Gov. Martin O’Malley hosts the annual Buy Local Cook-Out in Annapolis on July 15 to kick off Maryland’s Buy Local Challenge Week, July 17-25, www.buy-local-challenge.com. The Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission, which initiated Buy Local Week, invites Marylanders to pledge to eat at least one item from a local farm every day during that week.
The commission also created a guidebook for “all things handmade, home-grown, locally harvested and authentically Southern Maryland” in Southern Maryland Trails: Earth, Art, Imagination, www.somdtrails.com. In the guide, trails are a network for locating farms, art studios and galleries, wineries, gardens, eateries, lodging and other related destinations.
A restaurant-week promotion that spotlights local food starts in July. St. Mary’s County restaurant week, Savor St. Mary’s (www.savorstmarys.com), runs July 25 – August 8. Participating restaurants will prepare special dishes using ingredients from area farms, waterways and vineyards.