I'm getting increasingly irritated by the fact that I can't find canning supplies when I want them. Last week, I went to no fewer than four places in an attempt to find regular-sized lids for my jars. And not in the package with the bands. I don't need any more bands. I have enough damned bands to can the entire produce department of a Super Walmart. I DON'T WANT THE BANDS. But every place I went was either sold out entirely, or else only had the lids-with-bands kind.
I'm having a similar problem getting wide-mouthed quart jars. Or ANY quart jars, for that matter. Everywhere is sold out. EVERYWHERE. Even the big Mennonite store that has a whole section devoted to canning supplies. Even they had no quart jars. None. Not even the ones with the regular-sized mouths. Though I did manage to find my regular-sized lids there.
In addition to the canning supplies, I'm having trouble getting our wood for the woodstove. I can't get the guy who normally supplies it to us to call me back. I don't know if he's away for awhile, or, more likely, is so busy delivering wood to all the people who want it that he can't spare time for a phone call.
This leads me to the conclusion that the things that have always been the accepted way of life here at Blackrock--gardening, canning, wood heat--are becoming more and more popular. So popular that the merchants weren't prepared. So popular that there are no more dusty boxes of jar lids languishing on the hardware store's shelves. So popular that I can't get my damn wood for winter. Everyone is jumping on the self-sufficiency bandwagon now that prices are going up for food and fuel.
I find it amusing that I finally got old enough to discover what I really like to do, something that's not cool or popular (like gardening), only to find myself in the middle of a fad.
Maybe it's not a fad. Maybe all these people really will continue gardening, preserving food, and using wood heat even if prices go down for food and oil. Or maybe they'll give up when they discover how much more work it is. But it won't be this fall, and that means I'm going to have to continue the hunt for my canning supplies and wood. Failure is not an option, because without those things, it's going to be a cold, hungry winter at Blackrock.
Well, maybe not really on the hungry part. But definitely cold.
6 comments:
Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not canning or using wood to heat my house this winter. (Nor do I live anywhere near New York.)
I often find canning jars in Value Village and other such used-merchandise places...I've been known to buy them in winter to save for canning season! (Does this count as a weird thing for your last post??) At $.70 each, they are quite the bargain.
By the way, I enjoy your blog! I live on the opposite coast, and am a country girl now living in the suburbs...you can take the girl out of the country, but I still can lots of stuff, bake bread, think about where my food comes from....
Have you tried Amazon.com? They have a ton of jars and lids and canning stuff in general. Plus if you find one for sale from amazon.com directly, free shipping! :D
I'm with rls: the only thing I can burn in my house is a candle, and I leave the canning to the experts down at Smuckers. It is my understand that - with a name like Smuckers - it has to be good.
There's a lot of stuff available around here, but I keep trying to buy it up when I have some extra money.
Trying to prepare for a long, long winter and life beyond. Have you caught up with sharonastyk.com lately? Yeah... times, they are a changin'.
Oh yes. The feeling of being mid-fad is bizarre.
Like when I started knitting and everyone was like, "what's up old lady with your knitting" and then a few months later were like, "hey, wanna teach me how to knit" and I was, like, NO BEOTCH.
Anyway, I know how you feel. I only started canning a few years ago and this is the first year I couldn't just wander to the back of the hardware store and scoop up lids and wide mouth pints from the front of the shelves.
This year those same shelves were empty!
And don't get me started on the way people at work would look at me only a few years ago when I told them that I'd always had a vegetable garden.
LIKE A FREAK that is how.
All that just to say, I feel ya. And I'm also glad we still have wood in the pile from last year.
Post a Comment