My own "never-ending saga" (apologies to Marty)

[nootka]

Hiya,

Most of you might remember my post about buying items produced locally (this means near where we live whereever possible, for a multitude of reasons, most notably accountability of the manufacturer. Let's hope our neighbors would be less likely to cheat and/or poison us), especially in light of Christmas.

Well, I have had some good luck with purchasing things locally, even handmade locally and they are wonderful. Best of all, I inquired and met the people who make these things and got to see their faces when I told them that I appreciated that they had these things available, and my "new" goal, which isn't so new, it is just getting more momentum as I learn more. They really appreciate my mindset.

The other night, a friend of mine told me that a long-standing business here in town, the "Home" Bakery, had told him they lost half their business when a new Safeway store opened up in town about eight blocks away. That made me feel bad. I went out of my way to stop there and get a few items instead of buying the Safeway version. We are on the verge of starting our own family business (husband is buying/leasing a commercial fishing boat where he used to only work the back deck), and I would like to think that our neighbors and peers would support us over the commercialized versions that ship their product to places like China to process them.

Anyway, I have hit a few frustrating roadblocks. We attend America's Largest Christmas Bazaar that boasts 1000 booths. I was told the majority of vendors would be carrying handmade and locally produced items. They were wrong. Much of what was being sold was cheapo crap I could buy at any big box store. The things that probably cost a dime to produce and ship over here, but are being sold for $1 on up. Things that will be broken even before the Christmas decorations are put away. NOT my goal. Not for a local Christmas bazaar, no matter the size. Not only that, but there were several booths which were selling the same stuff. I don't mind a few sprinkled in there, but jeez.

Next of all is that I thought I was safe buying the children books! I thought wrong! I was reading the synopsis of a book inside the dustjacket and there it was..."Made in China." Wow.... So I went to looking around to the "vintage" section of the bookstore and found many of the old books I liked to read as a kid and purchased them used (in good condition). I loved the "Made in the U.S.A." printing there. Even toys like Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys are made in China, now....luckily I did a lot of search engine browsing and found a place called Fat Brain Toys that sorted them all into Made in USA or Europe just for me. I did purchase some from overseas in Europe, but most made here in the US or Canada.

Another huge problem is the Christmas decoration route. MOST of it is made in China, from the pretty bags and bows on up to the strings of lights and fake trees (which I do not usually do anyway, not here in the land of the evergreen).

STILL, I have been successful for the most part, and also feel that I am learning a LOT. I wonder if people know what they are doing when they load their carts with things made and grown by people they will never meet and have not been fairly paid to do so, sending money to the people who exploit them (and us in the long run).

Ok, off my soap box. Interested to hear what others have learned, sources you have found (one great tip is Etsy.com for handmade items!!!)....also considering buying the boys some vintage toys here and there, with consideration that the safety standards then were not what they are now. Gotta wonder what good those are, though, when everything that supposedly meets those requirements is made in China, which has a new recall every few hours it seems.

I think it has made some self-employed people very happy to hear what I thought about their products and to know that I was looking just FOR their products.

Liz

 

[bjcs]

What I have learned is that it is very difficut to find toys that are not made in China. I do not want to hand my grandchildren lead for Christmas. You sound like you are really doing your homework and trying to make a difference.

Liz if you don't mind me asking, would you tell me how you came about the name Nootka? Is there a story behind the name?

Barbara

 

[chandab]

I have limited shopping available in my area, but did find a nice locally made exotic wood box for my BIL, it would probably be considered a jewelry box, but it is plain with a hinged top made from Ash, I think. [i think in this case, "Exotic" means something other than pine.]

 

[Marty]

Liz, I've told the forum many times before when we moved here, we did so because we lost so much in the Florida tropical depressons and flooding. It was the only place we could afford that had acreage for the animals which I would not give up. We came here broke, bad broke and bought a broken down house held up by a twig with literally a junk yard for a pasture. We had no jobs, no money, nothing. In time we were able to build a business from the ground up only because we did still have good credit and the small local town bank took a chance on us. So we built up the flooring business in our tiny little town. People could have gone over the mountain to Lowe's or Home Depot for thier tiles and carpet and hardwood; but instead, they supported us, the newbies in a strange new place.

Our local bakery, craft shops, deli store, butcher, etc. is thriving as well as all the rest of the small locally owned businesses. Like our computer store. Everyone could go to Chattanooga to Best Buy or Circuit City etc. but they prefer to support local owned business with people that they know they can trust.

Walmart just opened up here this spring. It has not hurt any of the local small business owners one bit. No one with a small business has closed their doors or taken a bad hit. I think it's very important in any business to work hard and keep your reputation as good as you can because sometimes in our small modest little piece of the world, a handshake still means something.

And we do not sell stuff made out of the US.

 

[nootka]

I think it's very important in any business to work hard and keep your reputation as good as you can because sometimes in our small modest little piece of the world, a handshake still means something.

This is SO true. Think about it: the people who are making the money off of these mass-produced, poorly-made and sometimes harmful things don't care about their reputations, they don't care about our welfare, but in a community, people care about each other.

Sounds like a great place, Marty. I am fearful that our small town/large city (pop. 10000) is going to lose that privilege if we're not careful. For example, there is NO locally owned and operated grocery store here, anymore. The only one is in the neighboring town of Warrenton, which is a population of 4000. Still, we finished up our Thanksgiving shopping there and they had plenty of the things that the two large chain stores were out of: gravy mix, sparkling apple cider and the like.

Wal-Mart may have a place in the world, but IMO, they don't pay the people that work there enough, and our local ones feel "dirty" inside with an exasperated overall tone of desperation. It's too bad.

I would imagine that any employees you have feel treasured, too. We have very good friends that own a carpet/flooring business and they are the greatest people. You MAY just have met them at a convention or something. Burty and Cindy Young of Nu-Way carpet. A long-standing family business (handed down through his dad). Now their daughter is running the office and son works off and on for them, too, as he figures out what he wants to do in life. Even if they didn't give us favors, I would still shop there for their attitude and commitment to quality, unlike the chain hardware store in the larger cities inland. May be cheaper there in some cases, but certainly no service.

Oh, and to bjcs: My nickname came from my cat, Nootka, who in turn got it from a species of flower that grows in Alaska, where my husband works: Nootka Lupine. It's also the name of a native people of that region, and many place names derive from that name. There is also a Nootka rose. When I was picking a screen name wayyyy back in 1997, I looked out the window and there was my kitty walking along the fence. I picked Nootka for my name. Nootka died now almost three years ago. Seems hard to believe.

If you want to try toys not made in China try here:

Toys Made in America

Fat Brain Toys

Hopefully these will help get you started.

Nice to see people are finding some nice, locally-made items to give as gifts. I find they are infinitely more special than something grabbed off the shelf which there are millions identical....

Liz

 

[bjcs]

Liz, thank you for the links for toys, I will check them out. Interesting story on your name Nootka - thanks

 

[RallyZ]

Some of my most treasured possessions are handmade gifts from family members.

I have wooden shelves from one brother, a jewelry box and an end table from another brother, a coat rack from another brother, a quilt from my paternal grandmother, hand crocheted tablecloth from my maternal grandmother, various painted, woodburned, carved items from my sister, among other things.

As a family, we now draw names for Christmas and make a handmade item for that person. Unfortunately we are not supporting our local businesses by doing this, but we are putting something of ourselves into our gifts and eliminating the purchase of items not made in North America.

Personally, I find it challenging and very satisfying to come up with the "perfect" handmade item for the person whose name I've drawn.

 

[nootka]

Dale, no doubt you buy the materials for what you are making somewhere...possibly locally?

Either way, I think it's a very noble alternative to the usual consumer mania that is very evident on days like Black Friday.

I just don't think we necessarily have to have EVERY single variation of EVERY single thing under the sun.

I pretty much quit collecting Breyers with rare exception when they exploded exponentially offering so many variations of the same mold, with poorly cleaned seams and shoddy paint jobs. They shipped their manufacturing over to China, and that time frame is when they lost it. I still buy one now and then, and really love some of the new molds, but my real passion now are the artist resins which are made 100% here in USA for the most part (some are made in Europe, but that's fine, too). Either them or the chinas that are made by the artists themselves and custom glazed. Yes, they cost more, but I don't need 100 models where I can have three or four really amazing ones with unique paint jobs. Just for example.

I am hoping to pass some of my wisdom gained along to my children so that they can maintain their quality of life and that of their communities, and realize how these things work.

I do believe there's a place for those mass-produced items, and I'm fine with them existing. I just wonder why we need so much of them, so often....? Guessing they are merely adding to our landfill problem as they are so throw-away. It's gotten to the point that I avoid getting kid's meals as much as I can to (in addition avoid the bad food) avoid getting another trashy little throwaway toy.

Good luck out there shopping! If ever there was a time for quality not quantity, this is it (handmade is quite preferable and nothing wrong with it. Many of my favorite gifts are or were handmade by my loved ones, too). Things I will NEVER throw away no matter how tattered or dinged up they get.

Liz

 

[nootka]

Some links for those of you looking to learn more about this wave of reform we should all choose (for all our sake):

The Benefits of Doing Business Locally (a pdf file)

American Independent Business Alliance

Why Buy Handmade?

I would say that so many of us have lost our way in consumerism (myself included), and the majority of it is no good for our country or our health (all forms of it).

Here's a quote I found while reading some of the articles available at one of the sites:

" In earlier campaigns, WakeUpWalMart.com has tweaked the giant retailer for turning its back on founder Sam Walton's "Buy America" policy.

"Wal-Mart’s 'Buy America program' has become a 'Buy China' program that makes Wal-Mart and China stronger while weakening America," the group says on its Web site.

It says that Wal-Mart imports $22 billion of Chinese goods, making Wal-Mart the #1 importer of Chinese goods and says that Wal-Mart, if it were its own country, would be China’s sixth largest trading partner."

(How icky is that to think of?)

Liz