Last week I went to a workshop at the county extension office on canning tomatoes, and this week, Reader, I canned them! We went on Monday to a produce auction to try to buy tomatoes, and we did not succeed. It was a really interesting scene-- the auctioneers went simultaneously down the aisles of produce, and a scrum of 15 or so people followed along and bid on the boxes as they went. Prices seemed high, though, and I was somewhat befuddled by the process. A nice lady took pity on me and clued me in to an Amishman down the road who was selling tomatoes at $5 a bushel. So we bought $14 worth of tomatoes (that's the amount in the first picture) and then I canned them up. I quit when I used up all my jars, which was a dozen quarts and two dozen pints; I froze the remaining 4 quarts or so. It was great! I can't believe I've never canned till now. But now, no produce is safe from me! Michael was complaining the other day because I canned up all the peaches (6 quarts). Agatha was no help at all, except in flirting with people at the produce auction, but Henry enjoyed the process and really helped. He peeled the tomatoes after I blanched them, and did a careful job. He was very disappointed, though, by my failure at the auction. "I wanted you to win, Mama! Why didn't you win?" A few hours later, when he again said, "You know what, Mom? I really wish you had won," I told him that I did win in the end because I ended up getting the tomatoes I wanted at a better price. This made him feel much better. "You DID win!"
2 comments:
Great pictures of the fresh tomatoes and the lovely jars of canned tomatoes! Beautiful! It was such a great outing, driving through the beautiful countryside, seeing the lovely farms.
Henry was concerned that his Mom didn't "win" the auction but I'm glad that in the end he realized that you did win. Of course the whole family wins because y'all will enjoy those tomatoes all winter. And as Henry kept saying, "In the winter we don't have tomatoes so we need to can them now". A quick learner, that boy!
Wonderful, I love canning tomatoes also. Last year, from Jim's garden, we canned 58 pints and a few more quarts. It was great. This year I did not can, since we still had many left and this year our garden was a eating garden, not productive enough for canning. I asked Jim not to plant such a large garden this season and I think I jinxed his efforts. He was disappointed. Great that Henry is such a good helper. If you do this sort of thing when you are young, I swear it gets in your soul. Love, Auntie Grace
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