Janelle Stoltzfus, founder of Millstream Home, uses her business to honor her Amish heritage. When Holly sent me a link to their website, I gasped at the sight of the decorative sleigh bells: I could see the quality and care in them, that this was the kind of holiday decor you could pass on rather than toss when it started to break apart or go off trend. Janelle, who has also run a home renovation company with her husband, launched Millstream Home in 2019 and has established a sensibility that has allowed her to work in a way that supports parenting young kids. Here, she tells us her story.
“When I’ve met a maker, I’m like, tell me what you make, tell me what you enjoy making, tell me who you have helping you, because a lot of them are in their 70s or 80s, literally weaving the baskets by hand.”
I'm a first generation non-Amish woman, so every woman up to me has always been a practicing Amish woman. My husband also was Amish until he was 18, so this is a beautiful part of our heritage, and I just am surrounded by these incredible craftsmen, and just from a designer perspective, I was like, I want to do something that honors my heritage, but in a design-forward way. So ten years ago, I started traveling around Lancaster's back roads looking for different makers, all Amish, of course. They've been so gracious to work with me through the years.
I'm finding what they're already making. So if it's a sleigh bell–maker, that's what he does for a living, but he's been kind enough to let me customize it to what I think would sell to my audience. That's been across the board for my 400 items.
I've been in my basement for about ten years. I have five children, so I really did not want to outsource that part of my motherhood; my youngest is 9 now, and I just feel like I'm looking up from the kitchen sink for the first time and really going for it in new ways. I really feel like this is a new season for Millstream Home. She's ready. My makers are ready. We're ready to go to market, if you will, which is why I went to Shoppe Object. That was my debut trade show.
Obviously it’s all American-made. As we continue to scale, I'm like, Oh man, I really could make a difference in American-made manufacturing. That was just a pipe dream when I first started. It sounded like big fancy words, but now I'm like, Oh my god, if I order 100 of this, this really makes a difference in my maker's life.
From a design perspective, we want to update these things, but to also make them timeless in a new way. I never want to make a product look not Amish. That's the beauty of it. They've been making it the same way, especially with my rugs and my brooms. They have a loom that's been in the family for like 150 years. Well, I'm not about to come and mess with that. I don't want to be the person that comes in and erases all that. I just want to add to it. So I'm very particular. If a maker is kind of like, well, I'm not sure if I can do that. I'm like, okay, you know what? We're not doing it then, because if you're not feeling comfortable with that, and what if the thing gets popular, and then I have to order 50 of it, and then they hate that. When I’ve met a maker, I'm like, tell me what you make, tell me what you enjoy making, tell me who you have helping you, because a lot of them are in their 70s or 80s, literally weaving the baskets by hand. I'm like Moses, if I order 100, are your fingers going to bleed?
In my mind's eye, 2016 is actually when I launched Millstream Home. I got trademarked, but it took me three years with small babies, and this was on the side of life, and very time-consuming. I mean, these people don't have signs at the end of the road that are like, "I make baskets.” You drive into a farm, and then that person is like, "My uncle's brother makes sleigh bells,” and you're like, "Drive to that place.” It took me three years to really get a collection together.
This is my season. This is my Esther moment, if you will. I'm so glad I didn't give up. If I would have given up, I wouldn't be ready for what's about to come. I'm ready as a woman, as a mother, as a business owner. My makers, like I keep saying, I'm just so excited to make a difference in their lives.
