Showing posts with label Ag History Carroll Co. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ag History Carroll Co. Show all posts

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Carroll Gardens was once an important part of the history of the business of agriculture in Carroll County

March 1994 Carroll Gardens perennial mail-order catalogue

Carroll Gardens 444 East Main Street, Westminster, Carroll County Maryland 21157

Labels and keywords: plants, horticulture, perennials, mail-order catalogue, Carroll County, Westminster, Maryland, agriculture, history


I recently came across a box of old plant catalogues, invoices and papers from the years I made a living as a nursery stock farmer, 1974 to 1999. I raised perennials, shrubs and trees. To further make ends meet, I also did landscape design and contracting and property management. It kept me very busy for 25 years. I’ve now been retired from farming for over fifteen years and I still miss it.

I worked for Pasquale Donofrio at Carroll Gardens in the late 1960s. I loved working there.

I also enjoyed working with Alan Summers beginning in 1984, when he purchased the business. It was great to take my landscape design customers there to pick out plants. Mr. Summers was a wealth of knowledge and worked tirelessly to make Carroll Gardens weather the changes in the market and the economy.

The plant mail-order business that Carroll Gardens did so well, was a natural outgrowth of the mercantilist economy that made Carroll County Maryland an agricultural and economic powerhouse for over a hundred years after the American Civil War in the early 1860s.

The unfinished goods were brought to Westminster and Carroll County and exchanged for finished goods. This resulted in accumulated capital that was leveraged into public infrastructure, factories plant and equipment, manufacturing, agri-business and a great quality of life for Carroll County citizens.

The mail-order plant business was a great economic model that we see today repeated in the internet – on an even more global scale. Carroll Gardens did it well.

I retired as a nursery stock farmer– perennial grower in 1994. Changes in the business compressed profit margins and the increases in doing business and difficulties in the regulatory climate, especially in Maryland, simply made it too difficult to continue. Or at least, I was certainly not smart enough to adapt.

Carroll Gardens was once an important part of the history of the business of agriculture in Carroll County - that will no doubt fade into history and it makes me sad...


Economy blights a beloved garden center

Debt, poor sales forcing owner to close Carroll Gardens at end of this month

By Susan Reimer Baltimore Sun reporter

June 2, 2009

Carroll Gardens, a quaint and slightly ragged cinder-block garden center at the end of a dirt road in Westminster, is closing at the end of this month after having been a resource for gardeners since the 1930s.

Alan Summers, who has owned Carroll Gardens since 1984 and hosted a garden talk show on WCBM-AM for nearly as long, announced his decision Saturday on the show, stunning customers and disappointing longtime employees who had hoped against hope for a reprieve….

No hyperlink to this story is readily available…

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Carroll Gardens to Suspend Business

Effective June 30th, 2009, Carroll Gardens will suspend accepting orders for shipment. Our store in Westminster is also scheduled to close on that date. The Saturday morning call-in radio show, which we have provided for the last 20 years, will continue for the foreseeable future. (The Garden Club; WCBM-680AM; 7-8 a.m. Saturday Morning)

To satisfy our creditors, we must raise cash. Our loss is your gain! All products and plants on CarrollGardens.com and in the store are being sold at 25% off, subject to availability and first come first served. If you have gift certificates or credits, please use them now. Your credit card will not be charged until your order is shipped and there can be no backorders.

If Carroll Gardens can resolve its financial problems, we will resume business. We have the potential of an investor which may allow Carroll Gardens to continue. There is one last thing that we are requesting of you. If Carroll Gardens returns, I would like it to be better than it is now. Please send me a brief email describing what Carroll Gardens means to you and what you will miss without Carroll Gardens. (Please send emails to info@carrollgardens.com.)

Carroll Gardens was founded more than 75 years ago as a mail-order company. Through these years, it has been our pleasure to serve you and we truly regret having to suspend business.

Alan L. Summers

President
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Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Recent columns and articles by Kevin Dayhoff in the Baltimore Sun

Recent columns and articles by Kevin Dayhoff in the Baltimore Sun

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2014/02/recent-columns-and-articles-by-kevin.html



By Kevin E. Dayhoff, February 17, 2014
... City, a vast collection of skyscrapers and a thriving economic center that may be best described as the Hong Kong of Latin and South America. If he is not showing pictures of his trip to Panama to friends

By Kevin Dayhoff February 12, 2014
... College: 621 employees • Carroll County Commissioners: 587 employees • Carroll Community College: 509 employees • Evapco: 440 employees When he is not counting the days until spring…

By Kevin Dayhoff, February 5, 2014
... received an imported breech-loading shotgun. Throughout his career he gave away 5,000 guns representing sales of 5,000,000 cigars!" When he is not admiring the artwork on the old cigar labels…

... life were the parking meters the Westminster Common Council had voted for in 1941. When he is not feeding the meters and shopping in Westminster's historic — and well-defended downtown — Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at .

By Kevin Dayhoff, December 2, 2013
... been too small for commercial success. It was at night, on the other hand, that radio listening really picked up." When he is not up late at night surfing the Internet looking for foreign radio stations, KevinDayhoff may be reached at

... service, nothing can beat a locally owned store. Westminster Mayor Kevin Utz agrees: "Getting a little stir crazy? If you can safely ... not doing his Christmas shopping on Main Street in Westminster, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at

... Library. Sadly, for reasons not easily understood at this time, the station was unceremoniously torn down in 1961 and turned into a parking lot. When not watching the trains in historic downtown Westminster, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at

... assured of a horn, a rattler, or a whistle or whatever the gift may be…" Merry Christmas. When he's not singing "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," and enjoying eating his Christmas oranges, KevinDayhoff may be reached at

... to arrest and punishment. Last Sunday evening there were crowds in front of both the Methodist Churches, and their conduct was disturbing to the worshipers." When not spending time in church on Sundays, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at

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Related:

Panama Canal opened markets for Carroll farmers





The Panama Canal officially opened on Aug. 14, 1914, when the SS Ancon sailed the newly constructed 48-mile waterway from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. That path linking the two bodies of water on the Isthmus of Panama is mentioned a number of times in Carroll County history.

Distinguished international journalist Sadie Kneller Miller, who was born in Westminster, worked for many years for Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. She covered the early years of the building of the canal around 1908, according to research by Mary Ann Ashcraft for the Historical Society of Carroll County.

The opening of the canal gave a much-needed boost to Carroll County agriculture, as it shaved more than 7,000 miles off the trip by ship around South America to markets on the west coast of the United States and Asia for Carroll County corn, wheat, soybeans, canned goods and meat products.

The year the canal opened was a critical one in the history of Carroll County farming. It marked the end of an era that began in 1896 that agricultural historian Carol Lee referred to as the "Golden Age." … http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/westminster/ph-ce-eagle-archives-0216-20140217,0,3710992.story

[…]

It seems that my invitation to join Biden and the mayor got lost in the mail. So I took matters in my own hands and visited the canal, the port of Colon, and Panama City for a history tour this past January. I also had a stopover for an eco-tour of portions of Costa Rica and San Jose. … http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/westminster/ph-ce-eagle-archives-0216-20140217,0,3710992.story
*****
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Panama Canal opened markets for Carroll County Maryland farmers – Kevin Dayhoff Baltimore Sun

Panama Canal opened markets for Carroll farmers




See more at: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2014/02/panama-canal-opened-markets-for-carroll.html#sthash.sigdCnaY.dpuf
The Panama Canal officially opened on Aug. 14, 1914, when the SS Ancon sailed the newly constructed 48-mile waterway from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. That path linking the two bodies of water on the Isthmus of Panama is mentioned a number of times in Carroll County history.

Distinguished international journalist Sadie Kneller Miller, who was born in Westminster, worked for many years for Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. She covered the early years of the building of the canal around 1908, according to research by Mary Ann Ashcraft for the Historical Society of Carroll County.

The opening of the canal gave a much-needed boost to Carroll County agriculture, as it shaved more than 7,000 miles off the trip by ship around South America to markets on the west coast of the United States and Asia for Carroll County corn, wheat, soybeans, canned goods and meat products.


The year the canal opened was a critical one in the history of Carroll County farming. It marked the end of an era that began in 1896 that agricultural historian Carol Lee referred to as the "Golden Age." … http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/westminster/ph-ce-eagle-archives-0216-20140217,0,3710992.story


[…]

It seems that my invitation to join Biden and the mayor got lost in the mail. 

So I took matters in my own hands and visited the canal, the port of Colon, and Panama City for a history tour this past January. 

I also had a stopover for an eco-tour of portions of Costa Rica and San Jose. … http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/westminster/ph-ce-eagle-archives-0216-20140217,0,3710992.story


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Recent columns and articles by Kevin Dayhoff in the Baltimore Sun


By Kevin E. Dayhoff, February 17, 2014
... City, a vast collection of skyscrapers and a thriving economic center that may be best described as the Hong Kong of Latin and South America. If he is not showing pictures of his trip to Panama to friends

By Kevin Dayhoff February 12, 2014
... College: 621 employees • Carroll County Commissioners: 587 employees • Carroll Community College: 509 employees • Evapco: 440 employees When he is not counting the days until spring…

By Kevin Dayhoff, February 5, 2014
... received an imported breech-loading shotgun. Throughout his career he gave away 5,000 guns representing sales of 5,000,000 cigars!" When he is not admiring the artwork on the old cigar labels…

... life were the parking meters the Westminster Common Council had voted for in 1941. When he is not feeding the meters and shopping in Westminster's historic — and well-defended downtown — Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at .

By Kevin Dayhoff, December 2, 2013
... been too small for commercial success. It was at night, on the other hand, that radio listening really picked up." When he is not up late at night surfing the Internet looking for foreign radio stations, KevinDayhoff may be reached at

... service, nothing can beat a locally owned store. Westminster Mayor Kevin Utz agrees: "Getting a little stir crazy? If you can safely ... not doing his Christmas shopping on Main Street in Westminster, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at

... Library. Sadly, for reasons not easily understood at this time, the station was unceremoniously torn down in 1961 and turned into a parking lot. When not watching the trains in historic downtown Westminster, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at

... assured of a horn, a rattler, or a whistle or whatever the gift may be…" Merry Christmas. When he's not singing "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," and enjoying eating his Christmas oranges, KevinDayhoff may be reached at



... to arrest and punishment. Last Sunday evening there were crowds in front of both the Methodist Churches, and their conduct was disturbing to the worshipers." When not spending time in church on Sundays, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at

*****

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Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Annual Report of Maryland’s Rural Development Council for FY 2000


The FORVM's Year in Review for FY 2000

The Annual Report of Maryland’s Rural Development Council


At the start of this new century, the Maryland economy, like the national economy, is running full throttle. Maryland's agriculture industry has produced a bumper crop of corn and soybeans, and the state's historically downtrodden urban and rural regions are experiencing a positive up-tick in the traditional indicators of success. Unemployment rates are down. Consumer confidence is up.

Still, several counties in Western Maryland and on the Eastern Shore have unemployment rates significantly above the statewide average. Poor access to quality health care, the continuing loss of viable farm and forestland, a crumbling infrastructure, and the low availability of suitable housing and reliable transportation remain serious challenges for Marylanders to solve.

The FORVM for Rural Maryland identifies important issues facing rural communities and brings together diverse groups of people and policy-makers to work toward improving the quality of life in Rural Maryland. At the close of Fiscal Year 2000, thanks to the efforts of many of our partners, the FORVM is better positioned then ever to help rural communities achieve a better tomorrow. Here are some highlights of the year just concluded.

Eastern Shore Economic Development

At the request of The Eastern Shore General Assembly Delegation, Governor Parris Glendening appointed the Eastern Shore Economic Development Task Force late last year. More than 100 people from across the Eastern Shore met over several months to study and craft short- and long-term solutions to many challenging economic problems.

Eight subcommittees of the task force, composed of members from each of the nine Eastern Shore counties, submitted individual and regional issues, concerns, and recommendations which the steering committee outlined by economic area. The task force's final report forms the basis of a comprehensive, long-range regional economic development strategy, both for individual counties and the Eastern Shore as a whole.

To preserve the integrity of the Eastern Shore, the Task Force agreed that the following six recommendations require immediate attention.

1)       Create water and wastewater treatment systems as identified in individual county master plans to handle current and future needs.

2)       Establish funding mechanisms, organize producer cooperatives, and promote production and marketing alternatives to enhance the sustainability of the agriculture and seafood industries. Use the statewide study currently underway to examine the impact of agriculture and poultry on Eastern Shore economy

3)       Implement a high-speed fiber-optic network on the Eastern Shore to meet current and future needs.

4)       Promote the development of an integrated regional public transportation system for the entire Eastern Shore and Delmarva area that includes securing long-term funding (at least five years) from the Maryland Mass Transit Administration and the Federal government.

5)       Support local Workforce Investment Boards efforts to aid in motivating and training residents seeking to participate in the labor force.

6)       Create two permanent regional planning organizations, charged with planning for and taking the required steps in achieving the desired business, economic, and community outcomes for the regions, including the timely implementation of the recommendations of the Eastern Shore Economic Development Task Force.

The Task Force and the Eastern Shore Delegation has asked the FORVM, in the role of a neutral facilitator, to help implement this last recommendation by working collaboratively with local officials to establish these regional councils. The FORVM will be working diligently toward that end in coming months.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/104250445/The-Annual-Report-of-Maryland%E2%80%99s-Rural-Development-Council-for-FY-2000
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Maryland, agriculture, eastern shore, Delmarva, General Assembly, technology, 
*****

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Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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