Marme, you cannot move citrus out of the state of California. In fact, you cannot even move it out of most counties, now. Inspected and treated citrus is just for sale in the local area. I cannot drive up to Los Angeles, and bring citrus back, nor can I take my citrus out of San Diego county. I would call the CDFA and ask them, directly. Explain what you want to do, and where you live. Let them guide you. The fines for transporting non-inspected citrus across state lines is hefty. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: CDFA Contact Information

Courtney, the canning process IS daunting for newbies! My first and second pressure canners were purchased at garage sales. They were heavy cast aluminum from the 1950's. The first one had slots on the lid that you flipped up screw-down things that were dangling from the sides of the canner. I replaced the pressure gauge and, looking back, it was the most trouble-free canner I ever had, though it was truly ugly and heavy. The second had a rubber gasket and the lid fastened down with about 1/4 of a twist. I had a lot of trouble putting enough muscle on that lid to get it off after the pressure had come down. So I got rid of it and bought a new Mirro pressure canner. It's OK, but nothing to write home about. I have a lot of trouble with liquids siphoning out of the jars. I think it cools down too fast. Jam and pickles are two things that are pretty easy to can. The old way is that you have your jars full of boiling water until right before you put your product into them, which is also boiling hot. I boil water in a small bowl in the microwave and then drop my flats into it so that they are good and hot, as well. After filling the jar, getting out any air bubbles and wiping off the rim, put on the hot flat and screw down the band good and tight. Then carefully tip the jar just ever so slightly, turning the jar till you've done this all the way around, so that the hot contents just touch the edges of the flat. You don't want to cover the flat as this may cause some of the liquid to escape out of the jar, and this will mess up your seal, your counter and maybe you. You can skip the tipping part, if you have any concerns about it, and the jars will usually still seal. It certainly doesn't hurt to BWB jars of jam for 5 minutes, immediately after filling and screwing down the band, and then you are within the new guidelines. But when it comes to pickles, that's another thing. A 5 minute BWB ruins the crispness. Lots of jam and jelly recipes now call for Sure-Gel (pectin), when in truth most fruit has enough natural pectin to make a perfectly good product. Some people say you don't have to cook the jam as long that way and they are always assured of having the right consistency. However, jelly thermometers are not expensive and are a good investment. You can use the 'spoon test' or the 'cold saucer test' instead if you are more experienced. Having to buy Sure-Gel is just an annoyance to me. The only time I use it is when I make banana-pineapple. I use Pomona Pectin for no-sugar or low-sugar jams. I don't really like to pressure can. I do BWB whenever possible. Tomatoes just become mush when pressure canned. I even tried pressure canning some dry beans because someone on one of the other forums said she did it. It was 1 cup of dry beans in a quart jar, cover with water to soak overnight, then drain and fill the jar with boiling water, process for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. I wasn't pleased with having to watch the pressure for 90 minutes, that's for sure. It's convenient having a few quarts of cooked beans on hand, since a quart of beans is about enough for a meal for the three of us (I also make corn bread and fried potatoes) but I discovered there really IS such a thing as cooking beans too long. The consistency is just kind of "gummy". I won't be doing that again. Some say using a pressure canner generates less heat in your kitchen. I don't agree with that, either. With boiling water bath, your processing time is longer, but when you're done, you're done. There's none of this "letting steam escape for ten minutes" at the beginning and there's no waiting for the pressure to build at the beginning and to come down at the end. And with a boiling water bath, once you've got a decent boil going you can actually set the timer and walk off to do something else. With a pressure canner you have to make sure your pressure is staying consistent and with my new canner, it's hard to find the spot that is just right to maintain. So I'm turning the flame up just a smidge, down just a smidge. Of course there are some things you just can't can if you don't have a pressure canner. Green beans is one. I use BWB for applesauce, peaches, pears, and tomatoes. There is also a new rule for tomatoes that says you need to add extra acid for canned tomatoes to be safe. I added a tablespoon of vinegar to each jar the summer of '07 and those tomatoes were so acid I couldn't use them for anything but chili. Maybe it is that some of the new hybrid varieties are not acid enough, but I grow heirloom tomatoes. Sometimes I wonder if all these new canning rules are a way to force home canners to just give up and buy their food already canned. My dear little 80-and 90-year old friends who live on a farm near me have canned every year since they were little girls helping their mother. They still use the old recipes and techniques now that they used in the 50's. They even make their own ketchup and seal it in bottles with a bottle capper. I just don't understand how it is that something that has been safe for years, isn't anymore. And, I might add, when we were kids at home, Mom would seal her jam with paraffin. Often we would pry that paraffin off the top of a new jar of jam and there would be a layer of mold, but Mom would just take a spoon and remove the mold and the top layer of jam and then we'd eat the rest! Yipe, I don't think I could do THAT. Mom always said that there was so much sugar in the jam that it was a natural preservative. But I've never seen that in print. And I never seal my jams with paraffin. But of course anything else that didn't look right was always thrown away. There would be times when a processed jar didn't hold it's seal -- maybe there was a hairline crack in the jar, or something went wrong with the seal -- it happens. Even if the contents looked OK, if there was any 'give' at all at the center of the lid, after the jar had been put on the shelf, it went to the compost. The jar would be examined and if the reason was not apparent, a dab of red nail polish would go on the bottom of the jar. If there was already a dab of red nail polish there, the jar went in the trash, as did any jar that had a nick on the rim. I know of some people that buy new jars every time and I think this is pretty far over the top. I have used the same jars for years and years. In fact some of my jars had belonged to my mother-in-law. I will also use old mayo jars, in a pinch, if the standard screw band still works on them, but not for pressure canning. I HAVE had food poisoning before -- but it was from a purchased frozen pot pie. Whatever methods you use, use what you feel confident with, and have fun with it. Jams and jellies are a great way to start. --Ilene

Well once again THANK YOU everyone for all the helpful, supportive advice and comments! The dry bathtub idea is great and the DREMEL has my dh smiling because he always wanted one to play with, now it will have a duel purpose! Mazer you took Lucy's name to Lucyfer, and I think I am going to use LucyFUR!!! My daughter will be so pleased that the name is so well used! Though again, she is a darling puppy and really has an amazing disposition! Those little puppy bursts of energy just hit a minute or two before she sacks out for a snooze! Roobear ~ are there any foods, puppy ones, that do not contain Menadione Sodium Bisulfite? I thought we were doing a healthy choice with the Nutro, Natural Choice which had Lamb meal, Rice Flour, Rice Bran and ground rice as the first 4 ingredients, compared to the puppy chow that starts with Ground yellow corn, poultry bi-product meal, corn gluten meal, and brewers rice? The puppy chow also has those aweful red 40 yellow 5 and blue 2 food colorings in it? Again, any suggestions are appreciated! I will post her again in a few weeks, with some weight gain and changes in her features and we may just get her breed figured out! (Not that important to know, or we could get a dna test done, but just to see how she turns out will be fun!) **Lab/Pitt/Boxer/Terrier You have all been so great, thanks again :o) Rosie

This is one of the worst financial decisions I think I have ever seen anyone make. $100K borrowed at seven percent for a depreciating asset (and that's what a trailer is) is a VERY bad investment. You'll be wasting $240,000, plus the costs of repairs and upkeep over the time you live in this thing, and end up without anything to show for it. We spend part of the year in a winter house in FL, the land of trailer parks, and my DH's parent's friends have recently bought trailers for the winter seasons... They paid under $20K for perfectly nice used double wides and the original owners lost a fortune. You can find SO much on the Internet about why buying a trailer is an abominable investment. Look at Dave Ramsey http://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/posts/120895: When you’re buying a mobile home, they go down in value. From a financial standpoint, mathematically, you’re buying a car that you sleep in—a very large car that you sleep in. When you buy a home, they go up in value. I’m not against manufactured housing, which means a whole lot of different things when you say that phrase. But if it’s the type of housing that’s done in some way that the consumer buying it really doesn’t detect that they took the wheels off of it, then it usually will go up in value. If it looks like a trailer, smells like a trailer, it’s going to go down in value. That’s why I’m against it. Before, when you were paying out X number of dollars in rent, that’s all you were losing. Now you’re paying out X number of dollars in rent and you’re losing money every day on the ownership of the thing, so you’ve done double dumb now. That’s why I tell people not to buy trailers. I would seriously do your research on this before you waste hundreds of thousands of dollars.