Tomatoey

Let me tell you a little bit about my garden. Our garden plot was overrun with weeds, and we had no tiller, so the poor garden sat sad and neglected for most of the summer. Still wanting to plant something, I looked for an alternative. In the spring I tend to have all kind of plans and dreams for my yard. I buy seeds, I buy plants, I weed, I dig, I mulch, and I am so excited when the tulips come up in the beginning of the spring. This is the time when I want to plant. So, when at Costco one day, I came across the tomato plants, I bought some. I bought four to be exact.

Those four tomato plants sat in my kitchen for a long time. It was too cold to plant any tender anuals for a long long time in the spring. It was petty much June before we could safely plant them outside. But where to plant? I decided to take over a failed flower bed, where I’ve been working on killing the wisteria that’s there for the past two years. I hacked down all the wisteria and killed all the morning glory and pretty much had an empty flower bed on the south side of my house. I moved my barrel of strawberries from their non productive spot in the shade, and planted the four sad lonely tomato plants, and two tiny little pumpkin plants that I transplanted from my parents’ garden.

My little “garden” grew all summer, but I had no tomatoes. What is up with that? And I only have one pumpkin! Granted, it’s a pretty big pumpkin, but one? Only one? Obviously, my gardening skills need some work. Maybe you’re supposed to do more than just plant and water the silly things.

So, here we are, the first week of October, and the warm summer days of 80 degree weather are sadly no more. And I have lots and lots of tomatoes out there on my plants (or should I say bushes?). Tons. But they are mostly all green. What am I going to do with all these green tomatoes? Ugh.

So, when my mother-in-law asked if I wanted some of their tomatoes, I said, “sure.” I could use a few that are ripe. Can’t everyone always use a few tomatoes? When they came to pick up Natalie to take her out for her birthday, they brought in the box of tomatoes. The BOX. I thought I was getting a few, and they brought a whole box. Hmm. Thanks. Now I have to do something with these little red beauties. I forgot to ask them to bring the juicer, so we could make tomato juice like we usually do, but really, I have about 16 quarts left from last year’s juicing extravaganza, so I guess I’m ok in that department.

I decided to be brave and bottle the tomatoes. I googled “how to bottle tomatoes” and got some instructions on how to blanch them and get the skins off and process them. But this little article said to process them in the pressure cooker. Really? Tomatoes? Don’t they just need to go in the steam canner? So, I got down the steam canner and looked up tomatoes and found out that yes, they are acidic enough that they can be done in the steam canner. I got started boiling and peeling and cutting my tomatoes, while washing the bottles in the dishwasher and boiling the lids. My kitchen was going to turn into a steam canner if I wasn’t careful.

I only had to call my mother-in-law for instructions ONCE, which I think is a pretty big deal. I mean, I’ve never even canned anything by myself! Oh, I take that back, I’ve made jam by myself, but really, Ryan or my mom have been around for every other canning endeavor.

When the kids came home, they were all “Whatcha doing, Mom?” but when they saw the tomato mess I was in the middle of, they stayed away. Except Megan, who wanted to help. She ended up being a great helper, putting the salt, sugar and lemon juice in each bottle, then helping me put the lids on. Then into the steam canner they went for 50 minutes, while I cut up and peeled and bottled the rest.

And here it is. The finished product. The 13 quarts and 3 pints of tomato-y goodness.

And you know what? It’s not worth it. Honestly. How much do tomatoes cost, like a dollar for a big can? It took me, like, four or five hours to do this. So, I saved myself, what 15 dollars? Remind me to just go get them from the store next time.

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