Plent y
autumn harvest Season • 2025
FEATURES
4 Montgomery County’ s Spectacular New Park The Royce Hanson Conservation Park thrills historians, hikers, ecologists and more by laura helmuth
8 The Many Lives of the Comus Inn A constant presence for more than 150 years by melane kinney hoffmann
22 On Our Way to Net-Zero Climate action at Bluebird Farmstead
by allison tjaden
26 Food Recovery Strategies to Bring Relief to County Families
by ciara o’ brien
32 Trails, Trails and More Trails The remarkable network of trails in the Agricultural Reserve by melane kinney hoffman
43 Agritourism is Bustling in the Agricultural Reserve
DEPARTMENTS
14 Wild Thing The Foxes in Our Midst by ellen gordon
18 From the Ground Up Preserving the Memory and Practice of Farming Traditions by alejandro lopez
30 An Eye for Beauty Land of Plenty by martin radigan
38 Treasures of the Reserve Slavery, Liberty, and Deeds of Remembrance and Glimpses of African American History
by jeff sypeck
50 Poetry Corner by barry louis polisar by caroline taylor and steven findlay
publisher i managing editor & design Jane Perini publisher i staff writer & photography Wib Middleton
PLENTY, Autumn Harvest Issue 2025. Plenty is published three times a year by Thunder Mountain Publishing LLC. It is distributed free of charge in many Montgomery County, MD locations as well as locations in Frederick. © 2025 by Thunder Mountain Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. • www. plenty-agmag. com • 301.527.2295