Sooooo.....I had a bit of a long hiatus from blogging due to a perfect scheduling tornado of work, gardening, friend and family visits, weddings to attend, packing to move, packing to travel, traveling and finally moving! I'll be playing catch up for a few posts, taking you way back to mid summer (I've kept detailed notes) and all the interesting events and dilemmas I've had associated with my project.
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| Barter: Screens for Canning Jars |
Remember back when I wrote about the Master Food Preserver (Family Food Educator) course I took through the extension service? Well, I've had a canning obsession since then - and this has made me run into my first big dilemma in not buying anything new! You see, each time you can something you have to put on a new lid. The jar and the ring can be reused (as long as the ring isn't rusty on the inside), but that lid has to be replaced since it gets dented when the can is pried from the jar, and dented lids don't seal to jars. I had a good amount of jelly jars thanks to food school, my mom and some garage sale finds, and I had rings, but I had no unused lids. I hemmed and hawed about what to do for two days, while glorious days of u-picking fruit for jam passed me by. And then I had to start packing to move! Lucky for me, I'm always willing to take a break for a beer and burger at Squirrels Tavern, my favorite local, and it was there that my friend Jill was talking about how much she was enjoying her silk screening class. And what did I have under my bed? Two used and one brand new silk screen which I had tried to sell on Craigslist last year! Long story short, Jill and I set up a barter: canning supplies in exchange for my silk screen stuff. My first trade!
While I technically did not buy anything new, I am using some new items. Is this wrong? Is it negating my whole project? I can't decide. I feel really good about preserving food that I have grown in jars that I am reusing. But those lids are making things complicated!
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