Sobremesa began in 2014 under the stewardship of wife and husband team, Caitlin Rodriguez Elberson and Jason Elberson. In November of that year, we moved to Marshfield, Vermont, where we spent the next five years developing and refining our product line of kimchi, sauerkraut, curtido and kombucha. In 2019, we moved to an 8 acre homestead outside of Burlington, Vermont. Here at WOOL FOLK HOMESTEAD we are grateful to be raising our children in such a beautiful place.

We began Sobremesa with the desire to feed our community nourishing food, and to encourage people to slow down for mealtimes and connect and converse after sharing a meal. This ritual is central to many cultures, including my own. Latinx culture reveres family and food. We were eager to share what we admire and enjoy so deeply while supporting local organic agriculture. Crafting ferments is our true passion. 

 We have many plans to continue growing vegetables and herbs, and establishing perennials. On our homestead we care for birds and raise registered Icelandic sheep. Our breeding flock is made up of: Freyja, Lucy, Mary, and Svava. We love our diversified flock of laying hens. We recently acquired a little flock of Lamancha milking goats for homestead purposes, as well! We also occasionally raise turkeys, chickens, and ducks for meat, which are excellent foragers that seek out slugs and snails, and Guinea Fowl, which are great for eating ticks and other garden pests.

We decided to immerse ourselves in regenerative agriculture in January 2013. By April, we had packed the last six years of our lives into a moving truck and headed north from Pennsylvania to join University of Vermont’s 6-month Farmer Training Program (FTP). Before the program, we tended a home garden, but mostly, we connected to our local farming community through our love and passion for eating intentionally grown food. Before shifting our purpose to regenerative agriculture, Caitlin worked at a Waldorf School in Pennsylvania. Jason was a mechanical engineer at a small structural analysis consulting firm. We are grateful for our complementary skill sets. The year after we completed the farmer training program, we headed north to Fairfield, Vermont to work at an organic grass-based dairy and beef farm, Stony Pond Farm.

Sobremesa is a time to digest and savor food, family, and friendship. These connections are the heart of our vision: to provide our community with local food, including traditionally preserved foods, year-round. 

Food had always been important in our houses growing up. Caitlin’s Dominican father is a wonderful cook and always made sure there was a delicious, well-rounded hot meal available for family dinner every night. As this was such a meaningful part of Caitlin’s life growing up, we knew that we wanted to encourage others to sit down and savor family meal time.

Our mission to nourish the body, mind and soul throughout the seasons is alive in our name. “Sobremesa” is a Spanish word which describes the time after a meal spent lingering around the table, having food-induced conversations with people with whom you shared the meal.