How Often Do You Hear This Today?

Yesterday I was doing some errands in Liberty and in and around South Fork Creek. I needed some canning-related items (which you can get, in huge selection, out at Misty Mountain Sales) and a card for a friend, and I found both with great ease within a few minutes. And then I saw them: two large gallon glass jars with lids. I remembered I needed some large glass jars to brew some homemade vanilla extract and found myself heading their way on the shelf.  [More on making vanilla another time––even though the beans weren't grown in Casey County, I was able to score some good beans near Casey County––and **Sunny Valley Store will also order them for you!]

Imagine my surprise! $2.80 a jar, including the lid. At first I thought it might be a lid price. I use a lot of glass jars and canisters of all sizes in my pantry at home and had never seen this kind of price before, anywhere. So I brought the two jars to the checkout and asked if this might be a mistake. The woman who works there said, "No, when we get a good deal we like to pass it on to our customers." Wow. My jaw dropped but I wasn't at all surprised. It is the kind of service you can expect from honest business people. I remembered I'd heard that before another time, when the price of a certain bulk food item had been reduced at Sunny Valley Country Store and I wanted to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. Mervin Hoover had said, more or less, the same thing to us:

"When we get a good deal on something we like to pass it on to our customers."

How often do you hear this today? There is often a huge markup in retail sales but often people in retail get a good deal on something in quantity. They could take that same item and make even more of a profit for themselves. It's business, after all. Who would even know? Who could blame them? However, this one simple and yet profound response to my question describes why we buy as much as we can for our family––produce and dry goods and bulk foods and plants and feed supplies––out among the South Fork Creek Old Order Mennonite community in Casey County. And there are many such businesses in and around Liberty and Casey County where owners are willing to go the extra mile and remember their customers. Remember, it's easier than you think and you might be pleasantly surprised:

Buy Local.

NOTE: **Sunny Valley Country Store (formerly Nolt's) often has glass canning jars available for sale on the front porch of the store. Yesterday they had boxes of six half-gallon jars, with lids and seals, for around $9.00. Last summer I priced the jars, in various sizes, that they had for sale and, are you ready? They were cheaper than the same jars I had just bought at Walmart.