I love canning food in the late summer and early fall. Ever since I first learned how to can tomatoes, for some reason I've found it to be therapeutic. Give me a good Blackberry Mojito Cocktail to sip on in the kitchen, and I'll work at canning tomatoes all afternoon.
There's nothing quite like turning twenty pounds of blemished tomatoes into eight or nine quarts of whole tomatoes that will add the perfect amount of garden zest to a crock-pot full of chili or soup in the winter. It's amazing what you can do with this (which by the way I picked up at the Farmers Market for 50 cents a pound because my garden did so poorly).
If you're not familiar with canning, processing tomatoes is probably one of the easiest places to start. It's a little different than making a simple Pico Sauce, because you're going to want to ski the tomatoes first. This is really easy to do though.
As far as canning the tomatoes, all that is required is a water bath canner, jars, and lids. You'll also want to use a jar lifter when removing the jars from the boiling water. If you're just getting started, this canning kit is the one that I have used for years and it has everything that you need in it to get started. With the exception of the jars...which you can get at any retailer, or you can order those on Amazon as well.