CANNING TOMATOES

I called the extension for office for advice about canning tomatoes. A steam canner is not recommended. WHAT? That's how I did it last year. Rats.

So we took the pressure cooker to The Mending Shed to be checked and had to buy a new gauge. Rats, again.


Then all afternoon I chopped tomatoes, filled bottles, added lemon juice--and WHY should I have to add lemon juice if I'm pressure canning the tomatoes?! It makes no sense to me. WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME? You don't add lemon juice to beans, for crying out loud! It's enough to hark a dog.

And when I took them out of the canner you know what? It looks like out of my first batch of seven, four aren't going to seal! Rats. I followed the instructions to the letter, putting them on a rack to cool.
The second batch of seven I turned upside down like I always do. We'll see what they do about sealing.
I'm totally bummed. I want to do four dozen quarts of tomatoes. (I did three dozen last year, and we've used almost all of them.) But, if four jars of every seven aren't going to seal then what's the use?

This is me, being totally bummed. Not a pretty sight.
I'm throwing a "Rats" in there for good measure. And he's a lot better looking than my bummer face or the tomatoes. I should have just started with rats to begin with.

Maybe he'd eat the spiders we are finding in the house. The cats certainly aren't any help. What a bummer.