Marylanders Encouraged To Buy Local

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- If you're looking for corn, cantaloupes, peaches and other fruits and vegetables, this is your week. They're hitting farm stands all across Maryland in a big way.

Ron Matz reports the state is encouraging you to buy local, and a lot of people are doing just that.

"I'm making an old-fashioned Baltimore peach cake," said Jo-Ann Weber from Weber's Cider Mill Farm. "We use ripe peaches which we pick from our farm."

The peaches are in at Weber's Cider Mill Farm. Jo-Ann Weber will peel and slice about 25 for each peach cake she'll make.

''We peel them and slice them and put them on sweet dough and put them in the oven," she said. "It bakes for about 45 minutes and the whole process takes about an hour and a half."

Weber's is a family-owned farm that's been around since 1947. Tomatoes, peaches and squash are just some of the fresh food you can get from the neighborhood.

"I think we have safe food in this country, but there's a certain comfort in knowing where you got your food, who grew it. People like that," said Steve Weber. "It's from Maryland, from the neighborhood."

It's "Buy Local" week in Maryland. It's being embraced by shoppers and farmers, too.

"I really appreciate Governor O'Malley and Secretary of Agriculture Hance coming up with this idea," said Steve Weber. "Using this week when everything comes in to full production."

Cake making can get gooey, but it's a Baltimore thing.

"I've had customers from out-of-state come in and I show it to them and they say that's not a cake, and I say that's a Baltimore peach cake," said Jo-Ann Weber.

"When it's too hot to cook, there's corn and tomatoes.  Tomatoes are the biggest sellers right behind peaches.  You got to have tomatoes or you can't be in business," said Steve Weber.

Buying local and eating fresh.

"Keeping a good healthy agriculture economy is good for the business world," said Steve Weber. "It's good for the economy and it's good for the bay."

The "Buy Local" campaign continues through Sunday. For more information,  click here.