UMES Extension is offering an opportunity to learn about successes and challenges directly from agritourism operators in a follow-up to its Maryland Agritourism Conference. A Traveling Agritourism Workshop, slated for June 10, will visit agribusinesses in Dorchester and Caroline counties in Maryland.
The bus will depart at 8 a.m. for tours of Blades Orchard in Federalsburg and Emily’s Produce in Cambridge, returning to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus at 5:30 p.m. Pre-registration is required. The $50 fee includes breakfast at UMES and lunch at Emily’s Produce. Participants must be checked-in by 7:30 a.m.
Hear how Blades Orchard reimagined its farm and orchard U-pick into a Community Supported Agriculture model. It now offers online ordering and pick-up at area farmers markets year-round or on-farm by appointment for items including apples, value-added apple products, honey, cheeses and other seasonal fruit. Blades Orchard is also available for event rental and professional fruit tree consultation services.
Emily’s Produce markets itself as featuring “Food, Flowers and Fun.” The seven-generation family farm offers U-pick strawberries, blueberries, wildflowers and pumpkins, along with a full-service kitchen and farm stand selling Maryland produce, grass-fed beef, wine, beer and ice cream. Seasonal events, corn mazes and youth activities are part of its agribusiness.
Register at www.umes.edu/extension/events by May 31. For more information, contact pbbhandari@umes.edu.
Gail Stephens, agricultural communications and media associate, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, gcstephens@umes.edu, 410-621-3850.
