Canning Tomatoes

Yesterday I spent some hours with some girlfriends canning tomatoes. Women getting together and doing almost anything is wonderful time spent. I think I counted 10 kids, 2 dogs, 2 random dads popping in, and 5 women. There were snacks and a dinner thrown into that mix as well. Now, I really did not do any of the hard work. I just sort of invited myself to this preplanned event. I am really inexperienced at canning. You know, me and my fear of food borne illnesses....but these ladies had just taken a canning class, had a great plan and let me be included.
This big event was sandwiched in between me volunteering the day at M's kindergarten class and my evening women's group. I did not have a lot of time for the herculean effort happening, but I helped out as much as I could. They canned until 12:30am. Then most of the day today. I would guess over 60 quarts of sauce, but never got the final count.
Holy Tomato Sauce Batman!
But reflecting on how well the canning event went, how good and juicy conversations were, and how utterly chaotic the whole scene was I have one thing to say. Women can do anything. Really. A roomful of capable women can do anything. It is a spectacular thing to witness.

So, today eating my lunch of heirloom tomato on toasted sourdough with shiso leaf and olive oil, I giggled thinking of the group of ladies I had spent my previous afternoon with, and wondered if:
1. they probably don't want to look at a tomato for a while
2. perhaps don't want to eat a tomato for a while either.
In honor of your wonderful efforts, and the joke of too much of a good thing, I posted a tomato lunch for you. Thank you for all your hard work!