to get intofarming, and they don't, they're
not necessarily looking for 20acres.
They're happy to do it on asmall plot you know, get started
small, right?
Small steps and then grow andsee how they like it.
So that's what I've beennoticing in my time with ALEI.
Charles Schelle (12:26):
Nia, we have Nia here from Beauty Blooms
Farm, and that wasn't your,first iteration of farming.
You got to that chance.
So let's back up.
Tell us about yourself yourbackground, and how you got into
farming.
Nia Nyamweya (12:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I began Beauty Blooms Farm in2020, and before that I was
working in non profit work andcommunity organizing in D.
C., and the last kind of pieceof work I was working on was
healing justice, and that's aTerm used by folks in the South
who were community organizersasking civil rights leaders, how
(13:02):
do you stay resilient?
What are our traditionalpractices to keep joy and hope
alive?
And through that, I found outabout this great community of
local farmers farming.
And then I also learned aboutFuture Harvest and their
beginning farmer trainingprogram.
I joined that and just loved it.
So I call myself a returninggeneration farmer because both
(13:24):
sets of my grandparents werefarmers.
My mom's side here in the statesand my dad's from Kenya, so he
grew up farming in Kenya.
So I really wanted to farm whileconnecting to my cultural roots
and also have farming as asocial change, social justice
practice.
Because a bunch of Culturallyimportant crops may not be
(13:45):
available in grocery stores, butgrowing them fresh locally with
natural green methods wassomething important to me.
So the farm's mission is tocelebrate cultural heritage
through food and grow inMontgomery County and Damascus
on six acres.
Charles Schelle (13:59):
So what type of crops are you growing?
You mentioned about theculturally significant crops and
then, what kind of dishes wouldyou make with them or would you
just eat them out of the ground?
Nia Nyamweya (14:09):
That is the fun thing about for me is sometimes
you can just pick a pea off somevine and eat it.
But for cultural importantcrops, African heritage crops,
the dark leafy greens are astaple.
So heirloom collards, kale.
And then some dishes are alsounique in that.
Like bean leaves, cowpea leavesare a staple in Kenyan diet.
(14:32):
It's called kunde.
And so you grow the bean, butyou don't grow it for the bean
itself.
You grow it for the leaves.
And so you can just saute thatwith onions, garlic, super
simple and delicious.
Hot peppers is another staple.
So cayenne peppers, berberpeppers, scotch bonnet.
Eggplants, okra.
So similar varieties, justheirloom varieties that have a
(14:54):
lot of cultural importance andhave been used for generations.
Charles Schelle (14:58):
And I'm sure you're finding a strong
population in Maryland who areseeking out these crops, right?
Nia Nyamweya (15:07):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's the great thing about theD.
C.
metro area is that we're soracially and ethnically diverse
that there's a good amount offolks African heritage, but also
from Asian and Latino heritagethat also eat some of the
similar crops.
So it's a great place to growculturally important
Charles Schelle (15:24):
crops.
You mentioned about.
The land and being able to growand I understand there are
different types of agriculturalreserves and programs in
Maryland where you can getaccess.
So how did you find the land?
Because you're not looking justfor a small patch of grass that
you could go into your backyard.
You're looking for something alittle bit more organized.
Nia Nyamweya (15:45):
Yeah, that's right.
And initially I started throughthe lane link program through
Montgomery Countryside Allianceand that was so great because I
did start on a smaller plot andeighth acre and that was a
really great way to get startedin farming but have a manageable
space.
And for my current land, IApproached state park Rangers
(16:05):
and built a relationship withthem over the past two years.
So Maryland State throughDepartment of Natural Resources
leases to farmers, but it'sprimarily corn and soybean
farmers, and they grow forgrain.
So I approached the park Rangersand the good thing is that we
shared values and conservation.
Regenerating the soil.
And so that was really my footin is that I proposed that I
(16:29):
would regenerate the soil.
So we cover crop five acres,increasing organic matter,
building topsoil health and thenactively cultivate the
vegetables on one acre.
But through building therelationship with Department of
Natural Resources, ensuringthose values, that's how I got
access to this
Charles Schelle (16:45):
land.
And which park was that again?
I'm
Nia Nyamweya (16:49):
in the Patuxent
Megan Todd (16:49):
River State Park.
Charles Schelle (16:51):
Okay.
Wow.
I, you can grow anywhere.
Wow.
That's
Megan Todd (16:55):
right.
Yeah.
And
Nia Nyamweya (16:55):
it spans across multiple counties, but I'm right
on the edge in Damascus andMontgomery County.
Dana Rampolla (17:01):
That's so interesting.
Megan, can you tell us a littlebit if, so say I'm somebody like
Nia in that situation startingout, what types of programs
would specifically help me thatALEI offers?
Megan Todd (17:15):
Oh, that's interesting question.
And I would say the ALEI.
I don't think we wouldnecessarily be the sole person
to go to.
To get access to different statelands.
We did hear at the conference afew weeks ago that Charles
mentioned our annual conference.
We were this year.
We were actually able to havethe three secretaries for
Department of Natural Resources,Department of Agriculture and
(17:36):
Department of Environment showup.
And one of the points that theDepartment of Natural Resources
secretary mentioned SecretaryKurtz.
Is that they'll be working morecollaboratively with MDA to, to
increase access to state parkland for farming purposes.
So allowing more programs likewe have one in Prince George's
(18:00):
County, it's called Eco CityFarms, where they have a plot of
land from the county parksdepartment and they're able to
break it up into quarter acreplots and lease those out to
beginning farmers as a way to,for them, just like Nia
mentioned, to Get started figureout what they want to grow, get
used to managing the businessand growing the business and
(18:21):
then give them time to to have atrack record as they look for
access to a more permanent pieceof land or a larger plot of
land, because oftentimes, there,there's going to be a need to
apply for funding.
And so Marbinco is a greatorganization in the state of
Maryland that, offers funding tofarmers.
(18:42):
But you might also see peoplethat go to banks, farm credit
banks, institutions to apply forfunding for loans to buy the
property and oftentimes you'llsee, requirement of a business
plan or a track record ofsuccessful sales over a number
of years and having theseprograms like Eco City in Prince
George's County and hopefullymore across the state as the
Department of Natural Resourcesworks with MDA, they're able to
(19:05):
provide that history of farmingthat allows them to then access
that that lending or capitalfrom Marbid Co or another bank.
So that's part of it.
And then, we work with, I workwith, The growers and eco city
farms and future harvest andextension to give them training
on principles about leasing andland purchasing and you know
(19:26):
that what's the process ofbuying land and if they want to,
we'll talk about this a littlebit, but if they want to start,
um, have a farm stand.
What do they have to look for intheir zoning or their land code?
If they want to build astructure, what permits do they
need to go to through theircounty offices?
And again, if they want toprocess it into a different
(19:47):
product, they might need acommercial kitchen.
So all of these different pointsin the process will require some
sort of legal knowledge andunderstanding of contracts.
And that's how we fit into thewhole picture.
We're not the only player.
We're just like a very smallpart that we hope will help save
farmers time and money andheadaches down the line as they
go through all of theseprocesses.
Dana Rampolla (20:07):
Yeah, so many different facets of production
to think about that.
It's not just growing thatplant, but then what do you do
with it afterwards?
Which Nia, that kind of bringsus back to you.
So other than providing theland, what did the reserves and
operations offer?
Nia Nyamweya (20:25):
So for the most part, it's all on the farmer to
come up with the infrastructureand that's something Megan
touched on earlier, is as ayoung farmer of color who's just
starting out, that access tocapital can be a major barrier
so that's why I'm really hopefulin terms of the state park or
even ecocity farms and programsthat do help you with that
(20:46):
infrastructure, so providing afence.
Providing a well.
Those are really important ingetting started in farming.
And so I'm really hopeful thatprograms like that will continue
to expand and help provide thatinfrastructure because currently
it's solely on the farmer.
Dana Rampolla (21:01):
So from a practical standpoint what did
you do then once you got theland?
Like, how did you move to thatnext step?
Nia Nyamweya (21:08):
Yeah, so thankfully, my dad has been a
landscaper for over 40 years.
I've been using his tools andalso his help a ton.
He's been great and reallysupportive.
So having him as someone to helpout with the farm has been
immense in terms of labor.
The other piece is that Wecurrently don't have access to
(21:29):
water, so we have to pumpthrough the local river and get
really creative by necessity.
Drive a 300 gallon tank down tothe Patuxent State River, pump
out 300 gallons and drive itback to the farm.
But I would say that's whereALEI in terms of legal resources
and knowing how much is cappedin terms of farmers and how much
(21:50):
you can take out of public Watersources each day.
Knowing those parameters ishelpful when you have to get
creative on the farm to make itwork.
Dana Rampolla (22:01):
Who even knew all of those things, like I wouldn't
have even known that you wouldtap into.
Thank you for sharing that.
Charles Schelle (22:08):
Yeah.
Just literally almost like oldtime farming, like going to get
buckets of water out of theriver and hauling them shoulder
and shoulder But now you're justdoing with the giant water truck
and just loading up and pumpingit and it sounds, as you
mentioned.
The land is one part of it.
You still need your equipment.
Depending on the size of theland, maybe you can get by with
maybe a tiller or something, butmaybe some others, like you
(22:29):
might have to go in on perhaps,a tractor, potentially a small
tractor with either yourself orsomeone else.
Nia Nyamweya (22:35):
Yeah, that's right.
Thankfully, we have a reallykind neighbor across from the
state park that lets us use hisNew Holland tractor.
The biggest piece of, yeah, it'sbeen great.
And we barter with hot peppersand bring him over some of those
during the season And thebiggest piece of equipment we
have is a BCS walk behindtractor.
So it has a flail mower.
We have a compost spreader,which has been great because I'd
(22:56):
have to get some friends.
And with wheelbarrows to spreada compost on the farm.
So yes, equipment's a majorpiece.
And I would also say fencing,because there's a ton of deer in
the area.
Deer pressure's immense.
So having a fence up and gettingthat put up is a big thing.
And thankfully throughMontgomery Countryside Alliance
(23:17):
that runs the Land Link program,they have a partnership where if
you are giving to the local foodbanks or selling to the local
food banks, They'll partner withyou in helping with fencing
costs.
So I, I would say that's anotherbig piece of the farm journey is
that it's been primarilywholesale to the capital area
and Manna Food Center, foodbanks, and that's really where
(23:38):
culturally important crops forfolks who need access to food
has been a really greatpartnership in the beginning of
my farm journey.
Charles Schelle (23:45):
Yeah.
And as Megan alluded to a littlebit earlier you have Just the
growing part and all thosechallenges that you just
mentioned about gettingequipment and water and
everything.
But once you grow it, you got tosell it, right?
And so there's the marketing,there's the business end of, of
things.
And so where maybe during yourjourney where you're like, okay,
I need to find some resourcesand help to figure some of these
(24:06):
things out to make my business alittle bit smoother and
eliminate some of theseheadaches.
Nia Nyamweya (24:13):
I think that is actually a constant thing
throughout the farming process.
So the resources from ALEI orfuture harvest and organizations
that serve farmers, I think areimportant throughout.
So finding anywhere where youcan learn more about telling
your story, I think that's thepiece about marketing is like
why you want to farm.
(24:34):
What is your passion behind it?
What do you grow and sharingthat is important.
And I also think that revivingor reclaiming the history of
African heritage crops andgrowing them here is another
piece of that.
I think finding those resourcesthroughout that just help you
get better because each yearyou're learning more, you're
learning on the fly.
(24:55):
And as you continue to improvethose resources help throughout.
Dana Rampolla (24:58):
So Nia, this education, then it's not
strictly about growing produceor livestock or even oysters if
we're on the Eastern Shore,farmers would have stands that
could have sauces and jams andjellies and that sort of thing.
And then Megan, that gets usinto this whole other
opportunity talking aboutagripreneurs for both business
and law tell us a little bitabout that piece of it
Megan Todd (25:22):
Oh, yeah that's definitely true.
I think farmers nowadays, um,it's a tough, it's tough market
out there.
And so farmers, especially localfarmers are finding a large need
to diversify their incomestreams.
And so that often translatesinto value added agriculture is
the term that we use in thestate.
It's been adopted.
And so that includes agritourismactivities.
(25:43):
So like experiences on the farm.
Think your pumpkin patches,petting zoos, corn mazes tasting
rooms.
Maybe some educational workshopson farms and then also value
added processed foods.
Baked goods, jams and jelliespeople have been doing like
prepared meals with some oftheir foods like their local
(26:04):
meats and produce.
And so when you bring all ofthat into the scene, it's
definitely gets more complicatedlegally and, risk wise, right?
So two resources that we workedon that I worked on with ALEI
recently are the legal guide todirect farm marketing for
produce growers in the state,and that's sort of a survey of
(26:24):
all the different types of legalissues that will pop up when you
invite members of the publiconto your farm for these
experiences that are definitelyvaluable and needed to keep
these businesses running.
They need that extra income,right?
They can't just make it on salesof produce alone.
And it's a lot, you know, it'skind of like one way that one of
my coworkers used to phrase it.
It's like your farm is turninginto an aisle at the grocery
(26:47):
store.
It's like that level of carethat you owe to the guests that
you invite onto your farm.
So it's definitely somethingthat people, farmers should be
thinking about.
And then on the terms of thevalue added processing.
Or food production, right?
That's a whole other thing, too.
We have in Maryland, theregulatory scheme for value
added foods is a little bit morecomplicated than some other of
our neighboring states.
(27:09):
We do have cottage foodproduction, which does not
require a license, but it'slimited to a certain type of
food and certain listedproducts.
And so you don't want to get introuble with the health
department by making a foodthat's not on the cottage food
license list without firstgetting your health license,
your processing license.
And that can be a complicatedendeavor as well because we have
(27:29):
licenses from the state leveland also from the county health
departments and what you makeand where you want to sell it
and the volume that you'reselling will determine which
office you go to apply for yourpermit.
We have a resource that we putout.
It's called actually, I have itright here next to me, adding
value to specialty crops,regulatory decision trees for
(27:50):
Maryland producers.
That is a decision tree.
Resource that a farmer can go toit.
They say, I want to make a jamand jelly.
So they go to the table for jamand jelly and look at the ask
the questions that willdetermine where they need to go
to apply for their permit.
And what are the documents theyneed to prepare in advance?
And, what are the plans theyneed to have in place?
(28:11):
and the recipes and all thatstuff.
So hopefully it's a resourcethat will streamline that
process for growers instead ofhaving them, you know, like I
did during the creation of thatresource, go to the health
department webpage and see lotsof links and be very confused
and not know what, what appliedto which operation at first.
Yeah, we do some of that, likethat legwork in between to make
it easier for the growers.
Dana Rampolla (28:32):
Yeah, that's interesting.
I had a sister in law a numberof years ago who tried to do a
cottage business where she madesome jams and jellies and
granola and things.
And it, it was before any ofthese resources and she got
very, so caught up in it all andnot understanding that she wound
up, not, it didn't become athing.
She got pretty far into it, butthen it was just a lot to
(28:55):
navigate what the legalitieswere.
Having a kitchen that waswhatever you have to do with a
special kitchen to get itqualified as that for business.
Megan Todd (29:05):
Yeah.
And I would say I've, I'vetalked to a lot of people in,
who are involved in educationfor agriculture in the state.
And it's something that it's aknown issue.
Like it can be stifling tobusinesses, people have an idea
and they get really excitedabout it and they go to look
like, how do I do this?
And it just seems reallyoverwhelming, and it just either
kills their desire, or they tryto go after it for a while, and
(29:28):
then they just keep reading,meeting roadblock after
roadblock.
And so that is, I think, one ofALEI's important roles is not
just with the farmers, butworking with the local county
departments and officials tohelp them understand what are
the struggles the farmers aregoing through, and what are they
trying to accomplish, and tryingto figure out how we can let
(29:49):
them connect to each other in away that allows those ideas to,
to thrive and flourish andcontribute to our economy and
our food security.
Charles Schelle (29:58):
Nia with all the hoops that we've just
listened, and I'm sure you hadto jump through a lot on your
own.
What advice would you give toother new farmers similar to you
about things they maybe shouldbe prepared to face?
Nia Nyamweya (30:14):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I would say, first, takeadvantage as much as you can of
the resources that areavailable.
So, ALEI, Future Harvest, otherfarm serving organizations,
that's where I truly learn themost.
And also having on farm eventsand learning from farmers that
are growing themselves werecrucial to me.
(30:34):
And when I first was learningabout making the transition to
farm, and then the second thingI would say is, Don't think
about it too much.
I think if you reflect on allthe barriers and all the
challenges, you're going to bethinking about that forever.
So what's actually worked for meand what I recommend is take
action first to try it out firstwith whatever space, whatever
(30:56):
time and capacity you have, andthen go from there because
you'll learn as you go.
Each season is different.
Each weather pattern isdifferent.
So just take action first and gofor it.
Charles Schelle (31:07):
And on the other side of the policy side,
and you have a platform herenow, is there like a friction
point that you're still facingor you're seeing other new
farmers face that you think thatthe policy or maybe regulation
could be improved?
And what would that look like?
Nia Nyamweya (31:24):
Yeah, absolutely.
So it essentially took two yearsto secure a long term lease.
So currently the lease terms arefive years, but if you're
growing an operation, it takes alot longer to improve the soil
and learn over those five years.
So long term lease stability iscrucial for farmers.
So currently just got approvedlast month for a 10 year lease
(31:46):
with the option to extend for15.
And I would say that is Soimportant and so needed because
if it's a two or five yearlease, your land unstable,
essentially, you don't know ifyou have to be looking for land
while you're actively farming.
You don't know if the equity andthe compost and all the time and
(32:08):
love you're putting into thatfarm, you'll then have to start
up at a new place in the nextcouple of years.
So long term leases are soimportant for farmers to build
stability and to really get.
Yeah.
Just long term leases are reallyimportant for stability and
farming.
Charles Schelle (32:24):
I was going to say I can't imagine the stress
of two years because you're soweather dependent, right?
And so you could have a summerof, torrential downpours and
flooding, or you could have anextended drought and there goes
one year of my two years and I'ma little bit out of luck.
So thanks.
Thanks for sharing that.
Yeah.
Megan, it's really interestingto hear all of this and the new
(32:46):
wave, whether it's, a Kenyanbackground, it could be a
Caribbean background, or, LatinAmerica, Central America, and
all these things are happeningin the background.
But at what point did ALEI learnabout this trend?
And how do you get involved inthese types of issues?
Megan Todd (33:07):
That, that's.
It's hard.
I feel I've joined ali fiveyears ago.
And the way that we learn aboutthings really the best part of
my job is when we get to go toconferences that are for farmers
and I get to meet the farmersand then talk to them about
their issues and get feedbackfrom them.
This talk was really great.
And here's my story.
Here's what I've beenexperiencing.
(33:28):
And so we really do draw a lotof our inspiration and plan our
future projects, our researchprojects, our grant projects,
our workshops, based on whatwe've been hearing from the
farmers and are in the statewhen we attend these workshops
and these these conferences andthings like that.
So that's the best part of myjob.
That's how we really figure outwhich direction to start going
on our projects in the future.
(33:49):
Yeah.
And so this issue with landstability and land access, so I
think this has been an issue fora very long time, predating my
time with ALEI and it's justbeen like a topic of constant
conversation whenever we, I goto conferences or talk to other
service providers, it's likeLand is very expensive now.
And then we saw, during thepandemic, during COVID 19, and
(34:10):
there was, a different, adifference in buying trends, but
people were trying to get outinto the country.
And very wealthy people werebuying, country, rural plots,
traditionally agricultural landon a cash offers above offer
sight unseen oftentimes.
And so it was very frustratingfor everybody involved in the,
in farming, I think, to realizethat.
(34:32):
We're are we're losing someresources that really should be
focused and reserved foragricultural activities and
increasing our local food systemresiliency, as we also saw
during epidemic was a very bigissue.
I would say the pandemic isreally when we shine the light
on the issue of land access andaffordability on that particular
topic.
And another topic that has beenreally big and a point of
(34:54):
conversation is the agritourismdefinitions and link limitations
that because they're all verycounty specific.
And so depending on which countyyou're in, what's allowed for
agritourism operations is goingto be varied.
And so trying to reach a betterconsensus or understanding
across the state or even locallyabout what's allowed and
communicating that with thegrowers in, the region is very
(35:18):
important.
Again, because like I mentioned,a lot of growers rely on that
income.
To keep their farm going.
Dana Rampolla (35:24):
I was going to also ask if there's any hot
topics that ALEI is researchingnew things we should be looking
forward to.
Megan Todd (35:33):
Yeah, so I just mentioned two of them.
bUt I think that we've learnedanything over this past 30
minutes or so.
It's farming is very nuanced,right?
And very complicated.
So some other topics I alsomentioned about increasing
access to or local access pointsfor, Shoppers who use federal
nutrition benefit programs.
(35:53):
So getting farmers educatedabout what those programs are
and what the requirements are tobecome an authorized vendor.
So we have, a greater market forthose shoppers.
We also see a lot of researchfor agrivoltaics, renewable
energy portfolio in the state isvery aggressive and ambitious.
And so that's going to require.
Potentially transitioning somefarmland or, installing solar
(36:14):
panels on farmland.
And that's a point of tensionand research.
And how can we harmonize the twouses and to reach our goals for
renewable energy and for localfoods?
Aquaculture is always a verypopular topic as well, because
we have the Chesapeake Bayregion and our water quality is
very important to us.
And I think we've made reallygreat strides in the state of
(36:36):
Maryland.
To reduce our nutrient loadingin the bay which no, therefore
goes to increase the size andhealth of our aquaculture and
watermen markets as well.
It's a heritage for the state.
And what other issues are therebesides everything.
I feel like everything is like ahot topic.
It's like very interesting and Ilove the work I do.
(36:59):
It changes from day to day.
Oftentimes marketing issues likeNia mentioned, marketing.
If you're a farmer, I feel likethey're just such smart and
hardworking people and they haveto wear so many hats.
And so another one is likemarketing activities and how do
you, you know, Go on socialmedia and make sure you're
complying with FTC rules,because I think FTC is starting
(37:19):
to crack down a little bit moreon influencers and, the types of
claims that you make when youare promoting your products.
And just as a solo, businessowner or just have a partner or
a few employees, it's reallyeasy to kind of misstep if
you're not using like an ad,advertising contractor or
something like that.
Charles Schelle (37:37):
It's a tough world.
Nia.
Speaking of marketing, so wherecan people find you?
And what do you sell, in personor online even?
Nia Nyamweya (37:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
So for the past two seasons,we've been at Crossroads Market
in Tacoma Park.
It's a Wednesday market, andwe're still figuring out market
season for next year.
So you can follow any updates atbeautyblooms.
org, which is our website, orfollow on Instagram at
beautybloomsfarm.
Charles Schelle (38:06):
Great.
And Megan, how can people learnmore and sign up for ALEI events
or get in contact with you?
Megan Todd (38:13):
So the best way is to go to our webpage.
It's www.
umaglaw.
org.
And you can subscribe to ourquarterly newsletter or if
anyone wants to, they can emailme directly.
My email address is M O T O D Dat law.
umaryland.
edu.
Charles Schelle (38:32):
And we'll make sure to have all of that in our
show notes as well, for anyonelistening or watching on
YouTube.
And you're all across the state.
So do you have any tour stops inthe works going around Maryland?
Megan Todd (38:45):
So yeah, I think I'll be presenting on value
added agri production forEcocity Farms mid December.
I'll be at the Future HarvestConference in early January
presenting on leasing, um, Andwe'll be doing our workshops for
the County AgriculturalMarketing Producers
professionals sometime inFebruary.
(39:06):
We also have our annual growerproduce safety rule trainings
that will be happening inFebruary this year, and we're
going to be doing two in person.
One will be in Baltimore County.
And the second will be on theEastern Shore, very likely at
the Packing House facilitythat's that opened up in
Cambridge and then we'll do avirtual grower training as well.
(39:30):
And those are for any growersout there who are listening.
Those are usually$35 to registerfor, which is a great deal
because we get supplements fromMDA funding.
Typically it could be a fewhundred dollars through other
places to take that training.
And then, just keep an eye outfor a webinar series in August
coming out.
(39:50):
I'll do a bonus one in April aswell.
Just go to our webpage, look atour calendar.
We've got, I'm not the only onedoing work for ALEI.
We've got Paul and Nicole Cookat Eastern Shore too, like doing
their own activities andworkshops.
We've got tax and estateplanning, all kinds of stuff.
Charles Schelle (40:07):
A little bit of everything.
Before we wrap, Dana, do youhave anything else that you
wanted to ask?
Dana Rampolla (40:14):
No, I'm doing that bad girl thing though.
I'm sitting here like stalkingNia's Instagram while I'm
listening with the other ear.
And so if our listeners areinterested, if nothing more than
to get a beautiful array of justreally colorful images
reflecting the farm and whatshe's growing, I suggest you,
you take a peek.
So congratulations, Nia.
(40:35):
It looks like you're doing greatstuff out there.
Nia Nyamweya (40:38):
Thank you, Dana.
I appreciate that.
Charles Schelle (40:40):
Yeah, I saw the dried flowers on there looked
amazing.
So with that thank you, Nia.
Thank you, Megan, for your timeand have a great holiday season.
This is a, giving time of yearand no, we're not exactly Santa
and the elves, but Dana, I'msure there are plenty of ways
for people to make a holidaynice and cheery and bright.
Dana Rampolla (41:04):
Yeah.
There's lots of great ways togive through UMB and to purchase
through UMB and support some ofour community partners this
holiday season.
So let's talk about what'sstarting next week.
We'll have the UMB Holiday CraftFair.
That's on Wednesday, December6th.
It's from 11 a.
m.
until 2 p.
m., and it's in the CampusCenter Elm Ballrooms, which are
(41:26):
on the second floor.
All you need to bring is an ID.
Our community members arewelcome, as well as our, our UMB
folks.
Just bring an ID, and that givesyou access.
Lots and lots of vendors.
Have you ever gone to thatevent, Charles?
Charles Schelle (41:40):
Yeah, I went last year.
I think it was our first big oneafter the pandemic.
And it was great to see, I thinkthere were like, at least one,
two, three, four, maybe five orsix rows of vendors.
At least it seemed and justevery table was filled with all
sorts of cool gifts that, thatyou can buy for your family and
friends.
Dana Rampolla (41:57):
Yep, for sure.
And if you'd like to give tosomeone other than just your own
family, think about giving topeople within our UMB community.
We have something called theStudent Food Pantry, which
Courtney Jones Carney wasspeaking about recently.
She's the director of theIntercultural Center, and she
was saying, which I did notrealize, that student hunger in
(42:18):
graduate and professionalschools can be really difficult.
And it exists that it exists toa large scale, but there are
things that we can do here tohelp right at UMB.
She emphasized that they get alot of grant funding, but also
donations are really importantfor the support of the student
pantry.
Each food kit costs ten dollarsto create, and it provides four
(42:39):
servings of food per recipientand together we can make a
difference.
We're going to leave thedonation link in our show notes.
And then on the other hand, ifyou're.
Interested in helping childrenand giving right back to the
Baltimore community who wepartner with on a lot of events
and occasions, you can make adonation to the Office of
Community Engagement, UMB'sOffice of Community Engagement.
(43:02):
And what they do is they partnerwith the University of Maryland
Medical Center, the FoundryChurch, and our own UMB Staff
Senate.
And they put on a Christmasstore and it's for local
families and you can provide adonation or an actual gift
through one of their Amazonregistry or Target registry
sites to really make adifference in a family's life
(43:24):
here in Baltimore.
So that CEC Christmas store isopen on December 15th and 16th
from 11 a.
m.
to 4 p.
m.
And I think you can pretty muchdonate right up until The day
before and again, those linkswill be in, in our show notes.
And it's not just gifts, butalso cash donations as well.
Charles Schelle (43:43):
You can even volunteer at the store as well
to help be the, shoppingassistants and these families,
they just have, the biggestsmiles on their face to, to see
all of these toys and giftsavailable at a super low cost.
Dana Rampolla (43:58):
So whether you're purchasing something through one
of our ALEI connected farmers ormerchants or just giving to the
community, enjoy this holidayseason, make a difference
wherever you are.
Charles Schelle (44:11):
That was a great wrap up to send us right
into the holiday break.
We'll see everybody on the UMBPulse in 2024.
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