10-27-2022 Howard Mag - Flipbook - Page 62
“After water, tea is
the most widely
consumed drink in
the world.”
— Peter F. Goggi,
president of the
Tea Association
of the USA Inc.
BY DONNA M. OWENS For Howard Magazine
PHOTOS BY KEVIN RICHARDSON
You might say that Lori Baker, and her husband, Bob, are brewing something special at Heron’s Meadow Farm in western Howard
County.
As owners of Maryland’s unofficial first tea farm, the couple have
embarked on an adventure as nouveau farmers who are cultivating
Camellia sinensis, the plant from which tea is derived.
“Neither my husband nor I had any real experience farming,” said
Baker, an electrical engineer who sold her company, and launched a
second career. “But we did a lot of research before we started growing
tea. We’d each had home gardens and felt this was just planting on a
bigger scale. We kind of took the leap.”
In December 2013, the duo purchased a 44-acre farm in Woodbine.
“We did some preliminary testing and put half a dozen tea plants in
the ground. They survived a few winters,” she said.
In October 2015, the two opened a farm store.
“Fundamentally, that’s when we considered the business launched,”
she explained of BLTeas LLC, whose mission is to provide quality tea
that is grown and processed locally.
Today, the operation is growing steadily.
The farm has upward of 1,200 to 1,500 tea plants — an evergreen
shrub with shiny green leaves — that encompass about 2.5 acres.
Baker spends her days tending to the crops, whose needs vary
depending on the season.
“I work the farm full time and Bob works it part time as he maintains
a full-time job off the farm,” said Baker. “We do not have any additional
staff. But I can go out in two or three hours and harvest one field.”
They have purchased a tractor. Yet picking the tea leaves involves
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