Мебель. Всё о мебели. Большой выбор мебели.

There was a line out the door the first day, and the business has been remarkably steady in the past seven years. It has become one of the most profitable places in Harford County, Snodgrass says, and the Dallams also are able to sell cheese onsite that is made from their milk but manufactured in Pennsylvania.

Snodgrass wove dozens of such stories among the recipes in her book. "I could have made it twice or three times as long," Snodgrass says.

David represents the eighth generation to live and work on the Harford County farm. From 1998 to 2001, Snodgrass had worked to establish county legislation that broadened the uses of activities allowable on agriculturally zoned land. At about that time, the Dallams found themselves in a bind. Selling their milk to a co-op was not generating enough income. Kate could not use her farm's raw milk to produce cheese (due to health regulations). Thanks to the change in zoning rules, however, she was able to open a farm store on the property and sell homemade ice cream.

Snodgrass spent 14 months visiting 50 to 60 farms, vineyards and oyster ranches, guided by experts' recommendations. She asked noted Maryland photographer Edwin Remsberg to sign on to the project. She gathered her subjects' recipes and tested many of her own. She met folks like Kate and David Dallam, who own Broom's Bloom Dairy.

In the past few years, Maryland has had agricultural news to cheer about as well. The number of farms increased 5 percent, according to the USDA's most recent agricultural census . Maryland has some 12,800 farms today, although only 547 of them are dairy-related, and, in terms of acreage, there is slightly less farmland than in 2002. A lot of farmers here have turned to niche farming, Snodgrass says, "which makes sense. People come in as a second or third career to run small places."

"Dishing" is Snodgrass's road map of what the state has to offer, and how to eat seasonally. "I had long had the idea to do a book like this," she said last week from her home in Street , a northeastern town about five miles from the Pennsylvania border. "It's about more than preserving the land. It's about a way of life, and the farmers themselves."

The state ranks third in the nation for preserving farmland, thanks in part to a program that buys development rights. Some Maryland counties offer tax breaks once rights are purchased. Farmers are compensated for preserving their land, and local governments gain some measure of control over suburban sprawl. It's a good deal for everyone, Snodgrass says.

Snodgrass's most delicious contribution to date hit stores last month: "Dishing Up Maryland: 150 Recipes From the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay." The effort is really a collection of odes to Marylanders who work the land and sea.

Last week's news about the comeback of Chesapeake Bay crabs was music to her ears. "For the first time in decades, watermen of this state have a real reason to hold on to their crabbing licenses," she said. "It proves that if we work with nature, not against it, she'll provide a good living for Marylanders still to come. I hope everybody remembers that."

The success story of the Snodgrasses' own 145-acre Emory Knoll Farms didn't fit into the format, but it illustrates the niche trend. Her husband, Edmund, is a fifth-generation farmer who recognized the need to transform in order to survive. Lucie, 51, basically gave him three years to make something work, while she was employed by the county. Edmund had always been interested in conservation and sustainability, so he recast the farm as a nursery that is now dedicated solely to growing vegetation for so-called "green-roof" construction.

Bookwise, her timing was perfect. In 2008, she had just finished a proposal along the lines of "Dishing Up Vermont," a title just released by Storey Publishing and seen by Snodgrass when she visited her sister in Vermont. The Massachusetts publishing house was looking to grow its new line of "Dishing Up" titles that celebrate local suppliers, restaurants and traditions of individual states. "It's been a pleasure to let each author tell her own state's story," says Storey cooking acquisitions editor Margaret Sutherland. A volume on Maine completes the trio of "Dishing" books thus far.