Caution: Visiting at Harvest Time

One thing that is guaranteed during the summer is something is always being harvested which usually means that 4 letter word 'WORK.' So be warned if you come to visit that you could end up shelling/stringing peas /shucking corn/ canning tomatoes. It was the latter that happened to my high school buddy Chris who came to visit last week. The tomatoes had finally ripened and they would rot just sitting... First the ripened tomatoes were stewed on the stovetop. Then came the real work as it takes two people to man (in this case 'wo'man) the squeezo.


It was great having Chris's help with the squeezo, a manual driven implement that removes skins and seeds. It tends to splash and our out of town helper had tomato splatters basically all over her.  She was warned and offered an apron but insisted she didn't need it.  OK they did blend with her colored top. We alternated turning and plunging.




We sent the pulp through twice and the chickens got those remains. The chickens love canning time. In fact they are all laying daily now.


Afterwards the juice went back on the heat to simmer and boil down. Basil was added and after 2 hours, we had tomato basil soup. Obviously it was time to add other spices to create the spaghetti sauce - salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, rosemary, stevia, garlic powder, chili pepper and the secret ingredient anise.

Due to the additional heat from being in the kitchen, I was getting a bit testy to say the least. This batch was going to take a long time to cook down and this could have been a midnight project so I will admit it ... OK we cheated and added some tomato paste for thickening.

The house really smelled like an Italian restaurant.

Natureman and I relieved our Arkansas guest so she could go back to her knitting project while we filled the jars.  We ended up with  16 quarts and 1 pint in total.

So if the tomatoes are ripe there is work to be done in the End of the Rainbow Valley. Guests beware if you are visiting during  the summer harvesting times, you just might end up in the kitchen like my high school buddy.

Thanks for helping as if you had any choice. WINK, WINK.