{"id":4823,"date":"2026-04-30T11:28:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/?p=4823"},"modified":"2026-04-30T11:28:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:28:05","slug":"the-jar-of-jam-that-started-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/olio-stories\/the-jar-of-jam-that-started-it-all\/","title":{"rendered":"The jar of jam that started it all"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Helen\u2019s neighbour first mentioned Olio, it came at just the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Life had suddenly changed. Helen\u2019s&nbsp; husband John had suffered a massive heart attack, followed by a triple cardiac arrest and a bleed on the brain \u2013 spending three months in the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the miracle recovery brought new challenges \u2013 John couldn&#8217;t return to work and was made redundant. With Helen on a state pension and John still years away from his, money suddenly became tight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;His income suddenly dropped to a benefit which didn&#8217;t give us much left after paying the bills for food or any needed extras.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her neighbour, a fellow Olio-er, suggested she give the app a try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;I was a little hesitant. But I decided to give it a go.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-1-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4825\" style=\"width:600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-1.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With her neighbour beside her for that first visit, Helen placed her first requests for some veg&nbsp; and went along to collect them. That&#8217;s when she met Emma \u2013 at her garden wall, alongside Emma\u2019s two beautiful large dogs. Helen&#8217;s a dog lover, so naturally, they got on well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next time she went to collect food from Emma, Helen brought a jar of homemade rhubarb jam as a thank you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emma was delighted \u2013 and messaged to say what a treat it had been \u2013 then asked if Helen would like a root from her rhubarb patch. It had been grown from her grandfather&#8217;s plant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emma dug up part of the root herself and told Helen exactly how to plant it at home. Helen nurtured it through the winter, covering it against the frost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-2-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4826\" style=\"width:600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-2-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-2-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-2-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-2-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-2.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;Now I have a lovely healthy patch of my own. I feel privileged to have this, as it has gone through the generations of her family. I will have rhubarb for years to come \u2013 friends, and some of the older people who live near me who I give my jam to, will benefit and enjoy this as well.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She&#8217;s been on Olio for over 500 days now (and counting). She collects from six fellow Olio-ers regularly, turning up every now and then with a jar of homemade jam as a thank you \u2013 rhubarb, rhubarb and ginger, whatever the season offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4824\" style=\"width:600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1\/2026\/04\/image.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The connections she&#8217;s made through the app have grown into something she didn&#8217;t expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;I&#8217;ve gained not just fellow Olio-er friends \u2013 we&#8217;re a little family of friends who help each other, and the family keeps increasing.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What does Olio mean to you?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8220;A sense of relief and restored faith in humanity. Food that would have otherwise gone to waste now fills my fridge and cupboards, at a time when we need it most.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Helen\u2019s neighbour first mentioned Olio, it came at just the right time. Life had suddenly changed. Helen\u2019s&nbsp; husband John&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":3958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olio-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The jar of jam that started it all - Olio | At Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How Helen discovered Olio during a difficult time \u2013 and how a jar of homemade rhubarb jam led to lasting friendships and a thriving garden.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/olioapp.com\/en\/olio-stories\/the-jar-of-jam-that-started-it-all\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The jar of jam that started it all - 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