Hi Jan: Here's a real fly in the oinment to consider. The CAR galls won't release their spores until they have been wetted for a minimum period of time and the temperatures are warm enough, I can't say what those values are. I have seen them once get wetted for about 6 hours, start to "sprout", then the weather dries out and their development ceases. Are those galls done for the year or will they continue given the right environment? I don't know. I do know that in my location, we can get rain for hours just a mile north of my trees but everything to the south stays dry for weeks on end. The gall spores can travel for more than a mile easily and infect trees. See the problem? One note about Mancozeb. There are forms of it that are labeled (legal) for use on apples and others that are not. I got my cart in front of the horse a couple of years ago and now have one that is not legal on apples; there is at least one Manzate formulation that is, I believe their are others. Read the labels thoroughly before you buy, if it doesn't state the plant you're intending it for don't get it.

I chose two kinds of apples that are designed to work well for pies, cooking, and baking. Yes, I agree some apples will turn to mush quite fast. If your making a sauce, it need only be brought to a boil, fill the jars with it, and process as you would normally do. If it were for a chunkier product, you can also do that, but process a bit longer. The boiling before canning us meant to help reduce the firmer type apples, as well as any added spices to 'meld' into the sauce. My apple Pie jam had minimal boiling, except whats necessary for the pectin to dissolve. Some bits of apple were added after it was at boiling, so they got less time of all that heat. When I make pies, I like to 'wilt' the apple slices some before filling the pie shell, by placing tyhem in teh microwave a few minutes. If I don't, they shrink down to nearly nothing and when you slice into the baked apple pie, you see a 1/2 inch of apples under a big tall, hollow crust dome.

harry57, "The beauty of doing bokashi is that the material can remain fermenting in the bucket for long periods of time until you're ready to use it." Exactly! It IS beautiful! "smell a bit whiffy" bokashi is a pickling process, well not as in a salt pickling process, but similar results. I think bokashi made from meat, cabbage, radish, manure, or rose pedals should in theory all smell the same. I hope to catch your posts on bokashi burying in the Earth Machine. Maybe toss a couple pieces of biochar... Cowboy Brand Charcoal... the chaff or small pieces and dust would not be missed from the primo stuff. "Earth Machine" does material Really flow through that? How hard is it to harvest? Is it possible to only harvest stuff that was put in the front and the material on the bottom in the back just lives there forever landlocked? Hmmmm. If I was using an "Earth Machine" to finish bokashi I would dump the bucket into the top. Then there would be a choice of materials to top off with. Any of the carbon materials ever mentioned on any composting board including vermicomposting. Garden soil is an option. Poor soil. Bokashi is a moist material. Hmmmmm. Sounds like lots of fun options.

There is always going to be a debate about this, but I'll say what I tell most of my customers. First, what's the look you want? Most pre-finished woods will NOT(no matter what the company tells you) have a perfectly flat end result, and you will have seams. Every wood company known to the flooring world will put a disclaimer on their 'instructions' that the "use of stains or putties should be considered normal practices". So if either of those concern you, don't get pre-finished wood. On site finished, those key things will be sanded down and puttied before finishing and resulting in less if no visibility of wider seems, putty marks and scratches out of box. Second, finishes they put on pre-finished these days are considerably different in many ways. In a factory somewhere(probably China depending on the company) they can put the harshest chemicals they want on the wood because of the fact that it's in a "controlled environment" which then can(and mostly does) result in a better and stronger finish. With on-site finishing you are restricted legally on what finishes you can apply, and depending on situations and products it can take anywhere between 3 days to 2 weeks for only FINISHING. That takes a chunk out of and slows down your building or living time. And thirdly, you cannot compare Apples to Oranges, EVER. You can't go to your neighbors house and see the pre-finished Australian Cypress they purchased from Lumber Liquidators for cheap that they installed themselves and then go to the local classy, and expensive, restaurant and see their on-site darkly finished Red Oak professionally installed, and come up with what you want in your house. And honestly people, 99 times out of 100 how much you spend will determine the end result. Meaning if there is a Oak that you're looking at and it costs $1.50/sf(yeah we wish, right?) and there is another Oak that costs $4.65/sf, the more expensive one WILL have a better finish, density, and/or overall quality(like i said 99 times out of 100). There's too much to go into but the basic aspects are different companies get different quality of wood- meaning grain tightness(tighter is better less chance of damage during sawing) grain pattern, finish chemicals(if pre-finished), etc. And just some last comments to help you out. What it really all comes down to is you. It's your house, it's your likes and dislikes that matter. Joe Shmoe can try and try to sell you this product or that product, but only go for what you want(remember most companies will give a kick back, or a spiff, to the sales person to sell their product even if the sales person says they don't). You have to live in your house, nobody else does. The installer only cares if you're happy and he/she gets paid, and the salesman only cares if you're happy and he/she gets paid, but you can only be happy if you get what you really want. Also, I used to love Bamboo. I like the look and most notably it is one of the fastest growing woods(it's actually a grass) in the world. I don't like it for floors anymore because it scratches so easily, because of the nature of a grass it soaks up any liquid very quickly including finishes. If your heart is set on bamboo, go with on-site and expect a lot of finishing days and in the future refinishes. I know there is another thread on bamboo floors, so check that out. Then, as with all floors, make SURE you felt all your furniture with heavy duty felt(in Oregon it's tan, but everywhere it will be very thick) and no, plastic feet will not do- knock off all old feet and replace with heavy duty felt. A pre-finished product that I really like is hand scraped wood. Couple reasons for this is- personal preference as i like more "rustic" looking design- and also because scratches and dings and bangs don't show as easily. I've actually installed a floor that had such a dark finish and was hand scraped that we accidentally cross-grained scratched it after it was all laid with an appliance and we took a sharpie(yes the marker) and colored the scratch with it and the scratch literally disappeared even to us knowing where to look for the scratch. So a dark stained hand scraped wood is excellent for scratches. And lastly, if you "think" you can install it- get a professional, it's harder than it looks and pros have the right tricks and tools that make the final product perfect(not to mention if something goes wrong you have someone else's dollar that will have to fix it). The only reason you should do it yourself is if you "know" you can do it. Hope all that helps. Good luck with your remodels or new homes!