The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has teamed up with the Department of Agriculture for their , which pairs farms that have creameries and make their own milk on site with local trails less than a 10-minute drive away.

The guide has creamery and trail selections all over Maryland, including the Eastern Shore.

You even have a chance to win some prizes along the way.

“It was completely different hiking knowing I was going to get ice cream at the end of that hike,” Sandi Olek, director of the Office of Outdoor Recreation at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said about her first trail experience. “It’s a really nice way to provide some incentives to little ones. Parents or people are often encouraging them to get outside. But also, I know it was incentive for me, kids at heart, too.”

“I had a little more bounce in my step, I have to say,” Olek said.

Both agencies aimed to make the experience accessible to all, allowing participants to select the type of experience they’re looking for, whether it is a short or a long hike, a flat one or one with a lot of hills.

“One of the things that we also did was we paired a variety of trail lengths and difficulty and types of sites that people would visit,” Olek said.

And if you keep track of your sweet adventure on their , you can win stuff like free treats. This year, there’s 14 dairy and trail matchups for you to explore.

You can download the app and “check in” at the creameries and trails that you visit, or you can email a photo of your experience to icecream.trail1@maryland.gov before Sept. 1.

You can automatically win prizes if you are:

• The first app check-in
• The first person to check in at 5 dairy locations
• The first person to check in at a creamery and the matching hike location
• The first person to check in at 7 hiking locations
• The first person to tag @mdsbest and the creamery on Instagram (remember, you have to be following their account).
• The first person to tag @marylanddnr and the park at which you hiked on Instagram (you have to be following their account).

Those who check in at every location on the trail by Sept. 1 will be entered to win a $50 gift card to the creamery they choose, a copy of the children’s book “Tales of the Dairy Godmother: Chuck’s Ice Cream Wish,” and a 2025 Maryland’s Best Ice Cream Champion Trailblazer trophy.

Also, anyone who checks in at all the hiking trails on the Let’s Rallie app by Sept. 1 will be eligible to win a state park pass, which will be good for one year.

“We’ve really tried to direct people to some of our less visited or hidden-gem parks. So, there’s so much to see, and it’ll give you that experience,” Olek said. “We thought this was a great idea to give people a curated experience.”

New this year is the inclusion of an adventure course at Patuxent River State Park.

“There’s challenges to do along the way, where you can scan a QR code and you challenge both your mind and body, and do some fun activities along the way. There’s all kinds of fun activities to do,” Olek said.

Check out the .

Source

Putting a face to the farm is part of what Mike Koch likes to do. He’s the executive director at Fresh Farm Markets that operates farmers markets from Dupont Circle to St. Michaels, Maryland. Koch wants everyone to enjoy the bounty of the farmers’ labors, and loves putting the spotlight on the small businesses that sprout from farm operations.

Koch has a real appreciation for the farmers at the markets he administers; he’s a producer himself. Koch and his business partner Pablo Solanet, a former chef, started experimenting with cheese-making after buying property in Garrett County. A neighbor had some goats, they asked if they could milk them, and Firefly Farms was born.

By 2002, they had an award-winning cheese called “Merry Goat Round,” and expanded from testing cheeses in their kitchen to a full-blown farm operation. Now, the two — who have since married — buy their goat’s milk from Kevin Yutzy, a farmer in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, and operate the in Accident, Maryland.

The shop offers the full line of Firefly Farms’ cheeses and spotlights other locally grown and produced foods and wines. There are wine tastings at the market, where customers can explore what foods and wines pair best with their favorite cheese. And the store, on the main street of Accident, offers a window on the process of cheese-making — literally. There are windows that allow customers to see the process from when the curds are separated from the whey, to how each variety of cheese is packed and aged.

Looking for recipes for your upcoming Thanksgiving Day feast? Firefly Farms has some ideas — to learn more.

Source