hi, im interested in your mexican buckeye, orchid tree, and chinese fringe tree seeds. i have pumpkin-on-a-stick and some more on my trade list. i'll send you an e-mail. thanks! Nick

I saw your post, I'm another red clay gardener. Battling Kudzu and weeding a lot also. I usually am scheming about outdoors but I've turned most of my attention indoors lately Painting,etc. I suggest you look at Argeratum, it is used in edging a bed. It is great in the clay, performs when everything else is struggling. Dies at frost. It's my go-to plant. Agastache is doing great. Look at mallow(?) plants, new varieties with huge, showy flowers. Found some at all the local plant centers. I never have luck with stock, too many things(critters) like it. The Gomphrena worked well, even re-seeded. Wasn't as showy as I hoped. Rudbeckia is excellent for me, and coneflower(from seed even). Ice plant is a great plant with ... Uh-oh, I better finish up with the painting. Christine

No reason you couldn't sub a whole, cut up chicken for the breasts in these recipes. French Farmhouse Garlic Chicken 4 small boneless, skinless chicken breast halves 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1 T cooking oil 40 small cloves unpeeled garlic 1/2 c dry white wine (or chicken broth) 1 T lemon juice 1 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp dried oregano 4 T all purpose flour 2 T dry white wine (or chicken broth) Rinse chicken, pat dry. Season with salt & pepper. In 10 inch skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add chicken and garlic cloves. Cook chicken 2-3 minutes on each sideor until golden, turning once. Slowly add 1/2 c wine, then the second 1/2 cup wine, lemon juice,basil and oregano. Cover and simmer 6-8 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chicken and garlic to warm serving platter; keep warm. In small bowl, stir together flour and 2T wine. Stir into pan juices. Bring to a boil, cook and stir 1 minute more. Spoon over chicken, serve with mashed potatoes or rice. Makes 4 servings. Quick Chicken Cacciatore From "Eat and Stay Slim" cookbook 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves 1 7\-1/2 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained 3/4 c sliced fresh mushrooms 1/4 c chopped onion 1/4 c chopped green pepper 3 T dry red wine 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tsp dried oregano 1/4 tsp salt Dash pepper 1 T cold water 2 tsp cornstarch Rinse chicken, pat dry. In a medium skillet combine tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, green pepper, wine garlic, oregano, salt and pepper; place chicken on top of vegetables. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink. Transfer chicken to serving platter, keep warm. Stir together water and cornstarch; stir into skillet mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more; spoon sauce over chicken. Makes 4 servings My notes: this is really good served over rotini or penne pasta! I make this one with chicken quite often, too. Turkey Marsala 1lb turkey breast 2T butter 3T flour 2tsp instant chicken boullion 1/4tsp garlic powder 1c water 1/2c dry Marsala wine 1c sliced fresh mushrooms Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Brown the turkey, turning once. Place turkey on serving platter, cover to keep warm. Combine flour, boullion and garlic powder in bowl. Gradually stir in water and wine. Add to skillet and cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring constantly until thickened. Add mushrooms and heat one minute more. Pour half of sauce over turkey, pass remaining sauce. 4 servings. Linda

I had my decision made to go with Shiloh Hickory cabinets in beaded inset and Richmond door. The cost for my large amount of cabinets was reasonible. I must now change wood as I spent 2 hours at a granite yard today and could only find almost black granites that look ok with the hickory cabinet door. I have to start over with another wood . I am disappointed. I will probably go with Maple now as I took a few maple doors with me and found a granite that look absolutely beautiful with the Maple The maple stain is gunstock and the granite was Alaskan White. I feel like the granite with probably be out of my price range when they give me the final figures. I do think it pays to shop around. I went to Reisterstown Lumber and found their prices to be competitive on Medallion and Swartz to be competitive on Shiloh. J&S lumber in Landisville is good for Showplace. I do think that lumber yards and independent shops do better with design help and pricing. Don't overspend and take your time shopping around. Give the cabinet places a chance to make things work well for you. I have had poor design help form some and very good from others. Some gave me a bunch of small cabinets which cost more than one large cabinet. Some accessories are no more expensive when purchased with the cabinets. Molding costs as much as taller cabinets. Drawers are sometimes less expensive than pull out trays. Not all designers try to work these things out. i have had to ask for drawers instead of pull outs for pantry cabinets and they priced out 30% less. I want a corner sink cabinet and the cost for one line was more than twice of another, so I had the designer use a diagonal sink from and return fillers and the cost was less. Reading this board has definitely helped with knowing what will help bring costs down and what is worth paying for to have a more functional space.