Meet Charlie Treichler and Joshua Jenkins

Joshua Jenkins grew up in a suburb of Little Rock, AR. “Imagine the classic small town idealized in movies and TV,” Josh said. “There were a lot of positive things, but also a lack of diversity and open-mindedness.” As a young gay man growing up in small-town Arkansas, Johs said it was a challenge, especially to express himself openly and freely. “Fortunately, I had an incredibly supportive family. They fostered my love of art from a young age, and were totally accepting of my sexuality when I came out in high school.”

Charles Treichler grew up just outside of Hammondsport, NY on a hilltop farm. “I am the youngest of four; we were all homeschooled and very close,” Charlie said. “My grandparents and two uncles lived a quarter of a mile down the seasonal dirt road that runs through our farm. We had a milk cow, chickens, and a huge garden. My dad was an engineer at Corning and my mom worked at the public library in Hammondsport.”

Charlie moved away for college in 2008 and lived in and around Pittsburgh, PA for close to ten years. Then, in 2018, he moved to California to work for a tech company. “Almost immediately, I realized that living in San Francisco and working for a startup was not for me,” he said. “I was planning to go back to graduate school to become a counselor, but had always been interested in farming as well, so I decided I’d spend the summer working on an apple orchard in Philo, CA in rural Mendocino County.”

Meanwhile, Josh spent most of his 20s and early 30s being a classroom art teacher. “Parts of that career were very rewarding,” he said, “but I quickly began to realize it wouldn’t be a job I could sustainably do into my older years. While working at an outdoor education camp I fell in love with farming. It led me to work on one of the best organic farms in Arkansas, Dripping Springs, and then to Northern California.”

This is where he and Charlie met and both ended up working on an apple farm.

“We fell in love,” Charlie said, “and I fell back in love with living in the country, working outside, and growing apples. We moved around several times after that: first to New Mexico, then Chattanooga, TN, and finally back to the farm I grew up on to start our own cidery and farm-stay business.”

Josh recalls, “Charlie had mentioned to me early on that his family had land with apples in the Finger Lakes region and that it would be a beautiful place to start a farm business. I had never been to that part of New York before, so we made a visit in October of 2021 and I fell in love with the area.”

In January of 2022, they both moved to Hammondsport and live on Charlie’s family farm where they are beginning a small farm and cidery operation of their own called Sylvan Farm and Cidery.

The move didn’t come without concerns. “I definitely had concerns about isolation,” Josh said. “Being gay, finding community can be difficult in a city, let alone in remote rural areas with small populations.”

“I was worried about moving back to a rural area as a gay couple for sure,” Charlie shared. “We weren’t sure how conservative it might be, and if we would be made to feel uncomfortable. I was also worried about being socially isolated. Could we find friends? Then there was the question about living with/close to family: what would that feel like?”

Now that they are here, one thing they have felt most comforted by is the community they have found here.

“We had definitely found community,” Josh said. “It may be more spread out than most people who live in dense areas are used to, but there are so many amazing people living here, and seemingly continuing to move here, that I have let go of those fears.” Charlie added, “There is also a great community of small organic farmers and even cider makers here in the FLX. Probably the best cider in the country is made here.”

Josh said, “I had wanted to start my own small market garden/farm before meeting Charlie, so being able to start that type of business in an area where it seems like agriculture is thriving is extremely exciting to me!”

As they continue to build their farm/cider business, their excitement continues to grow. “We are always getting such great feedback from people, and that just feeds into our excitement about building our dreams,” Charlie said, adding. “Living close to family has had huge benefits while we start our own farm and business.”

But, they have found that because it is a spread-out area, social connections can be challenging to make. On the other hand, they said, they feel more socially connected here than they did in any of the other places they’ve lived. “We’ve even met some other young queer couples living not too far away,” Charlie said. “We’ve gotten used to driving half an hour to an hour to hang out with friends. We’ve met some amazing local farmers and found some good mentors.”

They also enjoy the proximity to NYC, Rochester, Toronto, Pittsburgh, and other major cities a drive away. “Although we love living in the country, we enjoy going out dancing in the city every now and then as well.”

As far as relocating to the region, Charlie and Josh said they found it to be fairly easy to relocate. “We’ve been able to stay with my family while we work on our own house, ” Charlie said, and Josh added, “I had been moving around for various seasonal farm jobs for the 3 years before I met Charlie, and we had made 2 moves as a couple. I was very excited to put down roots for the long term.”

When not at their jobs at Living Roots Winery, they spend a lot of their free time building their home (which they are constructing by hand), planting and tending their apple trees, harvesting apples, and making cider.

As far as advantages to moving to the region they both agree that access to land and family support is at the top of the list. “One of the biggest hurdles when getting into farming is land access,” Josh said. “We have been fortunate to buy land from Charlie’s parents at a reasonable cost. Also, the cider community here in the Finger Lakes is some of the best in the world. Everyone has been so generous with their knowledge anytime we have a question. It’s a great region to be apple growers and cider makers.” Charlie added, “Here we’ve found the opportunity to start our own business and pursue life-long dreams of becoming farmers and cider-makers. Ultimately, what we’re looking for is a certain lifestyle: quality of life, certainly, but also the ability to ‘own the means of production’ as it were, to have agency in our lives so we can be productive and find balance.”

When not working at the winery, or on their farm, Charlie and Josh like to attend food events and enjoy all the nature around them. “Just driving around the lakes on a beautiful day is a good outing. Sometimes we head up to Rochester for a more city experience,” Charlie said. “A few times a year we go visit friends in Brooklyn or Pittsburgh. We also love quiet days walking through the forest on our farm, cooking fresh produce, and drinking great local wine.”

Almost two years into their move and they have no regrets. “It’s an absolutely beautiful place to live,” Charlie said, “I feel like I’m on vacation just driving from home to the grocery store because of so many stunning views. If you are a lover of food and beverage, there are endless opportunities to enjoy really exceptional food experiences, you just have to know where to look.” Josh agreed. “It’s a beautiful and welcoming place, closer to many urban areas than you think,” he said. “There are many young people here who do very cool projects, especially related to wine, cider, beer, food, farming, and art. You’ll meet the right people and form a community. How many places can you make a meal paired with wine where every ingredient comes from within 50 miles?”

Thank you, Joshua and Charlie, for sharing your story! Read more SoFLX stories to learn about life, work, and play in the Southern Finger Lakes.