I think there's a a good chance that it's 'Rosa canina' (aka Briar Rose or Dog Rose). At any rate, the vendor provides pictures of two different roses -- the one grown by her 'aunt' is different from the rose she's hawking. At the prices the vendor is demanding for her unidentified plants, I don't think u needa those roses from Uneeda, WV. ;-)

Just made some pickled garlic scapes and used a boiling vinegar salt brine. Once it was poured into the cold packed jars and I added the EXTERNAL vacuum pump and FS jar cover adapter, the contents in the jars was BOILING wildly again! This is due to the fact that the water can boil at a lower temp under a vacuum. Because of this, my vacuum line also sucked in a little of the brine, but I have installed a huge moisture trap to catch any liquids from getting into the pump itself. For the steam canner, I use it for my jellies and pickles and don't even process the same amounts of time either. I usually don't even add any water to my vinegar salt based brines, so they are much more acidic in the beginning. Also I do my tomatoes and add acid to each of the jars instead of the whole batch. The tomatoes (always a pureed sauce) are boiling when poured into the jars, as is the vinegar brines and jellies. Most of the time the steam canner can get back up to boiling within a few minutes (about 3-5), and when I see a strong jet of steam out the tiny holes in the sides of the canner, I start the clock. Quarts are done about 15 minutes if its tomatoes with added acid. Pickles are about 10 minutes. Yes, I know its a very short time, but with all the extra acidity that I used in my canning, there is little to no concern about safety afterwards, My two year old pickled pepperonici peppers are still quite firm and crunchy. These never saw any heat of any kind, and were pickled in pure 5% white distilled vinegar and pickling salt. I used up 2 quarts of the pickled peppers just recently. The pepperonici were done using my external vacuum pump and the FS jar adapter, which is how they get all the brine inside each pepper, as I pierce each before they are placed in the vacuum vessel with the vinegar brine, and before being packed in jars. After the many temperature tests I did on the steam canner, I felt it was good enough to be useful in my home canning. As to using 80% less water, its more like 90% less, as the steam canner needs only about an inch or two below the canning rack.

Lisa, The staff at Hoomaluhia Gardens told me maile is shipped in from Cook Islands or other places out of state. I don't know about the other islands, but I'm guessing they must be getting close to depleting their forests too if Oahu has to go to Cooke rather than a neighbor island for maile. (Somebody should put it into tissue culture and get it going here again.) I totally agree, and try to suggest maile cultivation to folks in the plant business. Heidi Bornhorst wrote about cultivating maile in her book, "Growing Native Hawaiian Plants", but I have had no luck contacting her.

Water main cutoff valve inside house (e.g. under bathroom vanity or in garage HVAC closet) so that you don't have to go outside everytime you make plumbing repairs. Back porch speaker wires also. Safe room with electric outlet and phone jack. If you don't install a floor safe, affix a cheap safe to the wall of the safe room before the wall on the other side is sheetrocked. Heated floor in master bathroom. Use leftover scrap boards and plywood to floor the attic space during construction. Narrated videos and photos every day or two, especially before major "cover ups" such as slab, insulation, and sheetrock. I am amazed at how many times I have looked at the video to locate studs, wires, pipes etc. Door activated light stiches on coat closets and pantry (but not main closets). Prewire for alarm. Prewire for central vac even if you can't buy equipment now. Make written record of name/manufacturer/codes of all color-related items (tile, grout, paint, flooring, stains). If fireplace, plan for the otside vent that runs directly to fireplace and lay a line in the slab for gas/propane even if you plan to burn wood. No real extra cost and you may want to change as you get older. Consider pre-planning for a mosquito misting system. Ditto on laying lines under concrete for later electrical and sprinkler but also consider putting a PVC pipe in wall before laying slab that curves and goes through the concrete form below what will be ground level. Will allow for connecting PVC later that will enclose sprinkler valve wires or electrical wire for fountains, trees, etc. Can also run cable and phone lines so that that don't have to be exposes on outside of the house. Think about your furniture before the slab is poured to allow for electrical outlets and HVAC registers. We have a larger cabinet (48" doors) with granite top and another capinet over it in the dining room to store the table leaves, table pad, and folding chairs. Twelve inch angled dividers stick down from the top to keep the items from falling on each other. The granite top is obviously higher than a normal counter top but can can be used for the extra holiday items such as tea pitchers or bread baskets. During construction, look at the areas in attic and consider where you may need to run wires in the future and put some PVC pipe in the tight areas. We had installed soffit outlets for Christmas lights but discovered we were tripping the breakers and needed another circuit. I had placed a 3/4 PVC pile in a second story game room wall and was able to fish the new circuit wire easily. Doubt it would have worked without the pipe.