I have millions of apples, too. Instead of canning apples for pies, I freeze those in pie-size portions. Putting Food By suggested freezing them using a pie plate as a form, so the frozen disc fits in the crust, but I wasn't so good at that. For canning dessert slices, I use Pomona Pectin at half the recommended rate, and it thickens the low-sugar juice just a bit. Alternatively, add no thickener and thicken the apples with cornstarch when you make your pie. I can applesauce, dessert slices and apple jelly made from "nectar" from peelings and cores(yum!), but not apples for pies. We also dry some of our apples, and freeze lot of frozen chunks for making juice or wine in the winter. Plus we give a lot away!

Hi everyone! We actually got a bit of sun today,,,,got a few sprinkles too,,,,but mostly overcast with sunny breaks! Yeahhhh a high of 18C! *L* I dug out quite a few hostas today and a bunch of lilies, then I sprayed round up and because it didn't rain this time after i sprayed, the round up may actually kill the stuff... *L* Then I can start filling in the 10" bed and replanting all the hostas and lilies and irises I have dug out. I pruned the Japanes Lilac tree today as it had big branches coming up from the bottom of it and didn't look like much of a tree. I left two big branches as without the roses to hide us from the street the tree gives us a bit of privacy. My hostas are getting sooooo big I'm going to have to move them which I don't want to do, seeing as I found out how heavy them are with the last big one I moved. With all this rain they are just growing like gang busters! I'm going to have to hire a student or something to help move them! When I replant the hostas in the new beds, I'm going to remember to give them lotsssss of room! I didn't think they would grow this fast in zone 2. *LOL* Hubs helped me today pick up the patio stones, and move a few pots around as I was trying not to lift anything heavy. I also planted a few more annuals and fertilized the pots, just a bit. I didn't want to give them too much liquid fertizlier as they are so wet, but the leaves are going yellow so they needed something. Yesterday we had one of our best friends come up for a day from Sudbury and he brought an exchange student with him from Japan. She was so nice, even our little nasty dog, Bijoux liked her, which was a first in 8 years of having him. He ran downstairs to see his buddy Randy and didn't bark at her or growl or try to bite her or anything! I was amazed! I didn't know she was here and just let bijoux go ahead of me down the stairs. I kidded her and said we would adopt her and Randy said she was actully looking for a family here in Canada. But we are 7 hrs from Sudbury, so that wouldn't work out too well. *L* Why can't son find a nice girl like her, smart, nice, a sense of humor? geezeeee The son of another friend of ours is back in town from out west visiting and he wanted to jam with Gary. So while I was out gardening Gary and Vince went in the house and started making music. I could here them outside and they sounded good! Vince who is only 23 and grew up with our son, always wanted to play with Gary and has grown up hearing Gary in bands,,so he was glad when Gary said that he could come in the house and jam with him. *L* He was so excited. *S* Tina, I use to get the woodchips from the town, but now the mill takes care of chopping and chipping any trees that have to come down, so no more chips for me.. *sigh* Gary bought me another mosquito inhibitor so if I do pass out in the garden and have this thing running, the bugs aren't suppose to be able to find me, though I could afford to lose a few pounds, but doing that from black fly bites and mosquito bites is not my idea of losing weight the best way. *L* You have 90 acres? Wow, that is amazing. Gary and I could of bought 90 acres, but there was no house on it then. The people that sold it split up the land and filled in the swamp and got rid of the hundreds of marsh marigolds and peeper frogs. We walked by there about 8 years ago and it was so different when we lived just around the corner and use to go for walks thru the fields and listen to the frogs at night. I'm so sorry we didn't buy it, our dogs would of loved it! *L* Janet, yes I'm too busy! It makes me tired just thinking of it too. *L* Do u grow your veggies in a lazenga bed too? When your spaghetti squash puts out a fruit, u can use one of your many rocks to put the fruit on it, so it won't rot and it will grow faster from the heat of the rock too. I use to put mine on bricks. Marcia,,,, ah don't trust them around your flower beds? Got ya, I understand completely! *L* Solar power mosquito inhibitor, it an inhibitor with a light on it that is run off batteries that are powered by a solar panel, it also runs the fan that blows the inhibitor stuff around. It is suppose to be able to hide us from the mosquitoes so when a person, say me, is passed out in the garden, the mosquitoes won't be able to find me... *LOL* Gary went to Canadian Tire and got me another one for 20 bucks without the solar light thingy. The inhibitor stuff is suppose to last from 2 to 3 weeks, or 15 hrs if u run it constantly. *LOL @ Marcia* Beer helps with a chest cold? hmmmm good to know for future reference... *L* 160 acres? *falling down in dead faint* WOW! Do u know how many hostas u could plant on that? And it wouldn't matter how big they grew either. *LOL* Take care everyone Debbie :-)

Thank you for the help. Sombreuil_mongrel, do you use powdered or premixed dyes? Do you use oil or water based dyes? I will look up the Old Masters products as well. I would like to go to the nearest Woodcraft store (or other quality store) I don't drive, so I would have to convince a friend to drive me or haul cans of stuff on the bus. I am tempted to do the latter, I am already probably known as the crazy woman who bought a pitchfork and rose plants on the bus. I push the boundaries of the "thee bag limit". I'll try to take pictures. I have a bit of veneer to reglue and a small spot near the base of the piece to make a cosmetic patch. It is at toe level, My little dog would be the only one who would see the patch, but I will be happier with it repaired. The pieces in question are quality pieces which I got on freecycle or craiglslist. I just moved to a place with room to work on finishing projects. I am excited to be able to finally refinish the beautiful furniture I have been collecting. The same pieces in mint condition are beyond my budget. I think it is a great idea to have a couple of colors of complementary dyes and stains. I am a fiberartist and am fussy about color. I don't expect my furniture to "match" but I want the tones to blend, not clash. My first project is brown mahogany and I am concerned about having the "right " amount of red. A similarly toned dresser is the next project. This piece needs a slightly larger cosmetic patch. If I am happy with my results on the brown mahogany pieces, another piece is a fruit wood mid century entertainment credenza from a dear friend. It will be a different stain color - the original color looks like gf candlelight. The original finish is nitrocellulose lacquer according the friend who helped me move it. I respect the opinion of using "quality" refinishing techniques on "quality" pieces. Another way of looking at it is that the gel stain is easier to strip/remove than dye. I don't want to start an argument. I am concerned that the gel finish may look too opaque. Therefore, I want to try gel stains on small non valued pieces like a dark wood stool before touching my special pieces. (I realize that the colors won't be exact matches on different pieces). I will eventually get around to dealing with my kitchen. The cabinets don't even match and the countertop is a disaster. That will be a winter project perfectly suited to gel stains. I am trolling craigslist for a tall pantry cabinet to add to the mix. Off to the library, I will check in with everyone later and read more of the fabulous threads on kitchen and other refinishing.

Thanks @breathnez and @andy for the link. But yeah even though they do ship to Canada (which I'm surprised, most Amazon.com items don't even ship to Canada), shipping cost is $80+ the cheapest, so I don't think I can go for that... @leslie I'm just trying it out, I don't really have too many things to repot at the moment. If it's legit then I'll buy more. I know it's super small quantity, but so far I have not seen Pumice elsewhere.