"Many Hands Make Light Work"

This summer, we weren't able to grow enough tomatoes to put away for the entire coming year. 

We eat A LOT of tomatoes!

So, we began to look around for some bulk buys and found a local produce store that sold us 75 pounds of tomatoes for a really good price.

And, through the purchase and preparation of 3 boxes of tomatoes, I was reminded of the Haya proverb:

"Many hands make light work." 

(Did you know that I thought that was a Bible verse until I tried to find it?  There are Biblical examples to support this proverb, but it isn't technically found in the Bible.  I should be more familiar with scripture...)

So, here's the deal:  2 parents + 8 children + 75 lbs. of tomatoes + 2 hours = Work Complete

For those of you who garden, you know what a big deal this is.  For those of you who don't garden, trust me, this is amazing!

Everyone in our family had a job to do.  Everyone was part of the process.  Even baby Kedesh supervised and encouraged us by blowing us kisses. :)

The littlest children washed and rinsed the tomatoes.

The older children cored and cut away any flaws.  They then  passed the tomatoes to Daddy.

Daddy put the tomatoes into boiling water, then cool water.  He passed them to me and a younger child.

We took away the peelings from each tomato.

After all the tomatoes were peeled, we all worked together to cut them up. 

We put some into labeled freezer bags, and some into pots in order to cook them.

We washed pans and countertops, and we carried away the empty tomato boxes.

I absolutely could not believe we finished the work so quickly!!  We completed a task that would normally have taken us the better part of a day - in only 2 hours!

I was so proud of my children. 

I enjoyed all of us being in the kitchen together having fun with our little assembly line. 

I enjoyed seeing the satifaction in their faces when the work was done.

Thought I'd share a few pics:

Find a challenging project to do as a family, and give everyone a way to help - no matter how big or how small. 

Work together. 

Be a team.

It's true...MANY HANDS REALLY DO MAKE LIGHT WORK!