Month: August 2026

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

“The sweet corn is the best we’ve had for years and the tomatoes are wonderful,” said Jennifer Diehl, manager of Diehl’s Produce in Severna Park. Her remark was typical of those heard at other farm and produce stands as we made our way about Anne Arundel County this week.

Protective curtains were drawn against the late-August sun at four o’clock Tuesday afternoon but the intensity of the beams shining through the canvas of Diehl’s colorful tents produced a rosy glow highlighting well-arranged rows of fruits and vegetables at their peak.

Spring onions, mushrooms, okra, radishes, cucumbers, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash occupied the central spaces with full-sized tomatoes, cantaloupes and watermelons along the back and sides of the tent and, lo and behold, there were peaches. Customers flowed in and out the entire time we were there with check-out counters so busy Diehl pitched in to help.

We decided we’d wait to speak with her until the crowd lightened.

The scene at Chase’s Produce on Route 424 in Davidsonville was busy as well – so busy that, by late afternoon, the stand had run out of several kinds of vegetables farmer Bob Chase hand-picked from the fields that morning. Thankfully, there was still plenty of their extraordinarily good sweet corn to buy.

After commenting that summer was going by in a flash, I asked Chase’s wife Margie if she knew when the farmstand would be closing for the year.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” she said. “We’re already closing on Wednesdays because, historically, Wednesdays are slow in August. However, we’re hopeful a long growing season will allow us to maintain normal operation through Labor Day. Typically, after that, the stand pulls back from full-time operation seven days a week to being open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

“As it is now, we’re beginning to run out of things,” she added. “Today, I was out of green beans, yellow squash and cucumbers. I have more coming of all three but they’re not ripening fast enough.”

Both Chases noted that the weather was so odd this year that it affected the business adversely. The unexpected freeze on April 20th not only killed the blossoms on the farm’s own U-Pick strawberry crop but also impeded their ability to obtain the tree fruits they normally carry from orchards they work with.

“We had very limited peaches this year, and no cherries or blackberries because the orchards were affected by the same freeze we had,” Margie said. “We got a small number of early peaches but then the orchards had to cut us off in order to have enough for their own customers.”

The Chase’s Produce schedule is posted daily at Chase’s Produce – Fruits and Vegetables, Fresh Produce or at Facebook.

Also on Route 424, Marco Ridge Farm Produce has had a busy summer this year. Arriving there late in the afternoon, we found that Marco Ridge had sold quite a bit of produce over the course of the day, but still had plenty of bell peppers, a variety of hot peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplants, onions, and tomatoes though most of the sweet corn was gone from the stand.

“All our crops have done very well this year,” said Diane Klinken who manages the produce stand for farmer Alan Covington with her husband Fred.

We noted that there was a sufficient supply of cantaloupes and watermelons left in front of the stand but no shortage of good-sized red and green tomatoes.

There was still quite an impressive grouping of Marco Ridge dressings, pickles, salsas, dips, pepper jams and barbecue sauces. However, customers are warned to buy them before the season closes as, once they’re gone, they’re gone. We also discovered that a few of Fred Klinken’s charming birdhouses remain to be sold.

“As you’ve probably heard, our peaches from local orchards were in shorter supply due to the cold snap experienced in April,” Diane noted.

If things go as planned, Marco Ridge Farm will be closing on Labor Day but will continue to have serve yourself pay-as-you go vegetables for sale on their produce wagon well into fall. Follow their schedule at Facebook.

Getting back to Diehl’s Produce in Severna Park for a moment, it was interesting to see that the stand did have Adam’s County Pennsylvania peaches. Jennifer Diehl explained that they’ve been lucky in that the orchard they’ve dealt with for decades is large enough to be less affected by the April freeze. The orchard eliminated some of their other wholesale customers, but Diehl’s was able to get as many peaches as they needed.

“Peaches will actually be ending this week,” Diehl said. “But our Adam’s County apples will be coming in. We’re debating now whether to wait for Labor Day to bring in our autumn chrysanthemums or sooner. The mums will shortly be followed by our pumpkins, gourds, winter squash and cider.”

Diehl emphasized that the stand won’t be closing until October 31st.

We were unable to get to Jen’s sister, Abby’s Diehl’s Produce Annapolis locations in Eastport at 921 Chesapeake Avenue or at Clocktower Place Shopping Center at 1410 Forest Drive. They too, have an abundance of fresh produce from the Eastern Shore as well as Adam’s County peaches and apples. Both stands will continue to be open through October 31.

The Peninsula Farms produce stand at 826 Mayo Road in Edgewater is another wonderful source for summer produce that we discovered while sourcing ingredients for a sharonleestable.com recipe. We’ve been back many times as their sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans a melons never fail to please. We understand that the stand will be open this year until the middle of October.

We already focused on Pumphrey’s Farm stand in Millersville in last week’s column, but we’ll remind you that they are among the latest to close – generally mid-November.

We couldn’t end this column without mentioning lovely Zang’s Farm Stand which we discovered at 4475 Muddy Creek Road on the way to historic Galesville. Zang’s is a family owned and operated farm that grows seasonal fruits, vegetables and cut flowers.

Zang’s is blessed with plenty of peaches to sell as the farm has its own orchard with over 200 peach trees. There are apples, pears and melons too with pumpkins coming in the fall. Zang’s is very well known for its field-grown and high tunnel cut flowers from March until October with dried flower centerpieces and holiday wreaths.

The farm stand will remain open through October.

We haven’t forgotten the Anne Arundel County farmer’s markets but are saving those for autumn.

The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility while reducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. Jing Ying also offers a homeschool Kung Fu program this fall. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!

and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high-quality consistent care.

 

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

A familiar face to Severna Park and Millersville residents, Pumphrey’s Farmstand owner Nathaniel “Nate” Pumphrey is a member of Maryland’s well-known Pumphrey farming family and proud of his heritage.

We noted during a previous visit to the farmstand that Pumphrey’s Farm is one of the last vestiges of Anne Arundel County agriculture. Nate was involved in the farm from an early age.

“These beautiful vegetables come from right here in downtown Millersville where we have 4-1/2 acres behind the stand and a larger acreage across I-97,” Nate said. “The house I grew up in, behind the big red barn off the southbound side of Interstate 97, was a wedding gift from my great grandparents to my grandparents”.

While chatting with Nate last weekend, he noted that many of his customers are well aware of his family history. But recently, several of them came to the produce stand to show him clippings of an article revealing that University of South Carolina archaeologists found the body of an unidentified Revolutionary War soldier in 2020 along with 13 others at a historic site where the long and deadly Battle of Camden took place.

The first to be identified through DNA was the body of John Pumphrey of Anne Arundel County – a young teenager when he enlisted to fight in the American Revolution in 1777. He died during the battle in 1780.

Biological anthropologists estimate that Pumphrey was likely between 13 and 15 years old when he enlisted in Maryland’s 7th Regiment in Baltimore. He would have been one of the youngest members of George Washington’s Maryland Line and likely joined up in pursuit of a better life.

According to Allison Peacock who authored America’s oldest John Doe: Private John Pumphrey of the 7th Maryland Regiment – Allison Peacock | Family History Detectives® and conducted the DNA and genetic research to identify Pumphrey’s remains, little is known about the young soldier aside from the fact that he and his siblings were orphaned following the death of their father, Walter II, and deprived of their rightful inheritance by an unscrupulous executor. The orphan’s enlistment may have been a necessity.

His boyhood home is thought to have been on a tract of land known as Mistake in Friendship, Maryland which is part of the land on which Anne Arrundell County Historical Society’s Benson-Hammond House is now located.

Through DNA collected from Pumphrey family descendants, John Pumphrey is confirmed a direct descendant and great grandson of Walter Pumphrey I (1655-1721), the colonial-era immigrant founder of the Pumphrey family in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The DNA came from descendants of the gentlemen appearing in the photo below from the Kuethe Library Historical & Genealogical Research Center in Glen Burnie.

An article by Rick Forgo for Medium.com, called Brooklyn’s First Settlers: The Pumphreys notes that family patriarch Walter Pumphrey, a carpenter from Gloucestershire, England arrived on a ship of Quakers with his wife and daughter in 1678 in the colonial town of Burlington in west New Jersey. Pumphrey remained there for 30 years until wife Hannah died. Remarried to Marcy Skene, he raised a large family that included six sons, Silvanus, Lazarus, Nathaniel, Walter Jr., Ebenezer and Joseph, and a daughter, Deliverance. At 58 years of age in 1713, he moved to what was then Baltimore County and bought a 150-acre parcel in South Patapsco on the shores of Curtis Creek. Walter and eldest son Silvanus then bought an additional 200 acres called Sawmill Supply Tract to supply their growing lumber business.

Walter’s sons Ebenezer and Nathaniel built many of the first homes in Baltimore using lumber from the Sawmill and other tracts. Eventually, his sons Silvanus and Joseph moved to North Carolina and West Virginia respectively. But most of the family remained in Anne Arundel County and were prolific landowners and farmers. By the 1800’s they owned large parcels of land including a tract near Dorsey that became modern-day Brooklyn, large tracts in Ferndale and Millersville, and virtually the entire Mountain Road peninsula.

Nate Pumphrey’s farmland is very likely one of the few tracts remaining intact. Though he was not among those contacted for a DNA sample, Pumphrey said he’s aware of an entire book written about family patriarch Walter and is intrigued by the recent focus on the young soldier and the family of which he is a part.

Meanwhile, rain was threatening but things continued to hum right along at the farmstand and in the fields surrounding it on Saturday afternoon.

According to Pumphrey, the mid-August bounty from the fields has been plentiful with fruits and vegetables at their peak. Business has been good and the stand is busy all day every day.

The melons were mellow, sweet and succulent while the heirloom tomatoes were priced at $3.50 per pound and were delicious. In addition to sweet corn, cucumbers, peppers, squash, potatoes and onions, Pumphrey’s specializes in hot peppers ranging from habaneros, jalapenos, and tai varieties to ghost peppers. We especially were pleased to see freshly picked green beans which seem to be in short supply this year at other farmstands due to weather issues. (Those were also delicious!)

Wearing a smile as always, Nate Pumphrey was minding the family business from his stool at the counter when we left. His customer was happily filling another bag – this time with the same green beans we fancied.

Not a lot of the growing season is left but Pumphrey’s Produce is generally open through the late summer into November. We’ll have an update shortly on the status of the many produce stands and farmstands we frequent throughout Anne Arundel County.

Summer Days on the Farm at Benson-Hammond House this Saturday

By coincidence, we learned that the Ann Arrundell County Historical Society is inviting the public to join them for Summer Days on the Farm at the Benson-Hammond House this Saturday, August 22 from 11 am to 3 pm. Enjoy a chilled glass of lemonade and some sweet cookies, relaxing and rocking on the porch to the music of The Overtones. For information, visit Benson Hammond House | Ann Arrundell County Historical Society.

The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility while reducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. Jing Ying also offers a homeschool Kung Fu program this fall. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!

and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high-quality consistent care.

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

Nurse Practitioner Katherine Grote was on the move constantly as she ushered Open House visitors from one part of her practice to another on the evening of August 12th. It was Grote, the owner of Integrative Family NP, LLC who came up with the idea of holding a Meet The Providers Open House in order to acquaint the Severna Park Community with the healthcare related businesses located in the middle building of the Professional Center at 815 Ritchie Highway.

Outside the three-building complex, the parking lot was humming with visitors placing orders at food trucks Grote arranged for.

Across the way, blue and white balloons pointed the way inside to both levels of the center Professional Building.

“There is no signage along Ritchie Highway calling attention to our seven practices among the 50 businesses located in the Professional Center’s trio of buildings. Many people don’t realize we are here though we offer important services to the community,” said Grote.

Deciding to follow the balloon trail to the lower level, we came first to the offices of Magothy River Counseling where we met therapists Julie Meyers and Eddie Lomash. With nine therapists, the practice provides therapy to adult clients seeking to work on mental health, trauma, relationships and/or identity. Both Meyers and Lomash considered the Meet The Providers Open House a welcome idea.

We next came to the doorway for the offices of Patrick Hughes with Allstate Insurance. Hughes was with a client in the back, however, so we didn’t get to speak with him and moved on. But we understand that he covers a wide range of insurance plans related to your family’s wellbeing.

Following the trail of pink and white balloons down the hallway, we notice more signs on the doors of office suites. We stopped at a sign saying Expecting with Emily, pushed open the door and discovered that midwife Emily Encinosa was out on an errand of importance. Fortunately, Encinosa shares a portion of the Integrative NP, LLC office suite so Grote was happy to explain her practice to us.

“Emily is a Certified Professional Midwife,” Grote explained. “She’s also a labor doula and childbirth educator who also conducts prenatal fitness classes.”

We next spent quite a bit of time in Grote’s Integrative Family NP, LLC offices which can be seen in the opening photo. She was showing us past her children’s examination room to an open classroom beyond when we bumped into Greater Severna Park & Arnold Chamber of Commerce CEO Liz League and her assistant Parker John.

League presided over the Grand Opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly opened medical practice on January 17, 2025. (Integrative Family NP, LLC a first-of-its-kind medical practice for the greater Severna Park area – sharonleestable.com.) Grote mentioned at the time that part of her reason for opening her own practice was that she also needed a professional setting and space in order to become a preceptor and give nurse practitioner students clinical experience.

“Getting the required hours of clinical experience in an active office is hard for nurse practitioner students,” she’d noted. “It’s difficult to find a medical practice where they can get an apprentice-type experience. Since I really enjoy teaching, I wanted to offer this opportunity.”

When Liz League asked Katherine if she’d followed through, she said she did. She then introduced us to Jessica Poretz, her first new Nurse Practitioner who’d been one of her students in the spring of 2025. Portez graduated from George Washington University as a nurse practitioner in August, 2025 and started working for Integrative Family NP, LLC in September.

Deciding to follow the balloons again, we trailed them to the end of the hallway and subsequently up the back stairs to the second floor. We were immediately attracted to a giant toothbrush. A moment later, Dr. Andrew Lericos from Anchor Family Dentistry and wife Polly arrived from visiting a neighboring office. We later spoke with Lericos about how he came to be known as “the Severna Park dentist”.

“Polly and I moved to Annapolis just as the dentist here then was selling his practice. I was already familiar with the area as my brother had once been a manager at Cafe Mezzanotte,” Lericos said. “It was the perfect location for offering the mix of family-friendly care and cutting-edge technology that I like to offer.”

Held after business hours, the Open House provided time for neighboring practitioners to visit each other as well. Just up the hall from Anchor Family Dentistry, we were delighted to run into Lean On Dee Senior Homecare Services co-owner Winsome Brown visiting Nicole Baumgartner of Anchorage Counseling, LLC.

Both Brown and I are impressed with Baumgartner’s warm, easygoing manner and her interesting background. While working to obtain her master’s degree from the University of Baltimore, she worked one-on-one with students with disabilities in the public-school setting developing a deep understanding of the experience of families with children in special education. She has since worked in private practice for over a decade. She has also taught parenting classes as an adjunct professor at Anne Arundel Community College.

The Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services’ team creates and manages personalized care plans for patients with experienced care specialists and friendly companions. As co-owners, sisters Winsome Brown and Danielle Morgan Brown assure that flexible caregivers are available whenever and wherever needed, allowing patients to enjoy regular activities with confidence and support.

The Meet The Providers Open House was fun and informative. We’ll cross our fingers that it becomes a yearly event.

AAUW Book Collections begin this Saturday, August 15th

Members of the AAUW Anne Arundel County Branch were busy at the Severna Park Independence Day Parade handing out bookmarks with the book collection schedule for this year for their Used Book Sale in November. For those who have not seen it, you can donate your good, clean used books from 9 am till 12 noon this Saturday, August 15th at the following collection locations.

St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal Church at 375 Benfield Road in Severna Park

Anne Arundel Community College off Route 2 on W. Campus Drive in Arnold

St. Philip’s Episcopal Church at 730 Bestgate Road in Annapolis.

Further dates for drop-offs will happen at the same locations on August 29, September 19, October 3, and October 17 from 9 am till 12 Noon.

The books are being collected for AAUW’s renowned autumn used book sale taking place from November 5th through 8th. Proceeds support scholarships for women.

The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility while reducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. The school will be holding a fun-filled summer camp this August. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!

and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high-quality consistent care.