PLENTY FALL 2019 Fall Plenty 2019-web | Page 31

A Season for Giving The Agricultural Reserve is a bountiful source of inspiration for artists, artisans, writers, food producers and more. with this Autumn Harvest issue, we’ll begin sharing the myriad treasures it has to offer. you just might want to keep your holiday gift giving Experience a local one! B y hilar y m o o re hebert The depth and breadth of all that is created in the Montgomery County Agri- cultural Reserve and the surrounding farmland is as complex and beautiful as every acre that lies within it. “The Reserve’s 93,000 acres have enabled family farms to last through generations, and are now fueling a new genera- tion of farmers who are sometimes finding new farm products and some- times returning to old ways of farming,” it reads in the introduction to Bread & Beauty, A Year in Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve. As you peruse the color pho- tos in this 350-page ode to the area with seasonal recipes, the concept of farm-to-table goes beyond simply food. “At Soleado,” the book reports, “Sophia Watkins continues her grandmother’s passion for farming, but rather than cattle she grows rows of fragrant lavender.” breadandbeauty.org Art of Fire Contemporary Glass Studio in Laytonsville offers artisan glass pumpkins to celebrate the fall crops of the area. Glass artists, Foster Holcombe and Theda Hansen, lit their first furnace at the 1984 Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville. They currently embrace the agricultural history of the region by operating glassblowing classes and their gallery/hot shop out of a re-purposed dairy barn. www.artoffire.com Jennifer Hamilton of Dusty Road Pottery in Dickerson offers pottery classes, seasonal pick-your-own flowers and stunning art like this stoneware hen bowl. The stoneware is made with a slip, sgraffito and glaze design. These blue, textured, stoneware mugs are just another example of her pottery, with the entire collection available at  www.dustyroadpottery.net plenty I autumn harvest 2019 31