Home...Home on the Range...

Welcome to Justamere Farm in Elk Grove, California! We are so excited you have stopped by & although I'm not a Southern Belle myself, I do want to extend the rich, warm southern hospitality that my Mama (who is a Southern Belle), raised me with! If I could give you a giant hug, I would & I'd of course offer you the best rocking chair on the porch along with a glass of tea, or maybe a glass of wine from our winery (Justamere Winery...blog coming soon too). Now let's sit & catch-up a bit, shall we!

Who are we? I'm Deanna...nice to meet you! My husband, Landon, and I are California grown, who met at the sweet ol' age of 12. We weren't sweethearts right away; just really good friends that had LOTS of classes together throughout middle school & high school. Fast forward 6 years post high school, after serving our nation as a Peacekeeper in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the US Army, Landon & I reconnected via Classmates.com (before Facebook) & shortly thereafter kindled our relationship. We were married in September 2001 and have been happily married since. We have 2 chickadees...Austin (11.5 yo) and Anya (7 yo).

What is Justamere Farm? Well living in a small rural area just outside Sacramento, means farm fields patchworked around the capital city of our great state. When Landon was born in 1975, Elk Grove was just a "One Stop Light Town," & has now grown into one of the fastest growing cities in the USA. I grew up in a private community just northeast of Elk Grove & was bused in for school. From my community to the city center of Elk Grove, the drive is approximately 20-25 mins through farmland. Riding the bus to school meant being picked up at 6:30AM & arriving at school at 8:00AM (with the same drive time in the afternoon returning from school). So you can image the daydreaming I did as I passed all the small farms along the way which cultivated my desire of living or start a farm of my own. Landon spent 12 yrs post military service, working for E & J Gallo Winery which cultivated a love of wine & winemaking that has now being brought to fruition with Justamere Winery.

So here we are...23 years into our lives together & we're just now ready to realize our dreams! 23 years of talking about and planning...dreaming of one day owning acreage in our "hometown" & starting our own farm/winery.

We are in the infancy stage of our dream, which means we are starting with raw land. We are currently in the "clean-up" stage of the property, but it does have a well, sewer & utilities on premise. We have been working with an architect to bring our "Dream Home" to plan & as soon as we clear the property, we will begin stage 2...vineyard planning & farm planning.

1. Vineyard planning means working with UC Davis & Lodi Wine Labs to figure out which grape varietals would grow best in our soil. Once we are in the know, we will choose our vines and begin the planting process. Make sure to keep an eye on the Justamere Winery Blog for more details there.

2. Farm planning means constructing a barn & chicken coupe! I've choosen the chicken breeds we want to raise so we can provide the most vibrant "Rainbow Eggs," possible! Once the house is constructed, we'll start laying out the rest of the farm (pasture for sheep, veggie/fruit gardens & of course fruit trees).

So there ya have it! Now you have a "glimpse" into what we're doing here at Justamere Farm & Winery. Make sure to keep checking back to see the progress of our "Just-a-mere Farm."