When customers at the local Growers Markets rave about the goats cheese products that Virginia (who goes by her middle name, Carol) and Bernard Jurkowski produce, it becomes clear that Bernard Jurkowski started out as a chef. From an early age, he enjoyed making food. However, family obligations pulled him into joining his father’s metal working shop, and he eventually opened his own metal working shop, which evolved into a general contracting business. Meanwhile, Carol Jurkowski was raising their 5 children, Bernie, Sherrie, Kim, Chrissie, and Brian.
In 1990, they bought a farm near Alba, PA, between Canton and Troy, and moved to it permanently in 1993. Their children had participated in 4-H with goats prior to the move, so when they opened their business, “Inn to the Seasons Specialty” in 2004, the goat herd was well established.
Inn to the Seasons Specialty products can be purchased on Wednesdays from 10:00-1:00 PM at the Eagles Mere Farmers Market on the Green in Eagles Mere, on Thursdays from 3:00-6:00 PM at the Wellsboro Grower’s Market in front of First Presbyterian Church in Wellsboro, on Fridays from 3:00-6:00 PM at the Mansfield Growers Market in front of St. James Episcopal Church in Mansfield, on the 1st and 3d Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM in front of the Crestmont Inn in Eagles Mere, and on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Growers Market at Forks Farm in Orangeville. They also sell to the restaurant side of the Crestmont Inn, as well as the Inn at Turkey Hill in Bloomsburg.
Bernard Jurkowski says the he has been surprised, over the last 20 years, at the acceptance of goat products by the general population. Ricotta Cheese is an ingredient in many ethnic foods, and people appreciate the mild flavor of a product with low fat and cholesterol. Carol Jurkowski says all she has to do is chat with customers about ingredients and recipes, and the products sell themselves. And often, customers will tell perfect strangers, “Buy that, because it is really good!”
"Caleb Williams is proprietor of Heritage Portrait Studio in Wellsboro where he practices the art of environmental portraiture. As a “location specialist,” he tells customers he “makes house calls.” Profiling growers for the Growers Markets in Tioga County, PA, is a follow-on to his previous project for Tioga Publishing, The Anniversary Couple of the Week Contest, which ran in these pages from 2010 to 2014. He raises grass-finished beef in his spare time."