Sticking her face into a plastic grocery bag Thursday morning, Edie Cardiff inhaled.
“Ahhh,” she said, taking in the aroma of thefresh strawberries inside the bag. “They smell so good!”
Cardiff was one of hundreds who turned out to enjoy sweet scents and tastes of the annual Towson Farmers Market, which kicked off its 27th season Thursday on Allegheny Avenue. Shoppers were haggling over the biggest, reddest tomatoes and crunchiest sugar snap peas long before County Executive Jim Smith made opening remarks at noon.
“For some people, the first pitch at Camden Yards marks the start of summer,” Smith said. “For others, it?s firing up the grill for the first time. But for me, it?s the opening of the Towson Farmers Market.”
Pam Pahl said she?s been selling the fresh flowers and produce from her 140-acre farm in Granite, Md., since the market began. She was brought to the farm through her husband, who died three years ago, and said the market gives her an opportunity to get off the farm and interact with her customers.
But as produce prices skyrocket, Pahl said it?s hard to make ends meet as a farmer.
“I wouldn?t call it profitable,” she said. “People don?t want to pay for it and they don?t realize the work that goes into it.”
Development pressures also are taking a toll, farmers said.
Perry Hall farmer Earl Martin says his is one of the few left in the area. His 45-acre farm reaps a variety of herbs ? cilantro, dill, basil ? which he sells at the markets and wholesale to grocery stores.
“I?ve already sold one farm to developers,” he said. “It?s all around us.”
While the number of farms in Baltimore County has dipped by at least 56 since 1992 ? and acreage is down by at least 12,000 ? county officials said they?re working to preserve the northern county?s rural nature.
The county touts one of the nation?s lowest housing density beyond what they call the Urban Rural Demarcation Line, which separates the county?s populated core from its rolling hills at one house per 50 acres.
Recently, owners of 23 Baltimore County farms applied for the state?s agricultural land preservation program, said Wally Lippincott of the county?s Department of Environmental Protection & Resource Management.
“It?s the landowners, the farmers,” said Lippincott said. “Some state funding dropped off, but they stood up and are still participating in the programs.”
