Maybe you never did that before, but don´t worry it´s very easy. Canning is going to be very important to you, as you won´t be able to eat all the fruits on time. If your plants are well they will overwhelm you with food =). Your new slogan will be “Yes, I CAN”
- Stop buying food in tin cans or plastic
You should try to find everything you can´t buy fresh, processed in a glasses. It´s actually not that hard. At the time I looked out for glasses I realized how much stuff is wrapped in plastic. You can rinse the glasses and keep them for next year. The best benefit of glasses is, you will start to produce less waste, as a thanks to the environment.
- Use facebook and what´s app
I posted a picture of my first canning quince and made a deal with my friends.
“Dear friends of Halle, for one collected bag of small glasses (200-400ml) you can get one glass of quince jelly or -mush or –chutney. Save the environment by collecting glasses.” It worked great. A lot of people started collecting for me and still do.
- Ask your friends and family in person
In every conversation I always get to the point of talking about my garden, so I started to ask every friend to collect glasses for me. Of cause they get also a refill of one glass. Now whenever I visit my friends, there are some glasses waiting for me =).
- Put a wanted offer on ebay classified or craigslist
If you don´t have people nearby who can help you out, just use another network. There are always people who will help you with that and are happy about a jelly or chutney or what so ever =).
- Ask in social facilities
If you have a kinder garden, nursing home or whatever nearby, just go there and ask. You will be surprised how much stuff they just through away.
I ended up having far too many glasses for the next season =). It´s not too bad, so big glasses I use as greenhouses places upside down over the plant. As I inspire people around me to start doing what I´m doing, it´s great to have glasses as leftovers, so I can give them a happy start for their collection.
Boy that rellay helps me the heck out.