Every successful canning project starts with having empty jars. Seems simple enough. Right? Unfortunately for me, there isn't a high demand for mason jars in the immediate proximity of Wrigley Field. This story goes back a little to a year ago when I first started to dabble in the art of preservation. I thought for sure the local hardware store just 2 blocks north of me would carry all things canning. Wrong. So, I ended up at one of the larger super markets and was happy to find what I was looking for, though my disillusioned mind thought I could just buy jars on an individual basis and was not prepared to purchase 12. How on earth would I EVER use all 12 of these jars?! But I bought them and awkwardly carried them home.
So we're back to this summer and in need of more jars. Turns out 12 were quite useful after all! This time I'm prepared with my 'old lady' fold-up shopping cart to buy as many jars as my heart desires. There are no jars to be found. Sure, they had lids and bands and 2, yes 2, types of pectin but no jars. I confronted a manager who said they needed to be ordered and that they'd arrive by the end of the week. Who could wait that long? This farm fresh produce needed to be preserved and stat. I began to shop online and found loads of wonderful shapes and sizes and accessories on Amazon.com and along with that came shipping costs that were the same if not more than the price of the jars. This was turning into a very expensive hobby. Lucky for me I stumbled upon Ace Hardware's website and found they had quite the jar selection and the option to have them shipped to my local store, free of charge. There are 3 of these locations within walking distance of me, including the one that I first tried last summer. It was a win-win situation.
Last Saturday I was on my way to the farmer's market, 'old lady' cart in tow, and decided to pop into the super market to pick up some more jars since they would have arrived by then. I mean, I did feel obligated to at least purchase a case after asking about them before. I would sure feel bad if no one was buying them. To my surprise there were still no jars! But of course they still had the other supplies. I head on to the farmer's market and at the last minute decide to pop into the European super market to hunt for jars. Just as I'm giving up I spot 1 case of quart size jars sitting next to some boxes of pectin. Sure enough the price tags on the front of the shelf indicate there were once the jars I am seeking. I again find a manager to ask about the availability and was told they had been having trouble with orders being fulfilled. I settled on the lone individual quart jar for the price of $1; surely I'd make something to put inside it. All this hunting lead me to the conclusion that I better buy up more jars from Ace before I really needed them.
In a grand twist of irony, when I picked up my second order of jars I discovered my local hardware store now carries them. An employee of the store said he "meant to tell me the last time I was in." Figures.
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