About Cottage Companion

Cottage Companion started at a kitchen table, after one too many late-night searches through a state agriculture department website trying to figure out whether a home baker could legally sell sourdough at the Saturday market across town. The rules were out there — buried in PDFs, scattered across official sites, and rarely written in plain language. What was missing was a single, friendly place that pulled it all together for the people actually doing the baking.

So we built one. What began as a personal spreadsheet of state rules and favorite markets became Cottage Companion — a free reference that grew into a community-sourced directory, with bakers from across the country adding the markets they know and love. Every state summary, every market listing, and every reminder is here to help one more baker go from "I think I can sell this" to "I know I can."

This is placeholder copy — replace it with the real story of how and why Cottage Companion began.

Our mission is to remove the guesswork from starting and running a cottage food business. We make state-by-state cottage food law approachable, pair it with a directory of markets that welcome home bakers, and give you the tools to stay compliant as the rules change — all in one free, friendly place.

We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Every summary links to its official state source, and we always recommend confirming the details with your state's agriculture or health department before you sell. Our job is to point you to the right answer fast — theirs is to give the final word.

Cottage Companion is kept accurate by a combination of manual research and community contributions — because no single team can keep up with every state's rules and every market's schedule alone.

• Manual research: each state's law summary is compiled from official agriculture and health department sources, with a direct link to the original so you can verify it yourself.
• Community submissions: bakers and market organizers add and update market listings — schedules, locations, and whether a market welcomes cottage food vendors.
• Regular review: submitted markets are reviewed before they go live, and law pages are re-checked as states update their rules.
• Source-linked: when a detail matters, we send you to the official agency rather than asking you to take our word for it.

Market details change seasonally and laws change over time — always confirm with the market or your state agency before you rely on a listing.