LOCALadk Magazine

Fall 2017 LOCALadk Magazine 57 LOCALadk Sugar House Creamer y, Upper Jay: Sugar House is a raw milk dair y and farmstead creamer y owned and operated by Alex Eaton and Margot Brooks. With their small herd of Brown Swiss cows, Margot and Alex are breathing life back into an old Adirondack dair y farm that sat fallow for many years prior to their purchasing the property. Margot recounted the inception of Sugar House. " When the real estate agent showed us this property she told us how perfect it would be as a small sub-development, with just enough land for five additional homes. Because it's lo- cated within the hamlet, that vision could ver y well have be- come a reality." Margot and Alex, however, had another idea. "I think our small farm business has offered this land and this commu- nity something positive. By rotationally grazing our cows we are building the soils in our pastures and sequestering carbon while also producing flavorful, nourishing food," said Margot. "Four years into business and we've lost none of our passion and excitement for what we do," she added. " We still find it endlessly exciting to be the choreographers of a nu- trient cycle that turns poop into grass, and grass into milk, and milk into cheese. We are always learning and improving and tweaking. Sugar House Creamer y is a life-long project for us." In explaining their products, Margot said, "The American palette is awakening to a diversity of flavors that can be cre- ated through thoughtful, small-scale food production, and the American consciousness is awakening to the social and environmental injustices of the industrial food industr y. This makes it a ver y exciting time to be a farmstead cheese mak- er." Buying locally is ver y important to Margot. "Your consum- er choices have a big impact. By buying food from small- scale, local growers and producers you are choosing to keep your money in your community, you are saying, 'NO,' to an increasingly corporate food system, and you are reducing your carbon footprint by choosing food that has not trav- eled thousands of miles to get to your kitchen. But beyond all that, you will be rewarded by a quality and depth of flavor that can only be offered by truly fresh food!" Sugar House Creamer y sells their raw milk and full line of cheeses from their farm store, which is located at the farm in Upper Jay. Their cheese is also available at retail locations in Keene, Lake Placid, and Saranac Lake and can be found on the menus of a number of area restaurants. Sugar House has three cheeses of which it is most proud: Dutch Knuckle, Pound Cake, and Little Dickens. Dutch Knuck- le is described as, "bright and fruity, telling a nice stor y of hay, grass, and earth as it mellows to a caramel nut finish." Pound Cake is, "a soft cheese with scattered, shiny eyes. Its texture is like biting into a warm stick of butter." During the aging process, it is frequently washed AuSable Brewing Co. beer. Little Dickens is considered "lemony and bright, creamy and decadent. It is a little button (8 oz.) you want to keep and devour all to yourself."

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