Maya’s Maple, Creemees and Collaboration

HARDWICK – Friday afternoons at the Hardwick Farmers Market can provide attendees with a variety of options to satiate their cravings. From fruits and vegetables to sweet treats, area residents can enjoy the offerings from local vendors like Maya’s Maple Creemees.

College students Maya Remick and Lila Meyer are locals, with Remick graduating from People’s Academy and Meyer from Hazen Union in 2022. Having grown up in the area, they recall a time where residents had their choice of creemee spots around town. In recent years, Hardwick’s options have dwindled down to the seasonal stand located within the House of Pizza.

“Last fall, we were thinking about how we’re in a bit of a maple creemee desert around here,” said Remick. To their knowledge, maple creemees hadn’t been sold at the farmers market either. Remick and Meyer decided to address the issue at hand, thus creating Maya’s Maple +

creemees.

“Doesn’t everyone want a maple creemee at a farmers market, really?,” she said. “It was like, Lila, how fun would it be to sell creemees at the Farmer’s Market, and she was like ‘yeah that’d be awesome, I’d be so down to do it with you.’”

Later in the school year, Meyer recalls receiving a phone call from Remick; “Maya had called and said, I just bought a creemee machine, are you in?”

“So I think It was kind of a quick turnaround from when we kind of fully decided and the machine arrived, to when we first started selling creemees in June,” Meyer said.

“It’s been a whole trial and error process, and it’s been really fun,” added Remick.

Both Remick and Meyer must balance their business with school. Remick is a student at Bard College, while Meyer attends University of Vermont.

“It was a lot of figuring things out from school. My semester went on longer than Lila’s did, so she was helping out with a ton while I was still finishing up finals,” said Remick.

Maya’s Maple Creemees sources their ice cream base from Kingdom Creamery, a longtime local staple. The maple syrup is sourced from Remick’s own family sugaring business, Sweetstone Maple Farm.

Their waffle cones are also homemade. Meyer spent considerable time refining their waffle cone recipe, “When Maya was at school, I spent probably about a week trying out different recipes. I think I tried about eight or nine with different ingredients, different ratios of dairy and egg. So I feel like we found a good mix of batter that produces a good crunch, a good sweet waffle cone,” she said. “I got a lot of videos from Lila,” Remick recalled with a laugh.

Maya’s Maple creemees utilizes a 200 pound creemee machine, made mobile through the use of a electric car and trailer. They are listed as a part-time vendor at the Hardwick Farmers Market, which is open Fridays, 3 to 6 p.m., until October 10 at Atkins Field. They are also present at the Craftsbury Farmers Market on Saturdays. They plan to be at the Greensboro Farmers Market beginning in July.

Remick says they would like to do more events, but are currently restricted by their need for power. They are exploring purchasing a generator, volume dependent, in order to widen their possibilities.

As students, both women consider the experience a learning opportunity, “We wanted to explore entrepreneurship, a lot of people in my circle are small business owners, so just figuring out the logistics behind running a small business, keeping local sourcing, and reaching out into the community and getting community involvement was an interest,” Meyer said.

“It’s been a really cool, really enlightening process. I’ve learned so much. I was excited and proud to be doing something that is so inherently Vermont. This is such a big part of our culture here, and when I talk to people outside of the state, because I go to school outside of the state, they’re like what’s a maple creemee, which hurts my soul. It’s something that everyone here grew up with, and everyone here is really attached to, and to be a part of it has been really special,” concluded Remick.