About Cottage Craft Works
When people think about Amish products they generally think of high quality handcrafted wooden furniture and crafts, or they think about the homemade noodles, baked goods, or Amish quilts. The fact of the matter is that the Amish have developed a whole self-sustaining manufacturing network made up of small cottage based workshops and factories where they manufacture and sell their wares and goods. The variety of goods they manufacture fits virtually every self-sustainable personal need imaginable.
For over 35 years Paul and Liz Stevens have bought and used Amish made products for their own country back-to basics lifestyle, not realizing someday those relationships and friendships they were building would develop into a business opportunity. The two of them spent many weekends and vacations over that time period exploring the Amish country back roads in Indiana and Ohio seeking out different ideas and products used in home food preservation, gardening and frugal living. They were intrigued with the simple life style and quality products the Amish produced. Year after year they developed new relationships and friends throughout the Amish communities. They began to see a real need to help the Amish market and sell their quality products to the outside world in order to help them secure self employment incomes to support their own families. They also saw the lack of trust and respect from commercialized corporate environments that didn’t understand or respect the Amish culture, values, and beliefs. With the encouragement of family and friends they began offering Amish made hunting and game calls online in 2006. As those grew in popularity they added more hunting and outdoor goods.
As the economy worsened many of the Amish who worked in Northern Indiana RV factories began facing layoffs, and the products they made part- time became more and more dependent for their own household incomes. The economy hit the Amish communities hard, as the tourism and visitors from the outside slowed greatly and the crafts and goods they sold in the small shops slowed as well. Even the Amish didn’t have the level of incomes to support their own fellow Amish shops. They simply needed more market exposure and began turning more to the outside world. Simultaneously the economy also developed into the fear and concern for the general public. This sparked a back-to-basic movement of people wanting to escape a debt and energy dependent world. People began looking for more off grid options, and self-survival knowledge that the Amish possessed in order to become less dependent on the economics and live a more self-sustainable debt free lifestyle. The mass loss of jobs to foreign soil over the past decade also created a bitter feeling toward imported products, and a boycott of those products. American made products suddenly became the protest cry for many Americans distraught over the loss of jobs, and corporate greed.
Connecting all the dots, in 2010 Cottage Craft Works General Store at http://www.cottagecraftworks.com was launched to help fulfill a need for those searching for back-to-basics goods to live a more wholesome self-sufficient lifestyle and to help support the many Amish friends they had made over the years.
Although 90% of the products are Amish made, the mission of Cottage Craft Works is to support American cottage based businesses and small companies. Most of the vendor shops consist of small family owned, or small business owned shops, employing one to thirty people. Occasionally you will find a foreign made product, which is noted as such, because our customers request it. All selections carried are based on quality workmanship, such as our German made Family Grain Mill.
In 2010 we received customer feedback from our loyal hardcore hunters who appreciated all the products we had expanded to, but liked it much better when we only featured hunting calls and hunting gear, thus a separate subsidiary was developed just for our hunting friends, CCW Hunting and Game Calls. CCW Hunting and Game Calls carries one of the largest stock of custom made Hunting and Game calls on the market. From a complete turkey box call to a box call kit, deer call, elk calls, predator calls, duck calls, goose calls and more you will find them at CCW.
Cottage Craft Works provides a source for the old time American made quality products that were used and cherished for generations, which are still being manufactured today. Products to help you and your family live a more wholesome self-sufficient life style in today’s very uncertain times. Looking through the Cottage Craft Works online is store is just like picking up an early 1900s Sears and Roebuck Co. Catalog and spending hours making your wish list! Our products are full of nostalgia and memories, products you grew up with but never dreamed would still be available for purchase in today’s crazy fast moving high tech and dependent vulnerable world. So take a deep breath, slow down a bit and enjoy the country life with us at Cottage Craft Works .com.
We enjoying having you stop by our store, feel free to sign up and come back again, we keep your contact information private, we will never sell it to another company and we don’t spam our customers with email deals. We only contact you if we need to give you an update on an order. So start your wish list and come back as often as you like, your list will be saved and ready for your next visit or for a quick checkout at Christmas time. But don’t wait too long many of our custom items may take weeks to make for that special Christmas or other occasion gift.
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