OK, thanks for responding! Here are some pics. I know it looks like 3 big weeds, but they are growing right where I planted the echinacea seeds. There are 2 echinacea plants at the base of 2 of the weeds. Each echi plant pops out about 1 inch away from the "weed", so it seems like the weed is the feeder plant, and the echinaceas are propagating from the roots of the feeder plant (weed). In other words, it seems like the echinacea seed grows into the weed-like plant, but sends of real echinacea roots which grow into real echinacea. Or else, it is just a coincidence that weeds grew up right next to my echinacea seeds !!

Jane, The "Fluffy" dumplings are easy to make from scratch. I grew up on Biscuit Dumplings but prefer homemade better. Here are the recipes that I use. One has some bread and parsley in them, they are still light, but with a little texture. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table ========================== ------------------------------------- 1 1/2 cups flour 1 Tablespoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons shortening(butter/margarine or crisco 3/4 to 1 cup of milk Mix dry ingredients and cut in shortening. Add enough milk to make a soft wet dough. Drop by tablespoon on to the top of stew and cover and simmer on low for about 15 minutes. -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- 2 cups flour 3 Tablespoons butter 3/4 teaspoon salt pinch of baking powder Milk Mix dry ingredients and cut in butter. Add enough milk to make a soft dough. Knead for a minute until smooth and let sit for 1/2 hour. Roll out dough to desired thickness. Dough should be on the thin side. Cut into 1/2 inch strips, 1 1/2 to 2 inches long. Drop into boiling stew and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until noodles are cooked. -------------------------------------- ======================= 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 2 slices white bread, quartered 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup milk 4 tablespoons butter, melted Combine parsley and bread in processor; whirl until medium size crumbs. Add 1 1/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt; process just until combined. Add 1/2 cup milk and butter; process using on-off pulses just until blended. 5 Drop mounded tablespoons of dumpling mixture into stew.

I could never make a decent pie crust, until I found this recipe in an old "Joy of Cooking" cookbook. It is so easy, and everyone raves about my pie crust. FIVE-MINUTE PIE CRUST Sift into bowl: 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour and 1-1/2 teaspoons salt Pour over the top, all at once, without mixing: 1/2 cup salad oil and 1/4 cup cold milk or water Stir ingredients until blended. Form them into a ball. Divide into 2 parts. Flatten them slightly. Roll the dough between sheets of waxed paper to the desired thinness. Patch tears, if any, by sticking them together or by adding a small piece of dough. Remove top paper. Invert rolled dough, paper and all, onto a pie pan. Remove paper. Proceed as with any pie crust. Prick both bottom and top crust with a fork. Fill the pie and place the top crust over it. Bake in a hot oven--425ÃÂ for about 40 minutes. For a baked pie shell to be filled later, use 1/2 the ingredients. Bake it in a hot oven--475ÃÂ for about 10 minutes. We like the pie crust a little sweet, so I add about 2 Tablespoons of sugar (or Splenda) to the flour mixture.

That looks matted down, but it's difficult to determine if it was because the grass was wet or not. I'd say not. Grasses that were very long and then cut can sometimes do that as the wheels of the mower crush them down and they don't stand up before the mower's passage. In this case, it looks like they aren't standing up even several hours afterward! Was the grass very long? Did you get a small amount of rain after a dry spell (it doesn't look like it, but one never knows)? Is the bottom deck of the mower clogged with matted grass? That can keep the suction of the mower from being able to pull the grass up into the blades.