Networking, Jam Jars and Buckets on a bicycle

I live in Brum and because i have almost always lived and and worked away, I have next to no one in my friends/network/family.

So I want to ask you if you will help out.

I am looking for two items and I am asking the local only to me Brummies and West Mids people to help me out. As the growing allotment year starts up, I want to store and preserve as much as possible of the crops I grow, but and there is always a but . I do need to collect jam jars and plastic buckets with lids in readyness for it.
So I am asking everyone and anyone who is local this.

Would you consider storing and collecting your jam jars for me, I am intrested in any shape size or sort, even sauce bottles. What I am suggesting I do is to pop around once a week say Sunday or a Thursday or Tuesday evening or what ever we agree on and to collect the empties from you. You can leave them outside and i will just pop along and collect them. I offer in return that if I have any thing going spare to spread it around amongst my glass friends, cabbages, onions, peas etc

The next one is buckets. I could do with finding some where I can collect buckets from any thing from small 5 litre ones to the biggest ones avalible. I have canvased my local bakeries and the fast food shops and I am struggling to find any. I have managed to find a food factory type place and now collect three buckets a week from them. Does anyone know any where or works some where , were I can pop around and politely ask the boss man for a few buckets each week or even a load each week!! I dont even mind if they are just large square plastic type boxes as long as it has a lid and is within the birmingham areas i will come and collect.

Pete

hi pete, try setting up a twitter account and tweet this message, i am not on twitter myself but i saw a river cottage programme called 3 hungry boys and they were tweeting that they were looking for veg in return for weeding etc and the locals who were on twitter were very helpful telling them were they could get certain things from maybe the people in brum will help you in the same way

chris

Baguette/sandwich shops almost always have food grade mayonnaise buckets going spare round my way.

its 144 boiled eggs buckets i am collecting at the moment, the big problems i have found is that the local fast food shops dont speak clear english and dont understand the free, empty and bucket idea and the next one is alot of places, firkins and greggs all work from pre prep food and the best i can get from them is small mayo tubs as every thing else comes from a central bakery unit which i have not found out where that is yet

Any butchers round your way Pete?

Sausage skins come in the 15kg rectangle tubs sold by the rand people. As there is pretty much no odour and moisture (packed in salt), depending what you want to store no taint at all.

We are loused out with em and I have a load that I use as ripeners before I bottle/tub up.

Baggy

Hi Pete

Wish I was down your way to help you out but instead I can only offer an idea. There is something called freecycle and freecycle cafe (on yahoo groups, free to join) where you can post requests such as this to help freely recycle items. Well worth trying.

first up , twitter is a no no, i am on enough forums and internet sites and so on face book and twitter and the like i dont need in my life,

the freegle angle i tried tonight which caused this thread to be started, because i am unemployed at the moment , rather than waiting for things to come my way i have asked for 7 wants in 3 months and only three offers, now as it is i have a very low opinion of the birmingham freegle becaus e of its size and the way it is run at times, so i try not to use it if i can , but needs must when your on your uppers. i was asked not to send in any more wanteds untill i have done some in offers, which is what i will have to do.

never thought of butchers, shame there is none in this area, its all fast foods and again its english as the barrier, the pubs a great idea i do need some more beer bottles , but the pubs wouldlike me to be a regular or at least a customer first, neither of which i am, i have lived in brum for over ten years and only been in one local pub and we soon left and none of the local ones i would want to drink in even if i could afford it,

so we are neatly back to the network of friends and people we know, so again does anyone local want to start to save there glass jam jars

what about spending a few hours at your local re-cycling centre and asking people for their jars and bottles?

Hi Pete,

I liked being a 'Billy no mates' but this bl@@dy beekeeping mularky put the kibosh on that.
Does your kids school(s) provide proper meals?
Is there a WI or women's church group or some such near you, give them a talk on bees, ongoing jars as a fee?
Bakers, deli's and caterers are usually a good bet.
Notice in local shop or supermarket.

Russ

pete i always have to look when u stick a post up m8,,make me smile nearly everytime... u are the gypsie beekeeper..your from a past era ,,,good luck jars buddy

I go through a few dry lining fillers buckets a year and they are really big and have a great lid on them,and they clean up really well.try asking about them.
Darren

biglongdarren said:

I go through a few dry lining fillers buckets a year and they are really big and have a great lid on them,and they clean up really well.try asking about them.
Darren

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i am so sorry darren i had never realised you were a taper, your parents must live in shame, lol

i used to be a partitioner untill i went into management.

Freecycle is excellent for this sort of thing.

pete why dont you go to your local supermarket with a recycling bit in the carpark get a trolley put a note on it asking for jam jars then go back a couple or three hours later it will be overflowing i do this with wine bottles works superb for me some places you might have to put the trolley in a long line of them because quite a lot do it as well

Freecycle always a good site and you don't have to donate if you don't have anything to advertise - we got a polytunnel and a coldframe last year but that's another story.
How about a 'wanted' sign outside your house?
Ask your son to do a facebook plea.... might keep him out of mischeif!

hedgerow pete said:

i am so sorry darren i had never realised you were a taper, your parents must live in shame, lol

i used to be a partitioner untill i went into management.

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am a painter and decorator pete,i am also a great friend with a christian childrens holiday camp owner and they always have loads of large empty ice cream tubs with lids and stuff like that,if they would be any use to you let me know and i will get her to save them up and i will get them to you some way.
Darren

gingerbees said:

. . . but that's another story.
How about a 'wanted' sign outside your house?

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Hmmmmm, conflict of interest. Local plod might take offence.

As they say they have the franchise for a Hedgerow Pete "Wanted Posters" down at the station . . .Complete with sequins. LoL

Try large restaurents, we get 15lb and 30lb food buckets with lids from John Lewis' canteen, food grade buckets that contain mayonaise and coldslaw

wash them and just as good as the white ones...just the printing on the outside..if you talk to them nicely they might even put them through their industrial dishwasher for you

gingerbees said:

Freecycle always a good site and you don't have to donate if you don't have anything to advertise - we got a polytunnel and a coldframe last year but that's another story.
How about a 'wanted' sign outside your house?
Ask your son to do a facebook plea.... might keep him out of mischeif!

Click to expand...

the freegle in brum was the people who made me start this ask , i tried to send in a wanted and was told it was NOT ALLOWED as i have done more wants than offers and as such not allowed to do any more untill its balenced out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i will try the shopping trolly but there are next to no bins any more as the council have installed house wheelie bins and as such the recycle street bins are now not needed and to prevent vandals having a go they have been shifted.

your also not allowed to remove anything from the council tip , my old tip site in the south warwickshsire had as much leaving some times as what was coming in but not in brum , to blinded to allow it.

I wish we lived closer to each other - the quantity of bottles and jars I put out for recycling each week is mind blowing. As for the tip - once the stuff is in their compound it belongs to them. Try advertising in your local shops.
The next time I know I'm going near Brum I'll post here and save you a weeks worth of wine & beer bottles, jam jars and ice cream tubs - promise.