The Rustic ceramic studio makes many decorative items, in addition to fermenting crocks.  Originally, the artisan did most of his business at road side stands along the German-Polish border.  At these stands the decorative items are most popular.  We're excited to be adding more of these decorative ceramics to our products as well!

In this modern global world you have access to millions of products from around the globe.  It's easy to lose sight of who made the items and where they came from.  While our business is just one option among many, we hope that you appreciate the effort we go to in order to provide products with integrity.  And now you can see for yourself just where the Rustic ceramics are made!

**THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED**

We are excited to announce that in celebration of our 2 year anniversary this month, we are giving away 3 amazing prizes!  Without you, our customers, we wouldn't have anything to celebrate, so we want to reward you with something special.  There are 5 easy ways to win, and 3 prizes.  So be sure to enter at the bottom of this post!

Prizes

I'm sure the most important thing you want to know is, what can I win?  So let's get straight to the point.  The Grand Prize is....

A 5 Liter Beginner's Fermenting Kit with a Large Shredder!!!  The value of the kit alone is $130, plus we'll ship it to you for free as well (which adds another $25-$35 to to price).  One lucky winner will get everything that's included in our 5L Fermenting Kit - a 5L Fermenting Crock with our exclusive Luna Glass Crock Weights, a Large Cabbage Shredder, a Cabbage Masher, and a pair of wood tongs.  If you win you'd be all set to start fermenting, or if you already have one, what an awesome gift for a friend you've been trying to convince to start fermenting!

Our next prize is a $50 credit to use on our website towards your next purchase.  With so many different products, sizes, and colors available, we wanted to give you the opportunity to choose exactly what you want if you win!  So with this prize, you get $50 to spend however you choose!  You could get a small 3L Rustic Crock for experimenting, or perhaps you want to try out some of our stoneware for baking.  Or maybe you want to use it towards the purchase of a larger crock that you've been dreaming of but can't quite fit in the budget!  Whatever you choose, winning a $50 credit will be exciting!

And our final prize is a Wood Nutcracker Bowl Gift Set.  Our Mushroom Nutcracker was featured this fall in the New York Times article, "Nutcrackers: Master of the Hard Shell".  Since then we've barely been able to keep them in stock.  But with our latest shipment, we are now ready to give you one to try out!  This set includes a nutcracker and a wood bowl, everything you need to get cracking!  We always have the bowl filled with nuts out on our table.  It's our daughter's favorite snack!  And now you can have one too.  Of course we'll ship it to the address you provide.

How to Enter

To enter this giveaway, use the Rafflecopter form below.  You can get up to 7 entries by completing all the tasks!  Just fill out the information requested and choose which entries work for you.  You can sign up for our newsletter, visit our Facebook page, tweet about the giveaway, share it with your friends, or tell us which of our products is your favorite!  And if you're already signed up for our newsletter, go ahead and enter your email address for an automatic entry. 

Fine Print

Of course there are a few restrictions.  This giveaway is open from now until May 1st, 2015 at 12:00AM.  To enter you must have a shipping address in the contiguous 48 United States.  We only ship to the lower 48, so you won't be able to redeem your prize without a qualifying shipping address.  Winners will be drawn at random using Rafflecopter.  Winners will be notified via email one week after the giveaway has closed.  You will have 7 days to respond with your shipping information in order to claim your prize.  If you do not respond within 7 days, another winner will be chosen. 

Enter Here

Good Luck!

Do you notice anything different around here?  I hope so!

We just updated our website with a new layout, categories and lots more great features.  The biggest change is that our website is now mobile friendly!  Like us, many people are now using their mobile devices as their primary way to browse the internet, so we wanted to make sure our website looked great on your phone as well! 

We've also changed around the categories so that it's easier to find exactly what you're looking for.  And with more new products coming in the next couple weeks, these categories will be even better!  And we've added more filter and sorting options to each category as well.  If you know what you're looking for, it should be easier than ever to find it!

You will also notice more customer support information, including a contact us form and a shipping information page.  So many new changes that will make your shopping experience better than ever!  We hope you like it!

If you've got a lot of sauerkraut and are running out of ideas of what to do with it, why not try this recipe from The Fresh Day Blog for Sauerkraut Stew.  It sounds delicious.  And she used one of our fermenting crocks to make her sauerkraut!

Sauerkraut Stew: A Savory, Sour, Spicy, Sweet Flavor Combination You Need to Try

In our family we make a similiar recipe, a traditional Polish Bigos.  Hopefully we'll have a chance to share that family recipe with everyone soon!

Have you noticed that many of our popular products are once again out of stock?  Not to worry, they will all be available again very soon!

Our latest shipment has already made it's way to the United States, now we just need it to get from New York to our warehouse in Chicago.  Unfortunately, that could take anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks!  But we are hopeful it will arrive sometime next week. 

Once the shipment arrives we will not only restock our Fermenting Crocks, Fermenting Kits and Cabbage Shredders, but we will also have some new products to add.  The product we are most excited about is our 10L Luna Glass Crock Weights! 

So stay tuned to our Facebook page or sign up for our newsletter to find out when the new shipment arrives!

We recently introduced our new product, Luna Glass Crock Weights.  And so far, they have been a big hit!  We developed this product ourselves after seeing a void in the market for a non-pervious crock sized fermenting weight.  So we set about designing and prototyping one of our own! 

These weights are made to our spefications by a small manufacturer in Poland.  The Luna Glass Crock Weights are a unique Stone Creek Trading item, in fact we applied for a patent for them and they are currently US Patent Pending.

So what makes these weights so special?  Of course you can read all about them in the product listing, but here's a few brief points -

• Non-pervious means they don't absorb anything - mold, bacteria, smells or flavors
• Easy to clean
• Transparent so you can see whats happening below without removing
• 15% heavier than traditional ceramic weights

We currently offer the Luna Glass Crock Weights in ones size - 6.5" diameter for 5L Crocks.  You can buy the weights separately or with the 5L Brown Crock or 5L Olive Green Crock.  You also will receive the Luna Glass Crock Weights if you purchase a 5L Fermenting Kit. 

We wanted to test the market for the glass weights before we developed a 10L size weight, and I am happy to say our market test has been a success!  The 10L size Luna Glass Crock Weights have finished production and are now ready to be loaded and shipped to us.  We expect to have them in stock in April.  At that time they will be offered with all 10L crocks, the 10L Fermenting Kit and on their own.  And after many inquiries as to the small size of the 10L ceramic weights in comparison to the crock diameter, we did some experimentation and came up with a larger size that better fills the interior of the crock.  All around these weights will be far superior to the traditional ceramic weights.

We hope you are as excited as we are about these new weights.  The Luna Glass Crock Weights are a great way to upgrade your current fermenting set up, or to start out on the right path!  If you want to be notified when the 10L size is available, or you have a question about the weights, be sure to email me, emily@stonecreektrading.com!

As our business grows we are always evaluating how to best meet our customers needs.  Sometimes that means expanding into new products and sometimes it means focusing on certain areas over others.  In that vain, we have decided to closeout the DABO block sets and select styles of the Handmade Nativity. 

We love the DABO block sets, our family plays with them all the time!  But they don't reflect the core of our business, and therefore we have decided to stop offering them on our website.  We have already sold out of the Castle sets and we now have a few of the Farm and City block sets available.  Once we sell the last of these sets, we won't be restocking.  So if you've been waiting for a bargain to get these blocks, this is your last chance!  At only $30 each, they are a steal!

We also will not be restocking certain styles of the Nativity Creche/Mangers.  These styles are on closeout sale now, a bargain price ($15 - $22) and once they are sold you won't be able to find these outside of Poland.  The styles on sale are - Noel, Merry, Joy, Glory and Rejoice. 

You can find all of these great deals in one place in our On Sale Now area of the website.  If you have any questions about these closeout items, email emily@stonecreektrading.com.