A Day To Harvest And Freeze Tomatoes

Posted on Marilyn FosterPosted in Flying with Fibromyalgia, Gardening, Healthy Eating, Kitchen, Marilyns Way, Nutrition, Organization, The Flylady, The Flylady Way

I am not going to lie.  This is the part of the gardening experience that I have not become too fond of yet.  I guess it is because I haven’t done it enough to get an idea how long the process will be.  I know I am making it more difficult in my mind.  What is the worst that can happen?  If I don’t make up a plan, my kitchen will be trashed when done and that is what scares me.  Then I have to remember I have a new set of tools.  It is called Flylady and Marilyn’s Way Closed Group to help me through it.  So without further a do, my mind is set to go for it!

Here is my starting point.  The view from when I am at my computer.  Looks like a 5 Minute Rescue to my kitchen first.  Time to set the timer.   Ready, steady, gooo!

First thing I did was fill my sink with hot soapy water.  As that was filling up, I picked up and put away working myself around the room while keeping an eye on the sink.

This is probably going to take a bit longer to do since I am writing as I am doing.  Looks like I will have to do another 5 Minute Rescue.  Ready, Steady, Go!

Counters all scrubbed down with hot soapy water.  I took away unnecessary items to make the job go easier.

Thought I had better see if any turned since the last time I picked which was a few days ago and this is what I found!
The plant in the middle is my volunteer one from last year and that is where I got half of my tomatoes today from this plant!

The beets are going to have to wait for another day.   Below, is my cabbage and that has got to be done tomorrow!

The three pictures above is what I already had.  I am waiting for tomatoes to cool so I can take the skin off and then quarter them and cook a bit before I put into plastic containers.  I am in this so far for three hours.  While I was waiting for tomatoes to cool, I had to move the sprinkler to another location and I dead headed some marigolds on the way back.  It was very tempting to just stay outside!

I have decided that I will be doing the other half of the tomatoes tomorrow as I want to keep my other habits and routines going.  I think this is probably one of the most crucial decisions I made today.  Before I would try to do it all and be left with a big mess in my kitchen being too tired to clean up and then there goes part of my Before Bedtime Routine which could lead to not laying out my clothes.  Heck may not have even washed my face.  I would have just crashed and burned to wake up to a very messy Kitchen.  I probably wouldn’t have gotten my coffee ready either because I wouldn’t be able to get to it.   I am sure all of this would have happened if I did the second batch of tomatoes.  Since this is something I don’t normally do, I am finding it a bit stressful.  Thank you Mom for doing all the canning last year for us.  I some how got away from cooking and such when my Fibromyalgia was really bad.  Now I am trying to work my way back into it.  I bought a cushioned matt and it has helped tremendously.  I just can’t stand in one position for very long.  Something I deal with.

 Waiting for the water to boil in the kettles.

 I washed the tomatoes in a solution of 5 tablespoons of salt and lemon juice equal to 3/4th lemmon.  It creates hydrogen peroxide to get any residue off.  I use this recipe for juicing.

 Now the tomato’s skin is beginning to split.  That means to take them out and have a sink full of cold water waiting.  Keep them in there long enough to cool enough to peel.
See how easy it is to peel?
 I found out soon that they were still to hot to handle so I put some ice in there to cool faster.
Then I took the core out and quartered them.
 Into the kettle they go where they will cook for about 30 minutes.
Here is my collection of plastic containers.  Somehow they grew again!  I wonder how that happens!  I am going to take a 15 minute break and then I will start lining up the containers.
Well break didn’t get done but the tomatoes are in their containers cooling. Next will be putting on the lids and placing them in the freezer.  I got it done!  Yay!  This is a good lesson on how long it takes to do things like this and I would suggest adding an hour on to your estimated time when you are a bit rusty like me.  I started this project at 2:10pm and it is now 7:10pm.  I know it would have gone faster had I not written this blog but then you would not have gotten to experience this with me!  I don’t have much clean up to do as I cleaned as I did this.  I still have to take the skins and put in the compost and I will do that when I move my sprinkler outside!
Keep FLYing!
Marilyn

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