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
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