The other day, distressed over the onset of Christmas commercialism, I was walking my dog Jojo through my neighborhood, when I stumbled upon a tiny shop that has brightened my whole attitude toward the holidays.

It was the tiniest shop, actually a little cupboard, about the size of a small refrigerator, set up on the sidewalk with beautifully crafted cups and vases in speckled vanilla whites and rich sea blues and grass-greens. I eyed a cup with a perfectly round rim, in vanilla white, with brown speckles, sprinkled over it like a friendly freckled face. This is White Hill self-serve pottery, without a lock, on a narrow residential street in Baltimore.

I took two cups and felt like a thief. The sign said you could pay by Venmo, credit card or cash. Without my wallet, I decided I would pay when I got back home. Then I ventured up the steps of the house and met the potter, Alison Hershberger, elbow-deep in wet clay at the potter’s wheel wedged between displays of pottery wares on the front porch of the white frame house. Alison, a fair-haired, fair woman with a broad smile, was welcoming and relaxed in tennis shoes and a simple green dress covered in a sweatshirt.

No worries, Allison said.

“It’s always been very low key, “ says Alison.  “It started out as a hobby. I never set out to have to make money. In that state, it has really boomed.” All out of her house, from making the cups, baking in a kiln on the back porch, glazing, selling from the tiny shop and mailing online orders out. She has a computer to spit out labels and a postal service ap to assess and pay for postage.

It’s the epitome of going local.

The self serve idea, rooted in an honor system and good work, is working for an increasing number of homegrown enterprises around the country, although Alison notes people of her Mennonite faith have done it for years, selling soap, fruit and other homemade products. The homespun trend, however, is enabled and magnified by technology, such as Venmo, postal service aps and Facebook.

Her initial qualms about opening her yard to customers died down as she met curious neighbors and appreciative patrons.  “The longer I lived here I felt safe. The honor system usually makes people rise to the challenge.”

One person paid $10 for a $22 cup, and four or five pieces disappeared.  But otherwise, it is scandal-free and most convenient for her customers and for her schedule of community work and parenting.

 When she first moved to Baltimore, from the rolling hills of Stuarts Draft, located about nine miles from Staunton, Virginia, this endeavor was way down the priority list. “I was already addicted to the potting, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to work.” Her five children ranged in age from 19 months to ten years old.

Her husband Darrell, who is now head of a school in Hampden, had signed them both up for classes at Blue Ridge Community College only to discover Alison was more gifted in making pots than he. He now designs glazes while she has become the artisan, throwing herself into making perfect pots, plates, bowls and pitchers of all shapes and sizes.

“To turn aside and create something that really benefited my mothering, I always get involved intensely in social situations and in the community. Pottery is a delight to turn aside to.”

In the process, Alison has perfected her designs, including a slight turned-out lip in the coffee mug for the best drinking and strongly joined handles for old-fashioned cups that are easy to grip. A commission for a café in New York City called for over 200 cups, But she prefers making her own practical wares on her own time schedule, when her children are at school.

Her signature color is subtle white with brown specks, which sells the best. She may sell online, in craft shows, as well as from self-serve to neighbors, family, coffee drinkers and random customers. “A lot of dog walkers,” she adds, nodding to me, a convert to this easy transaction.

 For the next December weekends, she will be bringing her cups and bowls to Waverly Market in Baltimore. at 32nd and Barclay Street. You can also order online.