David Patrick starts his day on Maple Dell Farm at 4:30 a.m. with a big mug brimming with equal parts tea and milk. Three hours and 170 milked cows later, he heads back to the more than century-old farmhouse where he was born, carrying a second, empty mug with the scant residue of coffee and milk.
"Nothing tastes better" to the Lisbon farmer, he said, than milk straight from the tank on his family's 93-acre dairy farm on Daisy Road, near Interstate 70.
Patrick, 77, clearly enjoys the fruits of his labor.
For their commitment to agricultural land preservation, support of youth programs and use of farming techniques that benefit the land and the Chesapeake Bay, the Patrick family was inducted into the Governor's Agriculture Hall of Fame Feb. 8.
The Patricks, who are joined by the Schmidt family of Queen Anne's County as the state's 2007 honorees, are the first Howard County family to be named to the Hall of Fame in its 17-year history.
"There are many other families who use the same techniques that we do and deserve this recognition just as much," Patrick said. "I am humbled and honored to receive the award."
According to Jim Myers, conservationist with the Howard County Soil Conservation District, no family is more deserving than the Patricks.
"This family is very active in both the agriculture and local communities," he said. "They also take soil conservation very seriously and do a lot of their work using the best management practices of farming."
Patrick, who began milking his parents' small herd of two dozen cows at a young age to avoid washing dinner dishes, said he knew then that he wanted to carry on the tradition started by his grandfather.
As a 4-H member, he showed his first Ayrshire cow in 1941 at the Maryland State Fair when he was 11 and hasn't missed a fair since, he said. He still raises Ayrshires, calling the breed his "sentimental favorite," though he owns Holsteins as well.
David Patrick and his brother, James, inherited the family dairy operation in 1964 when their father retired. Two of David's sons, Michael and Dennis, work with their father and uncle. David's third son, John, hauls cattle across the country but calls the farm his home base.
David Patrick's wife, Ann, assists her husband and sons with the twice-daily milking and also helps run day-to-day operations. Three of the couple's four daughters live nearby and, along with their children, pitch in with chores when they visit the farm.
The family also works 1,300 acres of cropland, 147 acres on their second farm off Old Frederick Road and the remainder on land rented from other farmers. They raise 200 heifers on pastures at three of these sites, in addition to their herd of 200 dairy cattle.
Sitting at the broad oak table in the wood-paneled kitchen that is original to the farmhouse, Patrick is surrounded by photographs of his 12 grandchildren and many drawings they've made for him and his wife over the years.
"You can tell by looking around that we have always farmed for money, not with money," he said of the home's utilitarian decor. "I've always loved farming, so it wasn't a hard decision for me to choose this life."
According to the Howard County Farm Bureau, the county has nearly 40,000 acres of farmland, about 25 percent of its total 161,000 acres.
Maple Dell Farm is one of three dairy farms remaining in the county, but Patrick remembers when there were 56 small dairy farms back in the 1950s, eight of them on Daisy Road.
"Lucrative milk pricing is what's keeping people interested in dairy farming," said Patrick, noting that his family is currently paid $24 for every 100 pounds of milk they sell. It costs them $18 to produce that amount.
"We had some of the worst pricing ever in 2006, and this past fall we saw some of the best pricing ever," he said. "But it won't hold - the prices always fluctuate, and I expect them to fall."
The Patricks place 5 tons of milk into a cooled storage tank on their farm each day, and a tanker truck arrives to transport the milk every other day. Each cow in their herd gives about 70 pounds of milk - or eight gallons - combined during the daily morning and afternoon milking sessions.
Patrick said his grandson Derek Patrick, 17, is considering carrying on the Maple Dell Farm tradition, but he added that the final decision will rest entirely with the Glenelg High School senior. Derek's twin sister, Caitlin, plans to major in agricultural science in college.
"My father never put pressure on any of us to keep the farm in the family, and I won't do that to any of my grandkids. Of course, what happens to this farm will end up being Michael's and Denny's problem anyway," he said with a laugh.
Patrick said he placed Maple Dell Farm into the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation when it was founded in 1977, a year before the county opened its program. In exchange for an easement that restricts development of the property, and which stays with the land even if it's sold, Patrick said he received a payment of $1,100 per acre.
By comparison, farmers placing land into the county's program last year received $40,000 an acre, he said. Patrick put his Old Frederick Road property into the county's Agricultural Land Preservation Program 10 years ago.
Calling it a privilege to raise his children on a farm, Patrick said he is proud that family members have been involved in the agricultural community. They have participated in the Howard County Agricultural Preservation Board, the Farm Service Agency, Ayrshire and Holstein associations, Future Farmers of America, the Howard County Extension Service, and the Howard County and Maryland State fairs.
The bond between family members is so strong that they gather every Sunday at the Maple Dell Farm for a fried chicken lunch, he said.
"Ann and I wouldn't know what to do if we didn't see our children and grandchildren each week," he said. "It's terrific to work together with your family, and we share many great conversations as we work."
Patrick said he has no plans to retire, unless health issues demand it someday.
"The best thing about farming is the feeling that you're accomplishing something," he said. "I feel good about what we're doing here - physically and mentally - and I'm not ready to give that up."