Becoming Maine Made

There are moments in running a small business that feel less like milestones and more like being gently tapped on the shoulder by something bigger than you. Becoming a Maine Made member is one of those moments for me.

Momma Bear’s Wild Things is truly rooted here. Not just “based in Maine” on paper, but shaped by the seasons, the land, the pace, and the people. This work grew out of quiet afternoons, kitchen tables, gardens, loss, love, and the slow, careful act of making something by hand because it mattered. Long before there were flowers or bezels or fairs, there was simply the need to create something meaningful.

Maine Made represents that same spirit. It’s about craft that comes from place. About work that carries the fingerprint of where it was born. When I think about Maine Made, I think about hands that know their materials, makers who work with intention, and businesses that value care over speed. I think about things made to last, or at least to mean something while they’re here.

For Momma Bear’s Wild Things, becoming a Maine Made member feels like being welcomed into a larger circle of people who understand that making is more than production. It’s storytelling. It’s memory. It’s a conversation between the maker and the person who eventually brings the piece home.

Every pressed flower, every small creation I make carries a piece of Maine with it. Not in a postcard way, but in a lived way. The patience it takes to wait for the right bloom. The humility of working with something fleeting. The respect for nature as a collaborator, not a resource to rush or bend. That mindset comes straight from living here.

This membership isn’t about a label. It’s about alignment. About saying yes to values I already live by... honesty in materials, care in process, and respect for where things come from. It’s about being part of a community that understands that small doesn’t mean insignificant, and handmade doesn’t mean imperfect. It means human.

I’m proud to be a Maine Made member, but more than that, I’m grateful. Grateful for the chance to keep building this work slowly and thoughtfully. Grateful for customers who care about where things come from and why they’re made. Grateful for a state that quietly supports its makers in ways that feel genuine and grounded.

Momma Bear’s Wild Things will always be about more than the objects themselves. It’s about holding space for memory, nature, and connection. Becoming Maine Made feels like a natural extension of that promise.

Thank you for being here, for supporting handmade, and for believing that the things we carry with us, especially the small ones, can still hold great meaning.