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With Christmas just a little over a month away (yikes!) we are all making sure to mark items off our endless lists.  When it comes to online shopping one of the most important factors is how long items will take to ship.  As always, we strive for fast efficient shipping.  We only offer products on our website which are in stock and ready to ship. 

So when do you need to order by to make sure you have it before Christmas?  This year's magic cutoff date is 12pm CST on December 17, 2014.  All orders place before that time will arrive by December 24, 2014.

As always, orders ship within 1-2 business days after your order is placed.  Orders placed after 5pm on Thursday through 5pm Sunday  will ship on Monday.  Shipping times vary based on your location.  We are located in the Chicago suburbs.  Small items are shipped USPS Priority Mail while larger items & orders are shipped via UPS Ground.  UPS does not deliver or accept packages on Saturday or Sunday. 

See below for typical shipping schedules.

Location           Processing Time      Shipping Time     Total Shipping/Processing

Midwest              1-2 days                     1-2 days               1-4 days

East Coast          1-2 days                     2-3 days               2-5 days

West Coast          1-2 days                    3-5 days                3-7 days

If you miss the cut off for holiday shipping or need your order sooner, email emily@stonecreektrading.com to discuss expedited shipping options including overnight and 2-day shipping.  Please be aware that expedited shipping on crocks is quite expensive ($50+) due to the weight of the crocks. 

And as always, you can email Emily with any questions or custom order requests.  As a small family business, we are happy to work with you when special circumstances arise!

Happy Holidays!

We are super excited that our Mushroom Nutcracker is included in this article in the New York Times! You can check out the online article or in the Home Section (pg D4) of today's paper! We are so honored that our simple little nutcracker made the list.

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We love giving back to our customers, and one way we do that is to sponsor blog giveaways!  We've got a great giveaway going on over on the popular fermenting blog phickle.com.  You can enter to win one of our 5L Fermenting Crocks!

Phickle.com is a great resource for fermenting recipes and tips and tricks.  It's a great community as well with active commenters that help each other out with even more information!  Amanda is also currently working on a cookbook, which we'll be sure to share information about once it's available as well.  We know our customers are always looking for more information about fermenting, and Phickle.com is a great place to find it!

So if you'd love a new 5L Fermenting Crock, go check out the giveaway!  There are lots of easy ways to enter, including liking our Facebook page and signing up for our newsletter.

A few of our popular products are now out of stock, including our cabbage shredders and Beginner's Fermenting Kits.  The good news is that these items are already on their way across the ocean to us!  We don't know the exact date we will have them back in stock, but it is looking like late November right now. 

If you have a specific item you are waiting for, email emily@stonecreektrading.com to be added to our contact list.  As soon as that item is back in stock and available for purchase on the website, you will receive an email letting you know!

Our new line of Rustic Fermenting Crocks has now sold out, but we will have more stock available once the new shipment arrives. 

We will also finally have our very popular Holy Night and Silent Night Nativity Sets available!  These handmade nativity scenes have very limited quantities as the couple who makes them only creates a set number each year.  Be sure to get on the contact list if you have been waiting for one!

We also only have a few Olive Green crocks remaining in stock, for both the 5L and 10L sizes.  We do have more coming, but if you want one now, order soon!  Our traditional brown 10L will soon be out of stock.  We do, however, have more of the 10L Round and 10L Egyptian available.

As always, we work hard to keep the website updated with current stock levels.  If you see the item available for purchase, we have it in stock and ready to ship!

I have received a few email questions from customers lately about "white stuff" in their finished ferments.  I've replied with our experiences with the "white stuff" - that this isn't a cause for concern.  It's always great to hear from other resources as well, so you can imagine I was happy to see a post by one of the leading bloggers on fermenting addressing just this issue!

"The most important thing to know is that, yes, pickles with cloudy stuff in the brine and whitish sediment at the bottom are perfectly fine and safe to eat. Both of those things are natural by-products of the fermentation process."

I'm sure there are others out there who have dealt with this issue, so be sure to check out the post What’s That White Stuff in My Ferment? over on phickle.com to read her take and see some photographic evidence!  There are lots of great fermenting recipes as well, so take some time to read through the site.  A great fermenting resource to add to your list.

Do you have any favorite fermenting blogs or resources that have helped you along the way?  Our customers are always looking for more information about fermenting and we'd love to hear about your favorites!

This weekend only, from now through Sunday evening (10/17 - 10/19) we are having a flash sale on our 5 Liter Fermenting Crocks (traditional brown color only).  This is the lowest price we have offered and will offer all year, so if you have been waiting to buy a 5 Liter Crock, the time is now! 

These crocks will ship out on Monday, October 20.  You could be fermenting by next week.  If you have a friend who has been thinking about getting started fermenting, be sure to share this sale with them.  This is the best price we will offer for our 5 Liter Fermenting Crocks, so you may want to go ahead and buy some early Christmas presents as well!

Lately I've had a few email questions from customers about whether a product they found on our site is in stock or not.  We know how frustrating it can be to order an item only to discover after the item is ordered that it is on back order!  Because of this, we are very careful with making sure the stock numbers listed on the website are accurate.

Every item we sell is direct imported by us and stored at our warehouse.  If the item is available for purchase on our website, that means it is currently available and will ship in 1-2 business days.  You will sometimes see an item go out of stock for a day or two before reappearing.  This typically happens when our stock is low and we want to double check our inventory before offering an item for sale.  We have never sold an item on our website only to discover that we are out of stock.  Customer satisfaction is very important to us.

You will sometimes see an individual item that is out of stock, but available as a set.  This does not mean that the item will ship later than the rest.  For example, we still have a few 5L Beginner's Fermenting Kits available, but we are out of stock of individual Cabbage Shredders.  If you order the kit, you will get the included shredder.  We have reserved the remaining few shredders we have on hand for the kits.

Hopefully this helps to clarify how our inventory works!  As we approach the holiday season, we want you to be confident that when you order a product from us, you will receive your purchase in a timely manner.