About Us
Cutting No Corners...
We started Scravel Creek Farm in order to share the bounty of the countryside with our family and friends, neighbors who delight in the richness of the local harvest as much as we do. In no time, though, we found ourselves satisfying far-flung requests for our country favorites. Such word-of-mouth appeals nudged us into expanding our family of patrons—family, we say, for no one who trades at Scravel Creek remains the outlander for long. Still, even when faced with extending our reach, we insisted on managing our farm as a small-scale enterprise: one embracing its ability to prepare top-tier honeys and jams, one scheduling its production according to the whims of the seasons, and one steering clear of including anything but first-rate ingredients: habits preventing growth from diminishing our standards.
Where we sit
in the world...
Scravel Creek is a cascading stream siphoning runoff from a grassy marsh. This quiet rill jogs casually along the southern boundary of our farm, its rocky foundation running stealth among the fields and forests of South Mountain, Maryland, an ancient highland pushing northward toward the terminus of the Blue Ridge chain; its ridges offering vistas of nostalgic crossroads huddled quietly among the shadows of the Appalachian uplands. These historic junctions seem to mark out the rambling course of Catoctin Creek, a brook beginning in Myersville, MD, and etching the floor of the Middletown Valley. Scravel Creek serves as a feeder for Catoctin, which in turn merges southward into the Potomac, both channels tying our sleepy farm to the rest of the world.
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The timeworn ridges on South Mountain's crest boast a reputation in modern times for their celebrated footpath, the longest hiking-only trail in the world; a pathway heading northward and southward for nearly equal distances from Scravel Creek, the path's odyssey stretching from Springer Mountain in Georgia, to Mount Katahdin in Maine; its stridden terrain lolling but an idle ramble to the west of here.
What Got Us Going...
In 2016, after settling into our new South Mountain home—a once-upon-a-time cornfield and pasture—and after opening up our residence and gardens for idle visits with friends and family, we quickly delighted in the pleasure of our guests as they dipped into our homemade preserves and honey—domestic specialties of ours somehow regarded by them as summertime itself conserved in a jar, spreadable mementos of an easier season.
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After relishing the zest of our guests for our sweet confections, it was but a matter of time before we surrendered to their appeals for marketing some of our kitchen staples. To this end, we set out to transform our kitchen, gardens, and apiary into a small household business—a homespun cottage operation featuring the regional flavors of local farms and orchards—hoping that our taste sensations would carry people back to times in their lives when home-crafted foods and notions reflected the care and attentions of the cherished people who had prepared them.
Fresh, local ingredients...
At Scravel Creek Farm, our passion is finding flavors at their finest and preserving them for people to enjoy. Our aim is to capture rich, round, robust taste sensations, some taking folks back to an earlier time, others introducing them to something new. To optimize the flavors of our products, we gather ingredients from local sources, collecting them from fields and orchards within an hour's drive from Scravel Creek, looking out for farms spread along the Appalachian foothills of southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, and northern Virginia, admitting but two exceptions to our hyperlocal acquisition of produce: (1) Whenever possible, we turn to New York's Finger Lakes Region for our Concord Grape Preserves, gathering there the darkest, richest, and most flavorful Concords around, and (2) turning to a merchant in town for furnishing us with New Jersey blueberries, these being the deepest anthocyanin-purple berries that one can find. And finally, for some recipes, we proudly feature produce cultivated right here on the farm, most notably our wineberries and wild black raspberries.
The Apiary...
From our two beeyards, Carniolans and Italians scurry to neighboring groves and fields, their foraging workers’ striking beelines to an anthology of blossoms; each new orchard or meadow drawing them closer through their floral patterns and fragrances, whence through their wizardry the bees cast their spells by weaving texture into the ethereal aroma.
Honey coalesced from such multisite gatherings, we celebrate as polyfloral, a delightful combination epitomized by our South Mountain Wildflower blend, a raw, unfiltered delicacy crafted through a fusion of nectars drawn from a broad array of flowers. Nectars featured in this signature mixture encompass black locust, tulip poplar, clover, and brambles. The intricate profile of this honey is exclusive to a specific harvest, its components changing annually in accordance with the weather.
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Looking Ahead...
Our enthusiasm for sharing our homemade products soon motivated us to introduce other home-crafted items. Beeswax and beeswax crafts, including our popular lip balm, were natural additions. As we continue to expand our apiary, we will be increasing the variety of these items.
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​Throughout the summer and fall, we can often procure local produce at competitive prices. We are now looking into making these fruits and vegetables available for local purchase at an on-site farm stand. We also plan to bundle gift packages for holidays and special occasions. Further, as our flock is quickly becoming of age—they do grow up so fast—we shall soon be accepting orders for local pickups of farm-fresh eggs in a kaleidoscope of colors. Dee has already incorporated these eggs in her baking, and she insists that the whites whip up better than the store-bought variety. Finally, as customer interest persuades us, we will continue to add flavors and varieties, just to keep things interesting.
