The Community Canning Challenge

Hello friends! It has been a VERY long time since I’ve shown my face around these parts. But with the start of the new year, it is time to shake the dust off, pull my brain back together and get back to the business of canning and making connections with all of you. Enter the Community Canning Challenge!

Twice in the past, I’ve hosted year-long challenges in which I would present a series of monthly food preservation topics and we’d all work through them together. I’d like to do it again this year, with a bit of a twist. Instead of having just one monthly topic, I propose that we have two. The first will be similar to those we’ve done in the past, grounded in the art of food preservation. The second aspect of the challenge is designed push us to build out our in-person communities just a little bit each month.

You can try to do both topics each month, or you can opt to do just one (truly, you don’t have to do any of it, as it’s all voluntary. You can also just follow along if that’s what works for you). My hope is to create something that helps us all grow our skills and our networks of neighbors at the same time.

Here’s how it will work. We are going to use my Substack newsletter, the Food in Jars Facebook Community group, and this blog to run the Community Canning Challenge. This isn’t going to work if I overcomplicate it, so I want to use the tools of connection that I have already established, rather than trying to create something new. All challenge related posts on Substack will be entirely free to read and comment on, so you don’t need to be a paying subscriber to participate.

At the start of the month, I will be sharing a post here as well as on Substack, introducing the monthly challenge, rounding up some relevant recipes, and generally offering some ideas on how to accomplish one or both topics. A few days later, I will share one fresh and new recipe here on the blog. On the 15th of the month, there will be some check in posts on Substack and Facebook. And I’ll ask for your feedback around the 25th of the month.

I will be using Substack to report back on our collective experiences, as I’m trying to keep much of the non-recipe content off the blog for the sake of Google (this site is the primary way I make money these days and so I need to do what I can keep the bots happy and my paltry traffic flowing).

Let’s get to the topics. Just so you know, there are no rules here. If you want to join in, but the monthly topics don’t match up with your life or your seasons, feel free to shuffle things around to suit. The pleasure is in the doing.

January	Root Veg & Brassicas	Share a jar (make someone’s day with something tasty)
February	Frozen Fruit	Freezer excavation
March	Make a Mix (use those jars to build a soup starter, muffin mix, etc)	Contribute to a community fridge or pantry
April	Herbs and Alliums	Plant something
May	Berries	Learn from a friend
June	Jam	Attend a potluck
July	Pickles (quick, processed, or fermented)	Support a local farmer/grower
August	Sauces (apple, chili, tomato, hot, etc)	Gather or glean (make sure you have permission!)
September	Condiments (ketchup, relish, mustard, etc)	Host a swap
October	Drying and Dehydration	Share your knowledge
November	Apples	Barter with a friend or neighbor
December	Use it up!	Bake for others

If you think you want to participate this year, please use this form to indicate that you’re going to join in. Please also subscribe to the Substack or join the Food in Jars Community group on Facebook as those are the places where will be chatting about the challenge and hopefully forming connections that can translate into real life.

Because we’re already a week and a half into January, the timeline is a little compressed this month. I’ll have a January intro post up tomorrow and a recipe on Monday. I think this is going to be fun! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

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