We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Megan Penn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Megan below.
Hi Megan, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
The biggest risk was leaving my profession after 12 1/2 years and stepping into a role I knew nothing about.
After being in the Architecture and Urban Planning world for over a decade, it was scary to think about completely leaving it all behind to step in the role of Executive Director for Orange Home Grown (OHG). My degree had prepared me for the professional for-profit world I was currently living in, but I wasn’t sure how well my skillset would transfer over into the nonprofit sector. I had to learn so much. We have had so many hurdles along the way and new challenges continue to get thrown at us, but I believe that the work we do makes such a positive impact on the community and brings so much value to our City and surrounding communities that I now can’t imagine ever going back to the for-profit sector. I stepped into this position in 2016, and I honestly haven’t had time to look back.
In my previous role as a senior project planner, I did a lot of management of people, timelines, and worked with many moving parts to make sure a job was completed on time. Working with land owners, sub consultants, and community members could be challenging. All of these former experiences have helped me to hone in on the skills that are needed to operate a small grassroots nonprofit. I rely heavily on our board and founders, along with exceptional volunteers, staff and consultants. I continue to learn and grow every day with the support of my OHG community.
So many of the skills as a project manager and urban planner have in fact helped me to excel in the position I am in today. I have had to learn so much in the last 15 years working with Orange Home Grown. Our founders, current board members, and staff continue to support me and provide guidance with their area of expertise. I feel so fortunate to work with so many incredible humans. We have an exceptional volunteer group. People who really care about giving back and making a positive impact on this world. As hard as this risk was to leave the for profit world, I am so happy with what I am doing today and seeing how much growth our organization has had over these last 15 years since it was officially started.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I fell into this industry by chance. After graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, I moved back to my hometown of Orange California. Visiting the weekly farmer’s market was a big part of my college experience. Moving back home, there wasn’t a farmer’s market during the week that I could attend because I worked during the week for an architecture firm. I started running into grade school friends who still lived in the area and we started throwing around the idea of starting a community farmers market in our City.
After that the rest was history! In 2008, we officially started our organization, Orange Home Grown (OHG). We spent the next two years working after hours to form our non profit and to curate the farmer’s market. We worked so hard those first two years and learned so much about the local food industry, connected with City and County officials, and formed relationships with our business community.
The Orange Home Grown Farmers & Artisans Market officially opened its doors on Saturday May 7, 2011. The farmer’s market is open every Saturday from 9am to 1pm and is located at 303 W. Palm Ave. in Old Town Orange. Our partners are Chapman University and the City of Orange. The farmer’s market is home to about 65 vendors- certified farmers, food artisans, and local crafters. We offer cooking demos, complimentary dog sitting, OHG Kid’s Club, knife sharpening, yoga classes, and other educational opportunities throughout the year.
After running the farmer’s market for about 6 years, we started to branch out and focus on other areas where our organization could give back. In 2017, we partnered with Chapman University to launch the OHG Education Farm. This is a community farm space where anyone is welcome to come out and lend a hand. The food is donated out and free education is provided through work experience, classes, workshops, and community events.
We also launched the first Orange Seed Lending Library in partnership with the Orange Public Library Foundation in 2016. This program has now grown and is now available in all City of Orange branch libraries and we also have a portable seed library that pops up on the 3rd Saturday of every month at the farmer’s market.
We started a Youth Food Literacy Program for Orange High School and El Modena High School students in 2017. This program is free to attendees that apply and interview with us and are accepted in to the program. 25 students spend the school year with us meeting on Saturdays learning about the entire food system and the professional opportunities that are associated with food. We partner with local restaurants, Chapman University’s Food Science Graduate students, the Culinary Lab Cooking School, and local professionals to make this program possible.
In addition, Orange Home Grown has been offering a scholarship program to high school seniors and college level students since 2013. Our hope is to invest in our future generations and to foster positive change for our environment and our food system. To date, Orange Home Grown has given out over $115,000 in scholarship funds to local students.
I am so proud of the positive impacts this organization has made over the years and it brings me so much joy to see our reach grow. I am thankful for all the amazing people who choose to volunteer their time and talents to help expand our offerings. To watch someone pull a carrot out of the ground for the first time and to see their face light up when they take a bite is magic. This happens whether you are 5 or 55 years old.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
We continue to think out side of the box and to push ourselves when we have the right people in place. We dreamed of creating a cookbook for many years. In 2022, we had the right people at the right time working with our organization. This experience was a true labor of love. We all learned so much and also gave ourselves time to enjoy the process. Our assistant market manager Paul Sargeant is a photographer by trade and he shot all of our imagery. Our board members cooked/baked the different recipes and brought everything to my house to photograph and taste. Or amazing board member Aimee Armstrong formatted and pulled the pieces of the book together. It took a village and we all learned so much through the process. We published our first cookbook in August of 2022- the Orange Home Grown Community Cookbook. We are so proud of this accomplishment and how it turned out.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the biggest lessons we have had to learn is that we all need to wear many hats and have a varied skillset because there are so few of us having to do so many different things to make the organization run. We rely heavily on volunteers for so much of what we do. It can be challenging having to do so many different things, but also very rewarding at the same time. Typically there are quite a few balls in the air to juggle at once, but somehow we always manage to do it with the help and support of our community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.orangehomegrown.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orangehomegrown/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrangeHomeGrownInc/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orange-home-grown-foundation/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@orangehomegrown9459
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/orange-home-grown-farmers-and-artisans-market-orange-2
