Can you do the can? Can?

This post got lost in the shuffle because of Kate getting sick but these pics were taken the day she got sick. The kids and I drove to Mancos to our good friends' house so that I could learn how to can {should I decide to do so in the future...we'll see :)} Mark and I are going to attempt to do a garden this spring and I'd love to can a lot of the goodies we get from it. I'm a little nervous, however, that I have NO idea what I'm getting myself in to. I may be in waaaaaay over my head. We'll see. Till then, Sommer was an excellent teacher and if I have any questions next year about what the heck I got myself into I'm calling her. HELP ME! haha! I can hear it now...

Here are her canning supplies and loads of beautiful tomatoes from her garden. She picked them right before the frost and let them ripen on her kitchen floor.

Kate played with Sommer's girls while we canned. I'm pretty sure the only reason I got this picture of her {and of no one else} was because she looked so cute in this dress. She was also in a great mood in the morning. You'll see how quickly that changed once she started feeling sick.

We were canning whole tomatoes. Sommer cans tomato sauce and salsa but today we just did whole tomatoes. What a process! We cut out all the stems, then blanched them in boiling water before we peeled the skin off. I told her it felt like I was peeling sunburn off of someone. Except that by the time we finished the tomato skins, 3 of my fingers were raw and wrinkled!

Here's my friend Sommer pulling tomatoes out of the boiling water. Meanwhile the jars were washing in the dishwasher {sterilization} and the lids were boiling on the stove.

Here are our peeled tomatoes. At least some of them. We did a lot!

Sommer taught me how to put them in the jars {yes there is a process!}. First the sterilized jars have to be put in the oven so they don't cool. Imagine cold jars in boiling water. Not good. Then, when the jars were warm, we added the tomatoes and salt {at least we were supposed to add salt. I think I forgot in almost all the jars I did. Ooops! Thankfully Sommer is patient with me :)} Then clean off the tops, put the lids on tight and place them in boiling water. They can't touch! Or more explosions...

After they boiled we got them out and waited for the pop to tell us they really sealed and everything worked. I never got to hear the pop unfortunately. Kate went downhill fast and we had to leave before my work was confirmed successful. Thankfully Sommer said they all sealed. A miracle! She was super nice to allow me to help with this. I was so worried I'd mess up all her hard work gardening, harvesting, cleaning, boiling and canning! Apparently the salt-less tomatoes will be alright. Whew!

Here's Sommer's cutie pie Sean. He's a week older then Jack.

And here's the dollface snuggling Sommer while I was trying to collect everything to go home. Notice the difference? Very snuggly and not feeling good at all.

Thank you Sommer for your wisdom in canning. I'm not sure I can do the can can but I will try!