Farm Talk - Interview with Mary Maranville (SEEAG)

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Welcome to another edition of Farm Talk! On today’s show, Paul is joined by Mary Maranville, Founder and CEO of SEEAG (Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture). Mary tell us what SEEAG is all about, the inspiration behind it, and what her “ah-ha!” moment was.

Transcript

Farm Talk: Interview with Mary Maranville (SEEAG)

Paul Ward: Hi, it’s Paul Ward with the Home & Ranch team and welcome to another edition of Farm Talk. Today. I’m very excited because we have a guest, Mary Maranville with SEEAG, which stands for Students for Eco Education and Agriculture. Welcome to the show!

Mary Maranville: Thank you for having me, it’s my pleasure.

Paul Ward: Yeah, it’s great that you could join us. So, what is SEEAG all about and how did you get involved in this?

Mary Maranville: Well, I grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, so my whole childhood was spent with farmers and cows. I moved to California 20 years ago and I was invited to watch a field trip that took place at Hanson Agricultural Research and Extension Center. It was a field trip for third graders, they were learning about local agriculture and that was my “aha” moment. So, I decided to start an agricultural education program, and that was about 11 years ago. That was the inspiration really, just my father was a farmer and growing up in that environment. And I never had anyone come to my school and teach me about the wonderful occupation that my father did. No one came to my school and said, “farmers are providing food for us to survive and to live.” So, when I saw this field trip, I said, “why didn’t I have this opportunity when I was in elementary school?” I just took it from there.

Paul Ward: Yeah, I don’t think it really is even today, even though we live in this rich cultural community in Ventura County, California – it’s really not part of that everyday classroom curriculum. I mean, it really takes people like you and organizations like SEEAG to put on special programs. Is that correct?

Mary Maranville: Yes. And the reason is because when our educational system was set up, I think it was over 200 years ago, everyone lived on a farm or their grandparents had a farm. So, we got summers off to work on the farm and we didn’t go back to school until after harvest. So that’s why it was never a subject in the classroom. Of course we have science, plant science, but agricultural education is not part of the instructional day. And so that’s why my program is so successful is because it is needed. But the schools to this day still do not provide agriculture as a subject.

Paul Ward: Yeah, that is shocking. You guys do quite a bit. Tell us about the Farm Lab Classroom.

Mary Maranville: Okay. Well, our mission is educating students in the greater community about the farm origins of their food and agricultural’s contribution to our nutritional well-being. So that’s our mission. And Farm Lab was really the first program. That’s the heart of SEEAG’s programming. We go into the schools, elementary schools – third grade in particular – and teach kids who don’t even know what the word agriculture means. We ask, “What is agriculture,” and it’s so cute and hear their definitions. But it’s the science of farming. It’s cultivating the soil, it’s planting and growing crops. It’s harvesting those crops and just providing distribution of those crops to grocery stores and farmer’s markets. And then our second question is once we tell them what agriculture is, we say, “Who’s connected to agriculture?” And the kids look at each other like, “I’m not connected,” or a few raise their hand and they say, “my cousin works at this farm,” or “my uncle,” they laugh and they don’t. And I said, “Well, who here eats? Who here wears clothes? If you eat and you wear clothes, you’re connected to agriculture.” So, it gives them that first initial visceral connection to agriculture that they’re connected to it. Eating is an agricultural act. Then we talk to them about what crops grow in their own backyard, the parts of the plant. So these foundations, the foundation of agricultural literacy. And then the second part of the program is taking them out of the school and bringing them to a farm. And in our case it’s Petty Ranch, which is located in, Saticoy in Ventura County. And this is a multigenerational ranch. He grows citrus and avocados mainly. And then he also grows figs, so three different specialty crops. So we take the kids there and we again go over what they learned in the classroom and then we divide them up into different groups. We have a plant station, a water station, a soil station, and an entomology bug station. They go around, they rotate to different stations and learn more about those subjects.

Paul Ward: I bet that is so much more educational and beneficial to them than simply looking through a fourth grade classroom textbook or looking at a slide show because it’s something that they’re gonna remember forever. I mean, I remember going to the pumpkin patch when I was in kindergarten and my mom thought, “Oh good, he’s going to go get a pumpkin. We don’t need to get one later on.” And I brought one of these little sugar pumpkins that weighed about one pound and we still needed to go get a pumpkin. I still remember that 45+ years later.

Mary Maranville: And Paul, you’re not alone. I’ve had so many adults. And it’s so rewarding for me to hear what you just said because I didn’t think about that when I started this. You think about the agricultural education, the education opportunity that you’re offering these kids. But when we get letters. So we see with this program 3000 students a year. So we receive hundreds of letters and what these students write about that they remember, and they’re also telling us, “I’m going to start a garden.” So it leaves a lasting impression and a lasting memory. 

The other thing that I never thought of when I started this is how dependent we are to technology. That kids are just on their computers; they have their own phones now. So all that has to be put away and they’re walking around trees and plants. They’re looking at the dirt, they’re looking for bugs and at the farm. So, it really is offering a connection to nature and a farm ecosystem as well. And you asked me one more question, sorry. You said these kids, the opportunity of learning right at the farm as opposed to learning from a book. Absolutely. 

And that’s the trend in education across the country, as it’s called “next generation science standards.” Its kids having experiences, learning from experiences as opposed to just learning from reading or what a teacher’s saying in a classroom.

Paul Ward: Right. I know, I mean my wife has been a teacher for over 20 years and I know the teachers have to decide, they only have so much money for field trips and which field trip are they going to take? They get one field trip a year and they’ve got to decide which one they’re going to take. How does SEEAG fit into that? Is there a kind of outside funding or is it the districts that help with these trips?

Mary Maranville: Well, thank you for asking that. We are a 501C3 so our funding comes from grants, donations, and we offer all of our programming free of cost. So, it’s 100% free and we provide bus transportation as well, which is unheard of. So, that’s why our calendar fills up very quickly because it’s not an expense to the school. And if they do decide to go on our field trip, maybe they can decide to go on an ocean biology field trip because ours is free. They don’t have to worry about having to spend their precious field trip on our field trip.

Paul Ward: And I read that you’ve actually had over 40,000 kids come through the program? Is that correct?

Mary Maranville: Yes, that’s over the years. So in that program we see 3,000 kids a year and we see kids in the classroom and then every Tuesday and Thursday morning throughout the school year. So there are at Petty Ranch throughout the school year on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And then we have our nutrition program that we do, and we see about 3000 kids with that. We have a STEAM careers and agriculture program, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Math careers that are available to middle and high school and of course, if they go onto college we teach them about the degree requirements for certain careers in agriculture that are available to them in their own backyard, which is amazing.

Paul Ward: They could stay local, they don’t have to go far away.


Mary Maranville: Agriculture is the number one employer in Ventura County. And yeah, our middle and high school kids don’t even know about all the myriad of careers that they can apply for.

Paul Ward: That is really surprising. And you have scholarships too. You’re connected to different organizations with scholarships.

Mary Maranville: Yes, with a partnership with Ventura college we offer two scholarships a year for students that are majoring in agricultural science or I believe the other one there is they have an ag business degree. So yes, we do offer scholarships as well.

Paul Ward: Okay. And tell us about the mobile van. There’s a mobile classroom, is that separate from the Farm Lab Classroom or is that part of the Farm Lab Classroom?

Mary Maranville: Paul, no pun intended, but you’ve done your homework. Yes! When I was teaching the kids about the journey of their food, that’s really our specialty. We break them up into the stations, but what we’re trying to do is connect the dots for these kids from the soil all the way to their kitchen table. And so, we call it the journey of our food program. So when we were talking to the kids about the journey of their food, we really concentrated on the farm and the agriculture and then the distribution to their home and to the restaurants and farmer’s markets. But what we weren’t talking to the kids about is the nutritional value of these crops. And in Ventura County we grow strawberries, raspberries, celery, avocados, tomatoes, kale, all these really nutritious crops. So we’re teaching about those crops, but we weren’t telling them is that in kale there’s so much Vitamin A and peppers have a ton of Vitamin C. And so we weren’t talking to them about making healthy school snacks and recipes and nutrition. So we created this nutrition program and we wrote a grant and we applied through what’s called the Specialty Crop Block Grant and we received it. We were able to purchase a van and we called that van the Farm Fresh Mobile Classroom. When my educators are going to the schools to teach that program, they drive the van and then the kids come out to the van and it’s really colorful and it’s decorated with all the different crops that we grow in Ventura County.

Paul Ward: So, the van would probably go to the classroom before they actually come out to the farm?

Mary Maranville: Well, they can go before or after. So, the part one is the introduction to agriculture. Then we do the farm lab out at Petty Ranch. But I think the normal sequence would be to have the Farm Fresh Van go be part three because that brings it all full circle to talk to them about that the eating of the locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Paul Ward: Now in addition to all of that you also help organize Farm Day throughout Ventura County. I mean it’s a busy organization and that’s a huge event here locally. 

Mary Maranville: It is. And it was just another natural evolution to what we do. After teaching thousands of kids, a lot of parents come on the field trips, attend the field trips as chaperones, and they would say to me, “I’ve lived in Ventura County my whole life and I’ve never been to this farm.” Or when we would talk about the fact that there’s $600 million worth of strawberries grown in the county; their jaws would drop. Or when they heard that agriculture employees 40,000 workers, they just had no concept. So, they would walk up to me and say, “Was that true?” Or they’d ask more questions. And I thought to myself, we really need to have an agricultural education day for adults. Well I approached 10 different growers in 2013 and I said, “Would you want to participate in a day, open up your doors?” And these are all growers that are not open to the public. And I said, “Would you open your doors to the public on one Saturday in the fall to educate them about where their food comes from?” And all 10 said yes. That was in 2013. We just did our seventh annual, or our sixth annual, and now we’re going into our seventh. And so it’s pretty exciting.

Paul Ward: Yeah, that is exciting. I drove by Windy Hill Alpacas that day and it was packed. I mean, the parking was bumper to bumper. And of course, everybody loves alpacas so there were lots of families out there.

Mary Maranville: Right. Well, that part of it, a lot of people are like,” Alpacas? Do they eat the alpacas?” No, they don’t eat the alpacas, but they use the and they weave it to provide clothing. So clothing is actually a form of agriculture as well, but we have nurseries on the tour, and it’s called Ventura County Farm Day. It’s the first Saturday in November and we have row crop growers, orchards, we have nurseries like Houwelings Tomato Nursery. What else do we have?

Paul Ward: There’s even history and art.

Mary Maranville: Yes! Agricultural history. We had for the first year, and that was really exciting for me, is the museum in Santa Paula that has an agricultural art exhibit every fall. They actually participated this year as well.

Paul Ward: Is that the mill?

Mary Maranville: Oh no, that’s not at the mill, they participate, that’s the Santa Paula Agricultural Museum. This is the Jeanette Cole Art Center, which is right across the street.

Paul Ward: Gotcha. And then you even have a wine tasting thing that was added right? In Ojai? That’s a whole different world.

Mary Maranville: Well to kick off Farm Day, we have a dinner and this year we had it at Topa Mountain Winery and Ojai and we had a beautiful farm to table dinner and we sourced a lot of the produce locally, which is wonderful. But we also got to feature a local winery, which was also nice.

Paul Ward: Very cool. And did I read too that you have a tribute to Tom Petty at Petty Ranch? Is that something that I saw on the website?

Mary Maranville:  Not Tom Petty no, well we have Chris Petty. He is our resident farmer at Farm Lab and was the MC of the event at Topa Mountain Winery. So that’s probably it.

We actually gave an award and it’s called the Founders Appreciation Award and this year it went to someone that really helps with a lot of the promotion for Ventura County Farm Day because as you can imagine, to drive thousands of people to all those different farms we need to do a lot of promotion.

Paul Ward: Yeah. So that’s all paid for by the participating ranches, right? I mean they’re opening their doors.

Mary Maranville: Yes, the sponsors, the banks have been super generous. The sponsors have been generous. And again, when I started this Ventura County Farm Day, it was purely for the sake of agricultural education. I didn’t know it was going to be one of our biggest fundraisers of the year. So yes, the farmers, ranchers, banks, and other local companies have sponsored the event to help make it successful.


Paul Ward: If somebody wanted to get involved in SEEAG, especially on the the elementary level, how would they go about doing that? If teachers are out there listening and thinking, “Hey, I want to bring my kids out to the farm,” or, “I want to talk to my principal about something like this,” how would they go about doing that?

Mary Maranville: Well, go to SEEAG.org and SEEAG is spelled S E E A G, Students for Eco- Education. You can click “contact us” and we will get back to you. But if you’re a teacher or a principal and you want to take some of your kids on a free field trip, please contact us. And if you want to donate, and no donation is too small, if you want to donate $10 or $25, it’s tax deductible and , we have a donate button as well.

Paul Ward: Okay, great. Well thank you Mary Maranville. I appreciate it very much. This has been very informative and I know that our listeners out there, actually across America, will enjoy this. Thank you for your time.

Mary Maranville: No, thank you very much. It’s my pleasure. And we love what we do, and you need to know where your food comes from. We do this three or more times a day, we eat and we don’t know the farmers that are growing our food, so that’s my mantra. Go out and meet a farmer and learn where your food is coming from.

Paul Ward: Yeah, I remember, this is just a side note, but I remember in college I went to UC Davis to be a farmer and I ended up with a degree in political science. I took this long detour that I don’t want to bore you with. But I remember in a public speaking class I had to give a speech and I hadn’t prepared and just like any freshman in college, I was kind of last minute and I thought, well I’m gonna (I grew up on my grandparents’ ranch in Barnsdale, spent my summers working for them) and I thought I’m going to give a speech on how to grow an orange. And it was the best speech I ever gave, and nobody knew anything about farming, and it was all downhill from there. Every speech I gave after that was like, it couldn’t compare to the “orange speech” they called it.

Mary Maranville: Well you spoke from the heart and you were speaking from your experience of knowing about how to grow oranges. So that’s great. And, teaching people about food and agriculture, it’s addicting. And everybody that I know that does it, we’re all so passionate about it.

We’d love to hear from you! As always, feel free to email Paul@homeandranchteam.com.