Title goes here

Maybe just maybe you can help me understand why I thought that third 20-lb box of tomatoes was a good idea.

Here are some pictures of the process involved with putting up 18 quarts of tomatoes with approximately 15 lbs left to boil down for sauce. Which I think I'll freeze. I am VERY sick of canning.

Below: 60 lbs in the boxes. The plate has my tomatoes and two eggplants that will soon be baba ganoush. Outside the window you can see the scary snake that is going to eat any birds that DARE to approach the tomatoes.



Next: The first batch that came out of the canner had some issues. Half the jars didn't seal, which typically corresponded with the ones that seemed to lose 1/3 of their contents during the time spent processing in the canner. In reality, I messed up by not squishing the tomatoes in tight enough with this first round. I reprocessed the ones I needed to. By the way, 85 minutes is a LONG time to boil, but that's what the instructions I came up with said.

After the third round of quarts went into the canner, I still had loads of tomatoes left. They barely all fit in the large, enormous, vast slow-cooker Marianne so graciously gave me last fall. I use it All. The. Time.


Ok, I've got to take the last set of jars out of the canner and hope they seal. If not, I'll just make some more sauce or something. Cause I am truly sick of canning. Whew.

Oh, it's also time to scoop out the smoky eggplant.