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Our Meet the Artisan series continues today with Lauri Jo Bennett of Lauri Jo's Southern Style Canning. Our subscribers will recognize Lauri Jo's name since we featured her delicious Georgia Peach Salsa in the August subscription box. You might also recognize Lauri Jo's name from the October 2016 issue of Southern Living magazine—way to go, Lauri Jo!

Lauri Jo Bennett is a wife, mom, former teacher, and entrepreneur in Norman Park, GA. Lauri Jo took her family tradition and personal hobby of canning—along with hand-written family recipes—and built an award-winning business. Her company produces southern favorites like pepper jellies, pickles, and more.

Lauri Jo told us that throughout her married life, she had canned fresh vegetables for her family, using the canning plant at a local high school. Now, Lauri Jo does all her canning in-house in her very own 4000-sq-ft processing facility. We're inspired to hear that Lauri Jo has achieved such success, from very relatable beginnings!

Lauri Jo, when did you launch your company? Tell us why you decided to launch.

"My business launched in September of 2009 from a much loved hobby.  After giving away gifts for my husband's trucking company made of fruits of my labor from the summer at the canning plant putting up salsa, jams, soups, and pickles, I decided to see if it really would sell. Here we are today in over 1,200 outlets."

Since you launched, what would you consider to be your most successful product?

"Our most successful product is our Southern Pecan Pepper Jelly."

What has been a true highlight of launching your business?

"I think I would have to say my biggest highlight since launching our business would have to be getting emails and notifications from people across the US telling me how much the love the products and the different ways they use them. I also love traveling the Southeast speaking and sharing my story while promoting other great Georgia Grown Entrepreneurs as well."

Thank you for sharing your story with Georgia Crafted, Lauri Jo!

You can order Lauri Jo's Georgia Peach Salsa here on the Georgia Crafted website and be sure to keep your eye out, on our site, for more of her products this holiday season!

Georgia Crafted has been featured as a Made in America favorite business in the South. Head over to Krrb.com's blog, where they're "celebrating the best handmade, eco-friendly and small batch goods the country has to offer," to find out why Georgia Crafted is their top pick for the state of Georgia.

Here's a hint: they think we're the "easiest (and most fun) way to shop locally"—and we agree!

Check it out!

Welcome to the very first edition of our new "Meet the Artisan" series! We'll be introducing you to the artisans, makers, farmers and more who create the products you love, right here in Georgia. We hope you'll enjoy getting to know them, just like having a chat with a vendor at your local farmers' market.

To kick off the series, we're excited to interview Clay Oliver. Clay is the farmer behind Oliver Farm, makers of award-winning artisan oils and the fantastic Pecan Flour featured in our August subscription box.

Hi Clay!  Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and your family.

"My name is Clay Oliver.  I am a fifth generation farmer from Pitts, GA.  My wife, Valerie, and I have two girls.  Maggie is the oldest and is ten.  Mollie is eight.  We make cold pressed, unrefined, non-GMO oils and gluten-free flours.  We press and bottle everything here on our GA Centennial Farm.  Oliver Farm is a family farm.  My mother Jurice, and brother Clint Oliver focus on the row crop and cattle operation."

When did you launch your company? Tell us why you decided to launch.

"During the midst of the economic downturn beginning in 2008, I began researching the possibility of on-farm biofuel production.  By 2012, I had decided to try making cold pressed culinary oils from seeds and nuts either grown on the farm or sourced locally.  I formed Oliver Oil Co in 2013."

Since you launched, what would you consider to be your most successful product?

"To date, we have made oil from eleven different seeds and nuts.  The most popular have been the 2015 Good Food Award winning Pecan Oil, our estate grown Sunflower Oil, and the 2016 Good Food winner Green Peanut Oil.  These oils were chosen as Garden and Gun's Made in the South Food category winner in 2015.  Of our flours, the Pecan Flour has been the most popular."

What has been a true highlight of launching your business?

"There have been many highlights in launching this business.  That special gratification that comes from seeing a dream come to fruition, accolades for our products, recognition from the state of GA for our innovation and bringing attention to our great state, but I am most proud of the fact that Valerie and I are able to work together every day at something we both enjoy." 

I am most proud of the fact that Valerie and I are able to work together everyday at something we both enjoy.

- Clay Oliver

Do you have any new products coming out soon?  If so, can you give us a hint?

"We are now offering Pumpkin Seed Oil and Benne Seed Oil and their gluten free flours year round.  I have also done a little with hemp seed oil and flour.  I have not opened it up for retail sales, just some R and D to chefs."

Thank you, Clay, for sharing your story with Georgia Crafted! 

You can order BOTH the Pecan Oil and Pecan Flour on our website! We will ship within 24 hours (inventory permitting)

It's really hard to believe that, today, we are celebrating our 3rd birthday.  I recently pulled out my "business plan" that I wrote back in June/July of 2013 and chuckled as I read all about the "subscription box" program I was going to launch.  To think how much Georgia Crafted has grown and changed - all very organically - over the past three years is amazing.

When we first launched, we dreamed of curating items ONCE a month and shipping ONCE a month - really just to give people a whole new way to discover Georgia-made products through our Subscription Box Program. Today, we carry over 100 Georgia-made items, have a wide array of themed gift boxes, still offer a subscription program, have partnerships with amazing organizations such as the Georgia Department of Tourism and Georgia Grown, have been named Top Business to Watch by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce two years in a row, and have provided gift boxes for incredible corporations such as CNN, Chick-fil-A and Georgia-Pacific. We've even launched our own line of State-Shaped Bamboo Cheese Boards, and are the supplier of Georgia Made Products to various gift shops and restaurants, including the Ritz Carlton Downtown Atlanta location.

Our dream of helping get the products from small local artisans into the hands of others has been a dream come true...and we hope to continue doing this for years to come!

Happy September 1st, y'all!  How did that just happen? Seriously. It's September 1st. That means college football season is finally upon us, and cooler weather is just around the corner. It also means that holiday shopping is REALLY around the corner! We can't wait! :)

Last week, we shipped out our "August Finds" Box. After spending 5 days at AmericasMart in July and discovering SO many new products, we thought August would be a fun month to send you a Discovery Box filled with 4 of our favorites from this year's show. 

With that being said...drum roll please!!! Introducing the "August Finds" box!

In this Discovery Box, we curated 4 products from all over Georgia - Norman Park, Savannah, Pitts and Marietta, Georgia. 

Georgia Peach Salsa
Lauri Jo's - Norman Park, GA
All I can say is WOW.  This stuff is GOOD. The perfect fruit-salsa ratio if you ask me and it just screams Georgia! Laurie Jo's is based in Norman Park, GA.  While she is widely known for her incredible pepper jellies, she has an incredible line of other products including this Salsa.  We are a HUGE fan and expect to see this product for a long time on our website!

Order HERE!

Pimento Cheese Dressing
Dr. Pete's - Savannah
When I think back to my time at AmericasMart last month, I sometimes chuckle to myself because every time I walked past Dr. Pete's corner booth, I would seriously try to SNEAK a taste of their Pimento Cheese Dressing. I wish there was video footage of my face when I first had it - priceless.  Pimento Cheese Dressing, y'all! SO.DARN.GOOD.

Order HERE!


Pecan Flour
Oliver Farm - Pitt's, GA
You may be asking what is Pecan Flour exactly.  Well, it's a type of Gluten Free baking flour made from pecans.  It's that simple.  It's such an incredible replacement for traditional white & wheat flour. It is downright amazing in some pancakes or even some brownies.  We will be touching upon this a bit more in the near future...but let's just say this should be a staple in your pantry!

Order HERE!

Lemongrass & Mint Soap
Indigo Bath & Body - Marietta, GA
You can never go wrong with a bar of soap from Indigo Bath & Body. The girls who run this company are not only some of the coolest in Georgia - they are amazing entrepreneurs and run their business from their farm in Marietta. The ingredients in their soap - Lemongrass & Mint - are not store-bought ingredients.  They are grown right there on their farm and incorporated into their products.  I'd like to call that Farm to Body (I'm going to coin this term and make it mine, y'all!).

Seriously - get yourself some of this soap. It lasts an extremely long time and smells amazing.

Order HERE!

When you sign up for a Georgia Crafted Subscription Box, you will receive a wide array of products - all to help you Discover what amazing products are being made right here in Georgia. 

We are officially taking pre-orders for our "Georgia On My Mind" Subscription Box that is in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Tourism! You have until 9/30 to sign up and you will receive your box between the 15th and 25th of October!


You can sign up here: https://georgiacrafted.com/collections/subscribe

This box will contain 4 products that will definitely keep Georgia On Your Mind! 

We hope you enjoyed our "August Finds" reveal!

We were so happy when we met Lia Picard, owner of The Cardigan Kitchen...an absolutely incredible blog that I had been following for quite some time.  We met up at Porch Light Latin Kitchen one evening over drinks and hit it off immediately.  Lia gladly accepted our Flavor of Georgia Gift Box and, based on what we read, absolutely LOVED it!

Read out how much she enjoyed the Spicy Southern Cheese Straws, Mayhaw Pepper Jelly, Zucchini Relish and incredible award-winning Caramel Pecan Pie.

Read all about it here:

https://thecardigankitchen.com/2016/08/11/georgia-crafteds-flavor-of-georgia-box/