People often recognize Janet Long as she works at Baugher’s Orchard and Farm in Westminster.

“You’ve been working here a little while,” someone will jokingly say to her, or, “I haven’t seen you here before, did you just start?” Long just laughs — after all, she has been working at Baugher’s for 57 years.

Working with four different generations of her family has been the highlight of Long’s career, she said. The 72-year-old from the Uniontown area began working at Baugher’s at the same time as her grandmother. Today, Long works at Baugher’s alongside her own grandson.

“You get to spend more time with them,” Long said, “like how I got to spend time with my grandmother. Even though we were working, I got to spend time with her that I probably would not have taken the time to do, and that’s awful, but you know how kids are. I do believe working at Baugher’s has made us [have] closer bonds.”

Long began working as a server at Baugher’s in 1967. At 15 years old, it was her first job, bringing all of the new possibilities that a source of income often does for teenagers, she said, although Long grew up on a farm and was used to hard work.

“It was a lot of fun,” Long said, “and it was very interesting at that young age, to be able to keep up with it.”

Long’s grandmother, Ione Baust, already worked at Baugher’s when Long was hired. Long said Baust is credited with inventing a dish with bananas, peanuts, maraschino cherries and mayo, which remains on Baugher’s menu today.

Scheduling shifts at Baugher’s is flexible, Long said, which has always served her well — fitting into both a teenage world filled with school and sports and an adult world with children and responsibilities.

Working at Baugher’s is stress-free, Long said, and she looks forward to it: “It’s hard work, but you don’t think of it that way. It’s a pleasure.”

Long’s parents never worked at Baugher’s, but her sons, John and David Jordan, who grew up around the restaurant and orchard, both worked for Baugher’s at one point in their lives. John Jordan began 20 years of employment as an ice cream scooper and would eventually help manage the restaurant. Long said her son was sometimes her manager.

“It wasn’t awkward whatsoever,” Long said. “It was a good experience for both of us. I had to respect him as my boss, and he could show no favorites to me as his mother. It probably gave us a good relationship.”

Some of John Jordan’s most prominent memories from his time at Baugher’s are the smells of homemade banana ice cream, warm apple cider, ever-popular turkey dinners, and helping to bake and distribute countless pies around holidays, he said.

David Jordan also worked at Baugher’s at one point, though he left that job to attend college and serve in the Navy. Though the circumstances of his life brought him to work for different employers, David Jordan’s sons, Josh and Will Jordan, have found solid work at Baugher’s, Long said, where they also benefit from spending more time with their grandmother.

“I love working at Baugher’s,” Josh Jordan said. “Everyone is so nice, and it’s just a fun job. And I love eating the apples while I work.”

Josh Jordan began working at the Baugher’s fruit market in the summer of 2023. He has ramped up his hours while Linganore High School in Frederick is not in session, and continues to work some hours during this school year. Long said Josh Jordan was ready for more responsibility when he started the job, and the youngest employee in the market has taken well to his co-workers and customers.

“He’s become close to a couple of the older customers,” Long said. “They befriended him, they look forward to seeing him and he looks forward to seeing them.”

Will Jordan also worked in the pick-your-own fields last summer while home from West Virginia University, which Long said was a good fit for a seasonal worker seeking a higher number of hours.

“What I enjoyed most about working for Baugher’s was meeting and talking to new customers,” Will Jordan said. “New people would come every day, so I’d always learn something new.”

“It makes you proud that they consider working there as opposed to going somewhere else to work when they’re looking for something temporary,” Long said. “I don’t know that it’ll be permanent for either one of them, but I think in the summers it will be, as long as they’re around, so we’ll see.”

The Baughers

Long has worked for four generations of Baughers, and she said they have all been kind, caring, and flexible with scheduling,

Though he is a former employee, John Jordan said he is a lifelong member of the Baugher’s family.

“It’s almost like an extended family,” Long said. “In quotations, ‘I’m part of the Baugher family.’ It has been that type of relationship.”

Baugher’s Orchard began as a working farm with an orchard in 1904. Edward and Romaine Baugher purchased the 60 acres of agricultural land at 1015 Baugher Road in Westminster from Edward’s siblings after his parents died. They survived the Great Depression by expanding the farming operation and putting their business savvy to good use, according to Baugher’s website. They built and opened Baugher’s Restaurant & Fruit Market, at 289 W. Main St., in Westminster, in 1948.

Edward and Romaine were the first Baughers Long worked for. She said she remembers Edward Baugher as an energetic, hands-on manager, and Romaine Baugher for her tradition of giving out flowers on Mother’s Day. Edward died in 1984 and Romaine died in 2006.

Long later worked for Allan Baugher, who is credited with creating the famous AppleMan icon in 1970 and opening up the farms to sour cherry pickers in 1976, the first pick-your-own crop of many to be offered, according to Baugher’s website.

“Through the years, all the customers and people who I have worked with have just been just like one big family,” Long said. “You get to know them, and it’s been exciting to know many generations of their family, also.”

Nathan Baugher was born two months after 15-year-old Long began her first job in 1967, and she said she works for him today. He is the senior sale and distribution director of wholesale, according to the website.

The Baughers say employees are an essential part of their business, and the mutual sense of family is evident in long-time employees like Long and Joan Orem, who passed away at 64 in 2019 after working as a Baugher’s server for over 50 years. Long said Orem was a dear friend.

Long works in the Baugher’s fruit market today, having mostly retired from waiting tables after surviving breast cancer in 2005. She has done most jobs in the restaurant when needed, from cooking to washing dishes, and has no plans to retire, though she said she knows that day may come.

“I almost dread retiring, because I think I’m gonna miss all the people, but I know one day that’s coming,” Long said.