Life on a farm is a serene experience, said North Laurel resident Justin Bittner as he tended to his tomato garden on a sunny morning in July.
Rows of 60 heirloom tomato plants and dozens of zucchini plants alternated with layers of churned soil that Bittner turned up using a faded-red Troy-Bilt Horse Garden Tiller. To his left, Bittner's fiance, Becky Robinson, threw feed into a fenced-in pen, where a flock of chickens, ducks and one rooster scurried to the center for a bite to eat.
Shuffling passed the garden, Bittner, 35, said he never imagined that all of this work would grow into a family business at their own four-acre farm off Old Scaggsville Road, selling eggs and produce for the second year at the Laurel Farmers Market.
The Laurel Board of Trade sponsors the farmers market, which is held Thursdays, June through the end of October.
Almost every week, Bittner and his 19-year-old son, Sage, truck cartons of brown, white, blue-green, blue and pink eggs to the farmers market – all from a variety of 40 to 50 chickens – as well as fresh and organic produce grown in their two gardens.
"We actually came [to the market] before we lived in Laurel," Bittner said. "We used to come from Arbutus and get a couple of things when we could."
Bittner's farming experience dates back to his childhood.
"My parents bought a 200-acre farm in Pennsylvania when I was about 8, so I've been around that whole lifestyle for a long time," Bittner said. "I decided that I wanted that for myself as well as for my family. We just worked at it little by little and worked it all up."
Bittner, his son and Robinson lead the small but busy operation that started three years ago with a tiny, white, silky bantam chicken. Since then, the family has dedicated about 9,000 square feet for gardening and acres of space to house many animals.
Located on opposite sides of their house, the gardens nurse tomatoes, zucchini, watermelons and cantaloupes as well as sorghum, field peas, beans and corn. Robinson said this year's tomatoe crop should near 400 to 500 pounds.
"I usually take my lunch to work, so I tend to make a lot of salads in the summer," Robinson said. "I'm not like a huge salad person, otherwise, but I love coming out here with so many herbs."
While each week's yield is about 15 dozen eggs from the chicken coop, Bittner explained that it isn't unusual for the family to sell out at the farmers market.They also have a business license to sell to restaurants when eggs are left over.
"The barnyard chickens are really hard to count because they don't stop moving around," Bittner said. "From what I've researched, it's actually the earlobe of the chicken that tells you what color its egg is going to be."
The early 19th-century Bittner home may be close to Baltimore and Washington, D.C., but is tucked away and enclosed by trees, with only the sounds of chirping and muddle oinks adding to its otherwise peaceful atmosphere. A few pigs ran around an acre and a half of fenced-in woods, while a tall enclosure provided shelter to several partridges.
"I work in D.C. as a professional chef [at District Distilling Company] and it can be a really hectic, loud, hot job," Bittner said. "It's really nice to come home and sort of really decompress."
When she isn't working her office job at an energy business, Robinson said her mornings and evenings are spent picking veggies and fruits, collecting eggs from the chicken coop and ensuring a happy lifestyle for their four American guinea hog pigs and goat.
Two of the pigs, Thelma and Louise, and a goat named Maybelle eagerly watched Robinson walk over to the fence. But, it wasn't feeding time, Bittner said.
"Becky can get them to lay on their side for belly rubs. It's really funny," he said. "They're really nice animals."
"They're just really happy to see you," Robinson added. "You go over and pet the pigs and they love scratches behind the ears and belly rubs."
Meanwhile, the couple's 3-year-old black German shorthaired pointer asked for attention, bringing over a deflated basketball for fetching. His name is Duke of Laurel, Duke for short.
Together, the family put in a hard days work at the farm, with plenty of fresh foods and produce ready to eat.
"It's the starting line," Bittner said. "You go to a grocery store and everything is right there; the chicken is all in cellophane. When we use pork, we buy a whole pig; when we want fresh marinara sauce, we start with fresh tomatoes. It really speaks to me to really be able to start at the beginning."