Happy Giving Tuesday!

A tradition I started back in 2016 was to donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home to charity at year end, and it’s a tradition I’ve been proud to continue every year since.

2024 has been a challenging year for a lot of small businesses, including mine. This year I had 4 brick and mortar shops I wholesale to close their doors, many of my remaining wholesale accounts have been cutting back how often they reorder, regular sales on Etsy have been slow, and affiliate sales/ad revenue on the blog are down. Inflation and spending habits have impacted everyone.

Nevertheless I am still planning on making a donation at year-end even if it’s small. I think it’s important to give back when you can and I want to make sure this tradition continues. If you have a suggestion of a charity or non-profit to consider please let me know! And thank you all again for your continued support - even just views, clicks, and likes on social media and my blog or Etsy go a very long way to supporting my business and don’t cost anything. Thank you!

Who We Donated to This Year

A tradition I started seven years ago was to donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home at year-end to Charity.  This year we were able to help support The Lustgarten Foundation - I chose to support this charity because Pancreatic Cancer has one of the lowest long-term survival rates and hopefully progress will be made soon towards better treatments and a cure.

Thank you so much for all your support this past year - I am thankful for my Wholesale Accounts and continued traffic on my blog to make these donations happen.  I hope to continue to grow Birch Landing Home and be able to give back more each year in return.  Thank you all!

Who We Donated to This Year

A tradition I started six years ago was to donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home at year-end to Charity.  This year we were able to help support The New Hampshire Food Bank - I chose to support this charity because food insecurity has become an issue for many more families this year due to inflation and rising costs.

Thank you so much for all your support this past year, it has definitely been a different year with me returning to work while still trying to balance Birch Landing Home. Nevertheless, I am thankful for my Wholesale Accounts and continued traffic on my blog to make these donations happen.  I hope to continue to grow Birch Landing Home and be able to give back more each year in return.  Thank you all!

Giving Back - Who We Donated to This Year

A tradition I started five years ago was to donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home at year-end to Charity.  This year we were able to help support The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America as well as The Nature Conservancy. I chose to support The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation in memory of my Dad, who passed away this past spring due to complications of MG. We miss him greatly, and hope in the future families will not have to deal with this debilitating disorder. I chose The Nature Conservancy because protecting our natural resources and reducing climate change is more important now than ever.

Thank you so much for all your support during another strange year. I hope to continue to grow Birch Landing Home and be able to give back more each year in return. Thank you all!

Giving Tuesday 2021

Happy #givingtuesday! Did you know I donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home to charity at year-end? So every time you visit my blog or purchase one of my crafts that donation gets the chance to grow. Last year I was able to donate to Gather and The Nature Conservancy.

I haven’t decided where this year’s donation is going yet so if you have a favorite charity please share it below!

PS - today is the last day of our sale too!

Giving Back - Who We Donated To This Year

A tradition I started four years ago was to donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home at year-end to Charity.  I’m so happy to say that this year we were able to help support Gather NH as well as The Nature Conservancy. I chose to support Gather NH because food insecurity has become an issue for many more families this year due to the economical impact of the pandemic. I chose The Nature Conservancy because turning to nature and time outside has become such a saving grace for many during this time and it’s more important than ever to protect our natural resources.

Thank you so much for all your support this past year, it has definitely been a strange year for Birch Landing Home too with less Etsy sales (due to me temporarily pausing my Etsy storefront) and less partnerships and projects on the blog. Nevertheless, I am thankful for my Wholesale Accounts and continued traffic on my blog to make these donations happen. I hope to continue to grow Birch Landing Home and be able to give back more each year in return. Thank you all!

Giving Tuesday 2020

Happy Giving Tuesday! Did you know I donate a percentage of profits from Birch Landing Home (blog and craft sales) to charity at year-end? So every time you visit my blog or purchase one of my crafts that donation gets the chance to grow. Last year I was able to donate to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

I haven’t decided where this year’s donation is going yet so if you have a favorite charity please feel free to share it with me!

New England Maker: ReclaiMEd Maine Co.

As you know by now, I love sharing about companies and products we love on the blog and our Instagram - and most especially those made right here in New England.  It’s been a little while since I’ve done an interview on the blog in our New England Maker Series, but I’m excited to get back into it with Mary Zambello of ReclaiMEd Maine Co.!   

ReclaiMEd Maine Co. (formerly known as ReclaiMEd Sign Co.) started as a sign buisness but has branched out into much more - including apparel, drinkware, and stickers. They are probably best known for their iconic "Pine Tree Coast" design, sales of which help support Natural Resources Council of Maine - I just love a company that gives back!

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your business.

ReclaiMEd Sign Co. started as a way to show love for Maine and its environment.  Will and I both grew up in Maine with a love for the outdoors. I have a creative background in design and Will has an extensive background in building and craftsmanship, so we knew there were endless possibilities. In hopes of giving back to the environment, we chose to use all reclaimed wood for our projects. This helps to prevent deforestation, which in turn helps sustain habitats and decrease expended energy needed to extract and process new materials. Less wood ends up in landfills and carbon remains in our projects instead of being released as fossil fuels. There are a lot of sign companies out there, but we pride ourselves in the fact that all of our items are custom designed and handmade. Each wood sign is hand cut with a jigsaw or scroll saw, crafted and painted. Our glassware is custom designed and hand-etched.  We choose to source USA-Made items and work with local small businesses when we can, and give back to Maine environmental organizations. These pieces were all incredibly important to us and are what we've built our brand on.

How did you start ReclaiMEd Sign Co.?

Honestly it all started in our backyard in Portland. We liked to have fires during the summer time and occasionally picked up pallets for fire food. Will had this idea that we could cut out the shape of Maine, "If only I had a jigsaw, I could..." So, when his birthday came around, I went out and bought him one. No longer were there any excuses as to why we couldn't make these things. With an abundance of unused pallets in the area, and with my design background, ReclaiMEd Sign Co. was born.

What does a typical day look like for you?

A typical day begins with our actual day jobs. ReclaiMEd Sign Co. is just a side business. I'm the Marketing Coordinator for Sea Bags and Will owns his own property services company, so we generally both work long days. I often wake up early to work on packaging and shipping, and spend my evenings working on online orders or trying to restock items for local stores. Most of ReclaiMEd work happens late nights and on the weekends. Due to the lack of free-time we have, I often have to take items down from our site in order to find a little extra time to work on new ideas. Never enough hours in the day!

What is your favorite part about owning your own company? And least favorite part?

I love that ReclaiMEd gives me a constant creative outlet. There is always room for new designs or ways to perfect your craft. I'm able to create these incredibly personal designs and gifts that I know people are opening up and putting in their homes. Least favorite part is definitely never having enough time. I am full of ideas and am really constrained on the amount of time I have to experiment and work on projects. I'm often conflicted when I have a free moment, whether I should be working on ReclaiMEd or getting out to enjoy the outdoors myself.

What has been the most exciting moment for ReclaiMEd Maine since you started?

The creation of our Pine Tree Coast design has been my absolute favorite. I loved creating the design and being able to translate it to apparel, glassware, and stickers has been so much fun. We're not only able to support another local screen printing company, but now have a complete collection that is giving back to a local Maine environmental organization. The end of last year, we raised $350 dollars and this year we have a goal to raise $1,000 for the Natural Resource Council of Maine. These products embody our love for this state, the outdoors, and our desire to protect the Maine woods and coast. I love being able to give back 10% of all sales with this design to help protect, restore, and conserve Maine’s environment.

What advice do you have for people just starting out?

Build a brand that you love and stay true to it. Stay creative and push the boundaries. Try new things. Love your work but remember that work-life balance is important. This continues to be my biggest struggle! Will has recently taken a step back from ReclaiMEd, realizing that he needed some time back to fish and relax. I still struggle giving myself a break when there's always so much I want to do and accomplish. It's important to take time for yourself and refresh before diving back in to work.

What is your long-term goal? Where do you see yourself in five years?

That's a difficult question for me! I love this company. As I mentioned before, it's tough when I have so many aspirations to grow but am somewhat at capacity with how much I can handle. In 5 years I hope that I have brought in some extra hands in order to be able to expand our wholesale business. We love being in select stores throughout Maine, but often find that we're turning down opportunities just so we can stay on top of our current projects. I'd like to have a little more time to perfect my scroll saw skills and continue to put out more intricate designs.

Who’s one of your favorite New England Makers?

I love La Marée Art and A&E Stoneworks, who are both fellow Maine makers. I have been such a big fan of their beautiful work and they have both shown me so much support over the years!

Keep up with ReclaiMEd Maine Co.

Website | Instagram (@reclaimedmaineco) | Facebook

All Photos Courtesy of ReclaiMEd Maine Co.

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DO YOU OWN A NEW ENGLAND-BASED BUSINESS AND WOULD LIKE TO BE FEATURED IN AN UPCOMING INTERVIEW?  OR WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN HAVING ME STYLE, REVIEW, AND FEATURE ONE OF YOUR PRODUCTS?  
Please drop me a note.  

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