Don’s business card says “Crafter,” and his wife Donna’s says “Colorist.” In reality, they’re toymakers, creators of handcrafted wooden toys that often make customers say: “those are too nice to play with.”

But their toys ARE meant to be played with (indoors, please) and treasured. And they’re even learning tools. “I’m always pushing something educational,” admits Donna. For example, they craft a jointed pull toy caterpillar whose body is made up of five wooden balls, all brightly stained with the alphabet and numbers—so children can learn their ABC’s, numbers, and basic colors.

Don and Donna have been married since 1956, and they have worked as a team creating and selling toys since 1990. Both are retired. Don was a service manager at a car dealership, and Donna worked in the office at at Woolen Mill.

In the workshop in their oversized garage, Don does all the cutting and heavy sanding; he uses a variety of woods: oak, walnut, cherry, alder, mahogany. Donna does the fine sanding to make sure there are no sharp edges to catch little hands as well as the finishing. The mother of three and grandmother of six is a fanatic about safety: “I always use nontoxic finishes and stains. Our toys get one to four coats of Behlen salad bowl finish, which is the finish they put on bowls you use to eat out of.”

Mantorville Farms is proud to carry an assortment of pull toys like the caterpillar, animated toys such as frogs that hop or grasshoppers whose feelers move and  a hippo that makes a cracking sound with it’s mouth as it is pulled across the carpet.

The couple is known for their distinctive, quite detailed, and well-crafted toys. Their work is accepted in juried shows such as the Nordic Fest in Decorah, Iowa.

“Customers often say they haven’t seen anything quite like our toys,” Donna says.