Is it okay to contact ppl on Freecycle?

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I had a great big pressure cooker (for canning) but I bought it used and the dingwad didn't tell me the bottom was warped. Still, it was fairly cheap and I used it and learned to can with it but now that I'm actually canning, I got a new one . . . well, a different used one.

 

B/c it's warped and I wanted to keep the instruction manual, I just gave it away on Freecycle. Wow, a lot of ppl wanted that canner. Most just said something along the lines of, "I want it!"

 

Two ppl, however, made comments that I'd really like to follow up on. One person, and these are all ppl who live in my area, said she wants it b/c she belongs to a group who recreate recipes from the middle ages and they want to try to preserve them. Another made a comment about canning that gave me the impression that she was using water bath canning for things she should be pressure canning.

 

For the first, I'd like to know about this middle ages group myself! also, if she doesn't know anything about canning, I'd like to warn her that she can't just can something, she needs to be more careful and follow approved recipes. Ditto for the second one, I just want to let her know that you can't just waterbath any old thing.

 

I mean, I sold it w/o the instructions. I didnt' expect to feel a bit liable, if only to my conscience, about not doing it right plus if I know they may not be canning properly, I'd feel bad if something happened.

 

And that middle ages thing sounds cool.

 

Neither of them got the canner. In fact, they were both pretty far down the list.

 

So, is it okay to contact ppl and would you?

[klmama]

Sure. You could respond, letting them know that the canner went to someone else, but that you wanted to a) ask about the middle ages thing and b) wanted to be sure she knew that different types of canners were important for canning different things. If you are concerned about privacy, you should use a different email for Freecycle than you use for your usual business. (Or do they already have your email? I'm not sure how your Freecycle does that....)

[Dobela]

I made a great friend thru freecycle by contacting them that way. Heck, some of us even formed a homeschool group after I gave away a bunch of catalogs I picked up at a convention one year. Unless your group has a specific rule about no contact, then I see no problem with it.