Reusable bags that county farmers have been filling with produce for customers this summer have proved so popular that the Maryland Cooperative Extension is running low on them, and may put in another order.

The bags, made of machine-washable polypropylene, carry a “Maryland’s Best” logo and the slogan, “Buy local, eat fresh.”

After Diane Klingelhofer, of Liberty Farms in Randallstown, proposed them over the winter, the extension service and state Department of Agriculture ordered 7,000, about half of them for Baltimore County.

The bags cost 90 cents each, about one-quarter of what they would have cost in small quantities, said Mary Conncannon, a nutrition educator with the cooperative extension in Baltimore County.

Eleven Baltimore County farmers have been using the bags at farm stands and farmers’ markets, in some cases giving them away and in other cases charging $1 per bag, she said.

Farmers who have been offering the bags include Klingelhofer; Tom Albright, of Albright Farms in Phoenix; Beverly Burton, of Greenwood Farm in Glen Arm; John Foster, of Mingodale Farm in Parkton; Beckie Gurley, of Calvert’s Gift Farm in Sparks, and Bill Warns, of Middletown Road in Freeland.

Other farmers offering the bags include Wendy Dilworth, of Hills Forest Fruit Farm in Kingsville; Ed Lindemann, of Bowleys Quarters; Pam Pahl, of Pahl's Farm in Woodstock; Les Richardson, of Richardson Farms in White Marsh, and Steve Weber, of Weber's Cider Mill Farm in Parkville.

Concannon herself has been selling bags for $1 each from her office in Timonium. She has about 50 left, she said.

“I actually have a call in ... to see if we can reorder this year,” she said.

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