August was a very full filled month. Overall it was great. I learned things, I tried new things, canning season started,
Sweet Pickle Relishprocessed a lot from the garden, dehydrated on cooler days, and wrote a lot. The storms we got a few days ago, have taken out several more of our tomato plants.
I have to admit, I have not read a lot lately, but I am getting some itty, bitty travel time on one book.
It seems to be taking me forever, but I will finish it eventually. I am loving the non-fiction book I'm currently reading as well. Two pages a day is better than zero a day. I also have two new devotionals I will share soon. I just need to get a photo of them. So yes, "fun" and "relaxation" are still in the our lives while canning season is in full swing. Just not so much crochet, ha ha ha!
I planted cilantro indoors, dug up more herbs and replanted in pots, and even started harvesting one of the there types of calendula I planted this season. I started harvesting our echinacea, but waiting on more blooms. I'm still waiting on blooms from the other two types of calendula I planted.
Now, to tell you about my first "sauce" making of the season this year. First, I unboxed my new, stainless steel tomato press (fancy name for a machine for sauce making). If you have been a long time reader, you know about the other stainless steel canner (made in FL), I paid for and waited over a year to get it. I eventually go tired of waiting for their production, so I got my refund back.
I honestly, do not know one person who owns anything other than the plastic Weston type sauce makers. I purchased my first one (Weber) almost 20 years ago, and paid $50 for it. I bought it on ebay.
The new sauce maker. I honestly cannot remember the exact cost for it, as we bought it a year ago. My husband thinks it was around $300.00. We bought it at a "kitchen" type store in Indiana.
First, anytime you buy a new one, always unbox it about a month prior to using it. Why? Well, aside from having to wash everything, and make sure you know how to put it together, consider the height of it. The height, or the clamp, was the last thing on my mind.
The one we bought is much shorter, so the spout is much closer to the table. I was in a situation, where our new kitchen table had too much of a slant top edge to clamp to the table, and I had to quickly "MacGyver" something to get it up higher on the table, but secure.
I wish I had photos to share, but my homemade table riser consisted of a taller (square) casserole dish upside down, topped with two cutting boards (too get enough thickness to clamp onto), two of my homemade jar grippers to keep things from sliding around, and a glass baking pan to catch the "trash" and weigh down the other side.
It worked, but it was a big risk to crank by myself. I had to hold the funnel while hand cranking, to keep things completely in place.
Thankfully, I was canning ketchup, so it was a small-ish canning batch. I immediately went online to find a table riser for tomato sauce canning. Guess what? It does not exist. I found cutting board risers, and kitchen table risers, but it gave me the idea to build our own. We used a piece of wood, and added legs to it, securing the legs with mounts. However, I still had to make it long, so I still have to use a much shorter dish to catch the "trash" with, and I have to put a 15# hand weight on the opposite end of the board (trash end, where the peels and seeds come out), to weigh it down in place.
If you are considering buying an electric or stainless steel sauce maker, be sure to consider the height. I know that the Weston brand makes a "metal" sauce maker now, but the trash flute is still that flimsy, thin plastic (which I had to replace 1-2 times a season).
We are still working on a final way to secure the sauce maker, and keep it up higher than the table, so the spout will go downward into a pan. We are considering a board on the very bottom, as well as the top, to keep things in place, but storing it will be an issue as well.
We even considered a thick cutting board, and adding legs to it, but the ones we have are either too thin or too thick. I would have had to go shopping for one for the specific thickness or glue two together. Hence, the board and legs.
If I could clamp it to my kitchen table, I would only have to put a shorter table under it with the pan, but again, the edge is not a secure, suitable edge to clamp it, nor the kitchen counter, nor our island (it's a cheaper version of an island, and lacks the amount of edge to clamp it to it).
So....
If you are a tomato sauce making canner, and are thinking of upgrading to a stainless steel sauce maker, consider these things first....
1. How tall the unit is when clamped in place.
2. The clamp style and what you have in your kitchen to use. Check your table edge, counters etc.
Aside from all of that, I absolutely love my new tomato press. It works so much better than the plastic one I had. I do not have to run the "trash" thru it a second time, I crank it a lot less, and I get more sauce with it. It is much more durable than my old plastic part tomato press. I wish I had bought the stainless steel one 20 years ago.
That was a long post, so I'll leave it at that. Hopefully, the storms will stop taking out tomato plants, we we'll get a good harvest yet.
Welcome September ~ A Sauce Making Story © September 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart
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