This past Sunday my friend and I canned tomatoes. This was our first attempt at anything of this kind, spurred on by a desire to eat local and reduce food costs.
On Thursday, 20 pounds of tomatoes showed up on my doorstep.
They were absolutely gorgeous.
Betty, Jon’s grandmother, was kind enough to donate her jars to the cause. I washed them all to prepare.
We blanched, skinned, and cut up the tomatoes.
We added lemon juice to acidify the jars.
My friend’s daughter supervised.
We cooked the tomatoes and filled the jars – we got 16 1/2 pints in total.
We put on the lids and rings, and processed the jars. Then we put them in the garage to cool.
In the end, the seals failed on 2 of the jars. I think I know what the problem was, so we can avoid it next time. By the way, next time will be pretty soon – we plan on canning pears on Thanksgiving Monday, less than a week from now.
Tonight I made pasta sauce with one of the failed jars – they might not be preserved, but I reasoned that they would be fine in my fridge for a few days at least. Hannah enjoyed the the finished result. That’s good, because we have 7 more pints to get through this winter. 
Isn’t it great to can? Emma was about 10 days old and my dad returned from holidays with a case of tomatoes. We canned over the weekend and we ate good food all winter long. I have since done peaches and pears and love it…so do the girls.