MountainWitch ⛤:flag_bisexual: on Nostr: In light of the recent developments, I wanted to do a little write up on Canadian ...
In light of the recent developments, I wanted to do a little write up on Canadian based companies with lists to shop from. After looking at the 5th list I found and being disgusted because all the top ones are fossil fuel companies, a bank, or other humongous corporations that I don’t even recognize with a couple like London Drugs sprinkled in. Many people are, rightfully so, suggesting that people buy local from small stores, farms and makers.
The biggest problem here is that, as a maker/artist myself, I can’t get ANYTHING that I use for my shop that is made strictly in Canada. Paints, clay, varnishes, tools, jewellery findings, fabrics, bottles, jars... almost everything takes a roundabout trip from China and sometimes from the US. Years ago when I was a seamstress I use to cross border shop for fabric since I live very close to the border. I learned that our “free trade deal” only meant verifiable products manufactured in the USA, nothing that took a route through the US from other countries. So, in carefully keeping my receipts and declaring everything to pay as little duty as possible, I found out what was actually manufactured in the States.
The materials to make things bought from Canadian companies are usually sourced outside our borders. It’s frustrating but that is the way of this capitalist world we live in. I do recycle and reuse a lot of stuff, I find wooden boxes and other items to refinish and resell. I use little to no outer packaging if I can help it. Most ingredients in my incense and inks are right from the land I live on. But this is a drop in the bucket of what I need to keep doing my shop.
I have started buying almost all new lumber that I use for household projects mainly, for a small mill a few km away that comes right off a mountain I can see and is not kiln dried. Lumber used to be first shipped off-shore as raw logs then returned milled. It’s much more complicated now and I don’t know all the details without doing a ton of research. But, it is easier and better for my local community for me to buy right off the mountains that I live in. I buy wheat and other grains from local farms, and grow what I can, buy locally what I can’t.
But for much of the stuff I use in my business, it comes from elsewhere first. I can make sure to buy from local retailers to spread that dollar around in the community, not just while the strikes are on, but as much as possible. Like it or not, we live in a Global community for the time being and we need to get on with life as we can. So yes, I will buy from the shops lining my little hometown streets. And hope that my dollars come back to me eventually.
#consumerism #Yule #StrikeAction #Politics #trade
The biggest problem here is that, as a maker/artist myself, I can’t get ANYTHING that I use for my shop that is made strictly in Canada. Paints, clay, varnishes, tools, jewellery findings, fabrics, bottles, jars... almost everything takes a roundabout trip from China and sometimes from the US. Years ago when I was a seamstress I use to cross border shop for fabric since I live very close to the border. I learned that our “free trade deal” only meant verifiable products manufactured in the USA, nothing that took a route through the US from other countries. So, in carefully keeping my receipts and declaring everything to pay as little duty as possible, I found out what was actually manufactured in the States.
The materials to make things bought from Canadian companies are usually sourced outside our borders. It’s frustrating but that is the way of this capitalist world we live in. I do recycle and reuse a lot of stuff, I find wooden boxes and other items to refinish and resell. I use little to no outer packaging if I can help it. Most ingredients in my incense and inks are right from the land I live on. But this is a drop in the bucket of what I need to keep doing my shop.
I have started buying almost all new lumber that I use for household projects mainly, for a small mill a few km away that comes right off a mountain I can see and is not kiln dried. Lumber used to be first shipped off-shore as raw logs then returned milled. It’s much more complicated now and I don’t know all the details without doing a ton of research. But, it is easier and better for my local community for me to buy right off the mountains that I live in. I buy wheat and other grains from local farms, and grow what I can, buy locally what I can’t.
But for much of the stuff I use in my business, it comes from elsewhere first. I can make sure to buy from local retailers to spread that dollar around in the community, not just while the strikes are on, but as much as possible. Like it or not, we live in a Global community for the time being and we need to get on with life as we can. So yes, I will buy from the shops lining my little hometown streets. And hope that my dollars come back to me eventually.
#consumerism #Yule #StrikeAction #Politics #trade