The Pennings family has been farming in Warwick since the 1940s, when Jacob and Johanna Pennings operated a dairy farm and raised 10 children.
Several of their children eventually worked together to transition the family business from dairy farming to apples and pick-your-own farming.
“The dairy industry was really difficult, and there was already an existing orchard here, so they saw it as a good opportunity to supplement the existing dairy farm,” said Tori Pennings Cosimano, a third-generation member of the family. “And then they eventually decided to just focus on the apple orchard.”
Tori’s father, the youngest son, and her uncle Jack, the oldest son, became the main drivers of the apple orchard and pick-your-own operation, with help from their brothers and sisters, including Tori’s mother, Jill, and her cousin Jack Jr.
Forty years ago, Tori’s parents started Pennings Farm Market in what was originally a hay barn.
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“It just started as seasonal and just produce of what we grew,” Tori said. “And slowly over the years, every year my parents would put more into it, put more back into it, and expand a little bit at a time every year.”
The market gradually expanded, adding ice cream, a garden center, restaurants, bars and other offerings. Ten years ago, Tori and her brother Stephen Pennings, her partner in the cidery, added another major chapter with the opening of the cidery and began making hard cider from their apples.
Growing with the community
The cidery, which Tori and her brother and business partner Stephen Pennings helped build, was created in part as a way to make better use of the farm’s apples while offering visitors more reasons to stay and enjoy the property.
“We saw making hard cider as an opportunity to have a value-added product in addition to what we already had,” Tori said.
But for Tori, the farm is about more than agriculture or selling products.
“People want to come for the experience of being on a farm and being with their family, and to go out and apple pick, but also then to eat and to drink afterwards,” she said. “To enjoy each other, is really what it’s about. It’s about the celebration.”
That spirit of celebration has become an important part of Pennings. The farm hosts live music, local bands and events throughout the year, including goat yoga, brunches and sports watch parties.
At the farm’s recent 40th anniversary celebration, former employees, families, friends and community members returned to celebrate the milestone.
“The turnout was wild,” Tori said. “It was more than we expected. We knew it would be busy, but we were just blown away by how much support came out.”
What made the celebration especially meaningful was not simply the size of the crowd, she said, but the familiar faces.
“Everywhere you turned was a friendly and familiar face,” Tori said. “There was a lot of people to catch up with and to talk to. So it was really very special.”
Facing challenges, looking ahead
Like many family farms, Pennings has faced significant challenges. Rising fuel and operating costs have made it increasingly difficult to maintain affordable prices while keeping the business sustainable.
This year brought another major challenge when an April freeze damaged the farm’s fruit crops.
The unusually warm temperatures pushed the apple and peach trees into bloom early, only to be followed by extremely cold temperatures.
“We lost most of our peaches,” Tori said, estimating that the farm lost about 85 percent to 90 percent of its peach crop. The apple crop also suffered an estimated 70 percent to 80 percent loss.
“Because the apple crop is so much more of our identity and the base of the business, that is the biggest concern,” she said. “It’s a big hit.”
The family is adapting by supplementing apples from other orchards and adding new activities, including pick-your-own strawberries, flowers, pumpkins and vegetables.
“We are optimistic, though,” Tori said. “We have a lot of ideas of different things we can do this year.”
Despite the difficult growing season, she said visitors can still expect the food, music, beverages, hard cider and apple cider donuts that have become part of the Pennings experience.
Pennings Farm: A family business and community legacy
For Tori, the family-owned nature of Pennings continues to shape how the business operates.
“It’s not corporate. It’s family,” she said. “Our employees become our family. We care very deeply about them, and a lot of them are friends.”
Looking toward the next 10 years, Tori hopes Pennings can preserve its core identity while continuing to evolve.
“Just to preserve that core of what we started as — the celebration of agriculture, celebration in community that surrounds good food and good beverage that is local,” she said.
“We want to stay in an area where you can take a breath and return to agriculture and family and good times.”
As America celebrates 250 years, Tori said she is grateful for the opportunity to build a family business in a community that continues to support it.
“Happy anniversary to America,” she said. “We are grateful to be in America, the land of opportunity.”
She also expressed appreciation for the freedom to operate a family business and for the support of Warwick residents.
“To have the support where our neighbors recognize the value of a family-owned and operated business,” Tori said, “is very special.”
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