The idea began when traveling through Central and South America in college. There were juice ladies seemingly everywhere. They had all the fruits, aloe vera leaves, and all sorts of funky tropical produce billowing out of their booths. Samantha Duchaine loved that there was always that healthy option available, and she frequented them regularly.
Upon coming back to the States, it became clear that that sort of thing was not available, and Samantha began farming and dreaming of becoming that juice lady from her travels. She was surrounded by produce on the farm and decided to go for it; she bought the equipment and signed up to vend at a couple of music festivals that first summer. It became clear that there was a need and that this might just work. After 6 years of the summertime juice bar, the pandemic hit and demanded another model. Samantha sold out of her trailer from a fixed location in East Warren, VT that first Covid summer, and as she was closing up in the fall, customers were asking where to get their juice in the winter, which prompted her to begin cold pressing and bottling her juice.
Samantha does this because she believes passionately in the benefits of healthy, wholesome, and close to the source food (she is also a Health Coach after all!). Healthy soils and a local food economy provide the foundation for healthy communities. Juicing is one of the most nutrient dense things we can give our bodies. Raw, unpasteurized, minimally processed and full of goodness, she sources as much as possible from local farms and orchards and enjoys finding uses for the excess or less than perfect food a farm generates.
Root Juice is a one lady show most of the time. She has a giant commercial cold press machine which makes the process possible as a solo operation and rents space in a commercial kitchen and food hub in Essex New York with access to plenty of cold storage, freezer space, and kitchen space to sprawl into. It takes a lot of bulk product to make juice (there is over 2 pounds of produce per 16 ounce bottle!).
Above all, she makes juice so that we can all get some high test goodness into us- no matter how busy we may find ourselves.
