Canning Extravaganza!

This summer has been HOT.  Not the hottest we've ever had, but hot in recent history.  We've had a few years of mild summer weather, so this year has been a bit of a shocker!  In addition to that, we're having AC problems.  These will be fixed come Tuesday!  Yay!  As a result we've been using window units to cool the place out of necessity.  Don't ask me about the power bill!  UGH!  Hence the reason for not heating the house up with canning.  

As the harvest started to roll in, I was minimally processing and putting in the freezer until I could can.  By "minimally processing", I mean tomatoes became sauce, Blackberries became juice.  Then day before yesterday we moved our grill from the back deck to our new deck on the side of the house.  For the past two days I've been happily using our grill and side deck as an extension of my kitchen; pulling out the frozen sauce and juice to combine with the current sauce and juice I've been making and canning it all.  This has actually been quite nice.  In fact I do believe this will become my summer kitchen from now on.  

   

Please excuse the water trail from the grill to the table.  I can be a little messy since I'm outside!

So far my tally is 35 pints of tomato sauce, 12 pints of blackberry syrup, 6 pints of blackberry juice, 14 quarts of tomato juice, 2 pints and 4 quarts canned tomatoes.  That doesn't count the canned rhubarb, and green beans I put up earlier in the year.  Still have many more tomatoes to can.  The amount in the picture has doubled today, even with me processing more tomatoes.  Not complaining mind you.  This is a hot, steamy process with great returns come winter time.  The blackberry syrup is great on ice cream, pancakes, or even mixed in ice tea for a great fruit tea.