Harbor Freight Tools

 If you are familiar with Harbor Freight Tools, you might think of it as a place that sells a lot of cheap tools made in China. And you might be correct.
However, in just a short minute I managed to find two products made in USA in the store, which made me wonder how many more items stocked there might be made here.
Harbor Freight currently has more than 350 brick and mortar stores.
While shopping at our local store last weekend, I noticed a toy called the Arrowcopter Toy, touted as being able to soar 300 feet. On the front of the package was a U.S. flag under which appeared Made in the United States.
At an end cap display I also noticed a two gallon plastic gasoline can with a U.S. flag on the label with the familiar Made in USA text appearing underneath.
Many times while shopping in so-called "dollar stores" I have also seen merchandise made in USA. It just goes to show, it pays to check labels no matter where you go.

Sock it to me

Just a quick note to say that I found a few offerings of both men's and women's socks made in USA at Dunham's Sports store. I got some women's bamboo socks in a couple of colors and some men's in white cotton.
I used to be able to find a great selection of socks at TJ Maxx, but have been striking out there lately. Heck, even about four years ago I could find them at Target and Kmart.
Speaking of made in USA shopping, I also saw quite a few women's tops at Bergner's last night. My only issue with them was that they were the baggy 1980s styles, but it's great to see a larger selection of made in USA stuff on hand.

Cunningham's Puzzles

In searching for made in USA gift items for my nieces, I discovered Cunningham's jigsaw puzzles.
The puzzles are hand made out of wood in animal shapes. They carry jungle animals, farm animals, water animals, dogs and more.

My niece is currently a fan of farm animals, so I decided on a pig puzzle for $30.
My order arrived shortly, packaged in a padded envelope proudly decorated with a made in USA sticker. And yes, even the sticker was made in USA.
The puzzle was of very nice quality, complete with curly tail.
I gave the puzzle to my niece last week as a birthday gift and hope she has fun with it and that it will make a nice long lasting keepsake.

The letdown

I've always found it exciting when I actually find a web site that returns search results for made in USA or even has a section of made in USA merchandise. Otherwise, I end up spending hours combing through page after page and looking for country of origin information.
It's nice to see some sites make the effort to help customers find this information.
I would have to say, however, that many times I've anxiously awaited a new made in USA purchase to arrive then excitedly cut open the package and taken the items out, but had my victory dashed by the familiar "made in China" words clearly printed on the item.
In April I placed an order from REI's made in USA section on their web site. The order was for a shirt and a kite, both of which I was excited about. The shirt was a very attractive style and the kite was an Easter surprise for my husband.
When both items arrived, neither one of them was made in the USA. Upon contacting REI, they were very apologetic and sent me a coupon. I did return the shirt because I don't need to pay $50 for cute imported shirts. We ended up keeping the kite, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Yesterday I received another supposed made in USA clothing item from yet another company. It was labeled made in China. My other item is on backorder, which is also supposed to be made in USA.
As I had received an email from the CEO of the company thanking me for my business immediately upon placing this recent order, I replied to that email and explained my dismay. That was about 7 hours ago and I have received no response.
I will give them a few days to respond, and I will also anxiously await my other item to see if it is also misrepresented on their web site.
Today I was also looking for a made in USA sundress to wear on vacation this summer and checked REI's web site. I see they still have both the kite and the shirt I originally ordered from them labeled as being made in USA almost two months after I placed the order.

Shorts weather

With shorts weather on the way, I knew I could use a new pair. The majority of my shorts predate my relationship with my husband, so we're talking 10+ years here.
I found the Kevin's Catalog web site in my collection of links, which had some women's safari-style shorts made in the USA and ordered a pair. They arrived within a week and were quite attractive.
Kevin's Catalog site search actually works like I wish other sites did: you type in USA in the search box, and whammo, you get pages of relevant results. Many sites will only return items with USA in the product name, which many times are made in China.
Right now Kevin's Catalog has made in USA leather goods, apparel, furniture and accessories.

Spring has sprung

The arrival of spring spurred me to put away the flannel sheets for the season.
When I got out the spring sheets, I remembered that this was a new set I bought last year from the Luxe & Liberty site, a site that carries a variety of made in USA gift and home goods.
The sheets I selected are called DreamFit, they are made in the USA, and their trademark says they are "The World’s Strongest & Best Fitting Sheet".
The fitted sheet has elastic straps to better hold on to the corners of the mattress. I have to say that I no longer have any problems with the sheet coming off on my husband's side of the bed, which used to happen quite often.
You can view the rest of the details on the DreamFit bedding on this page of Luxe & Liberty's web site.

Down on the farm

Maybe you've heard of farm-to-table restaurants. Farm-to-table dining is inspired by a direct relationship between a farm and a restaurant.
In central Illinois, we have dined at June (Peoria Heights), an upscale restaurant that uses local and seasonal products from a network of farmers. From their web site, I also learned that "the chefs stretch the season by canning and preserving seasonal items; all breads are baked in-house; and all butchering is done in-house".
We have also discovered the Harvest Café in Delavan. Here they use use products such as cheeses from Prairie Fruits Farm (Champaign), and meats from Meadow Haven Farm (Sheffield).

On our most recent breakfast at the Harvest Café, I tried the eggs Benedict, made with local eggs and home made Canadian bacon. The fried potatoes, which I think were fingerling, we crisply and delicious.
Not only are these great restaurants supporting local farms, they are also able to reduce some of the cost associated with transporting food from out of state and provide you with a meal that contains fresher ingredients than some establishments serve.