Harford’s Rockey Farm honored for century on the land: ‘We lived off of the farm’

George Rockey still lives in the same mid-1800s farmhouse he was born in 85 years ago.

The lifelong Street resident was 6 years old when he started working on his family’s farm, driving a team of horses through stacks of hay that others threw  on a wagon. By age 8, he had started milking cows, taking over the task from his mother.

As he grew older, Rockey became more involved in the daily operations of the Harford County farm, growing corn, wheat, barley and hay, as well as raising livestock and tending to a garden. He was busy from dawn to dusk.

His youthful memories remain strong. Rockey’s father, Eugene Rockey, was particular about measuring corn, he said. The Rockeys would load up the family car with bags of corn and barley to take to a nearby feed mill. His mother would can vegetables from the garden, later using them to make hearty pots of soup.

“We lived off of the farm,” Rockey said, though he added that his family made monthly trips to the Acme, the nearby supermarket, after receiving checks for fresh milk shipped to Baltimore.

“It’s a lot different than it is today,” he said of growing up there. “Everybody had their chores to do.”

For three generations, farming has been the family business.

In 1922, Rockey’s grandfather, Franklin Rockey, purchased 60 acres off of Dublin Road. Twenty years later, Eugene took over, raising his large family there before passing ownership in 1973 to his son George Rockey, the only one of multiple children who stayed on the farm.

The family’s multigenerational commitment to working the land earned Rockey Farm the designation as one of Maryland’s Century Farms.

Established in 1994 by former Gov. William Donald Schaefer, the Maryland Century Farm Program recognizes farms that have been in the same family for 100 consecutive years, contain at least 10 acres of the original parcel and have a gross annual income of $2,500 from selling farm products. About 1.7% of Maryland’s 12,550 farms have received the designation.

The other Maryland farm to receive the honor this year was the Griffith Farm in Lothian in Anne Arundel County.

“I have seen firsthand the care and love that Century Farmers put into their work and their communities,” Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller said in a news release. “Gov. [Wes] Moore and I are grateful for your extraordinary service and your commitment to honoring the legacy of agriculture and its significance to Maryland.”

Rockey, 85,who has raised his five children at the farm, continued to care for the land while juggling full-time employment as a Maryland Forest Service ranger. Eventually, he realized a change was needed.

“It got to the point that I was probably spending more money on the farm than I was getting out of it,” he said. “So I decided it was time for the small farmer to get out and rent it to a big farmer.”

Renting the land came easily, thanks to a local connection. While on the job, Rockey’s stepson, a former road mechanic for John Deere who now works independently, met a new farmer ready to take the opportunity.

“David Rose was one of his customers,” Rockey said. “ He’d talked about renting the farm out and said, ‘If your father ever needs somebody to farm, give me a call,’ so we did.”

Though he doesn’t farm the land himself anymore, Rockey still enjoys watching his new tenant take his larger machinery out in the fields to plant corn or beans.

More opportunities have come in recent years. Rockey has sold small portions of the now 46-acre farm to a factory — the Maryland Lava Company — next door and others. He’s been approached by several companies wanting to rent the land for a community solar farm, too, though he hasn’t accepted any offers.

“To me, that’s still farming,” he said. “You’re farming the energy from the sun.”

Rockey wants the community to know that his farm isn’t for sale, though. A newly posted “Century Farm” sign at the front of his property has been mistaken for a real estate sign, prompting several people to ask if the farm was on the market.

When looking back on his life, spent working in forests and on the farm, it’s clear that Rockey has found solace in caring for his family’s land.

“It’s just a great feeling to be able to go out and relax — even though you’re working,” he said.”You relax out on the tractor.”