One customer question we often answer is how to best care for your cabbage shredder.  Many people want to make sure this amazing tool is something they can keep in the family for years to come.  Today we thought we would share a few simple suggestions we have to make sure your cabbage shredder is here to stay!

If you would like to seal the wood of the cabbage shredder there are many oils that can be used for this purpose.  We recommend using a food safe oil, either a mineral oil or even olive oil works. Treat the shredder in a way you would care for a large wood cutting board.

In addition, It is important to make sure you store the shredder in a space which does not have large swings in temperature or humidity. An unheated garage, hot attic or damp basement is not the best place to store it when not in use.  These large changes in temperature and humidity can cause the wood to warp or crack.  It can get very hot and humid during the summer here in Illinois, so we make sure our shredders are in a cool, air conditioned space!

When washing the shredder be sure to wet the entire shredder and air dry in an upright position. Never lay the shredder on the side to dry as it can lead to warping. Always hand wash the shredder, although with the size of our shredders, I'm not sure you could fit one in a dishwasher if you tried!

Follow these simple steps when caring for your shredder and you should have a family heirloom!

It's hard to believe it's already September!  It's been a busy summer here at Stone Creek Trading.  We've seen steady growth, which is very exciting.  We've been doing a better job this year of anticipating customer demand, and are happy to say we've been able to consistently keep our most popular products in stock. 

As we grow and expand, we are also moving locations.  This won't mean many changes for our customers, but it means a better workplace for us!  It's been quiet on the blog front the last few months as we prepare for and execute our move.  But now we are finalizing the set up and organization just in time to prepare for our busiest time of year - the Holiday Season!

As our customer base grows, we are always looking for new products to expand your choices. As far as fermenting goes, we will soon be adding another sauerkraut making tool to our products.  Can you guess what it is?  We are also responding to customer feedback by adding more sizes of the Luna Glass Crock Weights. 

We are also excited to be adding to our decorative category of the website.  We love to find new items which reflect our modern, natural lifestyle that are made in Poland.  These new items use traditional polish folk art as inspiration for their design.  We love this new modern take that artists are experimenting with in Poland.  These items will make great gifts for this holiday season!

The Garden Lanterns we introduced this summer were also incredibly popular.  We have worked with the artisan to make more and are happy to have these back in stock very soon! 

We will keep you updated with more details about these new products as they become available.  Stay tuned to our Facebook page where we post each new product once it's listed on our website!

Which item are you most excited about?

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!