Treworgy Orchards
[00:00:00] Hey there. Welcome to the Farm Educators Roadmap. I'm Christa Hein, former nonprofit girl turned farm education entrepreneur. I've spent the last 30 years creating hands-on programs that connect people to the land animals, and the traditions that nourish our daily lives. If you're listening, you probably believe what I do, that farm education is needed now more than ever. Not just on rural farms, but in suburbs, cities, and everywhere in-between.
In this podcast, you'll hear real stories and practical advice from farm educators all across the country - people who are creating change through their programs in creative and inspiring ways.
Whether you're dreaming about starting your first program, are already knee deep in your own farm education work, or are just curious about how others are impacting their communities through farm education, you're in the right place. Let's dig in.
Christa Hein: [00:01:00] Today I'm talking with Ginny Nute, the Education Director at Treworgy Family Orchards in Maine. She's been a part of the farm for nearly two decades and has been the Education Director for over eight years, helping thousands of kids and adults connect with farming, nature, and where their food comes from.
We're going to hear the story of the orchard, how she designs programs that leave people inspired, and what she's learned along the way. Ginny, thanks so much for joining us.
Ginny Nute: Thank you so much for having me. This is really exciting.
Christa Hein: Absolutely. So, the Orchard has an interesting origin story. Can you share how it all began?
Ginny Nute: Of course. So, our farm was begun by Patty and Gary Treworgy almost 40 years ago, over 40 years ago now. And they were actually not farmers, there was a first generation of farmers. And Mr. Treworgy used to go out to sea. He was a merchant marine, and he would be gone for [00:02:00] six months at a time.
And when he came home, his, at the time, his youngest daughter didn't recognize who he was, and he was just like, this isn't the kind of life I want our family to live. And Mrs. Treworgy was like, what is it that you'd really like to do? And he said that he wanted to plant an orchard, an apple orchard, where people could come and pick apples because he loves doing it so much.
So, they actually went ahead and they looked for this property and they found it. And they went ahead, they planted 15 acres of apple trees, and that's really how it all began. Yeah, and as the story goes, when you're a first generational farmer, sometimes things don't work out. Even when you're a fifth generational farmer, things don't always work out the way that you plan. They planted all the trees, they did the work that they knew, and they went ahead to pick their first apple, and it was the first time that the round-headed apple borer worm [00:03:00] had ever been seen on the East Coast, and it had decimated trees all over the state and unfortunately with that pest, you don't know. And because it's inside the tree, and they had no idea until they went to pick apples and it was really, really bad. And they had been infested and they had to pull up all of the 15 acres of trees. They had to burn them.
It was very discouraging. In fact, they were like, we're actually not farmers, we're not good at this. Let's go do something else. And they tried to sell all of their equipment. And they went and got other jobs and it took three or four years and they still hadn't sold any equipment. They built a house, they built a barn for some of the animals they had, but they still had all the equipment. They didn't sell anything.
And Patty was like, maybe it wasn't that we were bad farmers, it's just that we needed more information. So, they tried [00:04:00] again. They planted one tiny row of apple trees and that worked. So, they planted another row. And that's exactly how the farm has been built, is that every year they've added something, something more on, something bigger to it.
And now we're 400 acres and we have a very diversified group of crops, and we bring people in all year long.
Christa Hein: Wow. That early setback with the apple trees could have ended the whole dream. How do you think that resilience shaped the farm's culture?
Ginny Nute: That's a really good question.
I think that it has a lot to do with the ability to problem solve and find out information and not just rely on the knowledge that you know, because it could have been devastating and they could have been done. But when they decided, let's try this again, but find out more information, they went to the cooperative extension, they talked to other orchardists and other [00:05:00] farmers who actually have been doing this a long time and collected the information.
And it's kind of the way that we do everything here at the farm as we just keep trying it. If we try something and it doesn't work, we put it on a shelf. It's not for right now, it doesn't mean that in five years we don't bring it back out and we try it again. The timing might be right then, or the conditions might be right then, and you just don't give up.
I feel that it's really important that in farming you can't give up.
Christa Hein: Nice. So, you brought a lot of education and camp experience with you to the farm. Can you give us a snapshot of your journey in education and how you first became a part of Treworgy Orchards?
Ginny Nute: Yeah, I can definitely do that.
So, I have been involved in the camping industry since I was 14. I started working at a camp when I was 14, and I absolutely loved it. Didn't realize that that was what I [00:06:00] should be doing until much later. I was just having a really great time. I enjoyed showing people how to do things and teaching them how to do things, and it just kind of shaped that what I wanted to do in life was just to teach people things. And I did go into education. It wasn't really my area, the classroom. It was difficult because I'm grounded to one place. And I found that really difficult where I wanted to be out and looking at things and bringing people places.
And that's what we did at camp and we learned things that way. And it was really a funny story. I just kind of fell into coming and working at the farm. My kids were all in school and I was looking for something to do and somebody said, oh, well, Mrs. Treworgy is looking for somebody to help lead field trips at their farm.
And I was like, oh, I could definitely do that. And that's what I started doing is I started right from the very beginning leading fall field trips. [00:07:00] And then that turned into horse-led farm tours around the farm where we brought in people from all over the place and just gave them tours of the farm.
And I did that for a very long time. And then I got involved with the farm camp that was here, and then they were like, we actually need somebody to run farm camp. Would you be interested? And here I am.
Christa Hein: Nice. So how has your role evolved over the years? What is your job at the farm? What different programs are you in charge of?
Ginny Nute: Yeah, so I am the Director of Farm Camp and Education. What that looks like is a majority of my time is spent preparing for camp. I hire people, I set out the program, and I make sure that that it's epic and amazing. I do other programming at other times of the year, so in the spring, I try to offer programming for people to come into the farm, to give them a little glimpse of what we do and [00:08:00] help them to feel like they're a part of what we do here at the farm.
A lot of times, I think people want to be doing all of the farming and the gardening and all of the animal care, and it's just not a reality because where you live and/or you might not have the facilities or the funds to do it. But giving people the opportunity to come here and snuggle goats or come help with chores or learn how to make jam. They can live vicariously that way and still feel like they're a part of our farm. Yeah. And just gives them a little insider information and we pull out those elements for people to come and experience.
Christa Hein: Nice. So, when you're planning a new program, whether it's for kids or adults, where do you start? Is it the farm season or a topic or an activity? What's your inspiration?
Ginny Nute: Usually it is an idea that has popped into my head when I'm doing something else. So like if I [00:09:00] was making jam with my kids at camp, for example, and I have - this year we are bringing in littlest farmers - they're two to five year olds, and I was like, this would be really fun for them to do. And just pulling that out separately and creating for that. Creating that for them. When I'm looking at a whole new program, we do goat cuddling now, we've been doing it for quite a while, but the first year that I suggested it, it was kind of a silly idea to have people come to the farm and pick up baby goats and cuddle them.
It just is a little - it feels a little ridiculous. But, when we thought about it and when the first weekend that we did it, the amount of people that were like, this is just what I needed. I needed to hold a baby goat. You know, one person told me that it was their therapy. They work a very intense job, and that a half hour with a baby goat is so much cheaper than therapy.
And they've been coming ever since, from the very beginning. So it's a lot of things [00:10:00] that I like to enjoy. And if it was me, I would like to know how something works. So, if I can create that in a way that's easy for other people to see and understand, or even just be a part of and witness, that's really where that comes from.
Christa Hein: Nice. So, you've been running programs for a long time. So how do you keep them fresh and engaging year after year, not only for the visitors, but also for you and the staff?
Ginny Nute: That's a really good question. You do have to mix things up. Oh, you know, people's - what they do like and what they wanna be a part of does change.
And also how they respond. Sometimes you can do a soap making demonstration and everybody loves it, and then other times, you know, in two years they actually find that boring and they want to be a part of it. And they want to be a part of the making and what happens there. And the same with like making cheese, you know, like these are [00:11:00] chores.
There are have-to chores that we need to do, and milking goats, and because we get to do that, we actually get to snuggle the baby goats and love them. You know, that's what we talk about with the kids. And sometimes you have to add like, how much milk did we get yesterday? We got three quarters of a gallon from this one goat.
That's amazing. How much did we get today? So just adding little tiny elements that make it fun. Whether it's game-like or just tracking information, everybody loves that. They just want to see how things change and how things grow and how things progress.
Christa Hein: Yeah. Making it relevant. Absolutely.
Ginny Nute: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's perfect wording. Relevant. Good.
Christa Hein: So, the farm has so many different things going on. You do pick your own crops, a cafe, a farm store, you have farm animals, wagon rides, a corn maze, workshops, farm camp, school visits. How do all those different parts of the farm work together?
Ginny Nute: That's a really great question. It's [00:12:00] something that we talk about a lot. My programming depends on the other areas of the farm. So, the agricultural department, I couldn't do a lot of what I do if the ag department wasn't out there working in the fields and preparing the fields to plant pumpkins or weeding the strawberries and covering the strawberries when there's a possibility of frost. Like what they do directly impacts what our programming is and the quality of program that we can offer, our community. So I do make sure that they know how much they appreciate, appreciate us, but also at the farm store.
Like we appreciate everything they do. They provide our snack, they make our day better because we get to have ice cream or you know, just little things like that. And being able to encourage each other and recognizing that I can't do this without [00:13:00] you, and they can't do that without me because if I'm not bringing the people in, then they're just a commercial farm that is growing pumpkins and apples, for example, when what we are about is giving people that experience. We want to connect them with the land with each other, and all of those pieces have to fall into place for that to happen.
So yeah.
Christa Hein: So how is that balance between being a working farm with lots of things going on and yet also having public visitation? Like even apart from your farm camps or those things you schedule, just having the public in and amongst those farm operations, how do you find that balance?
Ginny Nute: It is, it's interesting because I've recently had a conversation with another farm who they bring individual groups in, but they don't let the general public come in and they're really nervous about that.
And I didn't even think about it because we just do that. [00:14:00] We trust that people are going to be nice and that they're gonna be kind and let them know like, this isn't an area that you can go to. This is how we treat our trees. This is how we take care of our equipment and things like that. And just trust that people are good people.
And that they're going to help us do that. When talking with other farms like that, there is a trust value there that they don't have because you've worked so hard to earn what your farm is doing, and to bring people in is an unknown value. You don't know what they're gonna do when they're here. You don't know what they're going to look at or get into, or you just, or see even, you know?
And you just have to trust that people, that people are good people and that they, the reason that they're here is because they want that experience and they want to see those behind the scene things. So I do, I think it's a lot about trusting our community. I really do.
Christa Hein: I love [00:15:00] that. Great. I want to focus a little bit on your farm camps.
Can you give us an overview of the types of farm camps you offer and what a typical day at camp looks like?
Ginny Nute: Yeah, so Farm Camp, we are a day camp. We run from 8:30 to 4:00 every day. Our original farm camp, our regular farm camp is for 6 to 12 year olds and they do all kinds of amazing things from barn chores to garden chores to milking goats to harvesting out of the garden.
And we make things with that. We milk the goats, we take that cheese, I mean milk, and we make cheese and goats milk soap. The kids actually get to flavor that cheese and bring that home. We get to ride horses. We get to have some downtime and just be kids on the farm and we get to go look for frogs in the irrigation pond and we'll set up a sprinkler or a splash pad or something [00:16:00] just to cool us down a little bit.
And then in the afternoon, we typically do something like jam making or butter making. This time of year, the corn maze is open, so we try to get some time to go into the corn maze and play a game. That's regular farm camp. I also have a tadpole program that's four to five year olds, so it's taking the bare bones of regular farm camp and gearing it towards their age group.
So, they might make nature bracelets when they're walking around the irrigation pond. And just they slowed down a lot more than regular camp does and gives them more time because they are younger and they are smaller. But they still get to have a chance to do a lot of those things. And then I have a teenager program, it's called Learn to Lead.
We call them L to Ls, and they come to the farm. It all started because I had 12 year olds who were aging out of farm, regular farm camp, [00:17:00] and they wanted to be a part of it still. And we were looking at it and we were like, how do we bring these kids in, but make it a program that is different than regular camps, so it's not more of the same?
And we decided that if we lean towards the leadership side of it. What does it look like to be a leader in our community? What does it look like to be a leader with my peers and what does it look like to be a leader at the farm? So, they get opportunities to do things that regular camp doesn't get to do.
Like they get to go in and learn how to brush the horses and saddle the horses. And give encouragement to campers who are riding horses, and being able to instill confidence sometimes even when you don't have it yourself, but be able to instill confidence in other people. And it's a really great program.
Those are the three main farm camp programs that I run right now. I do have some things in the works that we'll see if they're gonna happen. And then also through the summer, I run [00:18:00] a, I bring in littlest farmers that are two to five year olds and they just get 45 minutes of different programming.
This summer it was making strawberry jam and blueberry jam. In the spring, it was, you know, getting time with the goats and visiting with the chicks and getting to be able to sit on a tractor and look at a tractor and see how it works and things like that. So, yeah, so we're growing slowly. I don't wanna grow too big too fast.
I mean, we have been doing farm camp for 22 years. So, you know, we're not huge. I have 50 kids here a week. But we don't want to lose that element of being personable, but having that small group element. If I start, I mean, I could easily have a hundred kids here. The program is so popular, I have a really large waiting list.
And, it is when registration opens, the parents know they have to get right in there and register because they might not get a spot. [00:19:00] So I could open it much bigger, but then we start losing that small feel element of we are a family and we do things together as a family, which, you know, this summer I've made it a point to make sure that everybody knows, like Farm Camp is a family.
Christa Hein: So are there any signature activities or traditions that have become a part of your camp culture that the kids look forward to every year, and if you take it out, they would not be happy about it?
Ginny Nute: So that's a really, that's so funny, because I added this tadpole program, we wanted chores that would work for the tadpoles.
So, checking the chicken water and changing the chicken food and the bunny food and water is now part of their chores. They also get to go up into the hay loft and look for eggs, which used to be a regular camp chore. And I've had kids all summer, really sad about the fact that they're not the ones going up into the hay loft looking for eggs.
And I've had to [00:20:00] explain that it is easy for four and five year olds to look for eggs, but it's not as easy for them to pick up a shovel and a rake and to, you know, sweep the stalls and stuff like that. So something like that. Also, I think, making soap with our goats milk. Being able to spend time with the goats every day.
I think if I took that out, they'd just be like, oh, no, what's happening? This is not what we like anymore. And then at the end of the week, we have a farm camp parade on Friday afternoon. And I think if we pulled out the Farm Camp parade, we would have a lot of kids that would be very upset at that. So, yeah.
There’s so many other things that people, the kids always say that they love about camp. Food. They love the snacks. If I change the snacks and even change the day, I get a lot of pushback. It's like, oh no, Tuesday is supposed to be muffins. Why are we having apples and caramel? [00:21:00] So, yeah. There are definitely things that people know that are farm camp and that have always been farm camp too. So, people that were here 15 years ago, they know that we still, they, we make soap and we do it every week.
Christa Hein: That's awesome. So, the farm clearly draws a lot of repeat visitors. So, you mentioned some of those things that bring those campers back. How do you build that kind of loyalty among your visitors to the farm who maybe don't have kids or who are visiting the cafe or the farm store.
Ginny Nute: Yeah, it is, I feel that a lot of the work that I do is about relationships. So, when I'm training somebody that's not necessarily in the education department that will, but will be other places. I let them know that it's not just about selling ice cream, it's not just about selling apples or pumpkins.
You get a few seconds to [00:22:00] interact with these people and take that moment to ask a question and it just gives that little bit of a relationship. And if you don't have time to finish that conversation, that's my job is to come in and be able to finish the conversation of what's your favorite type of squash?
And I can say, I really don't like squash, but a lot of people really enjoy delicata and if you split it open and, you know, talk about that and just having a relationship with them. And they look forward to that and when they come back to the farm, they're looking for those people that they interacted with.
So my people that are doing my programming, those kids and those families that have come to be a part of our program, when they come back just to pick apples, they're looking for us because they wanna say hi and they want to tell us about what's been going on in their life. And it really is about holding relationships with our community.
Christa Hein: Awesome. So, I see on your website that you also [00:23:00] invite local schools to visit the farm. How do schools like to use your farm to enrich their curriculum?
Ginny Nute: So we do spring visits, which is about visiting the baby goats and we talk about the apple blossoms. And I have one school that likes to come in and talk about what the farm looks like in the winter and what it looks like right now when they're here in the spring versus when they come back and pick apples in the farm.
So, we do like a full year span. Most of my schools that come, come in the fall. They come for the apple picking experience and the apple cider and the donuts and visiting the goats and picking a pumpkin. And they're actually given material to go over if they'd like to with their kids ahead of time or even after.
As well as a quick video of what their visit can look like and what it can entail. They can tailor their visit to however they [00:24:00] like. If they just wanna come and pick an apple, that's all, that's what they can do. They can come do that if they just wanna pick pumpkins out of the field, that's what their trip is.
That's okay. I have a lot of groups that want to do all of the things, so they really wanna put the corn maze in there too when they're done so that their kids can go through the corn maze. And so, it really is talking to the schools and seeing what they like, but offering these base things and they can build off of that, what they would like to do.
Christa Hein: Nice. Are there any behind the scenes things like staff training or scheduling or setup that you feel could make or break the success of a program?
Ginny Nute: I think that it is very important to find people who are passionate, especially on the education side of things that not only are good interacting with people, they do a good job of interacting with people, but also have a [00:25:00] passion for whatever it might happen to be. They might have a passion for food. They might have a passion for gardening. When you're passionate about something, you talk about it all of the time, and that's what spurs those conversations with people.
So, I think, knowing what people are passionate about is, is really important. And knowing what they like and what they're a part of and what they like to do. Training is, I mean, you can always have more training, honestly. Everybody will say that. If I could have two weeks of training, I'd love to.
And a lot of it is just, I, being able to convey the culture that we have, that we are a family, that we work together, that we lift each other up as we are trying to do this. So the very same things that I'm teaching, we're teaching the kids, is what I do with my staff. Like we hold each other accountable when someone is having a bad [00:26:00] day.
You come in and you say, I'm not having a good day. And that's okay. We’ll work. What do you need from me? What can I do for you? Is there any way I can support you? Culture matters I would say even more than your systems. Like I've got sticky notes all over my desk. I have clipboards like you wouldn't believe, but the culture and how you work with the people is more important than those systems.
Because you can always change a system , but how you interact with people really makes a difference and gives how the day is going to go or the activity is going to go. So I'm not sure if that quite answers your question.
Christa Hein: Oh, that was a beautiful answer. Absolutely.
Ginny Nute: I kind of went on a tangent.
Christa Hein: So, what is next for Treworgy's Educational Programs? Any new ideas that you're excited to try?
Ginny Nute: So I actually I’m super excited this summer. Every summer we have a [00:27:00] theme for farm camp. So one year it was bees and we talked about pollinators. One year it was irrigation and we talked about how important irrigation was, and we base our activities around that.
This year's theme was garden to table, and it was a lot of working in the garden and taking those things and creating other things with them and bringing it to the other side of that. My goal in that was not just to share that with the kids, but I wanted to see how the program would work because I want to be able to pull that off to the side and do its own program, like the tadpoles, like the L to Ls.
So, it's wouldn't be a part of regular farm camp; it would do its own garden chores and its own food making and stuff, over here on the side. And that's how I bring more kids in is, I can pull out these little elements, but I tried it this summer first to see if it would work. If I can do it with 50 kids, then I can do it with 10, you know?
So, yeah, and then work [00:28:00] out those little bugs during the summer. And then that's the biggest thing that I'm looking at for next summer. I have a whole notebook full of all kinds of ideas that I write down randomly when I think of something. And sometimes I'll look at them and be like, what were you even thinking?
And then other times I'll look at it and be like, that's a really good idea. I need to flesh that one out and be able to see what that would look like and bring it to life.
Christa Hein: So, for people listening, what advice would you give them if they wanted to start offering education programs from scratch? What's the first thing you'd tell them to focus on?
Ginny Nute: The first thing I would actually tell them is just do it. Bring people in, just bring a small group of people in. It doesn't have to be 50 people. It doesn't have to be a thousand people. Bring in five. Bring in five people and just have them come along and do what you do.
Have them follow you and feed animals and answer questions. People just want to be a part of something [00:29:00] and if they're doing what you are doing, they're a part of something. That would be the first thing that I would say is just do it. It doesn't have to have everything polished. It doesn't have to have all of your ducks in a row, so to speak, or your all your t's crossed and your i's dotted.
You can work those things out as you go, but that first initial step of I'm gonna step over this line and I'm going to invite people in, or I'm going to try that, that is actually the hardest part. Yeah. And, and just doing it. And then you've got it out of the way and you can say, that did not work.
What do I need to do? Or, that went so well. How do I make it better? I think just doing it is really, is really the important part. Just try it. If it doesn't work, put it on a shelf.
Christa Hein: Yep. Great advice. So, if listeners want to visit or connect with the orchard, where can they find you all online?
Ginny Nute: Yeah, so our website is [00:30:00] www.treworgyorchards.com.
We're also on Instagram and Facebook. Farm Camp does have their own Instagram and Facebook at Treworgy Farm Camp and Education, so you can find what we are doing there as well. And I also have our own farm education email newsletter as well as the farm has a newsletter as well. So, if you wanna keep up with what we're doing, what's going on, how we're doing in the number one maze race, those kinds of information, you'll find that in the newsletter.
Christa Hein: Oh, that's awesome. Thank you so much, Jenny, for sharing your story and giving us a peek into how Treworgy Family Orchards not only grows food, but also grows meaningful connections between people and the land.
Ginny Nute: You are so welcome. Thank you for having me today.
Christa Hein: Absolutely. And to our listeners, I hope today's conversation inspires you to keep going on your own dreams, whether you're already farming, building a program, or just starting to imagine what's possible.
Sometimes the setbacks aren't the end of the [00:31:00] story. They're the beginning of the best chapters.
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