Not to disrespect the Madame in any way, but from experience she is a MONSTER! She wants to be a large, tall plant, no matter how horizontally you train her. She will express her long canes even more vigorously in an indirect, filtered light, partial shade situation, attempting to throw herself into the good sunlight. Your stated height for the railing of 3.5' is no where near sufficient for a plant of her vigor and demanded size. She's sometimes described as having a "lower prickle count", which perhaps could be said depending upon your definition of "lower", but from experience, her smaller prickles are SHARP and mean. I've lost MUCH blood to too-close, intimate contact with her. I realize your zone could be anything from 6b to 8a in Arkansas, and where I grew her was zone 9b, but relative vigor compared to relative vigor holds true. I definitely feel the Madame is going to be too vigorous, too large and too prickly for that short a support, and her mean prickles are going to be the type you really don't want on a balcony railing. You'll probably have to keep too much of her pruned off to get much bloom and what you do receive is very likely to be thrown out toward the sun. I couldn't keep her contained to a 5' block wall. She continually took to the neighbors' trees and threw herself over the wall into the neighbor's back yard where the sun was more direct. Most of the flowering was in their back yard, too, even though she received a whole lot more direct sun where she was than you describe as available where you wish to grow her. Renae, on the other hand, has NO prickles. She is MUCH more limber, more easily manipulated and trained to smaller spaces. She flowers in clusters rather than many one to three flowers per long flowering stems, and often flowers on very short laterals along the canes. She is much less prone to mildew in difficult situations. Not that she won't mildew, she resists it much better than the Madame. Her smaller, less double flowers, occur in many clusters along the canes in much lower light, which should permit you more color and scent along your railing. Renae should be every bit as hardy (perhaps slightly more hardy) than the Madame. Trying to manipulate stiffer, more brittle, sharply prickled canes to a short railing as you describe is not a task I would desire. Manipulating Renae's much more limber, flexible and totally smooth canes will be heaven on earth in comparison. The potential for you to actually enjoy flowers ON the railing is significantly higher because of her habit, too. The Madame is significantly more vigorous a plant than Renae, particularly initially, but that extreme vigor is what will make her quickly unsuitable for such a short support. Renae is going to take her time building into the size plant you desire there, but in the long run she will be one you enjoy and not dread dealing with, nor will she require as much "dealing with" to contain her where you want her. Renae's repeat and explosion of bloom can be remarkable. Again, in a different zone than yours, so perhaps a bit faster development, but in zone 9b, in Visalia, CA at the Ralph Moore Memorial Garden on April 7 of this year, this is what Renae looked like. Imagine that on your balcony railing! These plants are ten years old, own root plants which have been trained by the Master Gardeners there to cover the pergola. Compare the shots to those available for the Madame and consider which you'd rather shove your hands and arms into! Kim

I think it's all a matter of personal preferences. First, if you don't have a pressure canner you are pretty much limited to canning fruit, pickles, relishes, jams and spreads. Low acid vegetables, dried beans, meats, those all need a pressure canner. I can a lot of things, including some beef, because I just don't have freezer space. I have two freezers and I'm not going to buy another one! I grow my own organic and grass fed beef and my own pork. I have free range chickens for eggs and have a huge organic garden, so I harvest a lot of different things. Some things I just don't like canned, like asparagus. That gets frozen. So does corn, blueberries, strawberries, sweet cherries and rhubarb. Pretty much everything else gets canned because the freezer space is precious and when I get a power outage here in the great white north, I won't lose the canned stuff. It's also very convenient to grab a jar of soup off the shelf to take to work for my lunch (yes, I have a full time job in addition to the farming and gardening, LOL). Canned beef with a jar of canned potatoes and carrots makes a "quick and dirty" stew by just thickening the broth from the beef, dumping everything into the gravy and heating it. I also dehydrate things and they take a lot less storage space. I put my dehydrator in the garage and dry hot peppers, I learned the hard way not to do that in the kitchen! I dried apples, zucchini chips for soup, shelled beans and beef jerky last year. There are several options for everything and one has to figure out how they use their finished product and what they like before deciding which processing method is best for any given item. As for "worth it", that's subjective also. I grow that big organic garden and can my harvest because I wanted to know what I was putting in my kids' mouths. Now I have grandkids and I still want to know what they are eating and what I'm eating, so the work and time and expense is "worth it" to me. Peaches now, that's something else. My peach tree is only three years old and has about a dozen peaches, the first time it's borne fruit. Peaches are $12 a half bushel here, usually, and I'll get a quarter bushel for the freezer for pies, but that's about it. Dad used to want peaches to can, even at $24 a bushel. He got between 36 and 38 pints from a bushel, so that makes the cost 63 cents a pint, plus 16 cents for a lid/flat to seal it and a few cents for sugar, gas to run the stove for the canner, water and electricity to run the pump, etc. Add several hours worth of time and those peaches are 80 or 85 cents per pint plus your time. Definitely not worth it for me because I don't LOVE peaches. Definitely worth it for Dad because he did and he found the commercially produced peaches stayed "too hard", he liked the softer consistency of home canned. It's all in your perspective.... Annie

No you can use raspberries, or any other berry/fruit for that matter. Many have discussed in the past the different fruits they have used. As to reducing the sugar, that all depends on if you are using the bottled lemon juice or not. (I seem to recall that you questioned why it has to be used in the past.) Since the product will be canned for long term storage then bottled juice is required because it's acidity is stabilized and holds over a long time. Plus it's pH is more acidic than is fresh which can vary widely. If you are going to use fresh instead, which isn't recommended, AND reduce the sugar, then you will have to add citric acid to the mix for acidic stability or refrigerate it to use as fresh. Dave

I feel like I am here whining about my schedule and stress. I know we ALL have both. I know it is a matter of changing my patterns and most importantly, making time to get to the store. I have grown to abhor the grocery store and I argue with myself as I pass the store on my way home--"you really need to stop at the store" "noooo, I can't take it today-- I'll make do with what I have" "you have nothing fresh" "I'll get a pizza" I am glad you mentioned fats. I definitely find it helps to combine fats with carbs-- and I try to make sure that i always have fruit and bread products with a protein or a fat-- preferably both. I add a small dollop of butter and nuts to my oatmeal-- toast with peanut butter or cheese-- fruit with cheese. As I say that, though, i am sitting here eating a clementine with nothing else-- and it is the first thing I have eaten all day. :( Baby steps though. When I can take a little longer break, I will make a can of soup. Anele, I definitely know that my poor sleep habits and the stress work against me... as does my age. My metabolism was always slow and I made it worse by fasting in my teens and twenties-- I am also much less active than i was. Again, I won't sit here and tell you that I never overeat or never indulge in high caloric foods-- but that is the exception. I am one of those people who HAS to constantly work at sparking my metabolism. I won't argue with those who insist it is all about calories in and calories burned because there is a lot of validity in it-- but it is not the only factor. It isnt simple math. This is why I am trying to break my lazy patterns. When I eat 5 times a day I not only spark my metabolism, I don't need to worry about portion control. It takes care of itself. My sister is still going to do the nutrisystem plan. It worked for her before and she doesnt have as much to lose. She needs a kick start-- I need to change patterns. Thanks again-- and I am going to pull out my can of coconut milk! I love thai food but I have never made a thai soup-- I think it is about time I try one!