Cottage Craft Works .com brings back the old fashioned
products that you might remember from the old country store visits.
The old fashioned country store was the main stop for a
Saturday trip to town.
It was the one place that as a kid you enjoyed browsing the
glass jars filled with liquorish and hard candies.
A bottle of pop could be had for just a nickel, and the
cracker barrel was always open for a quick snack.
Dad was always glued
to the new shot guns and hunting gear.
That brown hunting jacket with the patch elbow protectors and extra
pockets would come in handy for the upcoming hunting season.
He would always end
up at the meat and cheese country to take home fresh sliced meats, today it
would be a huge hunk of thick sliced bologna, 1 lb blocks of different cheeses,
and a slab of bacon.
Mom always toured the fabric isle as she headed over to the
dry goods and garden tool section. The
Planet Junior hand push cultivators, sure looked fine.
As she stood in front of the sewing section her hand
would brush over the top of the new treadle sewing machines as if she was
sending a mental thought over to dad that perhaps this might make a great
Christmas gift, but then she would always turned to the mixers behind her as if
she couldn't really decide.
It was decided before we left the house that this day would
be when we would take home the new set of wash tubs along with a yard and a
half of fabric to make Anna a new Sunday dress.
The old wash tubs had been passed down from our grandparents
and the one tub sprung a leak that dad just couldn't keep them sealed. Anna had just out grown her current dress.
These are the mental images that many may have remember of
the Old Country Store or what others called The General Store.
It was a place where people could find almost anything for
the home, farm, or ranch. From home
gardening, canning, and making home cooked breads and jams. The old country store had it all.
Amazingly they were not that big, but the shelves would be
packed from floor to ceiling with merchandise.
In fact there were ladders on rolling racks down both sides
of floor to ceiling oak cabinets.
As a
kid you would want to jump on and take a ride down the rails when no one was
looking, but never could seem to pull that one off in such as wide open space.
Most of the food items that were bought and sold were just
the staples needed to take home to cook and bake from scratch.
The home garden supplied the fresh vegetables, excess
vegetables were canned and stored away
for the winter months.
Chickens provided fresh eggs and when the hens became past their
prime would end up in the stew pot.
Fresh milk was as close as the morning walk out to the barn,
and fresh meat would come by slaughter or wild game.
Back at the country store a kerosene can would be filled for
the oil lamps, and another can would be filled with white gasoline for the
clothing iron and Coleman lanterns used for outside chores after dark.
The old country store today is mostly gone but not
forgotten. It was a time and era where
things like the old wash tubs were just made to last for generations.
Planed obsolescence was not even in the thoughts of
manufactures. Plastics hadn't even been
invented. Products were either made of
wood, metal, or ceramic.
Cast metal was used for kitchen mixers, with stainless steel
mixer blades and whisk. Galvanized metal
used for buckets and wash tubs.
Even the kids toys were made of either wood or metal. Hunting calls and gun stocks were also made
of wood.
There’s a real feeling of wanting to turn back time for many
who want to escape back into this early era of time when self-sufficiency was the way of
life.
Even if it’s a desire to live more healthy self sufficient
or to decorate a country style home, these old vintage products that use to
line the shelves and walls of an old country store are in high demand.
While the old country store is no longer a source
back-to-basics online stores like Cottage Craft Works .com are fulfilling the
self sufficient living dreams for many.
With over 5000 products of everything under the sun for the
home, garden, farm and ranch people can once again find the type of stuff that
was all American made just like it was in the early to mid 1900s.
Many of the items like the Singer treadle sewing and Hoosier
cabinets are reproductions of the originals.
The blue stripe pottery crocks, bowels, and churns are still
made in a small family owned business. Each item is hand turned and fired just
like it would have been made in the early times.
Self sufficient kitchen products include all the popular
hand crank kitchen gadgets from that era and new Amish made hand crank mixers
that are powerful enough to make several loafs of bread at a time.
American made garden tools include four styles of hand push
cultivators from the past, including a reproduction of the famous Planet Junior
Cultivators that were considered the Cadillac of garden cultivators ever made.
If you just need some new replacement cultivator handles to
fix up granddads old cultivator you will find them at Cottage Craft Works as
well as many other replacement parts for ice cream freezers, Heller Aller water
pumps, Aermotor Windmills, and so much more.
Off-grid living products such as hand water pumps, solar panels
and even a wind powered air compressor are available.
Cottage Craft Works carries the ever popular roller egg
chicken nesting boxes made of thick galvanized metal. As the chickens lay their eggs they actually roll
forward into a protected compartment until they can be picked up.
You can still purchase the old fashioned oil and gas lights,
as well as butane and gasoline clothes irons.
If you're into horse and tack Cottage Craft Works carries Amish
made bridles, harnesses, and pads. You
can also purchase buggies and wagons or just the hardware kits to build a pony
cart or a wagon box.
The authentic Amish buggy lap robes are very popular for
anything outdoors from camping to fall and winter outdoor ballgames.
The buggy and wagon seats are very popular for either a working wagon or for bench seating. You can purchase the complete seats or the
hardware kits to build your own.
If hunting is your joy, you will find one of the largest
selections of Amish made hunting and game calls on the market.
Replacement gun stocks are a specialty as well as both leather,
nylon custom holsters and gun cases.
For rugged outdoor gear Dan’s hunting gear offers some of
the toughest coats, chaps, and bibs made of 420 denier briarproof nylon.
