This summer the community is invited to participate in a series of canning demonstrations in each of the six Eugene Community Gardens. Canning equipment will be hauled to each garden via our mobile bike cannery. With a double burner propane stove, portable sink, tables, buckets, and canning supplies loaded on our bike we’re equipped to jam, pickle, and salsa out of doors with interested community members. Skinner City Farm will coordinate the demonstrations in collaboration with the Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT) with funding provided by a Neighborhood Matching Grant from the City.

The demonstrations will begin with raw ingredients and culminate with a finished jar of preserves. Our canning focus is on what the typical home or community gardener will have in their garden patch. Our hope at Skinner City Farm is to teach and encourage folks to preserve summer harvests that would otherwise go to waste. We want to share how simple the canning process can be and at the same time build community within the gardens. Canning, we believe, will create an outlet for excess produce and increase local food security.

The Mobile Cannery is the beginning of a larger project at Skinner City Farm. Our long-term goal is to develop a Food Preservation Center where community members will be able to preserve foods in a large commercial kitchen.

We’ll be canning jam, pickles, tomatoes, and other preserves this summer. Come participate in these demonstrations and see the start to finish process of home canning. Jam with us on the following Saturdays:

8/14 River House Community Garden
8/21 Alton Baker Community Garden
9/11 Skinner City Farm
9/25 Whiteaker Community Garden
10/2 Matthews Community Garden
10/16 Amazon Community Garden

Phone: 541.344.8322