After meeting back in 2008 in college and then working together for nearly five years on a Vermont goat dairy, Alex Eaton and Margot Brooks purchased a 23-acre farm in Upper Jay. The land base was small, the pastures were overgrown and full of weeds, and the soil was sour and lacking in nutrients, but what the little farm lacked in agricultural virtues it made up for in other ways. There were two farmhouses, both in good condition, and a number of pretty outbuildings that were deemed “straight, tight, and right” by Alex’s dad Mr. Maxwell Eaton Jr. With its proximity to Lake Placid and the Adirondack high peaks, the farm was in an ideal location for marketing value-added dairy products. And lastly, there was the crown jewel of the farm, a handsome and sturdy Dutch gambrel barn outfitted with twelve cow stalls-- the perfect space to house a milkhouse, a milking parlor, a creamery and an office.  

Alex and Margot were inspired by the vacant little farm and could see the potential for a perfectly compact farmstead creamery akin to the small European models of yesteryear, where grazing ruminants produce milk that is turned into cheeses that are aged and sold right there on the farm. They were motivated by a desire to live well, eat well, put their ideals into practice and ultimately to contribute positively to the world. So in the summer of 2012, they bought the farm and set to work writing a business plan, securing a start-up loan, then gathering the equipment and building the infrastructure they would need to make their vision a reality.   

The future of Sugar House Creamery does not look radically different than the present. There are no plans of drastic changes or expansions, only a continuous effort to fine-tune and polish the foundation that has already been built—a continued march toward a smaller carbon footprint, waste reduction, product excellence, and long-term viability.