How to Can Tomatoes... and like it.

So, my friend Kristi calls me up and asks me if I could teach her to can tomatoes. Her dad had bought six thousand pounds (exaggerating here) and she needed to have them all canned in about a day. Never one to pass up a challenge, I told Kristi I'd do it but let me get my sweat pants on...

This is how we did it:


Get your tools together. You will need a trash bin for the peels, a deep pan of boiling water with a lid to process the tomatoes, a pan to put sliced tomatoes in to get some "juice" to fill the jars, a large bowl to put the tomatoes in as you slice them, clean jars and lids/bands, tongs, several towels, potholders, sharp knives for peeling and coring, boiling water in one side of the sink and cold on the other, lemon juice and salt.







You need to put one tablespoon of salt and two tablespoons of lemon juice in each jar for quart jars.


Put your tomatoes in the hot water side of the sink. Let them sit for a good while and then place them in the other side, which should have icy cold water. The skins generally slip off or peel off pretty easily. Be sure to core them. Just take the paring knife and shove it into the top around the core area and make a little circle to cut it out. When you have a good amount of peeled and sliced tomatoes in your bowl, start filling your jars. You should only fill them 3/4 of the way. Use a spatula to make sure you don't have air bubbles in the sides of the jars. In your tomato pan on the stove, put sliced tomatoes and let them get hot and juicy. These are what you will use to top off your jars.





When your jars are full of the sliced tomatoes/lemon and salt/hot tomatoes mixture, place the bands and lids LOOSELY on the jars. You will then put them in the large pot of boiling water that you have on the stove. Cover the pot with a lid and set the timer for 30 minutes. This is important to process your tomatoes. When your timer goes off, gently remove the jars from the pot and place them lid side down on a towel. After a few minutes, you will need to flip them over and tighten the lids. Voila! Canned tomatoes!




By the 75,467th tomato, Kristi was feeling a little suicidal...

Don't worry, I stopped her in time.

Aren't they pretty!

Here are a few "outtakes":

We are all about safety. Since Kristi and I had a few beers while canning our beautiful tomatoes, we let the dog drive me home. She isn't half bad, but Kristi had to work the pedals for her.

The dogs name is Doli or something like that. She's got a long Italian name that I can't say. She french kissed me when I was smiling... I will never smile around that dog again.

Old Door into New Table

I needed a table for our informational booth at the Washington County Farm and Garden Tour. So, I decided to take a cool old door and turn it into a table. The first step is get your door.




You will also need two 1x4x8's, wood glue, 16 corner brackets with screws, four double ended screws, four legs, sandpaper and paint.



Measure out the wood so you get a table lip in the area you want it. I mark mine with yellow marker and cut it with my miter saw. Lay it flat on the ground. Screw the brackets to joint the pieces together and don't forget to use wood glue.







If you have nice friends, maybe they will come by to help. Maybe they will offer you a Mimosa, maybe not.





So, after much screwing, you will have a rectangular box. You will center this on the downside of the door/table. outline the inside with marker. This is a guide for your glueline. You want to put the glue just outside of the marker box you made. Sit the wooden box on the glue and start fastening brackets onto each side.






Pre-drill some holes for your double ended screws. These are tricky and you will need pliers to screw them into the legs. Then screw them into the spots that you have decided to put them on the table. Be sure and use wood glue.





Let this dry. When it's dry you can flip it over and paint it. Start with the inside panels and then work on the outside. I chose a pretty clear blue. When it was dry I coated it with some clear white and "drug" the paintbrush on top instead of painting with it.