When you open the rustic wooden door of Village Hands Café, the scents of freshly baked pastries enrapture you, as kind, welcoming faces offer you the delight of your personal cup of coffee. You look around, and the walls are adorned with hand crafted art pieces, and if you look closer, a local artist’s signature.

These are the significant little details that café owner, joy enthusiast, and coffee roaster Ekaterina “Kate” Knizhina is inspired by. During her work days in New York City, where she learned the complexities of food business operations, the whimsy of the Chelsea and Essex Markets entranced her, inspiring her to build what we now know as our cozy, coffee-fueled escape that in the heart of Monroe, New York.

But this little place did not start off as the café we know and love.

Village Hands was once an abandoned structure, without a foundation, a roof, and much of a purpose. However, by restoring and implicating renewable practices, Kate and friends flipped this vacant, dilapidated building into a lush, vibrant, and attractive establishment to provide local goods and artisinal provisions to the community.

Customers who come to Village Hands aren’t just buying food, but becoming a part of the whole story, by supporting their town’s economy, feeding local families of the Hudson Valley, and feeling good about returning time and time again.

You can find Village Hands’ flagship store in Monroe, New York where they offer their line of world-sourced products, hand-crafted pieces made by artists in the community, and of course, their delicious, home-roasted fair-trade coffee.