How to can

I don't really know how to can, or even grow tomatoes, but my generous neighbors do.  From the 30 tomato plants I planted we've probably only picked 30 tomatoes.  So we helped our neighbors pick theirs and also visited a u-pick farm where the tomatoes were plentiful but expensive.  We got just enough to experience canning.  

It was a muggy 90 degree Michigan day so I set up in the garage with a portable stove, I borrowed a few needed supplies and jumped right into it.

I even borrowed the recipe, which actually isn't a recipe but a handful of ingredients followed by "to taste" as passed down through a line of my neighbor's Italian ancestors.  Basically I used about a bushel  of mixed tomatoes smashed through a strainer, 5 onions, 2 bulbs of garlic, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 T of salt and 1 T of pepper.  I let it simmer down for at least 4 hours until it reached desired taste and consistency.  The key ingredient of the sauce though was reserved for the very last step, a whole bunch of freshly picked basil leaves, like a whole plant's worth, tossed in (whole leaves) and then it is immediately ready to process.  The other secret to this sauce is regular stirring, to prevent burning it required my attention at least every 15 minutes.  But being outside I was able to move between projects and boy did we enjoy the smell!   

It was important though to keep the little ones away.  George still not feeling well rested in the tee pee.  That was fine until a chicken decided to join him.
 

The girls spent the day in the sandbox but I was unable to capture Henry. He had picked out some running shoes from a garage sale just that morning and did not seem to stop running from the moment we tied the laces, and I believe Peter was probably chasing him.

All the while James cared for Charlie and William kept the chickens out of the garage and out of the tee pee.

Everybody took turns "testing" the sauce and by the time we got it to our taste I had just about scorched my tongue.  We ended up with 17 quarts but consumed 3 in the following 2 days.

Perhaps our tomatoes will decide to ripen before the first frost, maybe I'll get lucky and find my own supplies on craiglist, I hoping because I realize canning tomatoes is something I now "can" do and I really hope to do again soon.