Boleslawiec, Poland
Boleslawiec is a town in western Poland, as well as a county. Because of the high quality clay that occurs naturally in this area, it is the center of Polish ceramics production. The town was founded in the 13th century and evidence of pottery making in the town dates to the 14th century. Pottery from this region is typically decorated in a traditional folk designs featuring mainly blue and white decorations. This style of pottery is among the most important folk pottery traditions in Europe.
Boleslawiec Pottery
Boleslawiec also is the most popular producer of what most people identify as "Polish Pottery". The company is actually a ceramics cooperative located in Boleslawiec, Poland. A ceramics cooperative is a collection of smaller ceramics studio that produce products for the Boleslawiec Pottery company. To make things more confusing, not all ceramics studios in Boleslawiec, Poland are a part of the Boleslawiec company. While we import many of our most popular products from the Boleslawiec Pottery company, we also sell products made by another small ceramics studio (read more about that company here) in Boleslawiec, Poland that is not a part of the cooperative.
For example, our crocks made by the Boleslawiec company feature this marking on the bottom -
Our Stone Creek Trading Ceramics are made in Boleslawiec, Poland but not by the Boleslawiec company. Here is the marking on the bottom of those crocks -
Both items say Boleslawiec on the bottom, because this is where they are made. They also say Handmade (or Painted) in Poland and feature each studio's name and logo.
The last image also has the signature of the artist as well as "Unikat", which is a special marking which means "unique" in Polish. This marking denotes a custom design made by a highly skilled artist who has gone through intense training to receive this designation. The resulting work is an intricate work of art and is therefore signed by the artist. We have a new custom crock design coming soon which will feature this designation!
We also have products from other ceramics studios located in other regions, but all the items we sell are made in Poland. We hope that helps you understand better all the ways Boleslawiec is used!
]]>Every year we spend the 4th of July in my hometown in Central Illinois. We are serving this Strawberry Rhubarb Meringue Cake for a family gathering tonight! The cake truly represents our family - both Polish and American!
Strawberry Rhubarb Meringue Cake
Ingredients
Fruit
Cake
Meringue
Begin by preparing the fruit. Chop the rhubarb and 3/4 of the strawberries into small pieces. Mix with the brown sugar and let sit while prepping the dough. Slice the remainder of the strawberries into quarts and set aside for decoration. Wash the blueberries and set aside for later.
Preheat the oven to 350. Line a medium shallow cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl cut butter into flour with a pastry blender, fork or grater until it has an even texture. Add sugar and baking powder and continue mixing. In a separate bowl, combine egg yolks, sour cream and half & half and mix until smooth. Pour into dry mixture and stir. This is a dry dough so kneading with hands will be necessary to finish combining the ingredients and create the even texture. Press the dough into a rectangle on the cookie sheet until it is even thickness, about 3/4-1" thick.
Drain any liquid from the strawberry rhubarb mixture and then spread it evenly across the top of the dough. Make sure you get the mixture as close to the edge as possible. Press the fruit into the dough. Place the cake in the oven for 20 minutes.
While the cake is baking, prepare the meringue. Beat egg whites and dash of salt in a mixer with a whisk attachment. Gradually add the sugar while the mixture is beating, until the meringue forms stiff peaks.
Remove the cake from the oven after 20 minutes and spread the meringue on top. Increase the oven temperature to 375 and place the cake back in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the meringue just starts to brown. Remove the cake and press the blueberries and strawberries into a flag shape on top of the meringue. Return to the oven for an additional 5-10 minutes.
Let the cake cool to room temperature before cutting and serving. Cut it into small squares, should feed 12-16 people! Enjoy!
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Last week we shared how our Stone Creek Trading crocks are made (see our blog post here if you missed it) and promised to give you more detail about the painting process this week. Our Polish Decorated crocks (made by both Boleslawiec and Stone Creek Trading), are all hand painted using traditional Polish techniques.
When we visited the ceramics studio that makes our Stone Creek Trading Crocks, we met the two artisans that hand paint all of their products. In order to show us the methods they use, they taught our daughters how to make their own ceramic designs!
At the time we visited our daughters were 6 and 11 years old. Despite a language difference (the artisans only spoke Polish, and while our daughters understand some Polish, they primarily speak English), the artisans were able to teach the girls the traditional methods. Of course, Kryz also helped with translating as he is fluent in both Polish and English!
This is one of the artisan's workstations, where our younger daughter worked on her items. You can see the plate she is stamping, a container filled with sponge stamps on the left, various paint brushes, some items waiting to be painted on the shelf, and various glaze colors in plastic containers on the right. Each of the girls made one plate and one mug while we toured the facility!
The first step is to choose a stamp. These are each cut out of sponge by the artisan to make various shapes. This artisan's box contained around 30 different shapes that she had created. They can combine the different shapes to create unique patterns on the ceramics.
Each stamp is dipped into one color of glaze, then tapped on the lid of the container to ensure the correct amount of glaze is on the stamp. When wet, the glaze colors appear to be pastel. However, once the ceramics are fired they transform to the traditional colors we recognize!
When the ceramics are being painted, they have not yet been fired. The clay has been dried for several days making it hold the shape, but it still could be deformed if they are handled while painting.
In order to be able to move the ceramics around to paint all the sides, the artisans use a rotating pedestal. You keep one hand on the bottom to rotate your piece as you paint!
To create the intricate designs everyone recognizes are Polish pottery, you start with a simple repeating design. Here our older daughter started by stamping a ring of red flower shapes around the outside of her plate.
She added blue circles to the middle of the initial red flowers using a different stamp. She continued to add more flowers and shapes in different colors around the plate until it was full! While blue is the most recognized color of Polish pottery, reds, yellows and greens are often used as highlights!
And here are the finished pieces! The ceramics studio fired their plates and mugs after we left and included them in our next order. You can see how the colors darken when fired versus when they were first painted!
These are of course the girls favorite plates and mugs and they use them regularly now. This was such a special experience for all of us and something will will remember forever!
Want to see videos of the girls painting their items? Check out our the videos on our Facebook or Instagram!
We love a chance to look behind the scenes, so today we wanted to share with you more about how our Stone Creek Trading crocks are made! These photos are from when we visited the ceramic studio that makes our Stone Creek Trading Crocks. This studio is located in the Boleslawiec region of Poland, an area that has been famous for it's ceramics for centuries!
The most important ingredient for making Polish ceramics from the Boleslawiec region is the light colored clay that is found locally. Here you see the clay in its raw form in the back, and after it has been mixed and is ready to be formed in the front.
This machine tumbles the raw clay in order the create a smooth clay that can be used to create high quality ceramics. The raw clay is inserted into the hole with water and then the machine mixes it together into an even, smooth clay!
In order to get a consistent shape, wooden forms are used to mold the clay into shape. Here you see molds for the crocks on the right, molds for the lids in the middle, and lids that have already been removed form the molds on the top!
When the clay is first removed from the molds, there are many rough edges and areas where extra clay is present. These areas are smoothed out and removed before the clay is glazed.
The studio that makes our Stone Creek Trading Crocks employs a staff of around 8-10 female artisans. The women on the left is working on forming the ceramics in molds. After the clay is formed into the mold, it will sit for several days to dry. The woman on the right is then removing items from the mold that have already dried. The ceramics will then sit for several more days before they are smoothed and glazed!
When we say these crocks are hand painted, we mean it! There are two artisans that hand paint the decorated crocks. Another woman glazes all the solid colored or dipped items. Want to know more about how these designs are made? Next week will show how they create these traditional designs!
On the wall here you can see many items that have already been decorated, and a few items waiting to be done! The colors of the glaze appear muted or pastel here. However, once the ceramics are fired, they transform into the deep blues, reds and yellows everyone recognizes as Polish pottery.
This studio uses two large electric kilns to fire their ceramics. as you can see on the right, racks are stacked into the kiln to maximize the space when firing. These items on the right have been fired and are cooling before they will be removed. You can see the glaze has turned dark after the firing.
And here are a few finished decorated crocks! We had so much fun visiting this studio and learning more about the process and people who make our products. Next week we will share with you how these traditional designs are made!
Looking to purchase products made in this studio? Check out our Stone Creek Trading Ceramics collection!
April 17, 2013 - The day we finally hit publish and launched the website to the public! We started this business in our 1 car garage. Those first few shipments filled the entire space, and we ended up with overflow into our living room as well!
5L Boleslawiec Fermenting Crock - This is the very first product we sold to someone we didn't know. It was also the product that gave us the idea to start the business in the first place. And to date it is still the most popular product we sell!
34 - The number of shipments we have imported from Poland since we launched! The first 7 shipments were pallets, and all happened in 2013. And then -
May 15, 2014 - The day our first small container arrived! It seemed like so much product, but just under a year later we doubled it with a full size container!
November 10, 2014 - The New York Times published "Master of the Hard Shell", a review of their favorite nutcrackers, including our Mushroom Nutcracker!
8,433 - The number of Nutcrackers we have sold in 10 years!
Black Friday, 2014 - Our 2nd daughter is born on the biggest shopping day of the year! So of course, we stopped by UPS to drop off orders on the way to the hospital.
May 2016 - Our first product sourcing trip to Poland! Up until this point, Kryz's father had been handling everything in Poland. But after 3 years in business, we were able to make the trip to visit our facility in Poland!
October 2016 - We stepped up our branding game by getting this custom box stamping machine made in Poland. We also transitioned to having 90% of our packing supplies made in Poland as well. We are committed to our tagline of making sure our business really is "Made in Poland"!
July 2017 - We upgraded our Luna Glass Crock Weights Packaging! Since 2017, it is completely made from custom cardboard, making it 100% recyclable.
March 13, 2018 - We received our first patent for our Luna Glass Crock Weights!
10,764 - The number of Luna Glass Crock Weights we have sold!
5.5" - the most popular size of our Luna Glass Crock Weights, with 29% of the total sold. The 6.5" and 8.5" were the first sizes we made, designed to fit in our 5L & 10L Boleslawiec fermenting crock. Those sizes were so popular, we soon added the 5.5" and 7.5".
4.5" - This was the last size of the Luna Glass Crock Weights we added. We had to 3d print the size to make sure it would fit in our smallest crocks!
August 2019 - We returned to Poland to find more new products, including our line of Polish Folk Art!
March 2020 - We have never been more thankful that we run our own online business.
August 2021 - We returned to Poland and visited where many of our items are made. It was amazing to tour the facilities with our artisans and see our products in all stages of completion!
Spring 2022 - We imported the largest number of nutcrackers we ever have, and still sold out of them before we could restock!
April 2023 - And here we are, 10 years! This blog post covers many highlights in the 10 years of this small family business, but it doesn't begin to illustrate the journey it has been.
We launched this business with the goal of being able to work for ourselves so that we could be a bigger part of our then 3 year old daughter's life. That little girl is now 13 years old, and she has an 8 year old sister too! You probably purchase from us just because you like our products and the price works for you, but know that every order means that our family gets to keep on living our dream. And for that, there is no way for us to even begin to thank you for the last 10 years!
]]>Stone Creek Trading is the true small family business. Kryz and I (Emily) started this business in 2013 when we were both working full time for architecture firms. We were exhausted and burnt out from long days at work and never enough time at home with our then 3 year old daughter. We knew we needed to take a big risk if we wanted to break out of the rut we were in!
We decided to combine our interests in natural foods with Kryz's connection to his home country of Poland. When we looked for a fermenting crock for ourselves, we discovered there were so many more options made in Poland that we couldn't find here in the United States. So we asked Kryz's father in Poland to ship us a couple. In February of 2013, we incorporated the company and started by importing 2 fermenting crocks - the 5L and 10L Boleslawiec Fermenting Crocks, which are still some of our biggest sellers!
Before we launched the website in April of 2013, we imported one pallet of products. Within a year we switched from importing pallets to our first small container! Over the years, we found more unique products and fermenting crock suppliers. We love working with other small businesses in Poland that wouldn't normally be able to export their products on their own.
In 2016, we took the business to the next level by developing and patenting our own product - the Luna Glass Crock Weights. These glass weights quickly became our signature product! The Luna Glass Crock Weights now make up over 20% of our sales, the largest share of any product we sell.
Since we launched this company it has been run by our family, both here in the United States and Poland! Our Polish operation is headed up by Jacek, Kryz's father. He works with our Polish manufacturers and gets everything ready to ship to us here in the United States. Over the years, we have moved to having all of our marketing materials and cardboard made in Poland as well!
We've always been hands on owners - every customer service email or newsletter you've received has been written by Emily! All the products have been tested in our own kitchen before we sell them. We are right there doing the manual labor too - unpacking containers and packing and shipping orders! We've traveled to Poland several times to meet with manufactures to learn more about the products and people who make them!
This spring we will be celebrating 10 years in business! It's hard to believe it's been that long, but I can't imagine doing anything else. We never would have been successful for this long without the support of our amazing customers - you! Thank you so much for everything you do to support us and keep this story going!
- Emily & Kryz
You can also see the shredder now has the same style of blades as our large shredder. This style of blade makes the metal less likely to bend as you push against it resulting in a more consistent shred width and a smoother process.
Our Small Cabbage Shredder is available by itself, or as part of our popular Fermenting Tool Kit and Beginners Fermenting Kits (which include a crock)!
I'm not sure where people are getting their information, but there seems to be some sources out there that are arguing both sides - you absolutely must have a notch in the lid, or you absolutely do not want a notch! The truth is, it really depends on the crock. So today, I would like to address why some crocks have notches in their lids and some don't!
In general, smaller crocks do not have notches in the lids, and you don't want them to. Only large crocks with deep wells and heavy lids should have a notch in the lid.
Smaller crocks, with lighter weight lids and a shallower well do not need a notch in the lid. Because the lid is lighter weight, when gases need to escape they simply push up on the lid enough for the gas to bubble out. A heavier lid can't push up so easily, so a notch was added to allow the gas to escape.
In addition, when there is a notch in the lid, the water level in the airlock well has to be kept above that notch in order to maintain the airlock. When the well is shallower, a notch in the lid can make it very difficult to keep enough water in the well to maintain the airlock without overfilling the well so that water gets into the ferment.
Our crocks are designed to ensure that their first priority is to be functional fermenting crocks, and sometimes that means there are different features for each one! Our artisans have tested the features of their crocks to ensure that they only add a notch to the lid when it is needed.
Hopefully that helps you understand a little better why some fermenting crock lids have notches and some don't! It's not a universal feature that should be included on every crock!
Due to all of these factors, we will once again be increasing prices at the beginning of April. As a courtesy to our loyal customers, we are giving you a heads up in advance if you want to order before then!
]]>As we all know, the pandemic has been difficult for many small businesses. As a result of these struggles, the ceramic studio that makes our Artisan line of Fermenting Crocks has permanently closed. We stocked up before they shut down, but our stock is beginning to run out.
We have already sold out of the 5L Lavender and Red Mushroom Crocks and have therefore removed them from the website. We also ran out of the Artisan Garlic Crocks and Rumtopf Crocks. Our stock of the 5L Leaves and Brown Mushroom design are also getting low. We do have stock remaining of all design of the 2.5L Artisan Crocks, but once they sell we won't be able to restock.
We are sad to see this studio go as they offered unique decorative designs that we haven't seen anywhere else. We hope to find more decorative fermenting crock options for our customers soon, but in the meantime be sure to grab your favorite design before they are gone!
Like so many businesses, we continue to struggle with keeping items in stock. The global shipping industry has never fully recovered from the pandemic shutdowns, on top of issues with production itself. Despite all these new challenges, we are happy to say that another fully loaded container has left our facility in Poland!
We typically estimate 4-6 weeks for the transatlantic journey to our location in Illinois, but with all the delays in the industry right now, it's really hard to guess when the items will make it to us! We estimate that the shipment will arrive in mid to late November, hopefully before the Black Friday rush!
We know many items are out of stock right now, and everyone is anxious to know when they can order their favorite items again. The good news is that items are on their way, so we will still have them in time for the holidays! And with our typical 1-2 day processing times, we will be sure to get items shipped as soon as possible once they are back in stock. However, once these products sell we won't be restocking for several months, so be sure to order as soon as they are restocked!
As always, your best way to stay informed is to sign up for restocking notifications on the individual product pages. We always send out those emails first before notifying anyone else that we have restocked the website. Now go find those must have products right now and sign up to be notified when your favorite items are available again! (Seriously do it now, because you know if you don't you will forget!)
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Of course, we could only order a limited quantity to start and based on past popularity these will likely sell quickly! If we these sell fast, we hope to increase our order next time to convince Boleslawiec that the 5L Olive Green Fermenting Crocks should be back permanently!
December 2020 - Jofi, our "warehouse" dog in Poland, fast asleep after working so hard to prep those nutcrackers for shipping!
As many people know, all of our products are made by small businesses in Poland. We then gather those products together into one container to self import into the United States. We started working on our latest shipment in December. With the holidays and the continued impact of COVID-19 on small business worldwide, our artisans weren't able to fulfill our orders until late January. We contacted the shipping company to arrange for a container to be delivered to load up all those products, only to discover there was a shortage in Poland and the next container wouldn't be available for a month! Luckily, we didn't have to wait that long and the shipment left our facility in southern Poland on February 4!
February 4, 2021 - All packed up and ready to make the long journey across the ocean!
Typically once a container leaves our warehouse in Poland it takes about 4-6 weeks to get to our facility in the Chicago suburbs. However, once the shipment arrived at the port we learned that ships leaving Poland for the US were all booked for the next 2 weeks! So we waited impatiently for the container to finally make it on the ship on February 19. The ship is currently making it's way across the ocean and hopefully will have smooth sailing!
With all of these delays, it is taking much longer than normal to restock the website. We know it's frustrating for our customers (and us!), since we are at our lowest stock levels with many items sold out. Right now, the shipping company is estimating that the container will arrive at the very end of March. But with all the delays we've seen so far, it could be into the beginning of April before we can restock.
The good news is we ordered double our typical quantities for this shipments in the hope that we can avoid selling out again soon! But as always, we recommend ordering soon after the restock if you have your heart set on a specific item. We will likely have longer order processing times once the items do arrive as we anticipate a high order volume. Of course, you can always email emily@stonecreektrading.com with any questions or special requests and we will see what we can do!
So, if you've been anxiously awaiting this container to finally get here - we are right there with you! And if you want to be the first to know when it arrives, be sure to sign up to be notified when we restock on the individual item's product page.
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Emily preparing for our 1st Holiday Season in 2013!
But since this is November that also means we are preparing for another holiday season, despite still struggling with the implications of a global pandemic! This year will be our 8th holiday season and it's sure to be an interesting one. With so many changes in the world this year, I wanted to get our holiday updates/information out early. As we see continued delays for shipping times and supply chain struggles across the retail industry, this year it's even more important to plan ahead!
Our last shipment arrived at the end of September and we won't be restocking again until early spring 2021. Luckily, we were able to restock almost all of our out or stock items and most of our purchase orders were fulfilled by our artisans. Unfortunately, some of those items have already sold out and many others will sell out soon. If you have your eye on something and you can afford to purchase it now, I highly recommend doing so! Of course, you can always email me (emily@stonecreektrading.com) to check on the stock of an item if you need a little more time.
In the past we have offered a holiday shipping deadline and guaranteed delivery of items before Christmas as long as orders were placed before that date. Over the past couple of years UPS and USPS moved their guaranteed delivery dates earlier and earlier in December, but we kept ours within about 10 days of Christmas and didn't have any issues. However, this year we just don't feel comfortable offering a similar shipping deadline. We have all seen the shipping industry struggle to keep up with increased demand as well as employee exposure issues due to the pandemic.
Here at Stone Creek Trading we have been able to keep our processing time largely unchanged. We have had to occasionally stretch some orders to up to 3-4 days processing time, but for the most part have stayed consistent with our typical 1-2 days. We hope to keep with this shipping turn around on our end, but as the positivity rate continues to rise in our area we are being proactive in encouraging customers to order as early as possible! We will keep following our COVID-19 safety protocols that have thus far kept the Stone Creek Trading family safe and hope that it continues to this winter.
In light of everything going on, we've decided to tell our customers to just order early! If one of our exclusive Made in Poland products is on the top of your shopping list this year, get your order in as soon as you can!
It's been a difficult year for so many across the world. I know our small family business's holiday plan might not be the top priority for many people right now and understand that. But if we are a part of your holiday plans this year - Thank You! We appreciate the support now and always.
Emily & Kryz
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However, we have also amassed a collection of crocks with flaws on the interior as well. These flaws make the crocks unusable for fermenting - which means we haven't been able to sell them. We are always trying to find alternative uses for defective products rather than adding to the landfill. A few years ago I asked our followers for ideas on how to use these flawed crocks and received a lot of great ideas! We have tried out some of these ideas around our home, and now we are making these crocks available for our customers as well!
We are calling these Factory Second crocks Dry Storage Crocks. They have many uses as storage for dry materials - but the interior glaze flaws mean they most likely will not hold liquids as needed for fermenting. You can see an example in the photo above where two small areas on the bottom of the crock as missing the glaze. You can read more about the Dry Storage Crocks in the product listing here. As always, if you have questions feel free to email emily@stonecreektrading.com.
Because these crocks can't be used for fermenting and don't include weights, we are offering them at only $20-$25 each! Like all of our Factory Second products, we have limited stock of these crocks. We typically only have 1-2 of each style available. So if see one you want, don't hesitate to order it or you may miss out!
We can't wait to see the ideas you come up with for our Factory Second - Dry Storage Crocks!
]]>We were so excited when our shipment arrived almost 2 months ago! We were finally able to restock the website and get our products out to all of you! But within a few days we knew that stock wouldn't last long. We immediately began working with our artisans in Poland to see how quickly we could get another container full of fermenting supplies shipped to us here in the States. The good news is, many of our artisans were happy to have more work and were able to quickly produce more products. The bad news is, it still takes time to import goods across the ocean!
Currently, we have products in our warehouse in Poland ready to ship from all but one manufacturer. But of course, the one we are waiting on is the one in most demand right now! As soon as that order is fulfilled we will work as fast as we can to get them here to our customers. Once the container ships, it typically takes 4-6 weeks before we receive it at our facility in Illinois. Optimistically that would put as in late September at the earliest, but realistically we are looking at October sometime before it arrives.
This will be likely be our last shipment in 2020. It takes at least 3 months to put together an order, have it manufactured and shipped to the US. In order to have items in hand for the holiday season, we always need things here by November at the latest. The holiday season is also the busiest time for importing, which means it takes longer to work through the system, and shipments are often delayed. Because of these reasons, we likely won't restock again until 2021.
It may seem early, but because this is our last restocking for 2020, if you have your heart set on an item for the holidays, we recommend ordering early! We will likely sell out of popular products again before December. When our last shipment arrived in late June, one product sold out in less than 24 hrs. Many others only lasted a week! It's hard to plan ahead right now with so many uncertainties, we just don't want to disappoint our customers if we sell out again quickly.
As we all grapple with a global pandemic and what it means for our lives and the world, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for supporting us on this journey. We are blessed to have a thriving business which allows us to continue working to support our family when so many others cannot. Operating a small business is never easy work, but this pandemic has added even more challenges. Your continued support of our company is deeply appreciated. Whether you have purchased from us in the past, plan to in the future or never do -
As noted in our previous blog post, we had originally started working on this shipment of products back in February before the pandemic surged here in the United States. Because we work with small businesses, our suppliers typically need about 2 months to custom make the items we order. However, those timelines extended with stay at home orders shutting down most of Poland. Some suppliers shut down indefinitely, luckily right after they delivered their products to our Polish facility! Others weren't able to produce everything we ordered.
Almost done unloading! Of course it was the hottest day we've had this summer!
In the end, we had to ship the container with only a fraction of the products we had originally planned for. In addition, some products weren't ordered at all as our current stock levels would have lasted several months during "normal" times! So even though we just restocked the website, you will see that many items are still out of stock or may have already sold out. Trust me, it's just as frustrating for us as it is for you!
So good to see this space filling up with products again!
The good news is we are already working on the next order, hopefully arriving at the end on the summer/early fall. The timeline of the next shipment will depend a lot on how fast things sell right now. So if you see something you want, order it now - before it sells out again!
]]>We've seen a large increase in orders over the last month, which is wonderful - thank you!! But it also means that we are selling out of products even faster than anticipated. I guess many of you have been using this extra time at home to expand or start a new fermenting hobby!
With all the new orders, we have some new customers here as well - welcome! If you are new, you might not know that we operate differently than most other small e-commerce companies. We self import all of the products we sell from small businesses in Poland. Most of our artisans can't afford to export their products on their own, so we gather all the items together into one large shipment to make it more affordable. To keep our prices low, we only import 2-3 large shipments each year. All of this means that items are only restocked 2-3 times each year, instead of continuously like most websites. It also means it might be several months before an item is restocked, and that most products will be restocked all at once.
Our artisans have been working over the last few months to manufacture the products we have ordered for the next shipment. We originally had planned to have all the products completed by the end of this month and shipping out from Poland at the beginning of May. On a typical schedule, this would have resulted in the products arriving at the end of May or beginning of June.
However, as everyone knows our world has been turned upside down over the last 6 weeks. Poland is currently on lockdown, with activities limited to essential business only. The borders are currently closed for travel, although it should not effect commercial shipping. Like us, many of our artisans are small businesses who rely on selling their products to stay afloat. With the travel restrictions currently in place, many of these companies are struggling to stay open without business from tourism. We have already had two of our artisans who have decided to temporarily close for the remainder of the year after fulfilling our orders.
Our facility in Poland* continues to work towards shipping out the products as soon as possible while putting the health of our workers and community first. Many of the products are already in our possession, but we are still waiting on a few manufacturers to complete their orders. We are doing our best to continue our normal shipment process as safely as possible. However, the pandemic restrictions are resulting in a longer lead time for many of our artisans.
For our part, we still anticipate being able to ship the container in May, it just might be a little later in the month than we had planned. After that, it's really anyone's guess as to how long it will take to get here to the United States. Typical transit time from Poland to our facility in Illinois is 4-6 weeks. The container travels by truck, train, ship, train and truck again before it gets to us, and also must clear customs in both Poland and the US. If any one of those systems is impacted by COVID-19 it could cause delays.
If we've learned anything as small business owners it is that there are many things that we cannot control. It's a lesson everyone is learning right now. So if you want to know when we will be restocking the website all I can say is - as soon as we safely can!
*As a side note - As of now, Poland has been doing remarkably well as far as the spread of COVID-19. They currently have much lower rates of infection and death than many other European nations. As we have many family members living in Poland this is incredibly important to us personally.
]]>Here in Illinois, our governor has issued a "stay-at-home" order. This means that we have been instructed to stay at home except for essentials. We want to do our part to flatten the curve, so we are going to be scaling back our order shipping for at least the next two weeks. We've been anticipating this announcement and making changes so that we do not have to completely stop order processing during this time.
We will continue to ship out orders as long as USPS and UPS are running. However, we want to reduce our impact on these shipping companies is order to ensure that essential health, safety, and food related products have priority. Therefore, we are anticipating longer processing times over the next few weeks. We are planning on shipping out orders 1-2 times each week, rather than every day.
If you would like to support our business, but don't need something right now, consider purchasing a Gift Card! We now have gift cards available on the website in $10, $25, $50 or $100 denominations. You can purchase a gift card for yourself, or send it to someone else! You will receive a unique code to use for purchase on our website anytime. Gift cards never expire, so you can take your time deciding what you want to purchase!
These are difficult times for so many people and businesses. Right now we consider ourselves lucky to have so many blessings and supportive customers that have purchased our products over the years. Thank you for your continued support in helping us flatten the curve! Stay safe everyone!
]]>At this time we are able to prepare and ship orders with no impact to our typical processing times. We have not been informed of any changes to UPS or USPS shipping procedures and therefore anticipate continuing to operate as normal for as long as that is an option. As a small family business we are used to working from home, and count ourselves lucky to have little impact on our work lives because of COVID-19.
This information will be updated should our situation change, which understandably is happening a lot at this time. Stay safe everyone and if you find yourself with some free time at home, why not try fermenting to pass the time?
This summer while visiting Poland we had the opportunity to discover many new products at the Polish Folk Art Fair in Krakow. The products I am most excited about are these beautiful hand cut Polish Papercut Wycinanki ! We sell many products featuring prints of this style of Folk Art, but this is the first time we have been able to find someone who still makes the authentic traditional layered paper version. These Wycinanki are so beautiful and unique - we wanted to purchase every single item the artisan had in her booth!
I wish you could see these in products in person, because they truly are works of art! We spent last weekend carefully taking photographs in an attempt to convey just how special these papercut designs are - so be sure to check out the product listings to see all the images. I also included lots of historical information in the description if you're interested in learning more about this unique folk art craft.
Being a Polish American family, I'm always looking for ways to add more of our Polish heritage into our home here in the United States. I cannot wait to frame the Wycinanki we picked out at the festival to add to our decor - and now you can do the same! The papercut designs will also make wonderful gifts for those with Polish ancestry.
I'm so excited to make these traditional Polish Papercut Wycinanki more accessible so that everyone can purchase a small piece of Polish cultural history for their own homes!
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There are several differences between the Rustic Crocks and the Boleslawiec Crocks, but here are the most noticeable -
The Rustic Fermenting Crocks feature a dense clay with thick wall construction. This makes the crock heavier to move around as well as helping to moderate temperature shifts in the environment. Customers also report that these crocks seem to be less susceptible to barometric pressure changes. In contrast, the Boleslawiec crocks have a thinner wall construction and a smoother clay. The result is a crock that is lighter weight and therefore easier to move around.
The smoother clay on the Boleslawiec crocks also contributes to a smoother glaze finish. In addition, the glaze on the Boleslawiec Crocks is a glossy finish. The glaze on the Rustic Fermenting Crocks is more of a matte finish. The denser clay on thh Rustic Crocks also leads to a rougher finish than the Boleslawiec Crocks.
The handles on the Rustic Crocks are large, making it easier to move them around. In addition, the shape is shorter and fatter than the Boleslawiec Crocks.
Boleslawiec is the most recognized Polish ceramics company in the world. The Rustic Fermenting Crocks are made by a much smaller ceramics studio that is only know within Poland and Germany.
Hopefully these comparisons help you understand our products a little better!
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While I love having nutcrackers around my house, they also make the perfect gift! They are small and easy to keep on hand for those last minute situations, and their unique design and beauty mean that you never have to worry if the recipient already has one! And with three different designs to choose from - Traditional Brown, Natural Heartwood or Red Toadstool - there's sure to be a Mushroom Nutcracker that even the most discerning giftee will love!
"He also liked a mushroom-like wooden nutcracker from Stone Creek Trading, which he thought resembled a porcini. "You can hold the top or the bottom to twist it together," he said. "That's nice, elegant and simple.""
In honor of our favorite fall product, our Mushroom Nutcrackers are on sale this week! Now thru Sunday September 13, 2019 Buy 2 Mushroom Nutcrackers and get 1 for Free! This discount is automatically applied at checkout, so simply add any 3 designs of our Mushroom Nutcrackers to your cart and the lowest price item will be free (no discount code needed).
You can use the discount up to 5 times (which would be a total of 15 nutcrackers for the price of 10!!) so now is the time to stock up for the holidays!
One discount per order - cannot be combined with other discounts.
Not applicable on Factory Second Nutcrackers.
Valid on in stock items only, no rainchecks. Not valid on previous purchases.
It's exciting to see that we aren't the only ones who enjoy the garden lanterns this time of year! Check out this review of our Floral Garden Lantern in Heirloom Gardener Magazine!* We love hearing what others think of our products, and know it's so helpful for customers as well.
To celebrate the summer and the new review, we decided the garden lanterns are the perfect choice for this week's Product of the Week! So order any design of the lanterns this week (6/10/19 - 6/16/19) and automatically receive 20% off!
Now comes the hard part - choosing which one!
*The review in Heirloom Gardener lists a price of $19. This price did not include any shipping fees. However, we recently restructured our pricing to greatly reduce shipping fees, which is why the current price on our website differs. The new price for the Garden Lanterns is actually less than the previous total price because of the large reduction in shipping charges!
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We started out by updating our logos across all platforms to make sure they reflect who we are and what we are known for! What do you think of our new taglines?
Once we saw how easy it was to make some graphic changes, we decided to finally tackle our biggest struggle - shipping fees. We have heard lots of feedback from customers on our "high" shipping fees. The truth is that the shipping fees we are charged by UPS and USPS are expensive and they keep going up at least 5% every year! We have tried not to increase our prices as much as we can, but we also have to stay in business!
Because we aren't a big corporation with locations in every state, it can be expensive for us to ship to customers that are far away. From our location in the Midwest, it can be quite expensive to ship to the coasts, especially locations like California, Oregon and Washington. Add on top of that that our best selling products are large, heavy and fragile - and the shipping charges really add up!
Nowadays, many people expect free shipping. However, the free shipping model won't work for our small family business. With our one location, the shipping fees we have to pay for a product will vary greatly depending on the location of the buyer - which makes it difficult to build the price of shipping into the product price.
But we know how frustrating it can be to find a product and price that works for you, only to discover a big shipping fee. We've been playing around with ideas for awhile, and we think we've come up with a way to reduce the shipping "shock", but still keep our prices fair.
We have reduced the shipping fees across the board, making some of our smaller products ship for free! We have now incorporated some or all of the shipping fees into the price of the product, helping you to see more of the price upfront. We know it's not a perfect solution, but we think it's the right mix of what our customers are asking for and what our small business can do!
Take a look around the website and let us know what you think! If you have any questions (or find any errors) send us an email - emily@stonecreektrading.com!
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As I've mentioned in the past, we tend to follow a more "relaxed" method of fermentation like our ancestors did. We don't use testing strips or weigh our ingredients for precise outcomes. We do a lot of experimenting, combining ingredients we have on hand or are in season to see what works best for us and what new flavors we can discover! Of course, this method means sometimes we get "fermenting failures", but that's just part of the process!
I recently had a breakthrough with my sauerkraut ferments thanks to a recipe that Dawn Dunkin shared with us. She used both ginger and turmeric in her sauerkraut when she made a video using our crock to ferment! You can check out the video we shared last year on the blog here - https://www.stonecreektrading.com/blogs/news/sauerkraut-making-video
Since then I've been experimenting with using ginger more in my sauerkraut. Based on my experiments over the last year, adding ginger to my sauerkraut has completely changed the process for me! Every time I add ginger in, I get perfect sauerkraut!
I don't have a specific recipe for you, but here are the ingredients I used for this last batch of sauerkraut -
1 large & 1 small head of cabbage shredded on our Small Cabbage Shredder
3 large carrots shredded on a cheese grater
~1.5" piece of ginger finely chopped
~1" piece of turmeric finely chopped
Salt
I ended up with too many ingredients for our 2L Mountain Cream Fermenting Crock, so I had to put the overflow in our Stone Creek Trading 2.5L Fermenting Crock.
We have already eaten half of the sauerkraut that we finished a couple weeks ago! It goes with everything - from scrambled eggs in the morning to my favorite nachos with sauerkraut!
So if you struggle with sauerkraut like I used to, give it a try! Or is there another fermenting recipe that you struggle with?
]]>In addition to being a small business owner I’m also a mom, which means the holidays are also a time filled with school parties and chorus concerts, tree trimming and cookie making. So instead of posting on social media during the busy season, I spent time making memories with our daughters. I hope that all of you had a chance to do the same!
Now that I’ve finally caught up on my sleep, I’m feeling refreshed and ready conquer the new year! Today I took a break from the boring accounting I’m trying to wrap up to organize one of our “packing stations”.
Having a clean and efficient work space means packing goes smoother, which means I have more time to devote to everything else!
In 2016, Stephanie filled out the contact us form on our website and asked if we would like to contribute to the canning and fermenting recipe book she was writing. Since that email, I have met Stephanie in person only twice, but our relationship online has grown into a wonderful friendship!
Having a fermenting book author as a friend has many great perks, including last week when I needed some help making kimchi for the first time! Thanks to her advice, our first batch was a huge success and is already half eaten.
Another advantage of our friendship, is that I get signed copies of all her latest projects! This month, the publishers of Harris Farmer's Almanac came out with an edited version of Can It & Ferment It as a condensed magazine - Canning & Fermenting. I haven't been able to find a copy anywhere locally, so Stephanie was kind enough to send me this signed copy.
Would you like your own a signed copy of her book or magazine? You're in luck, because we've teamed up with Stephanie for a great giveaway! Last week she gave away our 5L Artisan Leaves Fermenting Crock on her very popular Instagram account. This week it's our turn to host a giveaway!
We've got two great prizes for you today, perfect to get you started fermenting. The first prize is a signed copy of the Can It & Ferment It Recipe Book along with a $25 Stone Creek Trading store credit to purchase whatever fermenting supplies you need our store! The second prize is a signed copy of the new Canning & Fermenting Magazine and a $15 Stone Creek Trading store credit.
We know everyone doesn't have social media, so we wanted to make this giveaway easy to enter. All you have to do is enter your email address in the Rafflecopter widget below and use it to comment on this blog post, no social media required! You can also get extra entries by liking our Facebook pages.
This giveaway ends tomorrow, July 26 at midnight, so be sure to enter right now before you forget! Winners will be announced and contacted via email on Friday, July 27 and have 48 hours to respond before an alternate winner is drawn.
Good luck and happy fermenting!
*****GIVEAWAY CLOSED*****
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