Have you noticed that you can’t find canning jar lids anywhere this year? I had been looking for weeks at any store I went to. Someone finally said that they are impossible to get and would not be available this year. I had already made strawberry sauce and blueberry/lemon/lavender jam, so my stash of lids was thin.
However, I am a woman of the 21st century and not opposed to ordering online. So I went to the website of the manufacturer and ordered enough for the rest of the season. I haven’t even started tomatoes yet. I expected to receive them in time to make some onion jam the next weekend.
You know how the various places you order from send you tracking information? Well, I went to track this package after I hadn’t heard anything for a time, and I was shocked that the tracking started in China. That had never happened before. In fact, it never occurred to me that some of what I buy is manufactured in other countries. I know it’s true, I had just never thought about it.
Let me say it takes a long time to get things from China, about a month in this case. And I took that time to contemplate what I buy, if I need it, and where it comes from. I consume my food with awareness. I try hard to shop local. And if there is a “made in America” choice, even if it is a little more expensive, I buy it to support my neighbors.
But clearly there is a lot I am not thinking about or educating myself on, and I feel the need to pay more attention. Would we change what we order or even want if we knew what went in to making it, where it was made, its impact on people and the environment? I am working on it.
Who would have thought that canning jar lids were such a complicated thing? I am realizing that everything is complicated if I am paying attention.