Treehouse’s 2025 Goals
I’ve had an industrious winter, working on several makes that I’ll be revealing at my first market of the season at the Pet Pantry Mothers’ Day Craft Show in Dunkirk, NY (see the Events page for more details!). It’s also given me some time to think about what I’d like to achieve with Treehouse Handcrafts this year.
As I’ve been straightforward about on this blog before, this small business is not going to be a route to quitting my day job or early retirement. It IS a way to help my crafting hobby pay for itself and let me dip a toe in managing my own business (these are two VERY different hobbies, note), and it’s also letting me carve out a little place for myself in the local economy. I have a lot of thoughts about the importance of a strong local economy, especially in rural communities like this one that often get labeled things like “economically depressed.”
Here are my three goals for Treehouse this year:
Continue to participate in local craft markets, and try for a few more than in 2024. We’re underway here: the Dunkirk market will be a new one for me this spring, but I’m working on picking my dates for the Mayville Saturday Evening Market as well where I got started in 2024. The Mayville market series looks like it’s got a really strong lineup of ancillary events, and as a Mayville resident (okay, town of Chautauqua, if we’re being technical), I have a personal vested interested in seeing this series thrive and create some of that local economy and culture we love to see! I’ll try to attend at least two of these a month in the summer months. As far as a Christmas market, it’s too early for me to make a decision there: I did very well with a pop-up at Peterson Farm’s Swedish Open House, which is not technically a craft market but is a great way to reach more local folks, and I know there are other larger markets in the region that might be worth exploring as well.
Source more materials locally. This one remains a bit of a challenge as far as the yarn goes, as I have SO much stash I’m still working through. The trickle-down of this might take a few months or even the rest of the year to get through, but I definitely have a trip to Tybout House in Warren, PA in my near future, where I know the owner has her own home-raised wool available. I’d also like to get over to Fox and Hound Merino in Randolph, NY; there are a few alpaca farms in the county that I know of as well. And that’s not even getting into some of the local dyers I know! The basket materials are much easier to source locally: I have ample wild grapevine from my own backyard, iris fibers from my garden clean-up in the fall, some ivy from a family member, and half a sack of cornstalks to play with. So far I haven’t found a secondary material as strong as the raffia for some of the fiber baskets, and that comes from Madagascar, so that’s an ongoing challenge.
Explore new opportunities. I’m excited to be meeting with Royal Fern Nursery in Fredonia, NY later this spring to look at having some Treehouse baskets offered there for sale in their Botany Barn, which will feature local artisans! More to come on that opportunity soon. Additionally, I was approached at the holidays last year about partnering with other local makers to possibly wholesale their designs. I’ve got more research and thinking to do on this latter opportunity, but I’d love to help other makers expand their reach — we shall see!