Deb Rocque, Kim Trust and Kelly Auer met in Alaska. Rocque and Trust worked in conservation for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Auer worked in law. Their interests in land conservation inspired the idea of farming as a potential retirement career. When the trio learned that Justamere Tree Farm was available in 2020, they bought the Worthington farm from J.P. and Marian Welch after it had been under their care for 38 years.
Rocque explains that opportunity for land conservation drew them to the area and is the guiding principle of their work on the farm. She says, “Kim and I have been conservation stewards our entire lives. Moving here and being able to assemble the conservation lands that we have, really kind of brings conservation more to a local scale, because she and I have worked both on a state and national — and even international — scale with our conservation efforts.”
The vision for Justamere Tree Farm focuses on sustainability and conservation, all while making high quality maple products and engaging with the community. Rocque continues, “We’re excited to be able to make sustainable maple products from what we do, but we actually are very concerned about the health of the trees. That’s what comes first for us: the health of the forest, the critters and the flora and the fauna. If we’re able to make some syrup and make people happy in the meantime, we’re really grateful for that.”
Trust and Rocque explain that there are different land conservation programs through the state and federal government, so the specifics of each program vary. Generally, land under a conservation easement is restricted from any kind of development. Trust says, “Some of the ones that we’re in allow us to conduct agriculture without doing any sort of permanent changes to the landscape.”
The current Justamere Tree Farm footprint merges two farm parcels under conservation easements into almost 400 acres of land under their stewardship. All but 25 acres of that sum is under state and federal conservation easements. Trust explains, “So we own actually two farms. We purchased a second farm several years ago, and all of that farm, except for some hay fields and where the house was, is under conservation easements. And then we have conservation easements on our maple farm as well.”
The farmers manage their sugar bush — a forest stand of maple trees — with practices that draw from Indigenous peoples, enhanced by modern techniques. Buckets and horses have been replaced by tubing and vacuum pressure.
The formula for when to tap trees and begin collecting sap is straightforward. Rocque continues, “The timing is that you want to look for temperatures below freezing at night, and warm, above freezing, during the daytime. That’s when the sap starts to flow in maple trees.”
Climate change has altered the timing for harvesting maple sugar. Rocque says, “The season used to start in March and go for six weeks, and that was your season. It was pretty predictable and now, you get a little bit of a run in January, but then sometimes it freezes really hard in February.” She continues, “That’s what happened this year: we worked really hard to get our trees capped in January to hit that little bit of a run that happened in January, and then we got four weeks of freezing weather. Now we’re starting up again. It’s just less predictable and more complicated.”
Boiling maple syrup requires an evaporator to boil off the excess water, leaving behind maple syrup. All the wood burned at Justamere for the process is fallen timber or wood left behind by utility companies as they prune in the area throughout the year. The emerald ash borer is currently wreaking havoc upon ash trees in the region, leaving a lot of dead wood for gleaning. Rocque says, “We don’t cut living trees to fuel our evaporator.”
At Justamere Tree Farm, the farmers work with programs through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for careful timber management that is bird- and bat-friendly. Trust explains, “These programs help land owners conserve the land and keep the land healthy.”
The team taps approximately 100 acres, or 5,500 trees each year, plus they buy sap from a neighbor, equaling another 1,500 trees. In a good year, this careful management would yield 2,000 gallons of syrup in a season, but they haven’t reached that level in recent years with the inconsistencies in weather.
The trio cares for their land, trees and the creatures in their midst, but community is also important to the farmers. Trust is currently president of the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association Board and she sits on the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture as a maple industry representative. Rocque serves the town of Worthington on the select board. Beyond these formal roles, informal relationships with other farmers have helped the farmers launch their iteration of Justamere Tree Farm.
In an effort to support their town, this women-owned maple farm hires help only from the town of Worthington. Rocque notes, “We’re a small hill town, and we all live in town. That somehow matters, right? It’s like we’ve all got skin in the game and have that common sense of place.”
Trust continues, “We have been very welcomed by the more experienced maple farmers around the state and especially here within Worthington. I just can’t say enough about how welcoming the community has been to three people that have never done it professionally before. A lot of these folks have been producing maple syrup for generations, and their willingness to share their experience and knowledge has been very helpful for us.”
Find Justamere Tree Farm maple products at justameretreefarm.com and at the Berkshire Grown Winter Farmers’ Market at the Housy Dome (Housatonic Community Center) on March 21 and April 18 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Lisa Goodrich is a communications coordinator for Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). To find maple products, see CISA’s online guide at buylocalfood.org.
