The Green Thumb Mama

09/01/2026

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09/01/2026

Scenes from my garden today. Happy September! My thoughts turn toward finishing the canning. And it's coming to an end quite soon, actually. This is a terrific tomato year. They really love where they are planted and the Roma's are HUGE. Carrots, parsnips, and turnips are getting big and won't be harvested for a while. All that's left is a few pantry staples. Tomato sauce will be canned in a couple months. As well as tomato soup base. I wanna stock up on canning dried beans. Jam is all done. I will continue to can meats and bone broth throughout the fall.

09/01/2026

Our crop of cantaloupe was FABULOUS! Juicy, sweet, and so delicious! We've sold quite a bit, and we are eating it with great joy! Today I decided to try something new: cantaloupe jam. I got the recipe here -----> https://www.canningandcookingiastyle.com/recipe/cantaloupe-jam/

14 cups ended up being 3 whole cantaloupe. It was cubed, cooked, mashed, and simmered until it became this fragrant, dark brown, almost jeweled color. I swiped a spoonful for my mouth and WOW! It's so yummy.

I canned this for 15 minutes in my steam canner, per my elevation. I am really looking forward to breaking this open in the winter on toast, biscuits, and even as a topping for ice cream!

08/30/2026

It's "Ooops, they looked more red than that on the vine" season. ;)

08/27/2026

Operation clean out freezer is still in effect. So that meant I needed to make some jam from fruit I harvested last summer and frankly forgot about.

This is strawberry with some rhubarb in it. I had only 1 lb of rhubarb and 5.5 lbs of strawberries. I used a 1:1 ratio of fruit to sugar, adding to it all a tablespoon of lemon juice per lb of fruit. Cooked it down.

I had these cute little jars from purchasing tomato paste over the past year. They have pop tops and are reusable (side eye). However, I discovered they are smaller than my canning funnel, so I had to get my super small ladle to fill them. It was an oopy goopy mess, but jars were cleaned up and put in my steam canner for 15 minutes.

I now have more room in my vegetable/fruit freezer for produce from the garden and that makes me happy. We have turkeys about to be processed in November and a half cow on it's way. I need my meat freezers NOT filled with veggies.

08/26/2026

Last batch of sauerkraut beings today. This is just a plain flavor. Just cabbage.

My tomatoes are coming in little by little. I am thankful I have freezer space right now. I personally do not like to cook and cook and cook tomatoes for sauce or soup. I'm also really busy preserving vegetables and fruits that need immediate attention. Tomatoes don't need my attention right now, so they can go in the freezer.

So, a hack I learned is to freeze them first. This causes the tomatoes to release all their water when they thaw. I can pour off the water, and cook the pulp and skins for a much shorter period of time. I have a variety of tomato here that I am freezing just for tomato soup. My Romas will be frozen for tomato sauce. All of which will be made and canned in the coming months.

08/25/2026

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Someday they’ll realize not everyone grew up with tomatoes ripening on the countrer, jars cooling on every surface, and dinner being planned around whatever was harvested that day. But right now, this is just normal life to my kids.

That might be my favorite thing we’ve given them.

08/25/2026

My first batch of sauerkraut was ready to be jarred. This is the garlic sauerkraut. I got a dozen quarts and I'm super happy with that. The garlic does inhibit some of the bacterial growth, but not a lot. It's so sour and delicious already. This is not shelf stable. This will go in the fridge. We have one in the garage I store my kraut in. It will continue to ferment, but at a much slower pace. I won't have to burp the jars at all.

08/24/2026

Corn and taters. That was the name of today's game. I finished the rest of the diced potatoes today, ending with 8 quarts. So that makes 20 quarts of canned potatoes. Pretty happy about that. We discovered more corn was ready, so I canned 8 pints today as well. It was a good day of food preservation!

08/22/2026

My August garden is lush, green and ripe for harvest. But August this year is hot, smoky and gross and I am seldom out there past 10 am. The luffa is getting so big and I am excited for a holiday project with them.

Today, I am exhausted. We went to the rodeo last night. I got my fill of cowboys, beer, and onion rings. It was a late night and I'm running low on energy. But, I have to can these darn potatoes before I lose anymore of them. These potatoes are the ones that have been damaged by shovel or insects. I can easily cut around the bad parts.

After a good wash, scrub, and peel, the diced potatoes were placed in a bowl of water to keep them from oxidizing. I pack mine raw in clean jars, not very tightly, to allow them to expand a bit. Top with boiling water, then place in pressure canner. I only have room for 11 jars between my two canners, so I'll can the rest tomorrow. The remaining diced potatoes will stay under water in the fridge. I don't have time do can another batch today. Too many other things to accomplish.