Meet the Instructors

Erin Worrall

The Cedar Chest Farm, Virginia

With a bachelors degree in Marketing and over a decade’s experience in helping her employers share their vision with prospective customers, Erin now uses her skills to reach over 18K social media followers and 500 newsletter subscribers on behalf of her sustainable farm. She cultivates customer relationships by telling the farm’s story and designs product labels to support her brand image.

Emmy Bender

Off Beet Farm, Colorado

Emmy Bender (she/her) is a farmer/co-owner at Off Beet Farm, which just wrapped up its first growing season in Boulder, Colorado. Emmy has been farming full time for five years, and gardening/learning/interning for many years before that. Emmy has worked for a diverse range of farming operations and nonprofits focused on local, organic, and sustainable food systems in Massachusetts, Virginia, and Colorado. Off Beet Farm serves two local farmers markets, has a forty member CSA, and has a small roadside farm stand.

Cindy Jones

Colorado Aromatics, Colorado

Cindy Jones has been a lavender and herb grower for 16 years. She uses these herbs to create her skin care line. Her products are sold at farmers markets, online, and at retail locations. Both her farm and product line are called Colorado Aromatics.

Emma Reigel

Gowin Valley Farms, Georgia

Emma co-founded her female-owned mushroom farm, Gowin Valley Farms at age 26 at the start of COVID. Receiving a BA from Emory University and her MSc. in Marketing from Clemson University, Emma learned how to create strategic partnerships with universities to harness her farm as a means to aid in institutional research as a citizen scientist. She has carved partnerships with numerous local universities conducting on-farm studies and creating research-based internships. Emma guest lectures at local universities for mycology lab classes and speaks at mycological conferences across the Southeast. She also enjoys working closely with the Mushroom Club of Georgia. From being Wild Food Safety Certified to cloning her own farm’s mushrooms to grow indoors, she is mesmerized by mycology. In her spare time, you can find her hiking with Gabe, her life and business partner and her dog-child Rufuss, traveling and probably foraging in both cases.

Jill Ragan

Whispering Willow Farm, Arkansas

I’m Jill Ragan, Owner of Whispering Willow Farm. We are a small family-owned farm in central Arkansas. We live on 4.3 acres, but only 1 acre is used for food and flower production that we sell to local restaurants and locally sourced grocery stores. We have an online store where we partner with other local and small artisans and crafters and offer a wide range of our favorite things for the home, kitchen, and garden. I’ve spent years learning the craft of marketing and, for many years, truly didn’t understand its importance to a successful business. Since then, I’ve put a huge emphasis on email marketing, and social media marketing to drive our sales, make connections, and financially support our farm.