Local farm to star in Maryland Public Television show

The next time you stop by at a café , you might want to pay closer attention to their tea selection. That's because one of the tea providers could be a farm in Wicomico County,  which has caught the eye of a local public television network.

Henriette den Ouden  and her partner Chris Himmel are the brains behind  Habanera farm, a tea farm  in Tyaskin, Maryland.

Throughout the year both Henriette and Chris  grow berries and herbs for their tea, then blend and package it.

"I started selling some of the teas and I realized people really like it., and that's when we really started", says Henriette.

Henriette  tells us growing plants and flowers was something she grew up with.

"My family in the Netherlands had nurseries for flowers," says Henriette

However when she moved to the U.S. she took a corporate job in the D.C. area,  but eventually left it to work independently and go back to her roots.

When she moved to the Eastern Shore she grew tea herbs at the corner of her property, that corner has now expanded to 4 acres of land to grow their 14 varieties of tea, which has recently caught the attention of the Maryland Public Television network.

"They called us because one of the crew members bought our tea in a store in the D.C. area. They looked at the label, they were like let me check those people out," says Henriette

Habanera Farm will be featured in an upcoming episode of Maryland Farm and Harvest,  which is a series that puts a face to folks in the farming industry and also educates people about agriculture. Henriette tells us the episode will highlight their tea growing process.

"The picking the drying, the tasting, creating the tea, the mixing, and the end, the serving of the tea," says Henriette.

Although Henriette tells us tea growing can be a long process, she wants to encourage more people to grow their own herbs.She and Chris hope to do this by turning their farm into a center where folks come take classes on how to grow herbs and also take natural approaches to addressing health.

For more information on Habanera Farm click here.

You can catch Habanera Farm Tuesday, January 17th at 7PM on the Maryland Public Television.